Traversing Ancestral and New Homelands: Chinese Immigrant Transnational Organizations in the United States A Report 1

Transcription

1 Traversing Ancestral and New Homelands: Chinese Immigrant Transnational Organizations in the United States A Report 1 Min Zhou University of California, Los Angeles February 2011 [The report contains descriptive data only. Theoretical framing, analysis, and conclusion can be found in unpublished manuscripts by Portes and Zhou 2011; Zhou 2011; Zhou and Lee 2011.] INTRODUCTION This study aims to examine the origins and developments of Chinese immigrant transnational organizations in the United States and their effects on immigrants socioeconomic incorporation in the new homeland and development in the ancestral homeland. Over the past three decades, immigrant transnational organizations in the U.S. have proliferated with accelerated immigration and the rise of new transportation and communication technologies that facilitate long-distance and cross-border ties. Their impact and influence have grown in tandem with immigrants drive to make it in America as well as with the need for remittances and investments in sending countries. Numerous studies of Latin American immigrants have found that remittances and migrant investments represent one of the major sources of foreign exchange of the countries of origin and are even used as collateral for loans from international financial institutions and that transnational flows are not merely driven by individual behavior but oftentimes by collective forces via organizations as well (Faist 2006; Goldring 2002; Itzigsohn et al. 1999; Landolt 2000; Portes 2001). But the density and strength of the economic, political, and sociocultural ties of immigrant groups across borders vary, and the effects of transnational organizations created by immigrants in the U.S. on developments of respective countries of origin also vary (Portes et al 2007). Nevertheless, the sum total of the transnational movements and the subsequent contributions of immigrants to families and communities left behind acquire structural importance for both sending and receiving countries as these flows affect both the pace and forms of incorporation of immigrants in the US and the economic prospects of those they left behind. However, existing studies of immigrant transnationalism in the United States to date are heavily skewed toward Latin American groups Guarnizo 2003; Itzigsohn et al. 1999; Landolt 2000; Levitt 2001; Portes 2001; Smith and Guarnizo 1998). Relatively little has been done on Asian immigrants. As a consequence, we do not have anything resembling an inventory of Asian immigrant organizations in the United States, nor reliable knowledge of their impacts on sending countries and on the immigrant communities themselves. This study zooms in on the Chinese case to explore transnational organizations created by Chinese immigrants in the United States and their effects on hostland incorporation to the U.S. and homeland development in the People s Republic of China (PRC). 2 The focus on ethnic Chinese transnational organizations is highly significant. On the one hand, Chinese Americans are one of the oldest and the largest Asian-origin groups in the United 1

2 States with long-standing ethnic enclaves Chinatowns as well as emerging ethnoburbs (ethnic middle-class suburbs) and they have made remarkable socioeconomic achievements in American society. On the other hand, China is the largest homeland of any immigrant groups in the United States is a rising capitalist nation with a rapidly globalized market economy, and has high volumes of emigration and a huge reserve for international migration. China also is the most important partner with and the biggest threat (real or imagined) to the U.S. Thus, studies of immigrant transnationalism would simply be incomplete without considering Chinese Americans and China. Thus, a systematic study of the Chinese transnational organizations in the U.S. and their effects on hostland incorporation and homeland development will further supplement knowledge gained from Latin American immigrant experiences and give us a much clearer picture of the extent, nature, and effects of immigrant transnationalism. The study of Chinese transnational organizations attempts to address three main questions: 1) What are the scope, size, and nature of contemporary Chinese immigrant transnational organizations? 2) Why have these transnational organizations emerged? 3) Who is likely to actively participate in routine activities across national borders and why? 4) What do these organizations do for immigrants in the U.S. and for countrymen in China, and what bearing do these organizational forms and activities have on community building and immigrant incorporation in the hostland and on homeland development? DATA COLLECTION Data collection is transnational, including compiling a national inventory of Chinese immigrant transnational organizations in the United States, administering a survey of Chinese transnational organizations, their types, leadership, and their activities, and conducting face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with Chinese officials and organizational leaders in charge of overseas Chinese affairs and site visits to key sending places in the PRC. This data set that contains both quantitative and qualitative date permits the generation of working hypotheses on the effects of immigrant transnational organizations on immigrant socioeconomic incorporation to the U.S. society and on China s local and national development. Chinese America In the United States, data collection involves compiling an organization inventory, a survey with a selected group of organizational leaders, and field observation of organizational activities. Because of constraints in funding and manpower, this study focuses on three major metropolitan areas that concentrate most of the Chinese immigrants and their organizations Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. More than half of the Chinese in the United States concentrated in the states of California and New York even though their numbers grow rapidly in every state since the turn of the 21 st century. The Chinese cluster spatially not merely in traditional Chinatowns in the inner city but also in middle class suburbs where they have established visible ethnoburbs (middle-class suburbs dominated by new immigrants of diverse origins). Routine participant observations were conducted on Chinese transnational organizations in Los Angeles, the new capital of Chinese immigration with the most dense and diverse associational life among old and new immigrants. 2

3 Organization inventory A national inventory of transnational organizations created by Chinese immigrants in the United States is compiled through Chinese language business directories, Internet searches, organizational newsletters, official listings with the Chinese government, as well as discussions with informants and Chinese diplomatic officials by , phone, or in person. This inventory has a focus on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York since each of these three metropolises has a fairly extensive Chinese language telephone directory (e.g., the 2009 Chinese Consumer Yellow Pages of Southern California contains 2,800 pages). It is impossible to obtain a complete inventory of Chinese immigrant organizations. An official at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles said that Southern California alone would have an estimate of 2,000 ethnic Chinese organizations. Even though this inventory list represents only a fraction of all Chinese organizations in the U.S., it nonetheless captures the wide range of organizations in size, type, and scope. Survey Between July and December 10, 2009, we conducted a survey of ethnic Chinese organizations in the United States. 3 The survey used a close-ended questionnaire with a few open-ended questions at the end (Appendix 1; coding in Appendix 1b). Leaders of 52 organizations were selected to be interviewed, ¾ by telephone and the rest, face-to-face (Appendix 2, coding in Appendix 2b). Participant Observations We paid site visits to organizational meetings or activities between July 2009 and January Activities being observed included monthly organizational luncheons of the Sun Yat-sen Alumni Association of Southern California; fund-raising luncheons in Los Angeles Chinatown and Monterey Park by various Chinese organizations; traditional holiday celebration in Los Angeles Chinatown; welcoming banquets for Chinese officials visiting Los Angeles by various Chinese organizations; and the PRC National Day (October 1 st ) celebration party. The organizations selected for the survey or site visit were not chosen at random, but as emblematic of the principal types detected in the national inventory. Many are sufficiently old and well-established to have a track record of completed projects in the home country, are sufficiently large to make a difference in terms of their contributions and programmatic initiatives, at least at the local level, or are in the process of implementing one or more significant initiatives in the home country that can be monitored during the observation period. China Data collection in the PRC contains primarily interviews and focus group discussions with government officials in charge of overseas Chinese affairs and leaders of some quasigovernmental and non-governmental organizations involved in overseas Chinese (see Appendix 3 for the interview schedule). We focus on two provinces: Guangdong and Fujian, China s most important qiao-xiang (hometown or place of origin for overseas Chinese). Guangdong is the largest qiao-xiang, and Fujian the second largest. A Qiao-xiang, literarily means sojourners village, refers to a place where the ratio of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese to the total population is 10% or more, as established by the Chinese government in 1957 (Pan 1999, p. 27). About 70% of all pre-world-war-ii Chinese emigrants were from 3

4 Guangdong, and nearly 80% of all pre-world War II Chinese immigrants to North America and the Americas were from Guangdong. People from Fujian have had a long history of emigration, but those who came to the U.S. in large numbers (a good portion undocumented) only after the late 1980s. Guangdong Province: Guangdong Province has a population of 83 million, the second most populous province in China. It has been one of the two major sources of emigration to Southeast Asia since the 12 th century (the other being Fujian Province) and the major source of immigrants to North America since the mid-19 th century. More than 30 million people of Chinese ancestry in the world (probably more than half of Chinese Americans) can find their roots in Guangdong Province. The ratio of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese in Guangdong to the total provincial population is about 36%. The provincial capital city is Guangzhou with a population of 10.2 million. Major sending places for migrants to the US include Jiangmen (also known as Wuyi qiao-xiang encompassing five original counties Taishan, Kaiping, Engping, Heshan, and Xinhui), Shunde (a district of Foshan municipality), and Zhongshan (a municipality). These three regional cities were the main sites for fieldwork in Guangdong. Fujian Province: Fujian Province has a population of 35 million. It has been a major source of emigration to Southeast Asia since the 12 th century, but to America only since the late 1980s (with a significant number of undocumented migrants, or the snake people ). The ratio of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese in Fujian to the total provincial population is about 26%. About 9 million Chinese overseas can find their roots in Fujian Province. The provincial capital city is Fuzhou with a population of 6 million. Major sending places in Fujian for migrants to the US include Changle, Fuqing, and Lianjian, the main sites of the current study. Site Visits During the two trips to China in summer 2009 and in December 2009, I conducted faceto-face interviews and focus group discussions and paid site visits in selected villages, towns, and cities in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. The targeted organizations were governmental agencies involved in overseas Chinese affairs and non-governmental US-China transnational organizations and interviewed, or conducted focus group discussion with, government officials and organizational leaders, concerning their policies, programmatic and legislative programs toward their expatriates and ethnic communities in the U.S., and activities. I also paid visits to Beijing municipal government and the PRC central government and held meetings with officials in charge of overseas Chinese affairs Beijing (see Appendix 4 which includes a sample of Chinese government organizations and non-governmental organizations). Listed below is a sample. a) Beijing: Central government level agencies: Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council (colloquially, Qiao-ban), All-China and Beijing Returned Overseas Chinese Federations (colloquially, Qiao-lian); Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park of Beijing 4

