Eva Xiaoling Li

Decomposing Immigrants' Economic Integration in Earnings Disparity: Racial Variations in Unexpected Returns

The discourse on immigrants’ economic integration often assumes that the human capital of immigrants determines the outcome of successful integration, measured as income parity with the native-born population. This paper decomposes the employment earnings of immigrants and native-born Canadians in Canada to see how much of income disparity may be attributed to human capital factors and how much to other factors. The findings indicate that immigrants have brought high levels of human capital to Canada, often surpassing those of the native-born, but immigrants under-perform in earnings because of other unexplained returns. The findings suggest that there are limits in using immigrant selection policy to increase the human capital content of immigrants as a means to achieve successful economic integration, and that other policies that influence how immigrants, especially those of minority origin, are treated in the labour market should be considered as a means to bridge income disparity.

Vancouver Chinatown in Transition

Much has been written about Chinatowns in North America as a self-sustained community with fairly complete social institutions. Chinatowns emerged under an era of racism and discrimination and offered some degrees of protection and opportunity to the Chinese. Historically, Vancouver’s Chinatown suffered from a public image of an unhygienic and immoral neighborhood where Chinese resided and where Chinese shops and businesses congregated. This image began to change in the 1930s as the Chinese reshaped Chinatown to suit the racial ideology of a culturally exotic neighborhood that offered Oriental cuisine and festivities to Canadians. As more Chinese immigrated to Canada after World War II, a new Chinese middle class began to emerge. Although Vancouver Chinatown continued to grow and to retain the image of a tourist attraction, it has ceased to be the choice residential and business location for the Chinese. In contrast, Richmond south of Vancouver has developed into a vibrant and affluent business and residential enclave for middle-class Chinese. This article argues that the emergence and decline of Vancouver’s Chinatown have been shaped by the nature of race formation in society as well as the internal composition and social organization of the Chinese community.

Integration of Minority Migrant Workers in Lanzhou, China

Past research on China’s migrant workers—those officially registered in agricultural households but work in the city—has shown that China’s hukou system, or registration system, restricts them from obtaining city household registration, without which access to social security is limited. Little research has been done on the integration of migrant workers of minority origin. Based on a 2011 survey of 1,090 minority migrant workers in Lanzhou, a northwestern city of China, this paper examines two aspects of integration: an objective one that measures access to social security benefits, and a subjective one that gauges the belief of inequity in employment opportunity. The paper argues that integration of minority migrant workers in China involves being treated equally in basic benefits as urbanites, and such treatment affects their sense of fairness in the labour market. The findings suggest that integration of minority migrant workers involves not only cultural or economic factors, but also issues of entitlement and sense of inequality.

The Making of New Chinese Immigrants in Canada

Canada is home to about 1.5 million Chinese (Statistics Canada, 2011 national household survey. Data Tables, Catalogue No. 99-010-X2011028, 2011a), who have settled either in their own generation or in past generations but trace or claim their ancestry to Chinese. Historically, most Chinese in Canada were from China’s southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, but from the end of World War II to the 1980s, Hong Kong became the main source. The term “new Chinese immigrants” refers to those who have immigrated from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to Canada since the 1980s. Throughout the 1980s, direct immigration from the PRC to Canada was relatively limited. Since the mid-1990s, however, the PRC has replaced Hong Kong as the main source. In the 24-year period between 1990 and 2014, 647,728 immigrants from the PRC arrived in Canada, according to official statistics.

Profile of Small Businesses among Chinese in Vancouver

Historically, both market conditions and ethnic resources explain why the Chinese in Canada thrived in retailing and food services. More recent theories stress how changes in opportunities and relations under globalization shape immigrant business formation and practices. Canada revamped its immigration policy in response to the need for capital and skilled labour in the global age. Increased Chinese immigration in the 1980s from Hong Kong, and in the 1990s and after from PRC, substantially expanded the Vancouver Chinese population and the Chinese consumer market. By the 1980s, Chinese small businesses in Vancouver had proliferated beyond Chinatown-based retailing and food services to include professional firms and upscale restaurants. Using advertisements in The Sing Tao Daily, this study found that a new niche of small Chinese businesses in trades and construction has emerged, accounting for 85 percent of advertising in the Small Business Advertisement Section, and 15 percent of all advertisements in the Daily. The analysis suggests that the development of this new niche has been prompted by economic opportunities that are best seen as driven by demographic and market forces in the age of global migration. Historiquement, les conditions du marché et les ressources ethniques expliquent conjointement pourquoi les Chinois au Canada ont prospéré dans les services de vente au détail et des produits alimentaires. Les théories les plus récentes démontrent comment, sous le modèle de la mondialisation, ces changements ont influencé les opportunités de la formation des immigrants et des pratiques commerciales. Le Canada a remanié sa politique d’immigration pour l’adapter au besoin du capital et des compétences professionnelles à l’ère mondiale. L’accroissement de l’immigration chinoise dans les années 80 en provenance de Hong Kong et dans les années 90, ainsi qu’après la RPC, a considérablement augmenté la population chinoise de Vancouver et le taux de consommateurs chinois sur le marché. Vers les années 1980, les petites entreprises chinoises ont proliféré au-delà de la vente au détail et des produits alimentaires au niveau Chinatown, pour s’étendre aux entreprises professionnelles et restaurants haut de gamme. Se servant du record des publicités dans The Sing Tao Daily, cette étude a révélé qu’un nouveau créneau des entreprises chinoises dans les métiers et la construction a vu le jour ; ce qui représente 85 pourcent de l’espace public-itaire dans la section « Petites entreprises chinoises » de ce quotidien ; alors que 15 pourcent sont réservés à toutes les autres publicités. La présente analyse suggère que le développement de ce nouveau créneau a été incité par les opportunités économiques qui sont les mieux considérés comme entraîné par les forces démographiques et du marché à l’ère de la migration mondiale.

Chapter One Vancouver Chinatown in Transition

This chapter uses the case of Vancouver Chinatown to show how shifting race formation in society has altered the social position of and opportunity for the Chinese, which in turn, changed the nature as well as the social and geographical boundaries of Chinatown. The analysis also suggests the need to modify the theoretical understanding of Chinatown. The end of World War II opened up a new era in which legalized exclusion of the Chinese was removed, their civil rights restored and discriminatory immigration regulations revamped. Changes in the period after World War II have altered the pattern of racial formation in Vancouver relating to the treatment and image of the Chinese. Chinatown continued to grow, not as an enclosed and self sustaining community shielded from the larger society, but as a specialty commercial district that thrived on the consumer interests in Oriental cuisine, Asian culture and Chinese goods. Keywords:self sustaining community; Vancouver Chinatown; World War II