From Bosnia and Herzegovina to China in the 21st Century: A Case Study of Personal Migration Histories

ABSTRACT

This study is the first to examine recent migration from Bosnia and Herzegovina to China in the 21^st century. It gives an overview of new Chinese geopolitical and economic circumstances, a historical analysis of migration flows between China and the rest of the world from the 19th to the 21st century, and a survey of recent emigration flows from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second part presents the results of an empirical study of labour migration from Bosnia and Herzegovina to China and the experiences of 25 migrants, which was conducted using structured interviews The research results show that most in the group plan to stay in China permanently. Some would like to move to North America or Australia. It is characteristic that there are no gender gaps in terms of qualifications or career ambitions. The measures to combat COVID-19 implemented by the Chinese government affected the respondents in different ways.

KEYWORDS:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• China
• migration
• economic issues
• geopolitics
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

[1] Dalibor Savić, Anđela Pepić and Duško Trninić, “Life-Stories of Labour Migrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Balkanist Discourse(s), Liminality and Integration”, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 22(1), 2020, p. 1.

[2] Savić, Pepić and Trninić, op. cit., pp. 1–18; Stjepan Pavičić, ‘Bosnia: Migrations’, Migracijske i etničke teme 16(4), 2000, pp. 333–357; Alma Kadušić and Alija Suljić, ‘Migration and Demographic Changes: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina’, European Journal of Geography 9(4), 2000, pp. 75–86; Dario Malnar and Ana Malnar, ‘Demographic Security Trends in Southeastern Europe’, CIRR XXI (73), 2015, pp. 57–87; Mariana Lukic, Stevo Pašačić and Jelena Golijanin ‘Demographic Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Period Till 1991 and the Modern Demographic Problems’, Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences 120, 2014, pp. 238–247 – the list is by no means exhaustive.

[3] Kadušić and Suljić, op. cit., p. 75.

[4] Matjaž Klemenčič and Mitja Žagar, The Former Yugoslavia Diverse Peoples, Santa Barbara CA, Denver CO, Oxford, England: ABC-Clio, 2004, pp. 319–323.

[5] Migration flows in the late modern period, in turn, were heavily influenced by the establishment of Ottoman rule in Bosnia. Stjepan Pavičić, ‘Bosnia: Migrations’, Migracijske i etničke teme 16(4), 2000, p. 355.

[6] According to Ćudić, Alešnik and Hazemali, between 2015 and 2018 Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked the lowest of 33 European countries in several key economic and social factors. Bojan Ćudić, Peter Alešnik and David Hazemali, ‘Factors impacting university—industry collaboration in European countries’, Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 11(33), 2022. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-022-00226-3.

[7] Ivan Pepić and Mirjana Kasapović, ‘The Gradual Cyprusization of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Structural, Institutional and Process Assumptions’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 21(5), 2019.

[8] Savić, Pepić and Trninić, op. cit., p. 1.

[9] International Organization for Migration, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Migration Profile, 2007, p. 16. <https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mp_bosnia_herzegovina_2007.pdf > (8.04. 2021).

[10] Melina Delkic, ‘“It’s Not the Same”: Why War Refugees Who Helped Revive St. Louis Are Leaving’, The New York Times, Aug. 19, 2019, Section A, p. 12. <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/18/us/bosnian-refugees-st-louis-midwest.html > (8.04. 2021).

[11] Savić, Pepić and Trninić, op. cit., p. 1.

[12] Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History, Simon & Schuster, 2015.

[13] Frank N. Pieke, ‘Immigrant China’, Modern China 38(1), 2012, p. 40.

[14] Frank N. Pieke, ‘Community and identity in the new Chinese migration order’. Population, Space and Place 13(2), 2007, pp. 81–94.

[15] Martina Bofulin, Daleč doma: Migracije iz Ljudske republike Kitajske v Slovenijo. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2016.

[16] Bernard P. Wong and Tan Chee-Beng (eds.), China’s rise and the Chinese Overseas. London: Routledge, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.; Lynne Ee Ho, Citizens in motion: emigration, immigration, and re-migration across China’s borders, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2018.

[17] Howard French (2014), China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

[18] Victor Larin, ‘Chinese in the Russian Far East: Regional views’ in: Tsuneo Akaha and Anna Vassilieva (eds.), Crossing National Borders: human migration issues in Northeast Asia, NewYork: United Nations University Press, 2006, p. 49.

[19] Elizabeth Sinn, ‘Emigration from Hong Kong before 1941. General Trends’, in: Ronald Skeldon (ed.), Emigration from Hong Kong. Tendencies and Impacts. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1995, p. 12.

[20] Harley MacNair, The Chinese abroad: Their Position and Protection, Shanghai: The Commercial Press, 1933.

[21] Robert Irick, Ch’ing Policy Toward the Coolie Trade, 1847–1878, Taipei: Chinese Materials Center, 1982.

[22] Chan Sucheng, ‘European and Asian Immigration Into the United States in Comparative Perspective’, in: Virginia Yans-McLaughlin (ed.), Immigration Reconsidered: History, Society, and Policies, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

[23] John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China a new history, Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2002, pp. 406-437.