5 b) Guangdong Province: provincial Qiao-ban; Qiao-ban and/or Qiao-lian of Guangzhou, Jingmen, Shunde and Zhongshan; villages in Taishan, Kaiping, and Zhongshan c) Fujian Province: provincial Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian; Qiao-ban and/or Qiao-lian of Fuzhou, Changle, Fuqing, and Lianjian; Changle Museum for Overseas Chinese; villages in Changle and Fuqing Interviews and focus group discussions a) Beijing: face-to-face interviews with officials at Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, Central Committee of China Zhi Gong Party, and Western Returned Scholars Association; a focus group discussion with officials at Beijing Returned Overseas Chinese Federation. b) Guangdong Province: face-to-face interviews with officials at Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Guangdong Friendship Association of Teo Chownese Overseas, Guangzhou Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Zhi Gong Party (Guangzhou), Bureau of Foreign & Oversears Chinese Affairs of Zhongshan, Zhongshan Returned Overseas Chinese Association, and Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau of Jiangmen; two focus group discussions: One with officials and leaders at Jiangmen Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Jiangmen Overseas Exchange Association, and Jiangmen Youth Federation for Overseas Chinese, and the other with officials or leaders at Bureau of Foreign & Oversears Chinese Affairs of Shunde District and Sunde Returned Overseas Chinese Association. c) Fujian Province: face-to-face interviews with officials of Fujian Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Institute for the Study of Chinese Overseas of the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, Changle Association of New York s Changle Branch Office, Houyu Village, and Yangyu Village; 6 focus group discussions: one with officials at Lianjian County Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Guantou Town Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Aojiang Town Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Gongyu Village, Xiaqi Village; the second with leaders of Baisha Village, the third with officials at Tingjiang Town Returned Overseas Chinese Association, the fourth with officials at Changle Returned Overseas Chinese Association, the fifth with officials and leaders at Fuqing Returned Overseas Chinese Association, Jiangjing Town Returned Overseas Chinese Association, and Changxi Village, and the sixth with leaders of Sanshan Town Returned Overseas Chinese Association and Zelang Village (see Appendix 4). MAIN FINDINGS: U.S. The people of Chinese ancestry living outside of China, Hong Kong, and Macau are made up of less than 3 percept of China s population (out of 1.3 billion), the vast majority of the Chinese Diaspora (estimated at about 48 million) lives in Southeast Asia. 4 Outside Southeast Asia, the United States concentrated the largest ethnic Chinese population. The Chinese, in particular, have had a long history of international migration that dates back to the 12 th century and have established dense economic, social, and cultural networks between the Diaspora and the ancestral 5

6 homeland. However, transnational flows to and from China were discouraged or outlawed by the emperors of several dynasties and were disrupted and strictly controlled between 1949 at the founding of the PRC and China began to implement its open-door policy and economic reform in 1978 and normalized its diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1979, which ushered in a new era of mass international migration to the U.S. Thanks to immigration from mainland China, Chinese Americans (including those originated from Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora) have become the largest Asian-origin group and the second largest contemporary immigrant group, next to Mexican, in the U.S. at present day. Numerically, the ethnic Chinese population in the U.S. grew exponentially, from 435,062 in 1970 to nearly 2.9 million in 2000 (see table 1). As of 2006, the Chinese American population was estimated at 3.6 million. Much of the ethnic population growth is due to international migration. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, more than 2 million immigrants were admitted to the United States from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan as permanent residents between 1960 and This, of course, does not take into account the number of unauthorized immigrants. Since 1980 China has been on the USCIS list of top ten immigrant-origin countries in the United States. The U.S. census also attests to the big part played by immigration. As of 2006, foreign born Chinese accounted for two-thirds of the Chinese American population, more than half (56%) of the foreign born arrived after 1990, and 59 percent of the foreign born were naturalized U.S. citizens. [Table 1 about here] So far, most research on immigrant transnationalism in the U.S. has focused on Latinorigin groups, although there is growing evidence of similar organizational patterns and crossborder activism among Asian immigrants. Since the late 1970s, transnational linkages between China and Chinatowns or newly emerging Chinese ethnoburbs are being renewed, strengthened, and developed by immigrants and their organizations. Table 2 provides select characteristics of China and Chinese America. As shown, China has a population of 1.3 billion, the largest in the world, and at GDP per capita (2008 CIA estimate) US$3,300, ranked 107 th in 2008 (China was among the poorest in the world in 1949 with a GDP at only US$148.00, lower than India, at US$248). 6 It was a very rapidly urbanized country with its urban population increased from 26% in 1990 to 42% in [Table 2 about here] Chinese immigrant organizations in the United States exist in a variety of fields: civic, music/arts, sports, social service, political, alumni, educational, economic, professional, and a range of organizations based on common family or clan ties and places of origin. Chinese American organizations aiming at domestic affairs are not the focus of this study, although some may be included in the inventory. Table 3 is a summary of the inventory collected as of January 10, 2010 (Appendix 5 is a detailed listing of all 1,370 organizations). As it shows, hometown associations are the most numerous in the Chinese immigrant community, making up 40% of all organizations in our inventory, and civic organizations take up another 14%; professional organizations and alumni associations, most of which emerged after 1990, are also very visible, at making up around 10%. [Table 3 about here] 6

7 Chinese Transnational Organizations: Pre-1980 Prior to mass immigration from China, ethnic Chinese organizations were based primarily on kinship or place of origin and most were transnational in nature (except during ). For much of the 19 th century and 20 th century, Chinese Americans in the U.S. were subjected to legal exclusion. Chinatowns and its ethnic organizations rose to cater to the needs of Chinese immigrants, most were sojourners with the intention to return home and most lived in segregated Chinatowns. The organizations, including a horizontal array of clan or family associations, district associations, and tong, guild or merchants associations, gave the emerging Chinese immigrant community an ethnically distinct structure. Together, these organizations exerted powerful influences on all aspects of community affairs. Three major types of organizations were dominant in old Chinatowns: clan/family, district, and tong/merchant associations. These organizations were traditional and patriarchal in nature and had overlapping memberships (Zhou 2009). Clan or Family Associations Clan or family associations encompassed not only close kin but also the entire clan, whose members might not share blood, but had the same surname, or the same descent from common ancestors, and were usually from the same village. Clan/family associations in America were more inclusive based on a combination of common surname, ancestral descent, and village of origin. For example, there were single-surname clan associations, such as the Lee On Dong Benevolent Association, Eng Family Benevolent Association, Cheng Society of America, or multiple surname clan associations such as Fong Lun Association (Sit, Seto), Soo Yen Fraternal Association (Lui, Fong, Kwong), Lung Kong Tin Yee Association (Lau, Kwan, Cheung, Chiu), and Gee Tuck Sam Tuck Association (Choi, Ng, Chow, Yung, Tau). This type of clan or family associations varied in size, ranging from small single-surname associations with 20 to 100 members to larger multi-family associations with 100 to ten thousand members (Kuo 1977; Wong 1988). District Associations (Hui Guan) District associations were organized around a common native place of birth or origin that might transcend the village. These district associations were usually named after a township or a county from the homeland and recruited members who were not only from the same township or county, such as Yeong Wo Benevolent Association, Hainan Hui Guan, and Ning Yeung Association. Members spoke the same dialect. Tongs or Merchants Association Unlike family or district associations, tongs were organized as mutual aid societies and merchants associations; many were operated as brotherhoods or secret societies. Tong members were not related by blood, surname, ancestral descent, or village of origin. Instead, they pledged allegiance to one another as brothers in blood oath. Each tong had a highly unified military force, as violence was accepted as necessary for self-defense. Most family or district associations had fighters to defend their economic and political interests, but only the tong had the distinct advantage of secret membership. Through the element of surprise, tongs exerted tremendous power in the ethnic community (Kwong 1987, p. 98). As a result, many family and district associations developed formal or informal ties to tongs for insurance and greater 7

