Entrepreneurial and Transnational Socialisation among Descendants of Chinese Migrants: A Cross-country Study on New Transnational Mobilities Between Europe and China

The rise of China on the global economic and geopolitical stage has prompted crucial transformations in transnational mobility and international relationships between Europe and China, which are significant for Chinese migrants’ descendants in Europe. Although the transnational relationships with their parents’ country of origin during childhood have been documented by numerous researchers, less attention has been paid to the new mobilities undertaken by young adults of Chinese origin. Based on a multi-sited ethnographic study carried out in Spain, France, and China, this chapter analyses the mobility from Europe to China undertaken by migrants’ adult descendants for study and work. We argue that their transnational socialization, together with their families’ entrepreneurial backgrounds and the rise of the Chinese economy, may lead some descendants to move to their parents’ country of origin. Beyond the economic motivations, we also analyse the symbolic meaning of these mobilities to the intergenerational relationships within the family. This new flow of migration to China offers migrants’ children a space to rethink their identities in light of their transnational socialization.