Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 48, No.

2, August 2007
ISSN 1360-7456, pp151–167

Transnationalism through the life course:

Hong Kong immigrants in Canada
Audrey Kobayashi* and Valerie Preston†
*Department of Geography, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Email: kobayasi@post.queensu.ca
†Department of Geography, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Email: vpreston@yorku.ca

Abstract: Transnationalism needs to be understood as a set of practices fashioned through the life
course as well as in relation to contextual factors that include state policy and experiences of
discrimination that affect entry to the labour force. The paradox of transnationalism is that families
make strategic decisions to separate in order to maintain family unity and to advance the welfare of
children. Emigrants from Hong Kong to Canada in the latter decades of the twentieth century were
motivated by concern for family welfare and the quality of education in Canada. Yet economic
livelihood prospects remained greater in Hong Kong than in Canada, prompting many families to
become transnational ‘astronaut’ families with one or more members working in Hong Kong.
Migration decisions tend to occur around key points of life-course transition involving entry to and
graduation from education, and entry to and exit from the labour force. Transnational practices are
complex and multigenerational, involving different patterns for young adults, those in their middle
years and the elderly.

Keywords: Canada, families, Hong Kong, life course, migration, transnationalism

International migration changes families and
family relations. Paradoxically, while growing
numbers of studies show that concern for family
unification and the well-being of family
members represents one of the major motiva-
tions for international moves, increasing
numbers of families are separated by the deci-
sion to move. They become ‘transnationals’, a
product of recent globalisation trends in which
families assemble, disassemble and reassemble
across large distances. Men and women migrate
alone leaving behind spouses, parents, children
and siblings with whom they reunite when their
financial situations allow them to return or
to bring family members to the destination
country. Or they migrate together and send one
or more members back to their places of origin
to run family businesses and take care of family
affairs (Ho et al., 2001; Waters, 2002). Children
in growing numbers are sent across interna-
tional borders to obtain desired educational
qualifications. Or, children born in the destina-
tion country are sent ‘back’ to live with grand-
parents in the source country. Some travel
alone; others are accompanied by family
members. Mothers abandon careers, friends
and other family responsibilities to care for chil-
dren or for the elderly, often in isolation. Fathers
abandon their loved ones to pursue business
interests, often in isolation (Ackers, 2004;
Huang and Yeoh, 2005; Waters, 2005).
In the Asia-Pacific region, stories of trans-
national families are not new. In Canada, one of
the first large-scale transnational movements
involved men from the south of China imported
during the second half of the nineteenth century
to work the mines and build the railways,
leaving spouses and families in China, some-
times for decades. But during the last two
decades of the twentieth century, a new form of
transnationalism arose, driven by a perception
that international migration is in the best inter-
ests of children, especially with respect to edu-
cation. Livelihoods remain at the source, not
the destination. In the twenty-first century,
geographically dispersed families have made

© 2007 The Authors doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2007.00338.x

Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
transnational practices an integral part of their
lives, facing the challenges of maintaining
contact and intimacy across national borders
and great distances (Yeoh et al., 2005).
The growing literature about transnationalism
recognises that gender, class and race, as well
as state policies and other local circumstances
at migrants’ places of origin and destination,
shape transnational behaviours (Itzigsohn et al.,
1999; Portes et al., 1999; Levitt, 2001a; Pribil-
sky, 2004; Yeoh et al., 2005). Recent literature
also documents considerable diversity in trans-
national family behaviour, depending on the
relative economic circumstances of the sending
and receiving countries as well as the relative
race and class positions of the migrants. Much
less attention has been paid to the dynamic
nature of transnational ties through the life
course. Needs and roles of family members
change at points of life-course transition; so too
do the motivations for migrating, the destina-
tions of migrants, and the transnational prac-
tices that link family members (Bailey and
Boyle, 2004).
We examine the evolution of transnational-
ism through the life course, ‘a series of stages
and transitions in life which are culturally and
institutionally framed from birth to death’
(Heinz and Kruger, 2001: 33). The life course
provides a particularly suitable theoretical
framework for examining the lives of interna-
tional migrants, lives that are shaped by social,
cultural, political and economic processes oper-
ating at multiple geographical scales. Life-
course transitions are not simply individual
events. We approach each transition as a family
event that reconfigures everyday household
relations and shifts family priorities, based on
culturally and socially defined concepts of the
family that are as important as material bonds in
linking dispersed family members (Chamberlain
and Leydesdorff, 2004; Yeoh et al., 2005).
Our analysis draws on a case study of Hong
Kong immigrants who arrived in Canada before
2002 as part of a ‘culture of migration’ that
accelerated the movement of Hong Kong resi-
dents before the colony’s return to China in
1997 (Skeldon, 1994). They were encouraged
by Canadian immigration policies favouring
highly skilled and affluent migrants. The
booming Hong Kong property market and the
strength of the Asian economy (until the down-
152
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
turn of the late 1990s) ensured that they had the
capital to develop and maintain transnational
links. The result, beginning in 1985, was a dra-
matic increase in the number of Hong Kong
immigrants to two major destinations, Vancou-
ver and Toronto. This movement lasted until
1997, when it declined precipitously following
reunification with the PRC and the Asian finan-
cial crisis.
The populations of relatively affluent and
well-educated Hong Kong migrants in the two
metropolitan areas are large enough to support
all the forms of communication and trans-
portation that promote transnational ties. For
example, Toronto is home to two Chinese-
language newspapers, both local branches of
Hong Kong publications (Siemiatycki and
Preston, 2007). Transnational ties are also
reinforced by the long history of migration
between Hong Kong and Canada. Many of
those who participated in our study already had
links to families in Canada, some of whom had
been there for several generations. An even
greater number built upon established educa-
tional ties since the practice of sending children
to study in Canada had been developed
throughout the post-war era. The size and long
history of migration ensure that our case study
includes people from all stages and with diverse
paths through the life course.
Hong Kong migrants also illustrate the diverse
forms of the transnational family. A highly flex-
ible social formation, the transnational family
reconfigures itself in response to changing
social, political and economic conditions
(Levitt, 2002; Ley and Kobayashi, 2005). This is
particularly true of Hong Kong migrants, who
have migrated in a number of configurations.
Nuclear families have entered Canada only to
see the father return to Hong Kong to pursue
economic opportunities (Waters, 2002; Ley,
2003). In some cases, both parents return to
Hong Kong, leaving children alone as ‘para-
chute kids’ to pursue their education (Waters,
2002). Older children have migrated alone to
Canada to pursue their studies and been fol-
lowed by siblings and, eventually, one or both
parents. Left alone in Hong Kong, seniors have
migrated to be close to their adult children,
often settling just as their adult grandchildren
return to Hong Kong (Ley and Kobayashi, 2005).
We aim to make sense of these diverse family
© 2007 The Authors

