Joaquín Beltrán Antolín

The Chinese in Spain

Fei Xiaotong (1992 [1986]) used the metaphor of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Ocean in his analysis of the ‘Wenzhou economic model’. A special feature of economic development in Wenzhou is the close relationship between internal and international emigration. Fei remembers his chance meeting with Wenzhou people in Europe in the 1930s, and compares these immigrants with the Eight Immortals, Daoist mythical beings very popular in Chinese culture (Melcon, 1925). In the course of one of their countless adventures, they cross the ocean and surmount great trials with the help of their magical skills.

Asian immigrants in Spain: An overview

Asian communities in Spain are not very well known in spite of their long settlement and growing population in the country. Spains transition as a destination for economic migrants has attracted various Asian groups. However, within the growing number of migration studies in Spain, Asians are rarely the focus of inquiry. This article presents an overview of the origin, evolution and current characteristics of the main Asian communities in Spain. The diverse origins of Asian immigrants on the one hand, and the development of migration policies and the economic structure of Spain on the other, are part of the general context within which to understand the settlement of Asian immigrants.