PhD thesis final - Royal Holloway, University of London

Chapter1- Introductionto that of other globalised cities (Leng 2002). The relatively easy entry into China (asmentioned earlier) and the shared cultural background and social norms are significantconsiderations in their decision-making. Despite the fact that shared culture andethnicity are considered to be advantageous for migrants in adjusting to living andworking in China, this does not mean that they can integrate well and have pleasantexpatriate lives. Instead, Taiwanese expatriates often discard the shared cultural systemand perceptions of its usefulness in their social integration when they find that thereexists a large gap between the realities of the China that they experience and that oftheir pre-migration imaginations (Lin 2007). As a result, Taiwanese expatriates oftentend to live or prefer to live within expatriate bubbles or in Taiwanese enclaves (Clark2002; Tseng 2007). Thus, the limited extent to which Taiwanese people interact with thelocal PRC Chinese and their identities in relation to everyday grounded livedexperiences, are important dimensions that merit consideration in understandingmigrants‘ practices of belonging.To ensure Taiwanese expatriates‘ welfare and well-being, Taiwanese IT firms design andprovide fixed and non-negotiable expatriate relocation packages to the expatriate staff.In addition to a monthly salary, housing and vehicle (or local transportation services),expatriate remuneration packages generally include an allowance for living away fromhome. Home leave (holidays) with return airline tickets are provided, which allows forexpatriates who have relocated without their families to benefit 4-6 home-leaves a year(the number of leaves falls to 2-3 for those relocated with their families). In concern forsafety of migrants, Taiwanese IT firms provide housing arrangements for theirexpatriate staff in the form of company-developed or built living quarters located in thefactory compound, or an apartment/ house in the local gated communities, thus makingthis group‘s living space separate from that of the local society and also preventing28