Chinese Transnational Migration in the Age of Global Modernity

The term ‘circulatory transnational migration’ best describes the unconventional migratory route of many contemporary Chinese migrants – that is an unfinished set of circulatory movements that these migrants engage in between the homeland and various host countries. ‘Return migration’, ‘step migration’ to a third destination and the ‘astronauting’ strategy are all included within this circulatory migration movement wherein ‘returning’ to the country of origin does not always mean to settle back to the homeland permanently; while ‘step migration’ also does not necessarily mean to re-migrate to a third destination country for a permanent purpose. Liu takes a longitudinal perspective to study Chinese migrants’ transnational movements and looks at their transnational migratory movements as a family matter and progressive and dynamic process, using New Zealand as a primary case study. She examines Chinese migrants’ initial motives for immigrating to New Zealand; the driving forces behind their adoption of a transnational lifestyle which includes leaving New Zealand to return to China, moving to a third country – typically Australia - or commuting across borders; family-related considerations; inter-generational dynamics in transnational migration; as well as their future movement intentions. Liu also discusses Chinese migrants’ conceptualisation of ‘home’, citizenship, identity, and sense of belonging to provide a deeper understanding of their transnational migratory experiences.

Liangni Sally Liu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities at Massey University, New Zealand. She was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in the "Asian Migration Cluster" of the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (2013-2014), and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research Office, Auckland University of Technology. Dr. Liu’s research interest is in Chinese transnational migration. Her broader research interests also include the intersection of migratory mobility and sexuality, ethnic relations between migrants and mainstream/indigenous people, and the media influence on ethnic relations. Her research work has been published widely in the forms of book chapters and research article in high-ranked peer-reviewed journals. She has been awarded the Marsden Fund (Fast-Start) by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2016, and will conduct a project entitled "Floating families? New Chinese migrants in New Zealand and their multi-generational families".