patterns by examining how the life course struc-
tures transnational migration.
Transnationalism as a contingent process
Transnational ties are diverse and contingent,
varying in their scope, intensity and duration
(Itzigsohn et al., 1999; Portes et al., 1999;
Levitt, 2000, 2001a). Recent efforts to account
for these diverse practices have considered the
effects of the type of transnational community
(Levitt, 2000), state policies at the origin (Levitt,
2000) and at the destination, and the institu-
tional context in which an immigrant group
settles (Levitt, 2002). At an individual level, eth-
nicity (Levitt, 2002), social class (Levitt, 2000;
Yeoh et al., 2000) and gender (Pessar, 2001;
Pessar and Mahler, 2003; Wong, 2003; Preston
et al., 2006a) have been identified as important
influences on transnational practices.
A growing body of research in a number of
international contexts examines transnational
families in which family members are geo-
graphically dispersed, living in different nation
states (Yeoh et al., 2005). More attention is also
being given to family migration, a form of
migration that has until recently been over-
looked in much immigration research (Kofman,
2004). In both streams of research, there is a
consensus that we need better understanding of
the changing links between transnational migra-
tion and the dynamic changes that occur within
families. Stressing such linkages recognises that
the family is not the rather simple decision-
making unit defined by human capital models
that stress migration as motivated primarily by
economic returns. Gendered interpretations of
the transnational family go beyond simplistic
economic assumptions to stress the relative
roles of male and female partners, and to show
that economic gains are usually disproportion-
ately in favour of the male partner (Bailey and
Boyle, 2004). Successful theoretical develop-
ment depends on more detailed empirical infor-
mation about family responses to changing
needs over the life courses of family members
(Jones-Correa, 2000), and researchers have
drawn attention to the effects of key events that
transform the family, including family separa-
tion, marriage, childbirth, retirement and ageing
(Ackers, 2004; Kofman, 2004). Understanding
the priorities that families set at each stage will
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
also help us to understand the contingencies of
international migration as families adjust their
plans because of unexpected circumstances.
With marriage, men and women take on new
roles that are disrupted and redefined by trans-
national migration (Levitt, 2001b; Pribilsky,
2004).
Our current knowledge of transnational fami-
lies underscores their dynamic nature, but also
the variation in practices across places. The
birth of children presents the paradox that
women have greater economic incentive to
migrate to earn money, but face greater difficul-
ties in managing their transnational family lives.
Women from developing countries in Latin
America, the Caribbean and South-East Asia
most often migrate for economic reasons, often
travelling alone to earn money to support their
partners and children living in the source
country. Some strive from a distance to fulfil
their domestic responsibilities as transnational
mothers while their children are left in the care
of close relatives (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila,
1997; Levitt, 2001b). Some women reunite with
their children, bringing them to the new
country, while others leave them at their places
of origin. As children grow up, different strate-
gies are implemented to take care of their
changing physical, social, emotional and edu-
cational needs. For example, Ghanaian women
who migrated to Toronto followed a variety of
transnational mothering strategies ranging from
reuniting with the children in Canada to invest-
ing in Ghanaian businesses to provide financial
support for their children (Wong, 2003).
Care for dependents, including the elderly
and the sick, and care provided by the elderly
comprise a second set of important reasons
motivating the development of transnational
families. Adult children migrate to the countries
where relatives retired years earlier, disrupting
their own careers and retirement plans. Alterna-
tively, they relocate dependent relatives to their
own countries of residence (Ackers, 2004).
These migration flows raise important questions
about entitlement to permanent residence and
health and social benefits for those giving and
receiving care. In many countries, immigration
and settlement policies that focus on economic
migrants are ill suited to the needs of trans-
national families in which family members take
on responsibilities for unpaid care.
153
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
But most of the research reported to date
has addressed transnational circumstances in
which the major motivation for emigration is
economic. Our study addresses an East Asian
context where migration is often precipitated by
educational rather than economic imperatives
(Kwak, 2002; Huang and Yeoh, 2005; Waters,
2005) and where livelihood opportunities are
often better at the source than at the destination.
Of course Canada and other developed coun-
tries have long-established traditions of provid-
ing education for international students,
especially from developing countries (and, in
Canada’s case, especially from Commonwealth
countries), but permanent migration in an edu-
cational context is relatively more recent and
increasingly important. According to Kwak
(2002), the Korean women whom she inter-
viewed migrated to Toronto to enhance the edu-
cational and economic opportunities available
to their children and their husbands, respec-
tively. Affluent and well-educated, the women
sacrificed comfortable lives to work without pay
in small family enterprises while shouldering
even more responsibilities for housework and
child care than they had in Korea. Many view
themselves as sojourners in Canada whose sac-
rifices will be rewarded by the success of their
children and by eventual return to a more lei-
surely life in Korea.
The phenomenon of ‘astronaut’ wives,
women living abroad with their children while
their husbands work in Hong Kong and other
parts of Asia, underscores the contingent nature
of family migration.1 Settled mainly in Toronto
and Vancouver, astronaut wives reside abroad
for the sake of their children’s education and
future economic opportunities and to obtain
Canadian citizenship, a status that assures their
absent husbands have rights to permanent resi-
dence in Canada (Waters, 2002, 2003, 2005;
Preston et al., 2006a). Research suggests that
the decision for the husband to return to the
place of origin is a result of the ordering of
family priorities, especially over education, so
that family unity is sacrificed. The resulting
separation evokes diverse responses. While
many women struggle initially to settle them-
selves and their children in an unfamiliar place,
over time, they may relish their increased
autonomy away from the presence and surveil-
lance of their partners (Man, 1997; Waters,
154
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
2002). Some Taiwanese women have achieved
unprecedented levels of autonomy as astronaut
wives charged with settling themselves and their
children in Australian cities, while others
struggle in unfamiliar and alien surroundings
(Chiang, 2004). In Singapore, growing numbers
of women from China abandon their careers
and homes to accompany children to Singapore
to help them obtain a foreign education (Huang
and Yeoh, 2005). Many struggle financially,
although an affluent minority who do not need
to work settle easily in Singapore where ample
financial resources enable them to overcome
the social challenges of living alone in a strange
place.
The literature about transnational migration
from East Asia illustrates the overwhelming
primacy of the family and its interests for many
Asian migrants. The feminisation of Asian migra-
tion and the diverse family configurations that
result often challenge the patriarchal nature of
Asian familism, in which fathers and husbands
are the ultimate arbiters whose decisions some-
times favour sons over daughters (Ong, 1999;
Yeoh et al., 2005). The interests of the family as
a whole take priority, superseding the interests
of individual members. The welfare of family
members is also highly interdependent, as we
have seen with the astronaut wives who live far
from their spouses for the sake of the children.
In this context that places tremendous weight
on the welfare of the family, migration deci-
sions, transnational practices and their mean-
ings will be shaped significantly by transitions
that mark changes in family composition and in
the needs of family members, transforming roles
and normative expectations and establishing
new links to institutions such as the educational
system and the labour market (Heinz and
Kruger, 2001). We view transnationalism as a
dynamic set of practices that evolve as family
members move through the life course making
decisions about migration and relocation that
separate and reunite them in diverse configura-
tions. Strong imperatives to maintain family ties
and intimacy promote transnational practices
such as regular trips between two residential
locations, frequent phone calls and other com-
munications, and close attention to popular
culture and public affairs that reinforce cultural
identity. It is a defining paradox of trans-
national family migration that the objective of
© 2007 The Authors