8 protection. With intricate ties to family and district associations, tongs had greater finances, larger memberships, and fiercer soldiers than other associations operating under both the legitimate and illegitimate layers of social order (Chin 1996). Through secret language and mythical religious rituals, the bonds of tong members were solidified with a code of loyalty and pledge to revenge any offense committed by outsiders against one of their own members. Tongs controlled the economic life of a good part of old Chinatown. They also involved in homeland politics. Some of the well-known tongs include Suey Sing Association, On Leong Chinese Merchants Association, Hip Sing Association, Hungmen Chee Kung Tong, and Bing Kong Tong. The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) The CCBA was established in the late 19 th century as an umbrella organization, acting as the only legitimate government of old Chinatowns. Known originally as the Six Company first developed in San Francisco s Chinatown, this overarching inner government federated existing family, district, and merchants associations under a unifying leadership, monopolized key businesses in the community, mediated internal conflicts, controlled the social behavior of its members, and negotiated with the outside world in the best interest of the community. For example, the CCBA in New York was established in 1883 to represent a cross-section of the Chinese community in New York. It is made up of 60 member organizations, including district organizations such as Ning Yeung Association and Lin Sing Association; clan associations such as the Lee, Eng, or Chan Family Association; political organizations such as the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) Eastern Region Office; professional and trade organizations such as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese American Restaurant Association; as well as religious, cultural and women s organizations. Its main functions were to provide social services to fellow immigrants, to mediate personal and commercial disputes, to preserve Chinese traditions and cultural heritage, to serve as a bridge between Chinese and American groups, to promote Chinese-American interests, to engage in charitable activities; and to sponsor educational and recreational activities. 7 Los Angeles CCBA was established in 1889, made up of 27 member organizations, including clan, district, merchants organizations and some other civic organizations. It has now shifted its function as Chinatown s quasi government to a full service organization in response to drastic changes in the immigrant community. 8 Many of these traditional organizations in Chinatown have existed for a long time, and a majority has already celebrated their 100 th birthdays. Most of them invested in real properties and purchased their own buildings for organizational activities (like churches). They also played multiple roles, as labor recruitment agencies (family, kin, and clan networks were instrumental for earlier Chinese immigrants to the extent that potential emigrants must first know someone who had immigrated or had access to the international labor recruitment agencies), as credit unions (for managing finances and remittances), as mail carriers between homeland and the U.S., and as mediators for internal conflicts and disputes. These century-old organizations often maintained close transnational linkages to the homeland through economic and political activities (e.g., aiming at overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, the nationalist government, or the communist government), but since the Chinese government discoursed emigration, banned political organizations, and suspicious of émigrés, transnational activities were largely informal and underground. Their ties to China were severed during the communist regime between 1949 and 1978 but were renewed and strengthened since In present days, when the Chinese government send official delegations to the US, these organizations often serve as hosts to the 8

9 Chinese guests and leaders of these organizations would be invited to China and be treated as distinguished guests by the Chinese government. Ethnic organizations that had emerged in Chinatowns (essentially sojourning bachelors societies) during the period of Chinese exclusion were oriented toward an eventual return to China, and this orientation was reinforced by legal exclusion. In recent years, these century-old organizations revive and are replenished by new immigrants. They have established connections with China. Most of them are transnational today, and many have regular contacts with various levels of Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian in China. However, those members who are transnational are likely to be businesspeople, using the organizations names to gain legitimacy when they go to China to seek economic and other opportunities. In practice, many old family and district associations are experiencing decline and some have already been reduced to mere symbolic status, such as serving as informal card/chess/mah-jong clubs for old-timers and the elderly. Chinese Transnational Organizations: Post-1980 The three types of long-standing traditional organizations still exist in Chinatown today but their power and influence in Chinatown have declined for several obvious reasons. First, the host society is less exclusive and more open, allowing those with higher socioeconomic status (SES) to settle in suburbs or other urban neighborhoods of higher SES. Second, immigrants are no longer sojourners from the same village in need of familial-type support for coethnic organizations in Chinatowns. Third, many of the sending villages have become urbanized, transforming the notion of hometown beyond village or small township. Fourth, many new immigrants, especially those highly skilled have hailed from major metropolitan areas outside of the traditional sending regions across all parts of China, creating tremendous diversity in origins and SES within the immigrant population. Nonetheless, traditional Chinatown-based organizations are much more resourceful than newer ethnic organizations in that many own real estate properties that yield substantial rental incomes for operation and other organizations activities. Since the 1980s, new ethnic organizations established by contemporary Chinese immigrants roughly include the following types: Extended Hometown Organizations A hometown association or organization is usually named after a migrant sending place, or Qiao-xiang for the Chinese. In the old days, a hometown often referred to a village, or a xiang (Fukien Hoyu Village Association). Today, the hometown is extended beyond the place of birth or origin to a town (e.g. Fujian Guantou Association), a county (Lianjiang Association), a city (e.g., Changle Association, Zhongshan Association), a region (e.g., Wuyi Association), a major metropolis (e.g., Guangzhou Tong Xiang Hui, Beijing Tong Xiang Hui, Shanghai Tong Xiang Hui), and even a province (e.g., Guangdong Hui Guan, Hunan Association, Sichuan Tong Xiang Hui). These organizations are relatively large with members who may not necessarily be born or raised in those places but may have migrated into those places for work or school (esp. attending colleges). Some members may not even share the same dialect. For example, Beijing became a new Qiao-xiang, because many of the highly educated from Beijing came to the U.S. to study and eventually stayed permanently as immigrants. But most of them were not native Beijingnese 9

10 (came to Beijing to attend college and stayed to work after graduation). These extended hometown organizations are often recognized by Qiao-ban (Overseas Chinese Affairs Office) and Qiao-lian (Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese) at various levels of government (from the state level to provincial, municipal, county, and town level), and have maintained both formal and informal relationships with the Chinese government. Organizational membership ranges from 100 to the thousands. While many new hometown organizations are extended beyond sending villages and towns, there are still a visible number of associations following the old organizational pattern village-based. This is especial prevalent among immigrants from Fuzhou metropolitan region, such as American Houyu Association and American Yangyu Association, but is no longer common among immigrants from Guangdong. Part of the reason is because many of the Fujianese immigrants were undocumented. They relied heavily on kinship networks to migrate, to survive harsh circumstances after migration, and to realize their American dreams. Economic or Business Organizations Unlike old Chinatown s tongs and merchants associations, new economic organizations depend heavily on coethnic and transnational networks to operate and expand their businesses. These transnational business organizations also have a strong desire to integrate into the host society s economy and polity. They often view themselves as agents of change in economic terms, standing at the forefront of the global economy and serving as the Gateway to the Pacific Rim on the American shore and, by the same token, the gateway to America on the other side of the Pacific. These economic organizations promote ethnic identity not just for economic purposes, but also for cultural maintenance, and, less explicitly, for political purposes. Professional Organizations Formal Chinese professional organizations in the U.S. are registered non-profit organizations and generally maintain bilingual websites. Because of the skilled migration from China in the past three decades, these professional organizations are well represented in various fields of science, engineering, medicine, and finance. Organizational membership ranges from a few dozen to several thousands. Some of the well-known professional organizations include (just to name a few at random): Chinese Association for Science and Technology USA (national with 15 regional chapters), American Association of Chinese Physicians (New York based with regional chapters in New England, California, Chicago, and Houston), Chinese Finance Association (national), Chinese Information and Networking Association (Silicon Valley based with regional chapters), Chinese Association for Science and Business (national); Silicon Valley Chinese Engineers Association (Silicon Valley based), Chinese Software Professionals Association (California based), Chinese Association of Science, Economics, and Culture (Florida based), Chinese Economist Society (New York Based), Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (Washington DC based), Chinese American Medical Society (New York based); Chinese American Librarian Association (transnational with six chapters in the U.S. and several chapters in Canada and the Chinese Diaspora in Asia), and Chinese Scholars Association (Los Angeles based). Over 90% of the professional organizations run by mainland Chinese immigrants are transnational in nature. Many are recognized and wooed by the Chinese government in the hope 10

11 of importing new technology and human capital. They regularly hold annual conferences in the U.S. and in China. I can roughly summarize some main characteristics that most Chinese immigrant professional organizations share. First, Chinese immigrant professional organizations vary by type of profession and in scale. Most of these organizations are in science, technology, and business, with a smaller number in law or medicine and a few in social sciences, humanities, and the arts. Most organizations were initially organized as regional organizations; later many of them have expanded nationally with multiple regional chapters. Second, most of these professional organizations are formal in their organizational structure; they are registered as non-profit organizations and usually have a board, a president, and an executive committee. However, the operation depends entirely on voluntarism as all officers and members of the board are professionals with full-time employment or selfemployment. Third, these professional organizations serve multiple purposes. Network building among professionals for both social support and information exchange on employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the United States, as well as in China and other Chinese diasporic communities, is perhaps the most important goal. Other important goals include bridging U.S.-China economic relations, fostering greater Chinese diasporic economic exchanges, raising relief funds in the event of natural disasters in the homelands, and protecting the interests of Chinese immigrants in American society. Fourth, these professional organizations cannot merely operate on membership fees. Thus, fund raising is an important part of organizational activity, and many have been able to raise funds and secure sponsorships from the Chinese immigrant community and Chinese-owned businesses as well as from mainstream financial institutions and manufacturing firms. Fifth, most of these professional organizations are run by men. There are female members, but women s leadership role often gives way to family responsibilities, since many immigrant professional women are married to other professionals who are actively involved in these organizations. Last but not least, activities of professional organizations range from routine meetings, irregular seminars on special topics, and informal socials on a semi-regular basis, but the chief means of communication is through and the Internet, hence overcoming geographical constraints. Alumni Associations Unlike traditional Chinese organizations that are built on kin, village, or place of origin ties, alumni associations are formed on the basis of colleges and universities, and to a lesser extent, high schools, from which Chinese immigrants had graduated prior to immigration to the United States. Before World War II, most of the Chinese immigrants were low-skilled, uneducated labor from rural areas. So alumni associations were not visible. Of some that exited, most were middle school or high school alumni associations from the migrant sending towns, such as Taishan First Middle School Alumni Association, Kaiping First Middle School Alumni Association, Chungshan Alumni Association of Middle Schools. 11

