Abstract
This chapter describes the diverse life-course trajectories of Chinese-British inter-ethnic families in the UK. Continuing the work done in the introduction, it traces two distinct immigration pathways—marriage and professional—through to two distinct patterns in the families’ lives, as differentiated by the gender-role orientation of the couples: domesticity or professionalism. Divergent life-course dynamics of Chinese-British inter-ethnic families arise from distinctive intersections between gender and ethnic identities. The families’ distinct combinations of gender and ethnic identities raise questions to be explored further in the book: what do the distinct constructs of gender and ethnic identities mean for different groups of Chinese-British inter-ethnic families and individuals? How are the intersections of gender and ethnicity uniquely formulated through different migration pathways, and why?
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- 1.
In follow-up interviews, Fang admitted that she was aware of the derogatory portrayal of Chinese-British families and her initial response to my contact was largely influenced by her dissatisfaction with popular stereotypes.
- 2.
A series of children’s books by the British illustrator Martin Handford. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally hidden somewhere among a group of people doing a variety of amusing things in a given location.
- 3.
China’s state-guided programme of modernisation and economic reform; the policy transformed the structure of China’s economy, replacing state centralisation with market orientation. It opened China’s market to the rest of the world, allowing the influence of global/Western culture into the country.
- 4.
Rate as of 2006; data obtained from the ESRC project ‘PhD Graduates’ Career Choices and Impact: A Review of UK Evidence’ (Raddon & Sung, 2009).
- 5.
A well-known piece of Chinese folklore with a corresponding nursery rhyme.
- 6.
Very rarely are families formed through other channels such as asylum or illegitimate human smuggling. The two trajectories above remain the only major and legitimate channels by means of which Chinese-British families residing in the UK are established. In this research, therefore, I focus solely on marriage-related and work/study-related immigration. In addition, I triangulate and verify the roles played by different immigration pathways using event structure analysis (Ragin, 2009), which tests the sufficiency and necessity of designated prerequisites for temporally ensuing events.
- 7.
Gender is chosen to be a comparable destination point in the life pathways of the families due to several reasons: first, gender, focusing on the axis of work and family distinction, follows closely through the two migration trajectories—marriage (spousal) and professional, thus providing a comparable social outcome through time consistent with the social ‘origin’ of migration trajectories; second, gender is the basic concept that underpins the organisation of family and social life at various levels of society; third, although the meaning and understanding of gender differ from one subject to another as will be discussed in the book, the work-family orientation in terms of gender-role enactment (for example, compared with ethnic identification) is well defined and therefore provides a stable starting point for further inquiry.
- 8.
Apart from a few recent cases of retirement at the normal ages for retirement in different occupations.
- 9.
A stable and secure job in a state-owned institution. The term was conceived by Chinese socialists, who represented job security as an iron (and thus unbreakable) bowl.
- 10.
A Chinese proverb describing the ideal of happy family life.
- 11.
The Chinese term for one’s personalised network of influence, similar to the concept of social network or social capital.
- 12.
Quite often cited by the Chinese homemaking mothers to justify the preference for the UK over China as a place for their children is the ‘2008 China Milk Scandal’. Several major milk manufacturers added poisonous chemicals to make their milk powder products appear to have a higher level of protein nutrient. The chemical caused more than 300,000 infants to suffer from kidney damage.
- 13.
An ordinary female who marries the emperor and becomes the empress (symbolised by a phoenix); today, it is a slang term for those who marry someone of a higher social status.
- 14.
On China’s housing prices, see ‘China’s Housing Price Up, Stock Price Down’, Financial Times, 2013.
- 15.
A1 is the first (most basic) level of foreign-language proficiency in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; it is judged to require 40 to 50 hours’ tuition for most learners.
- 16.
The slogan of Chinese educators in the 1980s, which crystallised the state’s aim to construct a scientifically and technologically advanced nation. Other such slogans included ‘science and technology is the primary production force’, which sought to correct the left-extremist orientation of the Cultural Revolution.
- 17.
A widely used English-language proficiency test worldwide.
- 18.
At the time of interview, one British pound was worth about ten Chinese yuan.
- 19.
According to UK Border Agency regulations, a marriage migrant must complete two two-and-a-half-year terms with a spouse visa and a further one-year qualification period to become eligible for British citizenship; the completion of other tests such as ‘Life in the UK’ is also required.
- 20.
Data from the 2006 China General Social Survey. The respondents were asked how far they agreed with the proposition that ‘it is necessary for married couples to have a child’. 50.7 % of the women agreed that a child is necessary for married couples, 28.8 % disagreed, and 20.5 % remained neutral—neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the proposition. For Chinese men, 50.4 % agreed that a child is necessary for married couples, 27.5 % disagreed, and 22.1 % remained neutral.
- 21.
In Chinese tradition, one of several filial obligations is to have a (male) child to perpetuate the family lineage.
- 22.
In the 2006 China General Social Survey, people were asked how far they agreed with the statement ‘husbands should be older than wives’. 50.7 % agreed, and only 13.1 % disagreed.
- 23.
Dual nationality is prohibited in China, although some respondents (including Yiyi) have illegally kept their Chinese passports after obtaining British citizenship, to facilitate visiting their parents in China.
- 24.
Currently, parental visa holders are only allowed to stay in the UK for a maximum of six months (single period or multiple periods). This limitation is determined by the country’s welfare system, according to which temporary residents staying in the UK for longer than six months are entitled to access to the National Health Service and other such facilities.
- 25.
In China, mixed-blood children are traditionally believed to be very beautiful. Although intermarriage has only recently obtained widespread acceptance in the country, mixed-blood babies have long been considered ‘cute’.
- 26.
In China, vocational gradation and advancement often depend on one’s level of education. This is especially the case in the public sector and some highly institutionalised organisations.
- 27.
In Chinese tradition, the eldest son bears the greatest responsibility (more than his siblings) for supporting his parents.
- 28.
A Chinese colloquial term for a family man who is caring and loving; the concept of a ‘new’ man is used in contrast with the patriarchal and authoritarian male of Chinese tradition.
- 29.
Although no significant generational difference in people’s work-family orientation was observed, the generational effect is certainly clear in the patterns of immigration. While marriage migration has shown a stable increase among all generations, work and study immigration is more common among younger people.
- 30.
According to the UK Border Agency, a marriage migrant’s spouse visa may be revoked if his or her British spouse reports the termination of the marriage/relationship, subject to formal investigation.
- 31.
For example, the female Chinese professionals frequently used such expressions as ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘different’ and ‘not the same’ when discussing marriage-migrant Chinese housewives in the UK.
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Hu, Y. (2016). Happy Families Alike?. In: Chinese-British Intermarriage. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29281-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29281-6_2
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