maintaining a strong, cohesive and prosperous
family is best achieved by separating family
members by great distances.
Working with recent immigrants from Hong
Kong, we examine transnationalism through the
life course in two parts. First, we investigate
how stage in the life course affects the decision
to migrate, asking how changing family con-
cerns precipitates various migration patterns.
The second part of our analysis explores the
implications of these decisions for transnational
practices. We suggest that through the life
course, the nature, extent, intensity and signifi-
cance of transnational practices will change in
response to evolving family norms, resources
and spatial configurations.
Research methods
Our analysis is comparative rather than longitu-
dinal. Unlike previous studies that have con-
centrated mainly on one stage in the life course,
we examine transnational migration decisions
and practices at different stages. The compari-
son has two advantages. It reveals something of
the social and emotional bonds among family
members that have often been overlooked in
studies that emphasise the family as an eco-
nomic unit (Yeoh et al., 2005). It also allows us
to explore the interdependency of migration
decisions as they are influenced by concerns
regarding the welfare and well-being of differ-
ent family members at key points of life-course
transition, especially entry to and graduation
from school, and entry to and exit from the
labour force. Such transitions evoke different
rationales and meanings for transnational
practices.
Our main source of information is transcripts
from focus groups involving 185 participants
who had migrated from Hong Kong to Canada
as adults and children. Recruited through com-
munity organisations and personal contacts,
participants attended focus groups that com-
prised between five and twelve people. Our
study took place in Vancouver and Toronto, but
early analysis of our results showed insignificant
differences in responses between the partici-
pants in the two cities for our present purposes;
we therefore treat them here as a single case
study in which life stage is the major differenti-
ating factor. Some focus groups were stratified
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
on the basis of age and others on the basis of
gender. Comparison of the transcripts suggests
little difference between the discussions in
the single-gender focus groups and those in
which men and women participated together;
however, to enable young adults to discuss
forthrightly their ties to Hong Kong and Canada,
their sense of belonging in both societies, and
their future plans, they participated in different
focus groups than the older immigrants.2 Our
study also included individuals who were born
in Canada to immigrant parents, but we have
not included that group for purposes of the
present analysis.
After coding the transcripts for common
themes, we searched for discussions of reasons
for emigrating, family, education, work, retire-
ment and transnational activities. This method
ensures as even as possible a coverage of the
issues, but also allows us to understand the
discussion in context, rather than simply mining
the transcripts to determine the number of times
a particular issue is mentioned.
At the beginning of each focus group session,
participants were asked to complete a question-
naire survey that included questions about
family migration history, participation in various
transnational practices ranging from trips to
Hong Kong to donating to Hong Kong charities,
and settlement experiences in Canada. The
questionnaire data describe transnational prac-
tices in a fairly consistent and quantifiable form.
The survey data complement the information
from the transcripts that provide narratives
voicing the significance and meaning of trans-
national practices.
We deliberately chose focus groups over indi-
vidual interviews so that we could capture the
dynamic nature of a conversation in which
people discuss a common situation (Barbour,
1999). The experience can be socially transfor-
mative, in that participants strengthen or shift
their opinions, share information and think
about things in ways that may be new or differ-
ent. Although we followed a common discus-
sion schedule in order to ensure a consistent
discussion of our key themes on transnational
activities and citizenship, topics often arose that
reflected the common understanding of the par-
ticipants much better than had we relied only
on our own preconceptions of how the conver-
sation should proceed. Issues that evoke strong
155
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston

feelings, particularly with respect to family,
often receive a much more evocative discussion
among people with shared experiences than in
a one-to-one interview situation. Once people
establish their commonality, the formality of the
situation breaks down quickly, the tape recorder
is forgotten, and people engage in a frank dis-
cussion. Our transcripts therefore reflect much
of the human dynamics of the shared social
process of transnational migration.
Who are the participants?
Comparison of the social characteristics of par-
ticipants reveals three surprisingly homoge-
neous groups of participants at different stages
in the life course at the time the focus groups
were conducted: young adults between the ages
of 18 and 30 years; the middle-aged who were
in their thirties and forties; and seniors between
the ages of 51 and 74 years. The young
adults were single and never married. The vast
majority of middle-aged adults and seniors were
married, 88.3% and 82.8%, respectively, and
the median age of marriage of both groups was
26 years.3 Even those who were single in these
two age groups reported that they had children,
suggesting that they had been married in the
past. About 80% of the middle-aged and senior
participants were parents. On the surface, par-
ticipants in the focus groups moved through the
life course in a uniform fashion that was highly
dependent on age. The uniformity of the demo-
graphic characteristics raises questions about
the degree of normativity directing their deci-
sions about life-course events, particularly
those surrounding children’s upbringing and
education.
The majority of participants had lived in
Canada for less than a decade (Table 1). The
young adults that participated in our study had
slightly longer residence in Canada than the
other age groups, most having come as young
children and been educated mainly in Canada.

Table 1. Immigration history of Hong Kong immigrants

Teens and twenties Thirties and forties Fifties and sixties+

(n = 85) (n = 70) (n = 30)
n % n % n %

Immigration year
Pre 1986 4 4.7 4 5.7 4 13.3
1986–1991 29 34.1 7 10.0 3 10.0
1992–1996 37 43.5 28 40.0 17 56.7
Post 1996 8 9.4 27 38.6 6 20.0
No response 7 8.2 4 5.7 0 0.0
Immigrated with
Alone 1 1.2 4 5.7 4 13.3
Parents 76 89.4 4 5.7 0 0.0
Spouse 0 0.0 26 37.1 10 33.3
Children and others 6 7.1 31 44.3 11 36.7
No response 2 2.4 5 7.1 5 16.7
Immigration class
Independent 27 31.8 38 54.3 6 20.0
Family 30 35.3 13 18.6 8 26.7
Refugee 1 1.2 1 1.4 1 3.3
Business 19 22.4 16 22.9 10 33.3
Other* 5 5.9 2 2.9 3 10.0
No response 3 3.5 0 0 2 6.7
Immigration reasons**
Work/business 0 0.0 3 4.3 3 10.0
Family 53 62.4 50 71.4 20 66.7
Education 28 32.9 30 42.9 6 20.0
Political 5 5.9 21 30.0 3 10.0
No response 2 2.4 0 0.0 0 0

*Other includes retired, not specified, and born in Canada and returned.
**Percentages may not sum to 100 because multiple responses were accepted.