12 Since World War II, three different groups of highly skilled Chinese immigrants have arrived in the United States. The first group is made up of students, scholars, and diplomats who were studying or working in the United States when the Chinese civil war broke out in the mid- 1940s as well as political refugees fleeing the civil war and the new communist regime of the PRC in the late 1940s and 1950s. With the passage of the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, approximately 30,000 Chinese were admitted to the United States as refugees and immigrants. About 5,000 were exchange students and visiting scholars who were studying or working in America at the time and the rest were mostly members of the Chinese elite including top military officers, government officials, diplomats, capitalists and large business owners, and members of the Chinese upper classes. The financial resources that the refugees brought with them and the American educational credentials and work experience that they attained in the United States enabled this group to disperse into middle-class communities without ever setting foot on Chinatown. The second group of highly skilled immigrants consists of almost entirely of students and visiting scholars from Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of the rigorous college entrance examination system and limited opportunities for graduate education, many college graduates heading for the United States to seek advanced training were the top, or the cream, of the Taiwanese educated elite. It was estimated that close to 150,000 Taiwanese students entered the United States for graduate education between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, making them the largest group of foreign students studying in America, and that some 70 to 80 percent of science graduates at National Taiwan University (the best in Taiwan) left for America (Kwong 1987: 60). These students graduated with the highest international standards in their respective fields, science and engineering in particular, and because of career opportunities in the United States, the majority has chosen to stay. Since Taiwanese organizations are not the focus of this study, we have not counted the Taiwanese alumni associations into our inventory list (Professional organizations established by originally established by Taiwanese are included because of their expanded mainland Chinese membership and transnational activities with China). The third group of highly skilled immigrants comprises of students and visiting scholars who have come mainly from mainland China since the 1980s. 9 Between 1978 and 2008, China sent more than 755,000 students to study in more than 100 different countries, about half came to the United States (approximately 375,000), and the rate of return upon completion of education was less than 15%. 10 Like their Taiwanese counterparts of the 1960s and 1970s, most of these Chinese exchange students and visiting scholars were top of the cream in higher education in China and came to America to seek advanced training in the country s best graduate schools and research institutions. Due to a variety of reasons greater career opportunities, professional freedom of expression, higher income, and more desirable lifestyle many Chinese students or scholars decided to stay permanently in the United States upon completion of their degree or research programs. Some even delayed their return by seeking short-term employment opportunities. The Chinese government crackdown of the pro-democracy student movement in Tiananmen on June 4 th 1989 was a significant deterrent. In 1993, over 60,000 Chinese students, scholars, and their families were allowed to apply for permanent residency provided by the U.S. Senate bill (S1216). 11 Educated, well trained, and, for some, willing to be re-trained in more 12

13 marketable fields, the majority of this group has secured professional jobs in the mainstream economy within a relatively short period of adjustment. These three main groups of highly skilled Chinese immigrants have now achieved middle- or upper-middle class status and have been considered highly assimilated into mainstream American society measured by levels of education, occupation, income, and residential mobility. Most of these alumni associations have maintained a formal relationship with their corresponding colleges and universities in China. Political Organizations Chinese immigrant political transnational organizations are relatively rare. Many immigrant ethnic organizations are certainly concerned with U.S. and native homeland politics but seldom explicitly or publicly express their political positions in their mission statements. Historically, some of the Chinese immigrant organizations were involved in homeland politics with specific goal of overthrowing the government. For example, the Chinese Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen to overthrow the Qing Dynasty owed its success to the support of the Chinese Diaspora. Chinese immigrant political organizations in the U.S. such as the Revive China Society (Hsing-Chung Hui), played a key role in serving as a revolutionary base to raise funds for revolutionary activities. 12 Another organization, Chee Kung Tong, also supported the Chinese Revolution of While the Chinese government prohibits most of the overseas Chinese political organizations to engage in Chinese politics, it recognizes a few, among them are the Chee Kung Party and the Association for the Promotion of China s Peaceful Reunification. 13 Political organizations established by new Chinese Americans are more directly engaged in domestic politics than in transnational or ancestral homeland politics (Toyota, 2010). Religious Organizations Religious organizations, mostly non-denominational Christian groups, have sprung up as more and more Chinese immigrants entering the United States (Yang 1999; Yang 2001). Most of these religious organizations are located in Chinatowns or ethnoburbs, but some are geographically dispersed and have members from the highly-skilled, highly-assimilated segment of the Chinese immigrant population. While most have clearly-stated religious missions, they also often serve important social functions similar to those of professional and or alumni associations. Some specify secular goals, mainly networking and information exchange to enhance the mobility prospects of Chinese immigrants. A visible number of these organizations attempt to be transnational but face barriers in China to conduct religious activities (Yang 2005). Differences between Traditional and New Ethnic Organizations In general, Chinese immigrant organizations that have emerged since the late 1980s are quite different from those in Chinatowns in some remarkable ways. First, family, kinship, or ancestral place of origin does not provide a strong basis for organization in suburban Chinese enclaves Chinese ethnoburbs. There are few family associations named after a particular family name or village of origin. District associations do emerge, but they are based on a broader concept of the place of origin, such as provinces or cities and have a more diverse membership. Merchants associations take the form of business associations that are more specialized and globalized, structurally linked to various network hosts among the Chinese both within and outside the ethnic enclave as well as those in the homelands. 13

14 Second, the level of organizational density in new urban and suburban Chinese enclaves is as high as it is in old Chinatowns. However, there is no equivalent overarching ethnic institution like the CCBA to act as a quasi government. Social control is thus relatively weak and the structure is horizontal rather than hierarchical. Third, new ethnic organizations are oriented more toward representation in mainstream American politics than toward native homeland politics. These organizations make special efforts to register Asian American citizens to vote and mobilize non-citizens to naturalize and support pan-asian political representation. Renewed Missions and Current Activities Hometown Associations In the old days facing legal and institutional exclusion, various ethnic organizations emerged to assist the excluded Chinese immigrants, offering tangible and intangible support to help them fulfill their gold dream (to bring gold and glory home). At the very start, Chinese immigrant organizations had a transnational orientation. Most of the immigrants were sojourners with an intention to return to China, even though circumstances did not allow them to travel back and forth frequently, they remitted to their families on a regular basis. The elite (also referred as qiuling or qiaoling), many of whom were merchants and business people, were transnational in the act, they served as transnational liaisons, bringing news about home to warm the lonely hearts of those sojourning in a foreign land, and about America to comfort the anxious relatives left behind. Based on a combination of common family surname, ancestral descent, place of origin, and interests, these organizations functioned like extended families. Initially serving as mutual aid societies, these organizations invested in the community, provided fellow countrymen with housing, employment-related or business-related services (e.g., finding jobs, translating and filling in paperwork for business licenses, and settling business disputes, etc.), and helping with emotional, cultural, and economic issues. Some of these organizations were expanded to provide credit and financing through informal credit clubs, or hui. They also functioned to express and preserve cultural values and rituals and protected their members from threats from different factions of Chinatown and from the larger host society. For particular historical reasons, most of the traditional organizations are located in Chinatowns and own real estate properties, which now value at one to several million dollars (see Illustration 1: Select Photos of multi-story buildings owned by traditional Chinese organizations in Chinatowns). The organizations usually keep a main hall, an altar, and some space for rituals, meetings, and other organizational activities, while renting a large portion of their properties out to ethnic businesses. The rental income, ranging from $200,000 to $800,000 annually, is used for operation and various activities. This kind of economic resources is unavailable in newer organizations, including professional and alumni associations that are rich in individual human capital and family economic resources. At present, most traditional organizations have renewed their missions of offering mutual aid and helping immigrants to incorporate into American society, preserving cultural heritage, and also contributing to the motherland s or hometown development (most had abandoned the 14

15 mission of overthrowing the communist government and reestablished relations with China). For example, the CCBA, which has remained loyal to the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), no longer prohibits its leaders and members from having contact with China and have paid frequent official visits to China. 14 San Francisco s CCBA initiated a signature campaign among Chinese American organizations to welcome the Beijing Olympic Torch in March San Francisco s Suey Sing Association (founded in 1867) was one of the few traditional organizations in Chinatown that supported the PRC despite strong opposition from the community prior to It played a crucial role in promoting the entry of the PRC into the United Nations and the normalization of sino-us diplomatic relations in the 1970s. It was the very first organization in the Chinese community in the U.S. to fly the flag of the PRC in Its organizational plague and photos of one of its prominent leaders, Mr. Honghu Chi (a Changle native), his son, and grandson, were permanently on display in the Hall of Fame at Overseas Chinese Museum in Changle, Fujian Province (see Illustration 2: Photos of Mr. Chi in Changle Museum). Regarding the association s renewed mission, Mr. Chi made the following remark at the 13 th Suey Sing Association Convention in Guangzhou in 2007: The American Suey Sing Association is moving in tandem with changing times. We continue to foster stronger fellowship and mutual assistance among our members, to cultivate stronger coalition with other ethnic organizations in and out of the Chinese American community, to help build stronger ties between China and the US, to promote a more balance sino-us trade, and to unequivocally oppose the notion of two Chinas and support a peaceful China s reunification. 15 Major organizational activities may be roughly categorized into three kinds among hometown associations: Hometown development projects, philanthropy work, association conventions, and event celebration. Hometown development projects: Village-based hometown associations tend to engage in public works to improve the life of fellow countrymen. Organizational fund-raising is typically based on specific projects, such as building a gate, a bridge, a roadside altar, a temple, a park, a library, an elderly activity center, and a cultural center; upgrading a school, an ancestral hall, and a clinic; paving or repairing a village road. Regional-based hometown associations mostly work in tandem with the local government in China and propose public works projects in accordance with the overall city planning (see Illustration 3: Select Photos of Hometown Development Projects). Philanthropy work: Philanthropy work include fund raising for major disaster relief (not limited to China), such severe floods, earthquakes. For example, within just a week after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in August 2009 (which passed over Taiwan with heavy rains and wind speeds of more than 100 mph and devastated much of the southern region), the CCBA in New York raised nearly $90,000 from its member organizations and members. Regular donations would also go to aid to families in poverty and educational funds and scholarship for children from poor families. For example, some hometown associations from Lianjiang, Fujian, such as Baisha Village association, practice xi-juan (wedding donation) and le-juan (happiness 15

