Handbook on Migration to China
Published on 23. September 2025
Book
Hardback
436 pages
978-1-0353-3269-4 (ISBN)
Description
This insightful Handbook explores the dynamics of historical and contemporary migration flows to China from across its bordering regions, Asia and other continents. It analyzes the social, economic, cultural and legal developments that arise from migration to China.
Leading experts discuss how China has become a key destination for international migration, outlining the resulting diversities within Chinese society. They examine the ways in which migration has been encouraged, tolerated and constrained by Chinese authorities, investigating how policies towards migrants reflect China's evolving position in the global migration order and the development trajectories it follows. The Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of legal and policy changes in the field, demonstrating the connections between immigration policy reforms and broader economic and societal developments.
The Handbook on Migration to China is an essential resource for students, scholars and researchers in Asian politics, policy and development, Chinese studies, migration and population studies. Interdisciplinary in scope, it will also benefit practitioners and policymakers working in migration, regulation, governance and public policy.
Leading experts discuss how China has become a key destination for international migration, outlining the resulting diversities within Chinese society. They examine the ways in which migration has been encouraged, tolerated and constrained by Chinese authorities, investigating how policies towards migrants reflect China's evolving position in the global migration order and the development trajectories it follows. The Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of legal and policy changes in the field, demonstrating the connections between immigration policy reforms and broader economic and societal developments.
The Handbook on Migration to China is an essential resource for students, scholars and researchers in Asian politics, policy and development, Chinese studies, migration and population studies. Interdisciplinary in scope, it will also benefit practitioners and policymakers working in migration, regulation, governance and public policy.
Reviews / Votes
'This Handbook breaks new ground. It brings migration to China into mainstream scholarly discussion for the first time in a pathbreaking, comprehensive, and illuminating way. The editors have brilliantly steered authors into advanced, empirically informed, and sociologically imaginative accounts of societal changes driven and carried by migration to China today.' -- Paul Statham, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, UK 'A ground-breaking volume. Bringing together top experts who have pioneered research on immigration to China in diverse cases, the book offers the very first comprehensive and systematic overview of this new global trend. In addition to deepening understanding of China, the book also significantly contributes to the studies of globalization, policy change, and other topics.' -- Biao Xiang, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, GermanyMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-3269-4 (9781035332694)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Heidi Ostbo Haugen, Professor of China Studies, Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oslo, Norway and Bingyu Wang, Professor in Sociology, Department of Sociology, Nankai University, P.R. China
Content
Contents
List of Contributors viii
Acknowledgements xv
1 Introduction to Handbook on Migration to China 1
Heidi Ostbo Haugen and Bingyu Wang
PART I IMMIGRATION LAW, POLICIES, AND TRENDS
2 Immigration policymaking in China: a tool for development 23
Tabitha Speelman and Heidi Ostbo Haugen
3 China's nationality law: unreformed yet impacting migration 38
Eva Lena Richter and Jasper Habicht
4 Quantitative data on international migrants in China 53
Chen Chen and Ryan Rylee
5 China's policies on talent migration: retrospective and outlook 71
Yadi Zhang and Martin Geiger
6 The return of Chinese emigrants: legal barriers and local practices 88
Jiaqi M. Liu
PART II EDUCATIONAL AND KNOWLEDGE MIGRATION
7 Student mobility to China: an overview 99
Peidong Yang, Nannan Lu and Junyan Yin
8 International students' acculturation and adaptation in China 115
Yang Liu
9 Foreign English language teachers in China 131
Lai Pik Chan, Raviv Litman and Shuling Wang
10 Academic mobilities to China 146
Bingyu Wang, Tianfeng Liu and Xinyang Li