156 © 2007 The Authors

Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington

Unlike the young adult and senior groups,
which were split fairly evenly between men and
women, the middle-age group was more than
70% female. Many of the women were astro-
naut wives who had moved with their partners
and children to Vancouver and Toronto, but
dismal economic prospects in those cities and
booming economic opportunities in Asia had
led men to leave their partners and children in
Canada and return to Hong Kong.4
The difficult economic circumstances facing
Hong Kong immigrants in Canada are readily
apparent in their low rates of labour force
participation. Despite fairly high educational
attainments, near half (48.6%) of the middle-
aged participants in the prime income-earning
years reported that they were not employed and
not seeking work. Approximately 10% of par-
ticipants in this stage of the life course were
employed full-time and another 18% was self-
employed. Among young adults, the labour
force participation rates are consistent with their
status as full-time students, 38.5% were not
employed and not seeking work and 29.2%
worked part-time. Close to half of seniors,
48.3%, had retired and none was a full-time
employee. Even in this group, there were
people who seem to have been pushed out of
the labour force. More than 13% of seniors
reported that they were unemployed and
seeking work. The results of low labour force
participation are readily apparent in household
incomes. In each age group, the majority
reported annual household incomes below
$30 000 in the Vancouver and Toronto metro-
politan areas where the median household
incomes in 2000 were $49 387 and $59 502,
respectively (Statistics Canada, 2003). Under
these circumstances, many families were living
either on the earnings of an astronaut father in
Hong Kong or on the proceeds of capital invest-
ments such as real estate.
Migration histories: Becoming transnational
and keeping the family together
Participants’ reasons for immigrating to Canada
show the synergy between decisions to migrate
and normative expectations at particular stages
in the life course. During focus group discus-
sions, familial concerns were most often voiced,
followed by educational concerns. The relative
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
frequency of the reasons mentioned for immi-
grating to Canada did not vary much among the
three groups (Table 1).
Contrary to characterisations of Hong Kong
migrants as ‘reluctant exiles’ seeking political
security (Skeldon, 1994), concerns about politi-
cal instability in Hong Kong were mentioned by
only 29 of the 185 participants in the focus
groups. Political concerns had somewhat more
influence on the decisions of people in their
thirties and forties, but even so were almost
always expressed in terms of their worries
about the future prospects of their dependent
children.5
The majority of participants migrated with
family members, be it parents, spouse, children,
siblings, or, in a few cases, other relatives
(Table 1). Young adults are of course most likely
to have arrived with their parents, while men
and women who are middle-aged migrate with
their spouses and children, and seniors are
equally likely to migrate with a spouse as with
their adult children. Very few people migrated
alone, confirming that migration is a family
strategy for Hong Kong immigrants throughout
the life course. This point is particularly note-
worthy with respect to young adults who, unlike
the pattern for many other migrant source coun-
tries, do not emigrate to Canada alone for career
purposes. Indeed, as we found out in interviews
carried out in Hong Kong for another part of this
project, the flow is in the other direction, with
thousands of Canadian-born university gradu-
ates moving to Hong Kong to work (Ley and
Kobayashi, 2005).
Confirming that there was a ‘culture of migra-
tion’ in Hong Kong that normalised interna-
tional migration (Skeldon, 1994), focus group
participants underlined the almost routine
nature of their decisions to relocate. Given the
importance that Canadian immigration policy
places on family reunion and the relatively high
human capital possessed by most of the
migrants, the procedures for applying for admis-
sion to Canada were relatively easy and rapid.
Many followed family members who had
informed them about immigration policies and
living conditions in Vancouver and Toronto and
had initiated their immigration applications.
Some made their own reconnaissance trips and
others had already travelled to Canada many
times as tourists to visit family members already
157
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
resident there. These descriptions of the deci-
sion to emigrate are typical:
I have nine siblings; seven of them had already
immigrated. My elder brother and I were the
only members left in Hong Kong (TNM3-4,
24).
My brother-in-law immigrated to Canada first.
He brought his parents with him. So my
husband said that it might be better for us to
immigrate as well. Our children would benefit
from the Canadian education as well (TNF1-6,
24).
A few, however, expressed resentment of the
migration decision over which they felt they had
little control. Single adult children are expected
to relocate with their parents and siblings. In
families with children, women often feel com-
pelled to follow family members, migrating and
then returning to Hong Kong as children move
from one country to another. Laura, who had
lived in Canada for 10 years at the time of the
focus groups, expresses the views of these
women:
I have to follow my children. My husband has
been an astronaut since day one. My oldest son
has returned to Hong Kong and works there.
Now, I still have two children studying here. I
don’t know if they will return to Hong Kong. If
they return to Hong Kong, there’s no reason for
me to stay alone (TNF2-2, 70).
The Hong Kong immigrants are thus typical
chain migrants for whom family ties are often
crucial in the migration decision (Boyd, 1989);
however, unlike economic chain migrants for
whom previous migrants assist in finding work,
the Hong Kongnese case is distinctive in the role
of family ties that promote familiarity with
Canada well before many of the migrants arrive.
Again paradoxically, they leave ‘home’ in Hong
Kong to arrive ‘home’ in Canada because home
is defined as where the family is in the already
established transnational field.
The attraction of a Canadian education
The phenomenon of Hong Kong–Canada trans-
nationalism cannot be understood without rec-
ognition that a Canadian education has been
viewed by middle-class Hong Kong families for
158
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
(%)
100
80
60
40
20
0
1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001
Hong Kong Other Asia
United States Other
Figure 1.Canada, foreign student stocks from principal
source regions: 1980–2001
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (2003).
decades as a valuable attainment. During the
1980s, Hong Kong was the largest single source
of international students studying in Canada by
a considerable margin, representing up to 30%
of the annual total stock (Figure 1). The propor-
tion declined through the 1990s, both because
other countries (such as Korea, Japan and the
PRC) began sending large number of students to
Canada and because a higher proportion of the
Hong Kong-origin students were permanent
residents. Nonetheless, it remained very high
and, despite the recent growth in university
places in Hong Kong, this motive for migration
persists.
Focus group participants confirmed the con-
tinuation of educational ties between Hong
Kong and Canada. A strong majority empha-
sised that they had migrated to Canada to
enhance their children’s educational opportuni-
ties. Even those for whom the migration experi-
ence was not positive suggested that they were
willing to make sacrifices because of the chil-
dren’s education. As Waters (2004) reports,
some were concerned about their children’s
ability to pass the highly competitive examina-
tion (HKCEE) that is the basis for admission to
university in Hong Kong. Others wanted their
children to have a less competitive and authori-
tarian education, and still others were
© 2007 The Authors