16 donation), to raise fund for philanthropy work. Xi-juan is for newly-wed couples who are members of the hometown association to donate a lump sum of money, usually $500; and le-juan is freewill donation, ranging from a small amount, e.g., $15 (100 yuan) to a substantial amount $7,500 (50,000 yuan), both are deposited into a village fund, and the village office would set up a plague to acknowledge these two types of donations (see Illustration 4: Photos of Overseas Chinese Donations in Baisha Village, Lianjian). It should be noted that making direct financial contributions to specific sending villages is less common than in the past even among traditional clan/family or district associations. Since many sending villages are themselves being urbanized and villagers have migrated to cities or abroad, the notion of the hometown is more extensive beyond sending villages and towns. Most donations are made via organizations rather than by individuals. Worldwide conventions: Many hometown associations, old or new, are increasing their efforts to connect to the greater Chinese Diaspora. World-wide clansman/hometown association conventions have become more and more visible in recent years (mostly since the early 1990s). With the support of the Chinese government, they are bringing these world-wide conventions to China. The chief purpose of these conventions is for social networking and relationship building, but, implicitly, it is also for members to seek potential economic and business opportunities, as well as symbolic status recognition. Event celebrations: Hometown associations, especially those lodged in Chinatowns or Chinese ethnoburbs, take the lead in organizing cultural events to celebrate traditional Chinese holidays in the US, such as the Chinese New Year (on lunar calendar), Mid-Autumn Festival (the Chinese Thanksgiving Day in September when the moon is full). The Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, for example, blends together typical American marching processions and the traditional ritual and festive celebrations of China. The lunar New Year celebrations are the most important cultural events in the local Chinese American community are usually held during weekends, starting with controlled firecracker and lion, dragon, or unicorn dance intended to ward off evil spirits, followed by the beauty pageant with elaborate costumes, floats, and marching bands. Local politicians and community leaders make their presence in parades or on center stages at street fairs before all-day cultural performances by traditional and contemporary Chinese singers and dancers. Street fairs also attract Chinese Americans who live elsewhere and other non-chinese tourists. Many Chinese immigrant organizations also celebrate or participate in celebrate major international and domestic events in China, such as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing (including the welcoming of the Beijing Olympic Torch passing through San Francisco), the th PRC National Day celebration, and various local charity parades. For example, there was a section in Tiananmen Square in Beijing reserved for distinguished guests and leaders of overseas Chinese organizations to view the National Parade. The banners of overseas Chinese organizations from all over the world would be visible in the annual Charity Parade of Zhongshan. 16

17 Economic Organizations The chief purposes of economic organizations include: to foster connections among immigrant entrepreneurs, and represent and protect their interests in the U.S.; and to help them build connections with China and the Chinese Diaspora to capture new opportunities from China s emerging market economy and elsewhere in the world, especial Asia and Southeast Asia. These organizations would organize delegations to visit China, seeking economic cooperation and exploring potential business and investment opportunities. Leaders of these organizations are generally received warmly and retreated as distinguished guests by the Chinese government. Professional Associations While one of the main goals of Chinese immigrant professional organizations in the US is to foster relationship and facilitate information exchange among professionals, most have a transnational orientation. For example, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, USA (CAST-USA), founded in 1992, is one of the oldest and most recognized non-political and non-profit professional organizations for Chinese scholars, professionals, entrepreneurs, and students working and studying in the US. CAST-USA has been growing at a rapid pace with several thousand members in more than 30 states across the U.S. Its transnational orientation is clearly detected from its mission statements. For example, the CAST Arizona branch aims at: a) promoting intellectual exchanges and research collaboration among members; b) helping to increase visibility of CAST-AZ members in U.S., Chinese, and international professional circles, c) facilitating communications between CAST-AZ members and Chinese government agencies, research and educational institutions, and business enterprises for career advancement and business opportunities; d) advocating and facilitating the understanding of Chinese perspectives among the political leaders and the general public in the State of Arizona in arenas such as political and cultural ones. Working with the Chinese Association for Science and Technology in China, CAST- USA became a main co-sponsor of the Chinese state sponsored Wuhan International Conference on the Environment (WICE, June 27-30, 2009). This conference served as an interdisciplinary scientific forum to present the most recent advances in environmental science and technology. It aimed to foster integration of the latest scientific developments into practical applications for the improvement of human health, environmental protection, eco-system restoration, and green-city development. 16 The Sino-Eco Ecologists Association Overseas, USA, states its mission as follows: - To promote the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and scientific development in Ecology and related sciences among Chinese ecologists overseas as well as between ecologists overseas and those in China. 17

18 - To provide an efficient channel between Chinese and overseas ecologists, through which mutual understanding and cooperation can be enhanced. 17 Similarly the mission of the Chicago-Based Association of Chinese Scientists and Engineers, USA (ACSE), founded in 1992 with more than 1,500 regular members has its mission as follows: - To promote friendship and fellowship among the members and the Chinese community. - To promote the exchange of professional information and experience to help member's career development, growth, and success. - To promote exchange and cooperation between the United States and China in the areas of science, technology, culture, education and business. - To facilitate members to play a more active role in American society. 18 The Chinese Scholars Association, Southern California (CSA), founded in 1998 by Chinese American (mostly foreign born) university professors in southern California, has 85 life members and hundreds of members from a range of fields, including science, engineering, medicine, business, social sciences, and the humanities, and over 90% of its members hold a doctoral degree. Its mission is to promote intellectual exchange, collaboration, and amity among Chinese scholars in the United States, China, and the rest of the world, and it is dedicated to the development of science, technology and higher education and enhancement of Sino- American friendship and mutual understanding. 19 One of the activities CSA is engaging on a regular basis is to send delegations to China to attend conferences, symposiums, and job fairs. For example, the CSA delegation attended the 2009 Conference on International Exchange of Professional and set up a booth at the 38 th Golden Collar World Job Fair in Shenzhen to showcase the organization s mission, agenda, and activities. Alumni Associations The main goal of alumni associations is for social networking and information exchange with members in the U.S. and with alma maters in China. Members of alumni associations are often simultaneously members of professional organizations. Impacts on Chinese America In the United States, Chinese immigrant organizations in the United States exist in a variety of fields: civic, music/arts, sports, social service, political, alumni, educational, economic, professional, and a range of organizations based on common family or clan ties and places of origin. At the level of the individual, participation in organizational life is often selective as immigrants of different ranks are generally busy working to support their families or to advance in their respective careers and occupations. Only a small fraction of the immigrant population in the US conducts routine transnational activities; and these transnationals do so not necessarily because they have no other options but rather because they see transnationalism as an alternative means to better economic opportunities. Those who are first generation, male, married, and professionally established or self-employed are more likely than others to engage in transnational 18

19 activities, and transnationals generally do not see any problem with dual national loyalty nor assimilation into the host society. These findings are similar to those found among Latin American immigrants (Portes et al. 2007). However, when individuals actively engage in transnational activities, they often join organizations, become actively members or take up leadership roles, and use their membership and leadership status to gain access to resources or acquire political and social capital in China. At the organization level, most Chinese immigrant organizations in the US are registered as non-profits with formal structures although they are diverse in form and mission. A great majority of those organizations prioritize domestic rather than transnational goals, aiming at helping members to socialize and build social networks in search of better socioeconomic opportunities for individuals and families in the U.S. while offering the usual tangible and intangible support, such as assistance in housing, education, and employment and a familiar cultural environment. FINDINGS: CHINA Studies of Latin American immigrant transnationalism show that governments of many sending countries have quickly learned the significance of their compatriots contributions to the homelands and sought to expand these transnational ties through a series of state-sponsored policies and activities including, most importantly, granting dual nationality, dual citizenship and/or voting rights in national elections to migrants. China, being a one-party communist country, is unique in its own light. Organizational Development Organizational development is highly regulated by various levels of the PRC government. All civic and non-governmental organizations must be approved by various levels of the Bureau of Civil Affairs and registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the PRC. The number of state approved non-profit organizations is very small, with no comparison to those in the U.S., and there are very few branches of US transnational organizations registered in China. There are several significant structural barriers to NGO development, such as the requirement of a significant sum of registered capital; sponsorship by a government agency (dual sponsorship); non-competition (at a particular locale); ban on public fundraising; and the requirement of annual inspection to registration renewal. In China, there are two parallel official organizations in charge of overseas Chinese affairs in China: Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (known as Qiao-ban) under the direct leaderships of various levels of the government; Federations of Returned Overseas Chinese (known as Qiao-lian) under the leadership of various levels of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as indicated in Figures 1-3. [Figures 1-3 about here] Overseas Chinese Affairs Offices (Qiao-ban) is the overaching government agency overseeing all affairs concerning overseas Chinese, their relatives living in China, and returned overseas Chinese. The organizational structure is top-down, ranging from Qiao-ban of the State 19

