The issue of ethnic minorities is a conspicuous problem in social work in Western societies; however, this is a relatively new and underdeveloped field in Chinese society. In Europe, America, and Australia, there is ample research on ethnic minority groups, of which studies on Chinese living in Western cultures are common. However, studies on social work with ethnic minority groups in a predominantly Chinese society like Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan are relatively scarce. We need more academic research and professional exchange on social work with ethnic minorities in a predominately Chinese society. However, we should be careful not to assume that ethnic minorities are a homogenous group. This is challenging to social service providers since the problems and needs of ethnic groups could vary with different in race, ethnicity, gender, age, class, religion and locality.
Racial and ethnic issues are largely hidden in Chinese societies, and these conflicts are worsening in recent years. There are various factors contributing to the problem; for example, rapid globalisation has enhanced the fluidity of migration, thus attracting more non-Chinese migrants working or residing in China. Another factor is the economic growth in the region, including metropolitans in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao which has drawn a lot of migrants or foreign labour, especially those from less economic developed countries in Asia. Global inequalities and the widening gap between rich and poor countries creates a push and pull force for international migration. Although Hong Kong and Macao, as British and Portuguese colonies before the late 1990s, has a long history of accepting foreigners from the UK, Portugal, Europe and America, the influx of migrants from lower-income countries in Asia and South Asia in recent years posed new problems and led to new challenges for social work practice. In the past, Mainland China and Taiwan were less open to accepting non-Chinese migrants; however, with the increasing pace of globalisation and economic growth, it is expected that non-Chinese migrants from lower-income countries will soon heighten the demand for social services.
Broadly speaking, racial and ethnic conflicts are not limited to those between Chinese and non-Chinese. Conflicts between different ethnic groups and between people from different localities within China could be regarded as part of racial and ethnic issues. China is a vast country with great diversity between provinces and localities, and the Chinese population consists of more than 50 ethnic groups. It is not uncommon to see ethnic conflicts in places like Xinjiang and Xizang. Conflicts between people from different localities, even though they are of the same ethnicity, are not exceptional. Due to the uneven development between urban and rural area, more and more rural people are attracted to the city. The situation is exacerbated by the Household Registration Policy (Hukou System) which limits the rights of the rural migrant workers. That is why social services for migrant workers have become a significant new arena for social work in China.
The problem could be even more complicated if we look at the special circumstances of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Due to the special historical and political circumstances, there are restrictions for Mainland Chinese citizens travelling and working in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. With the rise of ‘localism’, and promotion of patriotism and nationalism, conflicts between people from Mainland and people from these localities are sharpening. That is why, in recent years, we see a lot of debates about the problem of ‘New arrivals from Mainland’ in Hong Kong, and the problem of ‘bride from Mainland’ in Taiwan. Strictly speaking, these people are all ethnically Chinese, and mostly of the Han ethnic group. However, due to differences in the locality, political system, economic and historical factors, they become antagonistic ‘ethnic groups’. These differentiations and diversities have created difficulties for minority groups, which need more attention from the social work professions in these Chinese societies.
This special issue includes five papers covering various issues in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Baig’s paper focuses on Muslim women’s movement in Hong Kong with special attention to gender-based violence. Migrants are in a disadvantaged position, and migrant women are doubly disadvantaged. Most Muslim migrant women lack a support system after migrating to Hong Kong, and the problem is exacerbated by the strong traditional patriarchal culture in their families. Due to the lack of social services support for migrant women in Hong Kong, and the lack of a strong women’s movement protecting the rights of migrant women, Muslin migrant women are vulnerable to gender-based violence, both inside and outside the family. Drawing on international experiences of protecting Muslim migrant women’s rights and protecting migrant women from gender-based violence, Baig calls for attention to developing social services and women’s groups for Muslim migrant women.
Ethnic minorities are not a homogenous group, but consist of social groups with diverse backgrounds. Besides Baig’s paper on Muslim migrant women, we have included a paper by Arat and her colleagues on ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong. Ethnic minority studies tend to focus on employment opportunities for adult workers since discrimination at work is a serious problem and its impact is far-reaching. Hence, other marginal groups such as youth, women, and older people in the ethnic groups are easily neglected. Arat and her team adopted Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework to examine the published academic papers on ethnic minority youth development in Hong Kong. This is an important starting point to help to explore risk prevention and positive promotion factors for youth development, and to heighten our concern for the social needs of ethnic minority youth.
Social services for ethnic minorities have started to develop in Hong Kong in the last decade, and this continues to spread to Mainland China, especially in the South and Pearl River Delta. It is interesting to compare and contrast social services for migrants in Hong Kong and Mainland. Jordan and her colleagues studied NGOs in Hong Kong and Guangzhou providing social services for migrants, including new arrivals from Mainland in Hong Kong, rural-to-urban migrant workers, and foreigners living in Guangzhou. They focused on social service providers’ discretionary agency in promoting social integration or exercising social control of migrants. This study helps us better understand the impact of social policy and services on migrants; and helps to improve the social services for migrants provided by NGOs and street-level bureaucrats.
The fourth paper, from Xie, Leng and Ritakallio, focuses on the integration of migrant workers into mainstream society in Mainland China. They conducted their study in Wuhan, a metropolis in the middle of China. Adopting a quantitative approach, they tested the hypothesis of assimilation-integration-separation-marginalisation. They showed evidence supporting the assimilation-integration model instead of the separation-marginalisation model. Although this is only a preliminary analysis, this is a significant step to call for attention to the future analysis of social adaptation of rural-urban migrant workers integrating into the mainstream society. This is a challenging problem for social services development in China in the near future.
The fifth paper, by Xue Chai, is on ‘social distance’ in social work practice in Xinjiang. In recent years, Xinjiang saw some of the most violent confrontations between Han people and ethnic minorities. Based on his fieldwork observations and interviews in social work practice in Xinjiang, Chai tried to delineate different dimensions of social distance between the dominant Han people and other ethnic groups in the Xinjiang region, and explored the causes widening the social distance. Based on his study, Chai tried to propose new measures and approaches in social work practice to close the gap. Although the conception of social distance needs further elaboration, this is a significant study to highlight the gap between different ethnic groups; and call for attention to developing effective social work practice to close the gap.
Of course, it is impossible to have very comprehensive coverage with only five papers. However, the authors in this special issue manage to touch on many important and emerging issues in ethnic social work in the Chinese context. This is a significant step forward to develop ethnic social work in China and lays a solid foundation to develop vigorous academic research in this field.
Guest Editor