impressed by the relatively low cost of Cana-
dian universities for permanent residents. A
number of graduates from Canadian universities
remarked on the value of a Canadian degree for
obtaining employment in Hong Kong, particu-
larly in the rapidly expanding quaternary sector.
Chain migration also played an important
role in informing families about the merits of
Canadian schools and universities. In many
cases, at least one family member had studied
in Canada long before other family members
had considered emigration. Sometimes children
are sent alone to Canada to pursue their studies,
but among our participants, as among other
groups of Hong Kong migrants (Waters, 2005),
the entire family is much more likely to migrate.
Among the young adults who had moved to
Canada in the 14 years before this study, the vast
majority (89.4%) had moved with their parents.
A Canadian education becomes an expectation
at a certain point in the life course, and parents
time the move according to the relative ages of
the children:
My family immigrated here for my education.
My brother and sister had already been sent
here to study. I knew one day it would be my
turn (TY2-6, 48).
I came here almost five years ago. I came here
for my children. My son is nineteen and my
daughter is twelve. They were secondary
school students in Hong Kong. I want them to
receive post-secondary education. I chose
Canada so that they can study here (N6-7, 69).
For most participants, the issues of family
welfare and children’s education are insepa-
rable. Mary reflects:
My children wanted to come here. They said
that Canadian education was good. After we
arrived, my younger sons went to the Grade 9
class and the eldest son studied at the univer-
sity. Now, my younger sons are all university
students. My eldest son has already graduated
and is working now. They had visited the
country and liked the place before we immi-
grated to Canada. We have relatives here as
well. So they all like the place (N6-3, 43).
Mary’s words show not only the connection
between education and family welfare, but that
the decision to migrate occurs within a context
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
that constructs the immediate world as a web of
family relationships. But for many there came a
point of having to make choices and compro-
mises concerning family unity or children’s
education and lifestyle.
Becoming astronauts
Despite the importance attached to keeping the
family together, in many families one or more
adults returned to Hong Kong, becoming astro-
nauts who travel infrequently to Canada while
living and working most of the time in Hong
Kong. Economic considerations dominated the
reasons for separating family members. Some
women noted that their husbands had never
planned to stay permanently in Canada and
became astronauts soon after completing the
three years of residency required for Canadian
citizenship. Others felt forced into an astronaut
situation by limited economic opportunities in
Canada. Women talk about the experience of
becoming astronaut wives:
People like us . . . usually we liquidate all our
assets in HK before we came, so we have a
sum of money here. We’re prepared that if we
don’t find a job, we’ll live off our savings. But
because that’s the only money we have, we
don’t want to deplete our nest eggs. That’s why
we’re afraid to spend our money. It’s different
in Hong Kong. There, if you make ten thousand
dollars, you can spend all ten thousand dollars
because you can make it again tomorrow
(N3-3, 196).
I came here mainly for my son. My son did not
perform well at school. As a mother, I hoped he
could receive a university education. I also
wanted to spend more time with him. In Hong
Kong, I had a full-time job which required me
to work from 9 AM to 9 PM. I was in the real
estate industry with my husband. So I had no
time to see my son. Moreover, I had high
expectations of myself. I felt great pressure no
matter what I did. My husband didn’t want me
to have much pressure. So he suggested I take
care of my son instead of working full-time. My
son is eighteen now. My husband works in
Hong Kong. He’s an astronaut, but he comes
here frequently (TNF3-1, 28).
Being imprisoned in Canada is the cost of citi-
zenship. I invest time here for my daughters.
When they become eighteen or nineteen,
159
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
they’ll be OAC students. At that time, they can
probably live independently. Once I’ve done
my duties, I’ll return to Hong Kong (TNF3-2,
66).
Initially, our lives were hard here. We didn’t
have any friends. We have a relative here but
he works everyday. We settled everything
alone. . . . My daughter was a Form 6 student
in Hong Kong. She [does] well in school.
When we came here, we had to find a school
for her. The principal said she was able to study
at the OAC level. However, the class was full
and we had to talk with the teacher if s/he
could put my daughter into his/her class. I felt
very uneasy about it because my daughter was
a good student. So I disliked the place the first
time I came here. As years passed by, I gradu-
ally got used to the place. I won’t live here
permanently, but my children will. They don’t
want to leave. My husband is an astro-
naut. . . . I often visit Hong Kong. My husband
can’t come here frequently, so I have to go
there. He has already obtained his citizenship
(TNF3-4, 70).
In many astronaut families, husbands want to
obtain citizenship as soon as possible. Once
they get it, they leave Canada in one or one
and a half years. On the other hand, wives
suffer so much in the first one and a half years.
They hate the place. But after two years or so,
when they have adapted to local life and have
obtained citizenship, they don’t want to leave
the country despite their husbands’ request
(TNM2-8, 164).
These transcripts depict the mixed feelings
that pervaded the focus group discussions.
Mothers placed overwhelming emphasis on the
education of children, overcoming loneliness
and separation from spouses. The loneliness is
tempered, however, by their ability to spend
more time with their children. Some refer to a
later stage in their own lives when they will
decide either to return to Hong Kong because
their children no longer need them in Canada,
or to stay in Canada to be joined by their
husbands in retirement. Some of them spoke
directly about the experience of being separated
from their spouses:
If Canada is better than Hong Kong, they
wouldn’t return to Hong Kong. They do so to
make a living. Who would want to have their
family separated? I don’t think there’s anyone
160
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
who wants to have their family separated. They
did so because of circumstances. It’s because
they couldn’t find work here, and the pay is
very low. They need to make a living (N2-1,
1112–1124).
It’s not like our husbands don’t want to stay
here. But there are no jobs for them here. So
they don’t have a choice but to go back. And
they interpret it as if we were trying to cheat
them on their passports. But that’s not really
what we’re doing (N3-3, 416).
Lack of economic opportunities was also an
important reason that business class immigrants
became astronauts. Several women noted that
they and their partners had set up businesses in
Canada to satisfy their visa conditions, but the
businesses were not very successful so their
husbands returned to Hong Kong. As Waters
(2003) also reported, some women take care
of the Canadian business in their partner’s
absences. According to Lisa from Vancouver:
He has his business there. We also have our
business here. But here, the business is very
quiet. We can’t make any money here. . . . We
came as business immigrants; that’s why we
have a business here. We’re still waiting for the
business to grow (N3-2, 95–97).
For others, especially those with valued edu-
cational qualifications, the astronaut phase was
relatively short. Eunice describes a process to
which many transnational families aspire:
I came here in 1994, but I was not a citizen yet.
I was an astronaut’s wife in the first three years.
My son was in Form 3 [Grade 9] and my
daughter was in Primary 5 [Grade 5] at that
time. We applied as independent class immi-
gration. Since the Canadian government
granted us the immigration, we wanted to
check out the new environment. Moreover, it is
more likely that my children would get into
university in Canada than in Hong Kong. My
husband is a mechanical engineer. He worked
at the Hong Kong International Airport. After
three years, we had to make a decision. We
could not be separated forever. Either I get the
citizenship and return to Hong Kong, or my
husband would come here. He chose the
second alternative. Hence, I waited for him to
become eligible to apply for his citizenship.
He was so lucky that he could re-enter in his
original occupation (N5-3, 52).
© 2007 The Authors