20 Council on top to the provincial, municipal, county, and town at the base. Qiao-ban is on government budget, and its personnel are civil servants. The Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (Qiao-lian) is a quasi-government organization. Under the jurisdiction of the CCP, Qiao-lian works independently from Qiao-ban with the following main objectives are: a) To represent and protect the interests and lawful rights of returned overseas Chinese and their families and the relatives of overseas Chinese living in China; b) To unite returned overseas Chinese and their families and encourage them to participate in China s modernizing construction; c) To improve the economic cooperation of technological communication with overseas Chinese; d) To encourage overseas Chinese to be good citizens, live harmoniously with local residents, contribute to local prosperity and development, and carry the good Chinese tradition in their respective hostlands, and to enhance communication between China and their hostlands. Since the founding of the PRC, overseas Chinese Affairs have been overseen by Qiaoban and Qiao-lian. However, between 1949 and 1979 (after the country launched its open-door policy), overseas Chinese affairs were not on the government s priority agenda, and nongovernmental organizations related to overseas Chinese affairs were either non-existed or nonfunctional. People with overseas Chinese connections were not trusted; some were even considered prime suspects of bourgeois elements, foreign spies, and anti-revolutionaries. All real properties and businesses of overseas Chinese were either confiscated or nationalized as state properties. Communications were minimal. The only form of connection was via mailed letters and packages (containing food and goods for daily necessities), and monetary remittances, which were regulated by the government. For example, the relatives received monetary remittance in a special form of currency issued by government and to be used at designated stores to purchase food and goods for daily necessities. The United Front is an official agency of the CCP. The agency works on overseas Chinese affairs under the direct leadership of the CCP. Besides Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian, the Zhi Gong Party in China is a public interest party in charge of overseas Chinese Affairs. The Party composes of returned overseas Chinese, their relatives, and noted figures and scholars who have extensive overseas ties. Because of its historical ties to the Chinese Diaspora, the ruling CCP and the State both incorporate the Zhi Gong Party into the work on overseas Chinese affairs. Policies In 1978, the Overseas Chinese Office of the State Council (national Qiao-ban) and Qiaoban at provincial and municipal levels of government in select provinces and cities were reactivated after being dormant during the Cultural Revolution. The CCP s policy toward overseas Chinese affairs changed from watching out for anti-revolutionary forces from the Chinese 20

21 Diaspora to promoting complete cooperation relating to economic and technological areas between Mainland China and overseas Chinese. Overseas Chinese were considered supporters, pioneers, and promoters of China s economic reform. 20 In May 1989, the State Council reiterated the important role of overseas Chinese in implementing the state open-door policy and made it clear that the goal of overseas Chinese affairs is to attract overseas Chinese participation in Mainland China s economic development, especially to attract more investment from overseas Chinese and to import more technology and talented people. 21 Since the turn of the 21 st century, the official policy regarding overseas Chinese has shifted from attracting remittances and capital investment to fostering ties. The policy also stress the importance to helping overseas Chinese become naturalized citizens, participate in the mainstream society of their countries of residence, and grow roots in their new homelands. In the strategic plan of Guangzhou Qiao-ban, several main tasks were specified: - To continue to support and help new overseas Chinese associations to grow and to blend into their host mainstream society; - To train a group of young to middle-aged leaders, helping them to gradually become leaders of local overseas Chinese communities; - To invite key persons from overseas Chinese communities abroad to come to Guangzhou to attend activities aimed at establishing friendships every year with public funds; - To invite capable, influential young to middle aged association leaders to visit Guangzhou with public funds; - To organize summer camps for youth and teenagers from around the world, including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, with public funds. Policy regarding Chinese students studying abroad emphasized return in the 1980s and 1990s. Starting from the late 1990s, the policy has also shifted, recognizing that returning to China is not the only way to serve the country. Instead, the state now encourages those graduates who decide to stay in their host countries to assimilate into the mainstream society and actively participate in politics in their countries of residence. However, the PRC does not recognize nor promote dual citizenship. Based on the PRC Nationality Law, China will not admit the dual nationality of a Chinese citizen (article 3); as soon as a Chinese becomes a naturalized citizen of another country, he or she will automatically lose his/her Chinese citizenship (article 9). 22 The main reason is historical for the purpose of protecting interests of overseas Chinese and normalizing relations between China and the countries in which overseas China are resettled. 23 It is also quite hard to apply for an Aliens Permanent Residence in China if one does not intend to live there permanently. 24 Chinese immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens would face a bureaucratic hurdle when they attempt to conduct regular transnational activities temporary non-immigrant visas. Chinese government has started to consider drafting the country's first immigration law only since May 2010 to better manage international migration and transnational flows, but the issue of dual citizenship appears to remain off-limits

22 Government Sponsored Activities The annual budget of Qiao-ban in major cities allocated to sponsoring activities of overseas Chinese organizations may be as high as one million Chinese yuan or more. Major activities may be grouped in the categories of cultural promotion; foreign capital investment and economic cooperation; scientific, technological, and scholarly exchange; Philanthropic Work and Disaster Relief, and Qiao-xiang publications. Cultural Promotion The Chinese take great pride in their five thousand years of history and heritage. Cultural activities are aimed at preserving and promoting Chinese cultural tradition, heritage, and language to nurture a sense of Chineseness and cultural pride in the people of Chinese ancestry around the world. Summer or winter camps for overseas Chinese youths and teenagers: Qiao-ban of the State Council collaborated with Qiao-ban at provincial and municipal levels to hold annual summer camps of varying themes, such as Root-Seeking Summer Camps in China organized by Beijing Qiao-lian and Winter Root-Search Program organized by Guangdong provincial Qiao-ban. 26 These root search camps and programs target teenagers of Chinese ancestry living outside China to ensure that succeeding generations of overseas Chinese understand and appreciate their heritage and ancestral history. Activities include visiting Qiao-xiang, taking classes in Chinese language, calligraphy, kongfu, folk music/dance, and sight-seeing. The Chinese government would pay for all expenses and travel costs once these participants arrive in China (see Illustration 5: Select Photos of Root-Search Program in China). For example, between 1980 and 2007, Guangdong Qiao-ban, in collaboration of local Qiao-ban, organized more than 100 different youth camps, attracting more than 5,000 participants from 30 different countries. 27 Chinese language programs: Starting in 2001, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council promotes an official policy of Chinese language education. The government regards Chinese language education as a highly strategically significant, basic job for strengthening the work of overseas Chinese affairs. It aims to cultivate the bilingual or multilingual ability in the next-generation of leaders of overseas Chinese organizations. Since 2005, the Chinese government has increased its annual special funding by 20,000,000 yuan to support the development of overseas Chinese language education. Guangdong Provincial government allocated an annual special fund of 2,200,000 yuan for holding overseas Chinese language education. 28 The Chinese government, under the Office of Chinese Language Council International (colloquially, Han-ban) has sponsored the establishment of Confucius Institutes (CI) around the world to promote Chinese language teaching and support existing Chinese language teaching programs in host institutions. Since the first establishment of a CI in Seoul in 2004, 282 CI have been established in more than 88 countries as of December There are now 61 CI in the U.S., including UCLA, as of January Cultural visits overseas: Various levels of Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian pay annual visits to the Chinese Diaspora, many bring with them music/dance troupes to stage performing art shows, featuring Chinese folk music, dances, and Peking opera shows. It would cost at least half a million yuan for each visit. Many of these shows and performances were either sponsored by 22

23 transnational Chinese immigrant organizations or by the Chinese government. They were open to the public and were held in main theaters and civic centers with filled seats. Consulate Receptions in celebrating the Chinese National Day (October 1): In the US, the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC and each of the Consulate General of the PRC (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Houston) would hold huge receptions and parties, where leaders of Chinese immigrant organizations and prominent Chinese Americans, along with US government officials, local community leaders and business elite, and foreign diplomats, are distinguished guests of honor. Some receptions are fairly large in scale and extravagant. For example, the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles hold the annual October 1 st National Day reception at Hilton Universal City Hotel where between 1,500 and 2,000 people would be in attendance, including California state officials, council members, overseas Chinese, Chinese students abroad and representatives of China funded companies. 31 Foreign Capital Investment and Economic Cooperation At the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1978, China s national economy almost collapsed with a GDP at only US$ (much lower than that of Pakistan at $260 and India at $248 then). China was one of the poorest countries in the world. In the late 1970s and during the 1980s, China was capital-poor and desperately in need of foreign capital investment to implement its ambitious modernization goals. The Party and the State aggressively sought support from the Chinese Diaspora, exploiting the immense financial, cultural, and social capital of the Chinese overseas, as well as their ethnic affinity and pride. The policy regarding overseas Chinese affairs turned 180 degree, making overseas Chinese and people living in China with overseas Chinese connections contributors of the nation s economic reform. In 1980, the Chinese Government set up four special economic zones (SEZ) in major sending regions in Guangdong and Fujian (located in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou of Guangdong Province and Xiamen of Fujian Province). These SEZs permitted the maneuver of foreign capital and served as bridges for introducing foreign capital, advanced technology and equipment and as classrooms for training personnel capable of mastering advanced technology. 32 The key reason for setting up the SEZs in Guangdong and Fujian was primarily because of the long-standing overseas connections to these regions to the outside world. Indeed, between 1979 and 1987, 90% of foreign investments in SEZs from the Chinese Diaspora, especially Chinese investors and entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. 33 By the end of 2000, there were over 200,000 foreign-funded enterprises in China, two-thirds had been launched and owned or co-owned by ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. 34 Successful investments in China, in turn, showed the value of guanxi (social and political connections), which further stimulated investments by overseas Chinese. From 1978 to 2006, GDP in China increased 57.8 times with an average growth rate of 9.7% (more than three times the rate of the US). 35 The Chinese government acknowledged the contribution of overseas Chinese to bringing about such miracle. Of the foreign investments, enterprises set up by overseas Chinese and investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan accounted for 70%, and their total investments to over 60% of the total foreign investment in China. 36 It was the China Diaspora that helped build economic ties between China and the rest of the world and to help China s economy take off by attracting foreign investment. In my site 23

24 visits to various qiao-xiang, my interviewees from the local governments Guangdong and Fujian repeatedly said that substantial overseas Chinese contribution can be traced to every landmark structure and every major development project in the 1980s and early 1990s. Since 2000, IT and bio-tech developments have brought about a new era of innovation around the world. Overseas Chinese investors and entrepreneurs have launched hi-tech industries in China, including electronics and electric machinery manufacture, biological technology and manufacture, rare metallurgical industries. The new generation of high-tech investors and entrepreneurs has been disproportionately from the US. At the turn of the 21 st century, the Chinese government is shifting its policy again, and this time, moving from attracting foreign capital to nurturing social relations and assisting overseas Chinese to explore potential opportunities in China. The state, provincial, and municipal governments regularly sponsored or co-sponsored programs, conferences, and training sessions and symposia for overseas Chinese interested in doing business in China. The goal is to build social network and strengthen connections. - Training Sessions for Leaders of Overseas Chinese Communities is a statesponsored program to offer advanced custom-made training for young generation overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, including classes on interpersonal relationships, management of personnel, international political analysis, foreign affairs policies and rules, etiquette in business, quality for community leaders and community management. There are also classes introducing the economic development in particular locales in China. The students attending the training session all assume important roles in overseas Chinese associations in their respective host countries, and most of them are children of renowned Chinese businessmen or leaders of these associations. In Wenzhou, one of such training sessions, a 3-day session with 37 overseas Chinese business leaders in 2007, would cost more than 100,000 yuan from the local Qiao-ban s budget. The Chinese government considers hosting such training sessions an innovative strategy to do effective work on overseas Chinese affairs China established the World Chinese Entrepreneur Association (known as WEA), and provincial and municipal governments have supported the establishment of regional Chinese entrepreneur associations. WEA was established in the early 1990s. Its mission is to build a network of Chinese entrepreneurs around the world, ensuring the world Chinese entrepreneur interests, and assisting home and abroad entrepreneur to invest in or financing businesses in China, or to discuss and explore business opportunities. Over the years, WEA makes friends from all over the world, enlarges the scope of cooperation and promotes communication among Chinese entrepreneurs and others, and has been making contribution to the modernization and to economic, social, and cultural developments in China Guangdong Provincial Government helped established the World Guangdong Community Federation (WGCF). The director of Guangdong Qiao-ban is on the executive board and WGCF s secretariat office operates from Guangdong Qiao-ban. WGCF held its first convention in Singapore in 2000 in order to strengthen ties 24

25 among Guangdong associations in different parts of the world, to seek economic opportunities and/or cooperation, to facilitate civil society participation, to promote mutual support and mutual benefits. The confederation holds a convention every other year, and has held six conventions so far, in Singapore, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, respectively. The second World Confederation of Guangdong Associations was the largest in scale. Held in Guangzhou and sponsored by the Chinese government, the convention attracted 2,800 Chinese organizations leaders and members from more than 70 countries. Officials of various levels of Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian attended the conference and made keynote speeches. The conference also include a photography exhibit of overseas Chinese photographer, a trade show, discussion panels, and sightseeing activities. 39 areas: The involvement of Overseas Chinese in homeland developments are in the following - Sending remittances to support families members daily needs, to building homes, open up businesses in places of origin (e.g., village, town, and city) and to invest in outside the places of origin (there are some marked differences between old sending places in Jiangmen and new sending places in Fuzhou ); - Establishing transnational businesses in import/export, manufacturing, and other traditional lines of businesses. More recently, there are professional business establishments in including financial services, legal and business consulting; research and development in biotechnology, biochemistry, green engineering, and pharmaceuticals; supplementary schools and language schools for preparing exchange students and emigrants going abroad; and production of health-related dietary products; - Involvement in privatization of state enterprises; - Direct investments in a range of economic activities, such as real estate, film and television production, bio-tech and IT. Scientific, Technological, and Scholarly Exchange The work related to students and scholars studying abroad: China has sent students and scholars studying abroad since the turn of the 20 th century. The work related to students and scholars studying abroad after 1978 has been in the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MOE). From 1978 to 2003, a total number of 700,200 Chinese students and scholars studied in 108 countries and regions all over the world, covering almost all disciplines, about a quarter of them returned to China and another quarter stayed permanently in the countries of study upon completion of their training (about half were still studying, doing researches or visiting as scholars in foreign higher education institutions). As for the geographic distribution of the overseas Chinese students and scholars, the statistics for destination in 2003 showed 50% to Europe and 15% to North America and Latin America. The Chinese government considers returned students and scholars a leading force in areas like education, science and technology, high-tech industries, finance, insurance, trade and management and a driving force for the country s economic and social development. The government also support students and scholars staying abroad to take initiatives to make contributions to China through various ways, such as giving lectures during short-term visit to China, having academic exchanges, conducting joint 25

26 researches, bringing in projects and investments and providing information and technical consultancy. 40 Since the mid-1990s, the Chinese government has launched a variety of programs to lure the permanent or temporary return of highly-skilled migrants in the fields of science and engineering at universities and research institutes, as well as business development and investment in high-tech industries. For example, the MOE alone has implemented several exemplary programs to attract students and scholars to return as well as to facilitate their careers in their countries of residence: - The Fund for Returnees to Launch S&T Researches : Since its inception in 1990, the fund has provided financial support to 10,926 returnees, with an amount of more than 350,000,000 yuan. - Program for Training Talents toward the 21st Century : This program targets the outstanding young teachers who have returned from overseas studies. Since its inception in 1993, the program supported 922 people with the total amount of more than 180,000,000 yuan. - The Chunhui (literally, Spring Bud) Program : The program targets those returnees with doctoral degree and with outstanding achievements in their respective fields. Since its inception in 1996, the program has funded more than 8000 individuals and 90 groups of scholars and researchers to serve the country on short-term visit. - Changjiang Scholar Incentive Program : The program provides financial support to young and middle-aged leading scholars of certain disciplines who have studied abroad and are invited by Chinese higher education institutions as Special Professors or Lecture Professors. - Program of Academic Short-return for Scholars and Research Overseas : This program finances those outstanding Chinese scholars studying or doing researches abroad to give lectures or do researches in 28 key higher education institutions during their short holidays or returns to China. Since its reception in 2001, the program has aided 104 such scholars. 41 State-sponsored organizations and programs: The state and local governments also sponsor and support activities by organizations related to highly skilled overseas Chinese. - The Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA): WRSA is an association of returned scholars (was renamed the Chinese Overseas Returned Scholars Association by Party leader Jiang Zemin in 2003). The association was originally founded in 1913 in Beijing and was one of the 21 mass organizations led by the Secretariat of the CCP. The association has now grown into 16 sections (each section is for returned scholars trained in major Western countries or regions) and a WRSA Entrepreneur Association. The mission of the association is to link overseas Chinese scholars and students all over the world and build bridges between Chinese returned scholars and scholars 26

27 abroad. One of the main activities is to organizing intellectual exchange tours and thematic symposia Teng Fei Award: The award aims to encourage western return scholars to take their responsibilities of showing their intelligence, serving, and contributing to their motherland, awarding the top 50 leaders of enterprises who are return scholars from Western countries. 43 International conferences, symposia, and workshops: - The China Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (CIEP) was founded by the China State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs in 2001, which is the only national and international conference of professionals and intellectual exchange especially designed for organizations of experts outside China (or China Mainland), training institutions and professionals with the largest scale and highest level at present. It is also a comprehensive conference which integrating professional, intelligence, project, technology and management. All CIEP conferences are approved by the State Council and co-sponsored by the China State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and the Municipal Government of Shenzhen. Since 2001, it has hold According to statistics, during the 2008 conference, cooperation intention of more than 2,500 projects was reached, professional recruitment intention of over 3,000 positions was achieved; and more than 70,000 person-times came to visit the Conference and participated in the professional forum during the 2 days. 44 Overseas Chinese Donations in Public Works Overseas Chinese donations for hometown village-level public works projects are usually managed by the village elders clubs. Beyond villages, big projects, such as schools, hospitals, universities, public libraries, museums, and parks, would be developed in collaboration with government investment. Wuyi University, for example, is a regional university located in Jiangmen, main Qiao-xiang of early Chinese immigrants to the US. Established in 1985, with substantial overseas Chinese donations, roughly at US$26 million, in the form of 50 buildings, a museum, a library, faculty and student dormitories, an athletic facility, an exhibition hall, and equipment. 45 The largest single structure built by donations from the Chinese Diaspora is the Beijing National Aquatics Center, known as the Olympic Water Cube, which was completed in January 2008 for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The total cost of construction was 1.03 billion million yuan, 900 million yuan from 350,000 overseas Chinese from 103 countries. Philanthropic Work and Disaster Relief The Chinese government believes that it can count on the support of the Chinese Diaspora when China encounters natural disasters. Qiao-ban is charged with the task of managing donations from overseas Chinese communities. On May 12, 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, killing about 70,000 people and leaving over 18,000 missing. Over 15 million people lived in the affected area, including almost 4 million in the capital city of Chengdu. On the next day (May 13), the national Qiao-ban launched an emergency disaster-relief Qiao-ai Project (Love from the Chinese 27

28 Diaspora) to coordinate and manage monetary and material donations from concerned overseas Chinese. On the same day, about 68,500,000 million yuan in cash or material poured in from overseas Chinese in the name of the individual or organization. In June, at a press conference of national Qiao-ban announced a Two-100-Goal to build 100 Qiao-ai schools and 100 Qiao-ai health using donations from overseas Chinese. 46 Guangdong provincial Qiao-ban and 13 municipal Qiao-ban in Guangdong established a Qiao-xin (from the heart of the overseas Chinese) Foundation and raised 41,130,000 yuan in the first five months to build houses, which would benefit 2,300 rural earthquake victims. The project was planned to complete in 16 months. 47 Qiao-Xiang Publications Local governments have actively launch networking activities with overseas Chinese not only by organizing or sponsoring networking conferences for overseas Chinese organizations, such as the world conventions of hometown associations, and hosting home-coming visits and tours of overseas Chinese organization leaders, but also by publications in print and/or online to share news about what happens in hometowns and keep up-to-date information flow. In Qiaoxiang in Guangdong and Fujian, most municipal- or county-level Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian publish Qiao-kan (overseas Chinese journals). Even village and towns would publish Qiao-kan irregularly (see Illustration 6: Photos of Select Qiao-kan). For example, Zhongshan Overseas Chinese Edition, first published in 1981 bi-annually or tri-annually (quarterly between 1999 and 2007), has now published 84 issues and has become a bi-monthly journal since 2007 with a Chinese-English bilingual table of contents and each article or news item having an abstract in English. 48 Qiao-ban and Qiao-lian (from national to local levels) and most other government or non-governmental organizations dealing with overseas Chinese affairs would maintain their own websites (some are Chinese-English bilingual). Examples are: - China Qiao-wang (Overseas Chinese Network): - World Chinese Business Network: - Guangdong Qiao-wang (Overseas Chinese Network): - Fujian Qiao-wang (Overseas Chinese Network): - Fujian Qiao-Xiang Voice - Zhongshan Overseas Chinese Journal (Qiao-kan): Perspective of Government Officials Motivations to engage in immigrant organizations: - Gain legitimacy and status recognition in the immigrant community - Gain social status recognition in the homeland: for some, taking up leadership role in immigrant organizations enable them to meet officials of vary ranks in China and receive tangible (guanxi, business opportunities) and intangible support (honor) from the Chinese government 28

29 The general attitude of Chinese Qiaoban or Qiaolian officials toward leaders of immigrant organizations (qiaoling) is generally warm and without discrimination. But the officials usually have good sense who these people are and the nature and significance of their organizations. In practice, however, Qiao-ban or Qiaolian officials tend to know those organization leaders who are business people because they can actually see the business establishments when they visit the US. Government officials generally support establishment of new immigrant organizations abroad, and even provide state-up funds for some organizations, but do so strategically. For example, if a visible number of Chinese immigrants are settling in a new locale, the local government of the hometown of these new immigrants would support efforts of these immigrants to form hometown associations. Impacts on the Ancestral Homeland The familiar and persistent form of transnational engagement involves sending remittances to support family members daily needs and/or to build homes, as well as maintaining regular long-distance communications and networking with families and friends. These activities often reflect individual rather than organizational behavior, which fit the characterization of grass-roots transnationalism from below with the intended goals of improving the socioeconomic standing of migrant families left behind. The effects are predictable: Families with incomes from overseas remittances enjoy more material goods beyond the survival threshold and higher socioeconomic status than those with out in the same village or town. In this case, Chinese immigrants are not doing something unique. What is interesting is the use of remittances for extravagant consumption in newer Qiao-xiang (migrant-sending villages). Performing family or holiday rituals, such as weddings and funerals, and building homes have become big family events in new Qiao-xiang that consume hundreds and thousands of dollars. Migrant families often find themselves in the race to become the number 1, the most, or the best of something e.g., the most extravagant wedding, the most expensive funeral, the tallest/largest house as a way to display family honor and face or to regain loss social status, especially in new migrant villages in Fujian (less so in old sending villages in Guangdong). Also remarkable are social welfare and charitable donations for improvement in public works (e.g., roads, bridges, drainage, water supply, and other infrastructure), gates, ancestral halls, and schools, assistance to the elderly and the poor, and scholarship to young people. There are new uses of donation funds, which were rare in the past. These include the construction of office buildings for Qiao-lian, public parks, libraries, museums, cultural centers, elderly activity centers, as well as temples and churches (see Illustration 3). There are also investments in symbolism (e.g., statues and monuments) and beautification projects (e.g., tree planting) in cities and towns. Unlike remittances, these kinds of donations are usually done via organizations. Both remittances and donations have both direct and indirect effects on local economic development in local industries or small entrepreneurship in retail and on local culture (e.g., in consumer behavior, spending patterns, and culture values). They also in turn compensate for immigrants status loss or inconsistency in the host country (Li 2011). 29

30 In lieu of rapid globalization and economic development in China, homeland development, which has long been locally based, has now expanded beyond sending villages or towns and beyond small scale manufacturing and entrepreneurship in the retail trade. New patterns of homeland development impacted by transnationalism include family or clan-based entrepreneurship or investment in lucrative businesses in other regions all over the country, such as direct investments in real estate in major cities (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou), investments in mining and other heavy industries in other regions off coast, including the privatization of state enterprises. Other new forms of activities in which transnational Chinese immigrants are engaged include S&T investment in governmentdesignated zones and parks, in high tech industries such as telecom., bio-tech and green engineering, pharmaceuticals and health-related dietary products, film and television production, R&D in higher education and research institutions, investment in education (e.g., supplementary schools and language schools for preparing exchange students and emigrants going abroad). SUMMARY Overall, the effects on immigrant incorporation into American society are positive: direct effect in improving family SES and indirect effects on civic participation and political engagement in local communities. There are negative effects too, but these are less in assimilation but more in family disruption (e.g., split households and extramarital affairs) and internal organizational rivalry (e.g., fighting for recognition and official positions within organizations). The former would result in divorce and the latter in the formation of new organizations. There are multiple ways in which Chinese immigrants engage with their ancestral homeland. Involvement through transnational organizations has become a dominant pattern and has proved effective. On the one hand, notions of hometowns or sending villages have acquired new meanings because of rapid urbanization and economic development. On the other hand, immigrants from China today are of diverse origins; many hail from urban middle-class backgrounds with little attachment to rural villages. Like other Latin American sending countries, the Chinese government in Beijing and local governments perceives transnational communities in terms of sources of untapped resources for homeland development (e.g., potential sources of financial, human, and social capital for development and investment; philanthropic work). But the Chinese government is also concerned with image building and migrants loyalty and commitment to the homeland. While immigrant transnationalism is enthusiastically endorsed and supported by the Chinese government, however, immigrant transnational organizations tend to operate independently of the Chinese state with dual purposes of facilitating immigrant incorporation into the U.S. and homeland development in China. 30

31 Table 1: Chinese American Population: Number, Sex Ratio, Nativity, and State of Residence, Year Number Sex Ratio (Males per 100 females) Percent U.S. Born Percent in California ,475 2, ,746 1, , , , , , , , , ,645, ,879, * 3,538, Source: U.S. Census of the Population * U.S. Census Bureau: 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. 31

32 Table 2: Select Characteristics of China and Chinese America Country of Origin: China a Total population in ,335,251,385 Percent urban population in GDP per capita (CIA, $) in ,300 Gini index of inequality in 2008 (UN) b 0.47 Educational attainment in 2000 (%) Junior college or more 2.9 Senior secondary/secondary technical school 8.8 Junior secondary school 26.8 Primary school 28.2 Unemployment rate (%), Labor force participation rate (%), Capital city Beijing Chinese Immigrants in the U.S. Total number of Chinese American population in 2007 c 3,538,407 Percent foreign born in 2007 c 63.0 Percent of Asian American population in 2007 c 23.3 Number of legal immigrants admitted to the US, d 741,951 Percent of total legal immigration to the US, d 7.2 Rank in total legal immigration, 2009 d 2 Percent in professional specialty occupations (age 16+) c 51.2 Percent college graduates (age 25+) c 50.4 Median Household Income ($) c $66,118 Percent persons living in poverty c 11.5 Mostly legal, Types of Immigration e some unauthorized New York (31.5%); Los Angeles (11%); Principal Cities of Destination f San Francisco (10%) Notes: a National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistical Yearbook b See viewed on January 24, c US Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. d 2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, table 2, see e Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America. f Office of Immigration Statistics 2008, Supplemental Table

33 Table 3: Chinese Immigrant Organizations in the United Sates Organizations Subtotal Total % Civic Organizations Confederate 3 General 127 Culture 53 Health 12 Music/Arts Sports Confederate 3 General 15 Social Service Agencies Political Organizations Confederate 4 General 79 Religious Organizations Confederate 2 General 61 Alumni Associations Confederate 3 College 111 High School 28 Educational Organizations Confederate 2 General 15 Economic Organizations Confederate 22 General 52 Professional Organizations Confederate 3 General 143 Hometown Associations Confederate 43 Clan/family 102 Village 44 District 127 Provincial 65 Tong 165 Total 1, Source: Compiled by the author from telephone directories, organizational newsletters, official listings, and Internet search. 33

34 Figures 1-3 in a separate document. Appendices are available upon request to Min Zhou <mzhou@soc.ucla.edu> 34

35 Illustration 1: Select Photos of Traditional Chinese Organizations Traditional Chinese Organizations in San Francisco s Chinatown CCBA in Los Angeles Chinatown 35

36 Illustration 2: Photos of Mr. Chi in Overseas Chinese Museum of Changle 36

37 Illustration 3: Select Photos of Hometown Development Projects Cultural Center, Houyu Village Xiangshan Square, Village Park 37

38 Illustration 4: Photos of Overseas Chinese Donations in Baisha Village, Lianjian Le-juan (freewill donations) and Xi-juan (wedding donations) 38

39 Illustration 5: Select Photos of Root-Search Programs in China 39

40 Illustration 6: Photos of Select Publications for Overseas Chinese (Qiao-kan) 40