Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
As a long-term resident (he was the earliest arrival among the 30, landing in
1980) who had tried a number of career paths before opening his shop,
Mr. Wu's reflections on the business options open to immigrants like him-
self are illuminating:
Yes, I change, a 360 degree change… To make a living either it's being
employed or being self-employed… Self-employed there's only a certain kind
of business you can make a living. There's a café, small restaurant, and pro-
duce. So I choose produce because, you know, it generates more people and
more cash flow.
A significant career change in a society where the business culture and
language are unfamiliar is, as Josephine Smart (1994) has suggested, a pre-
scription for failure, and both the experience and the fear of failure weighed
heavily on the respondents. John Kim, the only Korean in the sample, had
been in Canada only three months at the time of the interview. Landing
through the entrepreneur stream, he felt the pressure to establish a business.
But there were significant barriers. Like Mr. Wu he had realized that a career
change was necessary; enquiries had shown there were no openings in
Vancouver in merchant shipping, where he had risen to a senior manage-
ment position in South Korea. A friend, also in the entrepreneur stream,
had opened a shipping agency three years earlier, but was now losing
substantial money from it. Prospects were daunting:
[We] have much concern because I see other Korean immigrants are gloomy.
They are idling, they are eating only… I heard of, from some of the Koreans,
who were successful in business. But only a few, that we can count very easily
with one hand. Only a few. Most Koreans lose money. I visit one Korean gro-
cery yesterday who immigrated here about nine years ago. He was my senior
in the same department in our company… He's now doing his own business
as grocery in New Westminster. I visit there and hear about their family's last
nine years from his wife. They also when they land, landed here, they made
some contracts, buy some small business here from some other people. But
later on they realize that… it was not honest. He broke the contract. So he lost
some money… Not making money. Only getting money for his labour. They
cannot hire somebody. If they hire, no money. My friend is working 365 days
a year… They go to the store 8 o'clock, close 11 pm. I think they cannot make
any profit, any money, only their living costs.
For Mr. Kim pressures are intense. Both the Korean and the British
Columbian economy were in recession at the time of interview, his fellow
countrymen in Vancouver were losing money in their businesses, despite
more experience and better English than his own. His wife was becoming
impatient and family feuds had broken out. The clock was ticking toward
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