[24] Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History, New York: Simon and Schuster paperbacks, 2016, pp. 34–58.

[25] Jack Gray, Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to 2000. Short Oxford History of the Modern World, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003; Jian Youwen, The Taiping Revolutionary Movement. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973; King Fairbank & Goldman, op. cit., pp. 206–216.

[26] Lee, op. cit., pp. 46-47.

[27] Lee, op. cit., pp. 77-78.

[28] Lee, op. cit., p. 88.

[29] Lee, op. cit., p. 252.

[30] Skeldon op. cit., p. 454.

[31] Lin Chong-Pin, “China’s Students Abroad: Rates of Return“, The American Enterprise, 5(6), 1994, pp. 12–14.

[32] Skeldon op. cit., p. 454.

[33] Christopher Wren (1984). China and Britain jointly announce Hong Kong Accord, New York Times, Sept 20, 1984, Section A p.1.

[34] Nicholas D. Kristof, ‘Escape from Tiananmen Square; A Chinese Odyssey’, New York Times, May 5, 1991, Sect.6, p.28, 1991.

[35] King Fairbank & Goldman, op. cit., pp. 406–437.

[36] China Immigration Statistics 1960–2022. <https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/immigration-statistics&gt; (12.04. 2021).

[37] Huiyao Wang, ‘China’s Return Migration and its Impact on Home Development’. <https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/chinas-return-migration-and-its-impact-home-development&gt; (12.04. 2021).

[38] Song Jing, ‘Vietnamese refugees well settled in China, await citizenship’, 2007. <https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2007/5/464302994/vietnamese-refugees-well-settled-china-await-citizenship.html>(12.04. 2021).

[39] Bill Schiller. “Big trouble in China’s Chocolate City“, Toronto Star. 1. august 2009. <https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2009/08/01/big_trouble_in_chinas_chocolate_city.html&gt; (12.04. 2021).

“How many Africans are in China?“. <https://africansinchina.net/how-many-africans-are-there-in-guangzhou/&gt; (12.04. 2021).

[40] Robert Castillo, African Transnational Mobility in China: Africans on the move. New York: Routledge, 2021.

[41] Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘A Defying Crackdown, North Koreans Stream Into China’, New York Times, June 6, 2002, A3; Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘North Koreans in China Now Live in Fear of Dragnet’, New York Times, July 18, 2002, A3; Elisabeth Rosenthal, ‘Chinese Police Thwart Escape Attempt by North Koreans’, New York Times, September 6, 2002, A6.

[42] Annika Steiber, ‘China: An Innovation Country?’ Springer Briefs in Business, in: Management in the Digital Age, Springer, 2018, pp. 45–66.

[43] WB—World Bank Group & The People’s Republic of China Development Research Center of the State Council, 2019. Innovative China, World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 32,351. <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/32351&gt; (9.04. 2021).

[44] WIPO—World Intellectual Property Organization, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2020. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization, 2020. <https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4526>; (11.04. 2021).

[45] CNBS- China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Country report, 2021. <http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202102/t20210227_1814154.html&gt; (11.04. 2021).

[46] Anne-Marie Brady, “Treat Insiders and Outsiders Differently’: The Use and Control of Foreigners in the PRC”. The China Quarterly 164, 2000, p. 943.

[47] Weiping Wu and Piper Gaubatz, The Chinese City, Routledge, 2020.

[48] Victor F.S. Sit, Chinese City and Urbanism. Evolution and Development, New York: World Scientific, 2010.

[49] Martina Bofulin, ‘Sodobni migracijski procesi v Ljudski republiki Kitajski’, Časopis za kritiko znanosti, 17(258), 2014, pp. 125–137; Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, China in the 21th Century. What everyone needs to know, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

[50] Wasserstrom, op. cit.

[51] Vlade Simović and Anja Mudrenović, ‘Diplomatska percepcija saradnje BiH sa NR Kinom: Prvi uvidi i početak diplomatske saradnje’, in: Faruk Borić (ed.), 25 godina diplomatskih odnosa NR Kine i BiH: Zbornik radova. Sarajevo, Fondacija za promociju i razvoj Inicijative ‘Pojas i put’ Istraživački centar, 2020, p. 44–57.

[52] “Mapping China’s rise in the Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina“. < https://ecfr.eu/special/china-balkans/bosnia-and-herzegovina/&gt; (03.09. 2022).

[53] “Mapping China’s rise in the Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina“. < https://ecfr.eu/special/china-balkans/bosnia-and-herzegovina/&gt; (03.09. 2022).

[54] “Mapping China’s rise in the Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina“. < https://ecfr.eu/special/china-balkans/bosnia-and-herzegovina/&gt; (03.09. 2022).

[55] Yan Wu, Janneke Pieters and Nico Heerink, ‘The gender wage gap among China’s rural—urban migrants’, Review of Development Economics 25(1), 2021, p. 23–47.

Additional information

Funding

The research for this article was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency ARRS, research and infrastructure programmes P5-0081, J5-3117, and P6-0372.