Economic, Cultural Threats and Chinese Residents’ Attitudes toward Foreigners in Yiwu, China

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Anti-Immigrant Discourses

Abstract

Through a questionnaire survey in Yiwu, a typical city of foreigners gathered, this article shows firstly the arrival of foreigners brought great impacts on Chinese residents in many areas such as their daily life and employment, shocking them mentally and culturally, which influence their social attitude toward foreigners. Moreover, the contacts and communications between them have not promoted the acceptance of foreigners to Chinese residents just as the contact theory expected. Furthermore, higher education and the values of justice have a close connection with Chinese residents’ attitude toward foreigners. Lastly, we compare the opposite results published by another article based on a survey in Guangzhou, and furtherly to set a new theoretical frame to explain the local citizen’s attitude toward foreigners. That is, at the early stage of immigration, threat theory contributes to explaining Chinese attitudes toward foreigners, and contact theory have more explanatory power in the deep contact phase, while higher education and the values of justice help enhance the acceptability at any stage.

Author

• Tao Xu