Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
objectives: 'A wave of immigration fever has once again swept through
Taiwan due to political instability. Taiwanese are buying immigrant status as
“political insurance”. Most of them have no plan to live in Canada perma-
nently' (
World Journal
1994).
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The general manager of the 21st Century
Immigration Consulting Company in Taipei observed that the 'whole polit-
ical situation' was the major stimulus for departure, but it was compounded
by 'the poor quality of life and the rigid education system'. A manager in a
second Taipei immigration consultancy went further, noting that his clients
'do not actually want to live in the countries they have applied to. Many of
them, when they have obtained their immigrant visa, appeal to stay in
Taiwan for as long as permitted. They are treating that right to live abroad
as an “insurance policy”. Limited employment and business opportunities
in the host countries is another reason for Taiwanese immigrants to stay in
Taiwan as long as possible' (ibid).
The view from Hong Kong was no different. Migration offered 'political
insurance', but most likely would be economically draining; a survey in
Hong Kong in 1991 revealed that a substantial minority expected income
loss of over 30 percent following their move (Lam et al. 1995). It was not
surprising then that potential emigrants in Hong Kong were marked by
uncertainty, even equivocation, as they contemplated departure. So was
born the condition of the 'reluctant exile' so well captured by Hong Kong
social scientists in the mid-1990s (Skeldon 1994, 1995b). 'Most are in con-
flict. They may wish to exit for political reasons, but to remain for economic
reasons. This is the affluent middle-class story' (Salaff and Wong 1995:
196-7). This diffidence was apparent to immigration staff at the Hong Kong
Consulate General who told us that to their surprise they realized in the
early 1990s they were servicing well-qualified applicants for immigrant
status who had no real desire to live in Canada. From their own interviews
at the time Lary and Luk (1994) deduced that Hong Kong departees were
arriving in Canada 'with deep anxiety rather than great expectations; …
many of them anticipated the worst'.
But as has so often been the case with channelled migration - as indeed
had been true of the four Guangdong counties who sent nineteenth century
migrants to North America, or the set of Fujianese counties that send undoc-
umented migrants today - migration became a social process, and peer pres-
sures leading to imitation undercut a more reflective caution against leaving:
In the beginning, we had no intention to leave. We had well-paid jobs and a
happy family. We knew life in Canada wouldn't be the same. However, when
you saw so many of your friends and colleagues were leaving, you couldn't
help asking yourself the question: were they wrong in leaving? Particularly,
when we're told that we should consider the future of our children. We then
reluctantly decided to leave (cited in Lam 1994: 167).