In some families, both parents eventually
return to Hong Kong leaving their teenaged and
young adult children to finish their education.
As ‘parachute kids’, the children live alone in
Toronto and Vancouver (Waters, 2005). Even
the children may not stay in Canada. Parents
and their adult children think job opportunities
are much better in Hong Kong than in Vancou-
ver or Toronto. The buoyancy of the Hong Kong
economy influences these opinions, but they
are also affected by the difficulties of finding
jobs in Canada. The result for young people is a
life in which priorities for migration are set at
distinct transition points, in the entry and gradu-
ation from educational programmes. Andrew
weighs the relative advantages:
We immigrated because of relatives, on both
my mother’s and my father’s sides of the family.
My mother applied for immigration because
her family is here. My family told me only two
months before immigrating. That was three
years ago. I was 16 or 17. I was halfway
through my Form 5 academic year. I was pre-
paring to take the HKCEE. Regarding educa-
tion, Canada’s system is better than Hong
Kong’s. Education in Hong Kong emphasises
memorisation. Students are under a lot of pres-
sure. The living environment is better in
Canada than in Hong Kong, too. But Hong
Kong’s entertainment is better than Canada’s.
I’ll stay in Canada provided I can find a job
here. Otherwise, I’ll return to Hong Kong. My
father works in Hong Kong as an astronaut
(TY2-7, 50).
Many younger participants also felt that they
had experienced racism and discrimination
from prospective employers. In Vancouver,
Robert expresses the views of many when he
says:
But regarding employment, I think the
employer would tend to employ a Canadian
instead of a Hong Kongnese if both have the
same qualifications. . . . In Hong Kong, colour
or ethnicity is not a factor for the employer to
choose an applicant. If we have the same
qualification, we’ll have a better chance to
land a job (Y2-0, 88–95).
Robert’s comments also indicate another
paradox of the transnational family. Many of our
participants had stressed the importance of
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
family unification as a justification for emigra-
tion, only to find themselves cast in the lifestyle
of astronauts, looking forwards to the day when
the family could be reunited in Canada. Once
their children had completed their education,
however, their parents often faced a second
form of transnationalism as grown children
moved to Hong Kong in search of work.
Retirement
Elderly parents also migrate to join adult
children who have settled in Canada. Out-
migration from Hong Kong has been so exten-
sive that parents do not want to remain behind
far from their children, grandchildren and
friends. Vancouver is also an attractive destina-
tion for retirees who enjoy the landscape,
climate and relaxed lifestyle (Preston et al.,
2006a). But retirees’ efforts to reunite their fami-
lies in one location do not always succeed.
Several seniors who had migrated to Canada
upon retirement in Hong Kong commented
poignantly that their children had returned to
Hong Kong to find work. Mark’s comments are
typical:
However, my children couldn’t find jobs here,
and their partners were in Hong Kong. So
eventually, they all went back to work in Hong
Kong. Now, only my wife and I are here (N5-8,
79–81).
This scenario suggests a second transnational
phase of the ‘back to Hong Kong’ movement
(Ley and Kobayashi, 2005) that involves not
only the original adult migrants but also their
Canadian-educated children who reverse the
flow, from Canada to Hong Kong. Yet many of
the older generation of retirees choose to stay in
Canada, where they have purchased homes and
enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. That choice is
also influenced, however, by the expectation
that even with two generations of the family
working in Hong Kong, many of those will
return eventually to Canada either, for the
younger generation, to advance their children’s
education or, for the middle-aged, upon their
own retirement. Ley and Kobayashi (2005)
found that more than 90% of migrants inter-
viewed in Hong Kong intended to return to
Canada at one of these two life transitions.
161
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston

Thus, the transnational lifestyle can involve
several migrations at different points in the life
course.
The meaning of transnational practices
While reunification after the astronaut phase
may seem like a happy ending for most families,
the above stories suggest that goal is not always
met, and transnational comings and goings are
often complex. They also suggest a need to con-
sider the larger context in which family migra-
tion decisions are taken. Although the choice to
embark on an astronaut lifestyle is usually pre-
cipitated by economic factors, our participants
were not economic migrants in any simple
sense. Their decisions reflect a layering of family
priorities that measure the short-term goal of
maintaining economic livelihood against the
longer-term goal of ensuring children’s educa-
tion, a goal which includes both the immediate
experience and quality of education and longer-
term career prospects that, ironically, are
viewed by many as better in Hong Kong than in
Canada.
Changing needs, norms and resources influ-
ence migrants’ willingness and abilities to main-
tain social links and social identities. Compare
the migration histories of young adults in their
teens and twenties with those of the middle-
aged and seniors (Table 2). Confirming many
participants’ stories of migrating to join family
members, young adults who have not com-
pleted their education are more likely than
any other group to live in an intact family in
Canada. Slightly more than half have immediate
family members living in Hong Kong. In com-
parison, approximately three-quarters of the
middle-aged and senior participants have
immediate family members in Hong Kong.
Among women in their thirties and forties many
have husbands in Hong Kong, whereas seniors
report that their adult children live in Hong
Kong. Despite similarities in the nature of trans-
national ties across the life course, therefore,
their meanings differ depending upon each
immigrant’s position in the life course.
Transnational youth: Keeping their
options open
For young adults, social ties with people in
Hong Kong have at least three different mean-
ings, all related to their stage in the life course.
First and foremost, social links to Hong Kong are
a means to maintain family intimacy. The chil-
dren of astronauts struggle to stay in touch with
fathers, while others maintain contact with
mothers and siblings who are living in Hong

Table 2. Transnational ties of Hong Kong immigrants

Teens and twenties Thirties and forties Fifties and sixties+

(n = 85) (n = 70) (n = 30)
n % n % n %

Social ties*
Immediate family in 48 56.5 52 74.3 23 76.7
Hong Kong
Extended family in 70 82.4 49 70.0 22 73.3
Hong Kong
Friends 70 82.4 21 30.0 23 76.7
Economic ties**
Property ownership 34 40.0 15 21.4 5 16.7
Run business 20 23.5 9 12.9 1 3.3
Financial assistance to 2 2.4 1 1.4 1 3.3
family
Job trips to Hong Kong 0 0.0 4 5.7 0 0.0
Other ties**
Vote in Hong Kong 1 1.2 10 14.3 2 6.7
Study/train 2 2.4 3 4.3 1 3.3

*Percentages may not sum to 100 because multiple responses were accepted.
**Percentages may not sum to 100 because some respondents reported no transnational ties.

