Social Integration and Residence Intention of Foreigners in Western China: Evidence from Xi’an

Xiaoxian Guo (), Qian Zhang, Yaxin Cheng () and Jing’en Song
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Xiaoxian Guo: Department of Sociology, Institute of Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Qian Zhang: Department of Sociology, Institute of Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Yaxin Cheng: Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Jing’en Song: Department of Sociology, Institute of Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Since “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) of 2014, the number of foreigners in China has increased rapidly and China has become an importing country for immigrants, a change ongoing since the beginning of the 21st century. To respond to the rapidly increasing number of foreigners in China, the government frequently revised the immigration policies and issued new regulations for foreigners. However, scholars understand very little about how the foreigners perceive their integration into Chinese society or decide to pursue long-term residency or lawful permanent resident status. While some pioneering studies touch on this, with samples from the coastal megacities, no empirical evidence has been collected from smaller, inner cities. Three new findings about the foreigners in Xi’an, a major city in western China, fill this literature gap. First, the level of subjective social integration is largely influenced by the local networks. Second, the level of objective social integration depends largely on local and hometown networks. Third, the intention to obtain long-term and permanent residency in China is more evident in those foreigners who come from countries covered by the BRI and who consider China to be a better place to live than their home country.

Keywords: social integration; residence intention; the belt and road initiative; China; Xi’an (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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