11 Foreign volunteers in China 155
Pauline Leonard
PART III ECONOMIC AND LABOUR MIGRATION
12 Foreign creative entrepreneurs in China's fashion industry 169
Christina Kefala
13 Foreign domestic workers in China: the case of Filipino migrant workers 179
Xinrong Ma
14 Foreign traders: brokers to bridge China and the world 188
Jixia Lu
15 Sports coach immigration and China's ambitious sport landscapes 200
Ce Guo
PART IV FAMILY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY
16 Marriage migration in China: historical traces and contemporary trends 217
Elena Barabantseva, Jinghua Yang and Chengzhi Zhang
17 Expatriate children in China: educational opportunities, constraints and
strategies 230
Xiao Ma and James Farrer
18 Lifestyle mobilities and the China context 244
Bingyu Wang and Kexin An
19 Constructing international communities in urban China 254
Yunfang Lue and Weiyuan Qiu
20 Whiteness in China's fashion modeling industry: trading beauty, making
race 270
Ke Ma
21 Public attitudes towards immigration in China 282
Tabitha Speelman
PART V IMMIGRATION GOVERNANCE AND BORDER CONTROL
22 Refugee migration to the People's Republic of China 294
Elena Soboleva
23 Chinese border security: historical and contemporary threat perceptions at
China's borders 309
Franziska Pluemmer
24 Migrant lives in border contexts: the case of the burmese communities in
Yunnan's Ruili and Tengchong 324
Yi Yang and Alessandro Rippa
25 Cross-border mobility from Taiwan 339
Ai Ke
26 Cross-border human trafficking into China 352
Qing Lan and Tianji Cai
27 Involuntary immobility in migration to China 369
Heidi Ostbo Haugen
PART VI COMMENTARIES
28 How does migration to China inform migration and mobilities studies? 386
Juan Zhang
29 Towards a Chinese migration studies? 398
Francis L. Collins
List of Contributors viii
Acknowledgements xv
1 Introduction to Handbook on Migration to China 1
Heidi Ostbo Haugen and Bingyu Wang
PART I IMMIGRATION LAW, POLICIES, AND TRENDS
2 Immigration policymaking in China: a tool for development 23
Tabitha Speelman and Heidi Ostbo Haugen
3 China's nationality law: unreformed yet impacting migration 38
Eva Lena Richter and Jasper Habicht
4 Quantitative data on international migrants in China 53
Chen Chen and Ryan Rylee
5 China's policies on talent migration: retrospective and outlook 71
Yadi Zhang and Martin Geiger
6 The return of Chinese emigrants: legal barriers and local practices 88
Jiaqi M. Liu
PART II EDUCATIONAL AND KNOWLEDGE MIGRATION
7 Student mobility to China: an overview 99
Peidong Yang, Nannan Lu and Junyan Yin
8 International students' acculturation and adaptation in China 115
Yang Liu
9 Foreign English language teachers in China 131
Lai Pik Chan, Raviv Litman and Shuling Wang
10 Academic mobilities to China 146
Bingyu Wang, Tianfeng Liu and Xinyang Li
11 Foreign volunteers in China 155
Pauline Leonard
PART III ECONOMIC AND LABOUR MIGRATION
12 Foreign creative entrepreneurs in China's fashion industry 169
Christina Kefala
13 Foreign domestic workers in China: the case of Filipino migrant workers 179
Xinrong Ma
14 Foreign traders: brokers to bridge China and the world 188
Jixia Lu
15 Sports coach immigration and China's ambitious sport landscapes 200
Ce Guo
PART IV FAMILY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY
16 Marriage migration in China: historical traces and contemporary trends 217
Elena Barabantseva, Jinghua Yang and Chengzhi Zhang
17 Expatriate children in China: educational opportunities, constraints and
strategies 230
Xiao Ma and James Farrer
18 Lifestyle mobilities and the China context 244
Bingyu Wang and Kexin An
19 Constructing international communities in urban China 254
Yunfang Lue and Weiyuan Qiu
20 Whiteness in China's fashion modeling industry: trading beauty, making
race 270
Ke Ma
21 Public attitudes towards immigration in China 282
Tabitha Speelman
PART V IMMIGRATION GOVERNANCE AND BORDER CONTROL
22 Refugee migration to the People's Republic of China 294
Elena Soboleva
23 Chinese border security: historical and contemporary threat perceptions at
China's borders 309
Franziska Pluemmer
24 Migrant lives in border contexts: the case of the burmese communities in
Yunnan's Ruili and Tengchong 324
Yi Yang and Alessandro Rippa
25 Cross-border mobility from Taiwan 339
Ai Ke
26 Cross-border human trafficking into China 352
Qing Lan and Tianji Cai
27 Involuntary immobility in migration to China 369
Heidi Ostbo Haugen
PART VI COMMENTARIES
28 How does migration to China inform migration and mobilities studies? 386
Juan Zhang
29 Towards a Chinese migration studies? 398
Francis L. Collins