Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
I will consider moving back after retirement, though I still have 30 years to go.
My dream is to go back to Vancouver for retirement… [My parents] plan to
be there after retirement. My dad will retire in seven years. [Then] he will be
there with my mum, because there it's more comfortable.
Among the more mature respondents the end of working days was closer,
and most focus group participants were already thinking through their
plans. 'When I retire I will go back. I just stay here to make money. When I
have enough money, I'll go back.'
This response triggered other immediate comments around the circle:
For sure I won't prefer Hong Kong. For sure I won't plan to stay here and
retire here. Number one, too expensive, number two, too polluted.
In earlier chapters I commented on the transfer of East Asian values to
Canada in such matters as the meaning of property, the role of education
and family hierarchy. Corresponding North American values had also been
internalized by transnational migrants and carried back with them. A prom-
inent theme was appreciation for unpolluted nature, which emerged con-
stantly in invidious comparisons between the two shores of the Pacific. 'The
environment! Hong Kong is much more polluted. I was coughing for six
months non-stop last year when I came back'. For some, poor environmen-
tal quality became a metaphor for the unacceptable face of the city:
There's polluted air, polluted water. Almost everything is polluted in Hong
Kong so when I retire I don't want to stay in Hong Kong. I want some fresh
air. There's no fun, you can't go fishing, you can't go skiing. If I could, I want
to go back there [Canada] tomorrow. But I can't afford to go back there right
now because I need to make a living.
These conclusions were closely replicated by a cultural psychologist
working with returnees in Hong Kong: 'Re-migrants overwhelmingly indi-
cated their intention to return to their new country-of-citizenship to live,
either permanently or for significant portions of the year. Many indicated
that they would return either when their children were entering university
or to retire' (Sussman 2005). At different stages in the life cycle, the tran-
snational migrant capitalizes upon one site or the other in the trans-Pacific
social field, moving repeatedly to optimize resources and opportunities that
are uppermost for now. Re-location is always conditional, subject to revi-
sion, as objectives shift and opportunities are re-arranged. For at least a few
millionaire migrants calculations never end, the search for equipoise between
competing and changing goals means continuing transnational activity
through retirement, indeed beyond life itself:
