The New Patterns of International Migration from China to the United States

Zai Liang, University at Albany, State University of New York
Guotu Zhuang, Xiamen University
Wenzhen Ye, Xiamen University

This paper examines new patterns of international migration from China's Fujian province to the United States, especially to New York City. Recent theoretical advancement and empirical work have been pretty much based on the case of Mexico. This paper reports findings from a newly collected data in migrant-sending communities in China as well as migrant destination areas in the New York Metropolitan area during 2002-2003. We focus on following aspects of the migration process: (1) systematic description of the characteristics of international migrants from Fujian province; (2) the smuggling process whereby migrants came to the US.; (3) Comparison with the case of Mexico, focusing on differences in geography (and implications of it), political institutions in China and Mexico, and migration networks. We argue that although international migration from China in general follows the principles of international migration based on the case of Mexico, there are notable differences.