Foreign residence in China: Coming to terms with new types of diversity
Internal migration and large-scale urbanization have been fundamental to China’s economic success story. The country’s development has given rise to massive flows of both domestic migration and international emigration. Recently, China has also emerged as an immigration destination country. In 2018, both the number of border crossings in and out of China by mainland citizens (340 million crossings) and foreign nationals (95 million) reached record heights.
According to the 2010 census, which for the first time included foreign residents, China currently has a foreign population of one million. Estimates that include the many non-registered non-PRC nationals add up to double that figure. While this still is a minute fraction of China’s total population of 1.34 billion, the absolute number already makes China an immigration country the size of a mid- sized European or Asian country.
Foreign residents in China include students, expatriate or locally hired professionals, entrepreneurs, traders, marriage migrants, and unskilled laborers. They include ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese foreigners. They are both from the PRC’s neighbors (mainly South and North Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Burma and Russia) and from farther afield (South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Australia, North America and Europe).
The main areas that attract foreigners are the large urban areas along the coast (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing) and borderland regions in the South, Northeast and Northwest, but smaller numbers are also found in smaller cities across China.
Foreign residents generate specific demands for education, housing and health care and are setting new patterns in entertainment, life-style trends and popular culture. Especially large or more visible groups like the Koreans and Africans are changing the cultural and political map of Chinese society. Coming to terms with new types of diversity has already started debates among Chinese public intellectuals that involve reconsiderations of culture, heritage, and ethnicity in the concept of the Chinese nation.
Both before and after 1949 China’s reception and treatment of diversity has not been predicated on ideas of shared rights. The aim was not to incorporate foreigners and other non-Chinese, but to insulate Chinese society from them. Currently, China embraces foreign residence as a means of joining globalization, yet still avoiding pressures for large-scale permanent settlement and full integration into society.
The new 2012 exit-entry law for the first time addressed the full package of exit, entry, settlement, immigration, expulsion, naturalization, refugee status, and trafficking, reforming two previous separate laws for foreigners and Chinese citi- zens which had been in place since 1994. This significant development highlights a growing recognition that immigrants are part of Chinese society.
Foreign residence in China is fueled by rising demand for labor and skills. China has largely depleted its own (rural) surplus labor force, and labor-intensive sectors of the economy (agriculture, construction, export processing, care) increasingly turn to foreign workers to make up the difference.
The foreign population is important to the central and local governments because they possess skills, qualifications and foreign networks that are scarce in China. Government “talent programs”, providing high-level professionals and scientists with funding and other benefits, are the clearest expression of this, but actually account for only a fraction of the number of foreigners. The vast majority have arrived under their own steam, finding employment, starting businesses, or even marrying and having children.
In this MERICS Monitor, we will discuss the most salient issues confronting the Chinese government and foreign residents themselves. These include:
the potential role of migration in alleviating the looming demographic crisis
China’s recent shift to a more comprehensive, top-down approach to regulating foreign migration
gaps in providing equal treatment for foreigners
challenges of integrating resident foreigners
Such issues are also relevant to the governments and organizations from the foreigners’ countries of origin, and international organizations working in or with China on international migration, asylum, human smuggling and trafficking. More generally, the entry and employment of foreigners are also important for foreign and domestic companies and other employers with foreign employees in China.