Deciding to Leave? A Study of Chinese Women’s Intentions to Move

• In Event: Global and Transnational Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 5. Decision to Migrate

Abstract

A wide range of Chinese females have been in the trend of moving abroad and leaving the original country as a kind of self-improvement decision. While research has traditionally centered on diaspora communities’ settlement and the pressures of integration and assimilation in destination societies, the meaning-making moment in which individuals explain what deciding to leave signifies remains comparatively underexamined. The question remains: what shapes Chinese women’s imaginaries of mobility? how do they use cultural resources to frame and justify rùn? This article analyzes how the linkage between moving away and living a better life is built in narratives, drawing on the theory of the cultural toolkit. Using archived forum dialogues and qualitative data, the study uses the keyword Rùn (润) to collect narratives about leaving and reflection from a women-oriented, forum-based digital platform. Rùn carries a meaning very similar to “run,” referring to the act of leaving one’s country and seeking opportunities abroad, typically in more developed nations. The author finds there are four main concerns built on two sets of cultural frameworks: a romantic orientation and a pragmatic orientation. The article identifies that the work of justification and framing is concentrated in three domains of narrative practice: constructing a sense of self, articulating strategies of action, and decision-making dilemmas, particularly those involving ambivalence about returning to China.

Author

• QINXIA Wang, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po)