By chance I read a blog discussing about the new wave of Chinese millionaires immigration to Canada in these two years. He criticized that these new immigrants who immigrate to Canada through investment have lost the early Chinese immigrants’ spirit of working diligently and actively adapting to the local environment.
Photoed on 24th May, West Broadway
Relating it to the lecture given by David Ley on Tuesday, the new Asian immigrants, who are now more composed of investor immigrants than the skilled workers and professionals, changed the landscape and social structure of Vancouver and other Canadian cities in a unique way. The huge wealth accumulated in their home country gives them the mobility of not only travelling and also living permanently in a foreign land. However, the wealth also gives them less stress to force them to integrate into the local culture and society and power to change the neighbourhood and society in their willing. Instead of adapting to and integrating into the new world they have dreamed of, they build Monster house and continue their life style and life philosophy in Canada which differed little from that back in China. Instead of changing themselves into Canadian, they are transforming this North-American city into Asian style. This claim may be too exaggerated but after the trip to Richmond and Lougheed Town, how the new Asian immigrants have shaped this town really surprised me. Chinese malls in Richmond, Korean supermarket in Lougheed Town are just so Asian which some of them only sell Chinese or Korean brands there.
Photoed on 21st May, West Hastings Street
Here rises the question, if immigrants isolate themselves from the society and maintain the life style and social interaction under a contradictory context, do they consider themselves as, for example, more a Canadian or Chinese? This does not only create the confusion of identity for the immigrants but also tear the society and city into different parts rather than a united integrity. Sometimes multi-culture and immigrants can enrich a city by the addition of exotic and diverse elements but there is also a potential risk of chaos and tearing apart of the society and city landscape. Of course, these are built upon the assumption that new immigrants refuse to integrate into the new environment and try to create a protection zone around themselves which allow them to think and live in a comfortable way. Linking it to my personal experience of studying in Singapore, there are similar cases and phenomena for some PRC students. Their social circles are constrained within PRC peers and they only attend the activities with a domination of Chinese students. They live in a conventional way and avoid trying and understanding the local Singaporean life style. The only difference for the mini society of NUS and the society of Vancouver is that PRC students are not like new wealthy immigrants who have the power to change the physical structure as their willing, but both of them are quite similar in terms of impact on social structure.
Photoed on 21st May, East Vancouver
Therefore the refusal of integrating into new world for immigrants can be very destructive to both immigrants and the place. The integration of the immigrants is always a problem and important agenda for the local government and the booming of investor immigrants has pushed the problem into a worse situation since they are more independent in terms of finance and the needs of job. What they value is the life quality and political security other than the local culture and social issue. Canada for them is more a house of living rather than the home.
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