Skilled US migrants in the Pearl River Delta region: the rise of an intellectual gateway in China

ABSTRACT

The increasing globalization and rising knowledge-based economy have created a higher-than-ever demand for skilled workers. China, among some Global South countries, is joining the race for talent to alleviate the brain drain. Using the conceptual framework of ‘intellectual migration’, this study examines how the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China is increasingly becoming an ‘intellectual gateway’ that attracts and retains skilled international migrants. Drawing on 58 semi-structured interviews with skilled US migrants in this region, this article addresses the following research questions: (1) Why do skilled US migrants choose the region as their migration destination; and (2) As a rising intellectual gateway, how does the PRD region shape the integration of skilled US migrants?

Our findings suggest that the PRD region’s knowledge-based economy and socio-cultural environment serve as strong magnets that attract skilled US migrants. These factors are critical to the structural and socio-cultural integration of skilled international migrants. The research advances the intellectual migration framework by providing empirical evidence on the geography of intellectual migration in a fast-growing megalopolis in the Global South, demonstrating the diversity of intellectual migrants and intellectual gateways. Policy implications include supporting the synergy of structural and socio-cultural integration of global talent.

KEYWORDS:

• Intellectual gateway
• skilled migration
• locational choice
• integration
• China

Acknowledgement

A US National Science Foundation grant (BCS-1660526) partially funded the research project that this article is based upon. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies. We thank American Association of Geographer’s Dissertation Grant and Arizona State University’s Melvin G. Marcus Memorial Fellowship and Matthew G. Bailey Scholarship for supporting the fieldwork. We are thankful for the insightful comments from the anonymous reviewers. We thank Dr. Elizabeth Chacko for her feedback on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We also thank Mr. Siqiao Xie for introducing key literature to us. We appreciate all the participants for sharing their migration and life experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.