Perceived Understandings of Home and Self-identity among Mainland Chinese Dual Migrants in Macao

Bibliographic Data

ID3663205
AuthorsBei Ju (0000-0001-8324-9001, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, People’s Republic of China, corresponding author), Todd L Sandel (0000-0003-2781-0786, University of Macau)
Year2020
Volume41
Issue2
Pages99-115
Publication date2020-03-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Intercultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-6868 • E-ISSN: 1469-9540
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07256868.2020.1724909
OpenAlexW3006226592
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited34

This paper focuses on the meanings of home and self-identity perceived by mainland Chinese dual migrant workers in Macao. Due to the high living cost in Macao, a majority of mainland Chinese labour migrants choose to migrate daily across the Zhuhai-Macao border. Drawing upon fourteen in-depth interviews and two group discussions among low-skilled labour migrants from the mainland, findings show the co-existence of temporality and situatedness in the mobilized experiences of mainland Chinese dual migrants. Home is found to be an emotional and social investment, tied to a fixed, remembered space, and a mobile, multi-layered, and unstable site, impacted by the experience of daily cross-border mobility. Impacted by the Zhuhai-Macao border, participants may self-identify as ‘outsiders’ to Macao, who ‘belong’ to a place in mainland China due to the perceived hierarchy in Macao society. However, this identification is fluid and dynamic, and changes within and across social groupings and settings. Findings from this study shed light on China as a special context for internal and border-crossing migration

China · Geography · Hierarchy · Mainland · Mainland China · Political science · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration