“You Find Out What’s Possible”: Economic Opportunities and Strategies of Slovenian Citizens Living in the People’s Republic of China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/2025.2.10Keywords:
immigration in China, emigrants, expats, groupness, entrepreneurship, labor migrationAbstract
The article focuses on the Slovenian citizens in China in the 21st century. The authors consider their small numbers and national non-recognition as a distinctiveness in the fast-developing field of research on immigration in China. They discuss the immigration of Slovenian citizens through contrasting engagements with the Chinese economy and propose the analytical categories of “managers” and “entrepreneurs.” They link the former to the local emplacement based on the Slovenian companies’ production units in China and the drive for national groupness, and the latter to the search for niche opportunities in the huge Chinese market. The authors also address this temporality of the migration process and detail the interplay between macroeconomic factors and the individual decisions of its protagonists.
Downloads
References
ALLEA. (2023). The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity – 2023 Revised Edition. ALLEA. https://doi.org/10.26356/ECOC
A.S./STA. (2020, 28. januar). Na Kitajskem več sto Slovencev: Kitajski predsednik epidemijo označil za demona. https://svet24.si/clanek/novice/svet/5e306b47f27e0/na-kitajskem-vec-sto-slovencev?fb_comment_id=2500132933448421_3780889788706056
Barabantseva, E. (2019). Marriage Immigration and Illegality in China’s Ethnic Borders. V A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 21–44). Palgrave Macmillan.
Bickenbach, F., & Liu, W. (2022). Goodbye China: What Do Fewer Foreigners Mean for Multinationals and the Chinese Economy? Intereconomics, 5(57), 306–312. https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2022/number/5/article/goodbye-china-what-do-fewer-foreigners-mean-for-multinationals-and-the-chinese-economy.html
Bofulin, M. (2022). Qiaoxiang 2.0: The People’s Republic of China and Diaspora Governance at the Local Level. China Perspectives, 4, 7–15. https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.14313
Brady, A. (2003). Making the Foreign Serve China: Managing Foreigners in the People’s Republic. Rowman & Littlefield.
Brubaker, R. (2002). Ethnicity without Groups. European Journal of Sociology, 43(2), 163–189.
Camenisch, A. (2022). Middling whiteness: The shifting positionalities of Europeans in China. Ethnicities, 22(1), 128–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968211058014
Camenisch, A., & Suter, B. (2020). Diverse Encounters: European Migrants’ Contact Zones in China. V L. Akeson & B. Suter (ur.), Contemporary European Emigration (str. 138–156). Routledge.
China Briefing. (2014, 11. december). Employing Foreign Nationals in China. China Briefing. https://www.china-briefing.com/news/employing-foreign-nationals-china-new-issue-china-briefing-magazine
Čebulj Sajko, B. (2000). Razpotja izseljencev: Razdvojena identitata avstralskih Slovencev. Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU.
Durnik, M. (2017). Slovenian Immigrants and the Ethnic Economy in Contemporary Canada. Dve domovini / Two Homelands, 46, 103–118. http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-G3IMOCL3
Farrer, J. (2019). International Migrants in China’s Global City: The New Shanghailanders. Routledge.
Gov.cn. (2021, 11. maj). Bulletin of the Seventh National Population Census (Notice on the 7th state census). Gov.cn. https://www.gov.cn/guoqing/2021-05/13/content_5606149.htm
Haugen, H. Ø. (2018). Residence Registration in China’s Immigration Control: Africans in Guangzhou. V A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 45–64). Palgrave Macmillan.
Haugen, H. Ø. (2022). The Love Child and the State: Transnational Family Formation in Guangzhou. NAN NÜ, 24(1), 134–160.
Haugen, H. Ø., & Speelman, T. (2022, 28. januar). China’s Rapid Development Has Transformed Its Migration Trends. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/china-development-transformed-migration
Kawashima, K. (2019). Japanese Labour Migration to China and IT Service Outsourcing: The Case of Dalian. V A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 123–145). Palgrave Macmillan.
Kefala C., & Lan, S. (2022). End of the China dream? Young Western entrepreneurs’ trajectories of leaving China during Covid-19. Asian Anthropology, 21(3), 197–210.
Kratz, A., Goh, D. Sebastian, G., & Barkin, N. (2024). Don’t Stop Believin’: The Inexorable Rise of German FDI in China. Rhodium Group. https://rhg.com/research/dont-stop-believin-the-inexorable-rise-of-german-fdi-in-china
Lan, S. (2022a). Between Privileges and Precariousness: Remaking Whiteness in China’s Teaching English as a Second Language Industry. American Anthropologist, 124(1), 118–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13657
Lan, S. (2022b). The foreign bully, the guest, and the low-income knowledge worker: Performing multiple versions of whiteness in China. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(15), 3544–3560. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2021.2021869
Lan, S., Sier, W., & Camenisch, A. (2022). Precarious whiteness in pandemic times in China. Asian Anthropology, 21(3): 161–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2022.2099081
Lehmann, A. (2014). Transnational Lives in China: Expatriates in a Globalizing City. Palgrave Macmillan.
Leonard, P. (2008). Migrating identities: Gender, whiteness and Britishness in post-colonial Hong Kong. Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 15(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/09663690701817519
Leonard, P. (2019). ‘Devils’ or ‘superstars’? Making English language teachers in China. V V. A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 147–172). Palgrave Macmillan.
Leonard, P., & Lehmann, A. (2019). International migrants in China: Civility, contradiction, and confusion. V A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 1–17). Palgrave Macmillan.
Litman R. (2021, 27. avgust). How China’s New Ed-Tech Regulations Put Filipino Teachers in a Bind. Sixth Tone. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008300
Litman R. (2022). “Neutral” vs. “pure” accents: the racialization of Filipino and EuroAmerican teachers in China’s online education industry during the covid-19 pandemic. Asian Anthropology, 21(3), 224–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2022.2100069
Liu, G., & Ahl, B. (2018). Recent Reform of the Chinese Employment-Stream Migration Law Regime. China and WTO Review, 4, 215–243.
Lukšič Hacin, M. & Mlekuž, J. (ur.). (2009). Go girls! When Slovenian women left home. Založba ZRC.
Ma, K. (2022). Transnational White Masculinity on Chinese Social Media: Western Male Vloggers’ Self-Representations During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Asian Anthropology, 21(3), 211–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2022.2090054
Ma, X. (2019). Educational Desire and Transnationality of South Korean Middle Class Parents in Beijing. V A. Lehmann & P. Leonard (ur.), Destination China: Immigration to China in the Post-Reform era (str. 67–90). Palgrave Macmillan.
Mathews, G., Lin, L. D., & Yang, Y. (2017). The world in Guangzhou: Africans and other foreigners in South China’s global marketplace. University of Chicago Press.
Mikola, M. (2005). Živeti med kulturami: Od avstralskih Slovencev do slovenskih Avstralcev. Založba ZRC.
Milharčič Hladnik, M., Kožar Rosulnik, K., Ilc Klun, M., & Rogelj, B. (2019). Dejanska in potrebna prisotnost tematike slovenskega izseljenstva v učnih načrtih v osnovnih in srednjih šolah Republike Slovenije: zaključno poročilo. Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije ZRC SAZU. https://isim.zrc-sazu.si/sites/default/files/crp_porocilo.pdf
Molek, N. (2019). Biti Slovenec v Argentini: kompleksnost identifikacijskih procesov argentinskih Slovencev. Založba ZRC.
Pieke, F. (2012). Immigrant China. Modern China, 38(1), 40–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0097700411424564
Pieke, F., Ahl, B., Barabantseva, E., Pelican, M., Speelman, T., Wang, F., & Xiang, B. (2019, 27. november). How Immigration is Shaping China. MERICS China Monitor. https://merics.org/en/report/how-immigration-shaping-chinese-society#:~:text=Foreign%20immigration%20in%20China%20is,are%20also%20on%20the%20rise
Repič, J. (2006). »Po sledovih korenin«: transnacionalne migracije med Argentino in Evropo. Filozofska fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani.
Suzhou, Jiangsu, China Metro Area Population (1950–2025). (n.d.). Macrotrends.net. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/20678/suzhou-jiangsu/population
Sier, W. (2022). Breaking All Moulds: Racialized Romance between White/Yang Women and Chinese Men. Identities, 30(6), 861–879. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2022.2154013
Speelman, T., (2020). Establishing the National Immigration Administration: Change and Continuity in China’s Immigration Reforms. China Perspectives, 4, 7–11. https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.11103
SURS – Statistični urad Republike Slovenije. (2024, 4. november). Odseljeni državljani Slovenije na Kitajsko, Slovenija, letno (2000–2023). Podatki pridobljeni na zaprosilo od SURS.
Toplak, K. (2008). »Buenas artes«: Ustvarjalnost Slovencev in njihovih potomcev v Buenos Airesu. Založba ZRC.
United Nations Population Division (2020). International Migrant Stock 2020 (Total Destination). UN.org. https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2021/Jan/undesa_pd_2020_international_migrant_stock_documentation.pdf
Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za Slovence v zamejstvu in po svetu. (2024). Slovenci po svetu: Kitajska. Slovenci.si. https://slovenci.si/drzave/kitajska
Vasconcelos, D. de O., & Miao, J. T. (2023). ‘A stop on the train’: the transient mentality of creative expats in Beijing, China. Mobilities, 19(3), 486–503. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2023.2270777
Xiang, B., Allen, W. L., Khosravi, S., Neveu Kringelbach, H., Ortiga, Y. Y., Liao, K. A. S., & Naik, M. (2022). Shock Mobilities During Moments of Acute Uncertainty. Geopolitics, 28(4), 1632–1657. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2091314
Xinhua. (2020, 16. september). Feature: German expats make northeast China their “second home”. China Story. https://www.chinastory.cn/PCywdbk/v2/detail/20200917/1012700000042741600327369091939704_1.html
Žigon, Z. (2003). Izzivi drugačnosti: Slovenci v Afriki in na Arabskem polotoku. Založba ZRC.
Gradiva:
Gradivo 1: Ustanovljen klub Slovencev, Šanghaj. Suzhou, b. n. l.
Gradivo 2: Zapisnik 1. sestanka Kluba Slovencev Šanghaj. Šanghaj, 9. 11. 2002.
Gradivo 3: Sestanek Kluba Slovencev Šanghaj. Šanghaj, 28. 3. 2003.
Gradivo 4: E-poštna korespondenca Kluba Slovencev Šanghaj.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
More in: Submission chapter