162 © 2007 The Authors

Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
 Transnationalism through the life course

Table 3. Transnational behaviours of Hong Kong immigrants

Teens and twenties Thirties and forties Fifties and sixties+

(n = 85) (n = 70) (n = 30)
n % n % n %

Media*
Hong Kong TV/radio 63 74.1 56 80.0 19 63.3
Read Hong Kong Newspapers 66 77.6 53 75.7 21 70.0
Watch Hong Kong movies 63 74.1 40 57.1 20 66.7
Hong Kong Listservs 16 18.8 7 10.0 5 16.7
Monthly social contacts*
Telephone Hong Kong family 70 82.4 60 85.7 22 73.3
Email Hong Kong family 42 49.4 17 24.3 10 33.3
Letter to Hong Kong family 9 10.6 7 10.0 4 13.3
Travel to Hong Kong
At least once a year 29 34.1 31 44.3 17 60.7
Less than once a year 50 58.8 26 37.1 9 32.1
Never 6 7.1 13 18.6 2 7.1

*Percentages may not sum to 100 because multiple responses were accepted.

Kong while they study in Canada. The primary
family for unmarried young adults is still their
family of origin.
Still involved with popular culture, young
adults are also anxious to stay in touch with
contemporary Hong Kong culture. Contacts
with family and friends in Hong Kong and
regular attention to Hong Kong media (Table 3)
ensure that young adults are aware of the
rapidly changing popular culture in Hong Kong.
Samantha explains:
It’s hard to communicate with friends if I’m not
up-to-date. People want you to be informed
about Hong Kong, and other places too. There
are so many more new products in Hong Kong
than in Canada. I don’t want to be old-
fashioned like the Canadian style (TYF1-2,
46–52).
Looking to the future, young adults also main-
tain social ties with Hong Kong in an effort to
enhance their economic opportunities. By
retaining the right to residence in Hong Kong,
maintaining their knowledge of Chinese and
staying abreast of Hong Kong culture and
mores, young adults judge that they will be
more employable in Hong Kong. They empha-
sise that their job prospects in Hong Kong
depend upon being comfortable with the lan-
guage and the culture. Alice, the daughter of an
astronaut, expresses the views of many of her
peers:
All my relatives and friends are in Hong Kong.
I don’t have any relatives in Canada. I plan to
work in Hong Kong after I graduate. We read
the Chinese newspaper everyday. I get Hong
Kong news and information online. I always
keep myself up-to-date about Hong Kong. If I
don’t keep myself up-to-date . . . , it’ll be hard
to get a job there (TYF1-5, 46–52).
Finally, transnational ties to Hong Kong help
young adults maintain their identities as
Chinese. Educated in Canada and possessing
Canadian citizenship, young adults are true
transnationals. Marked by experiences of
racism in Canadian society, however, they
sometimes feel they belong in Hong Kong as
much or more than in Canada. As Roger
explains:
But the base is still Hong Kong. . . . After all
these years, we still have yellow skin. You’re
still an Asian. I don’t see any point of burning
bridges. This is where you came from. You
don’t need to be ashamed of it. Of course, at
the same time, we are proud of being Cana-
dian citizens. I don’t see any conflict (Y2-0,
142).
The instrumental significance of transnational
practices for young adults is tied inevitably to
their emerging identities. In this respect, the
Hong Kong young adults are typical children
of immigrant parents. In their late teens and

© 2007 The Authors 163

Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
twenties, young adults often reclaim the ethnic
identities of their immigrant parents and simul-
taneously downplay their identities as citizens
and nationals of the countries where they have
grown up (Meintel, 1992; Levitt, 2002). Among
the Hong Kong youth in our study, the disparate
economic opportunities in the two places
and the family separations that have ensued
heighten transnational ties and the attractions of
claiming both national identities.
For the children and the future
For middle-aged men and women, social ties to
Hong Kong are more intense than those of
young adults because they often involve imme-
diate family members, particularly husbands
who have returned to Hong Kong to work after
settling their families in Canada (Table 3). In
Vancouver, Mary, the wife of an astronaut, com-
ments on the frequency with which they speak
on the telephone and her general disdain for
regular mail:
I call him one to two times a week. I also fax
him everything about the family. Mail is too
slow. I use emails as well (N5-7, 188).
Wives have regular, frequent and rapid
contact with their husbands by telephone and
various electronic means of communication
(Table 3). In this respect, the participants in our
focus groups were different from the astronaut
wives interviewed by other researchers, who
reported that they had developed more
autonomy in their husbands’ absences (Man,
1997; Waters, 2002; Chiang, 2004).
Men and women in their thirties and forties
are also linked to Hong Kong by the need to
care for ageing parents, a link that illustrates
again the interdependent nature of family
members at different stages in the life course.
Parents who reside in Hong Kong must be con-
tacted regularly, often two or three times a
week. The distance between Hong Kong and
Canada makes many immigrants anxious to
return at every opportunity to see their elderly
relatives. Nicole summarises their dilemma:
I go to Hong Kong once a year. My parents are
in Hong Kong. They are old. I feel strongly that
I don’t have many chances to see them. I have
164
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
to grasp every opportunity to see them. Maybe,
it’ll be the last time. We never know. I therefore
visit my parents every year (N4-8, 138–145).
Frequent social contact with family and
friends in Hong Kong and regular attention to
Hong Kong media are also important means of
maintaining a sense of attachment to Hong
Kong. As one man explained, ‘I live here but my
heart is in Hong Kong’ (TNM3-1, 91–103).
Others emphasise that their transnational prac-
tices reinforce their children’s knowledge of
Chinese language and culture so that the chil-
dren retain their Chinese identities. Many speak
with great concern about their children’s
limited abilities to speak Cantonese and their
lack of familiarity with the way of life and
culture in Hong Kong. Transnational ties are one
means of ensuring that children remain
‘Chinese’ even while growing up in Canada.
Retirement: Seeking to be with friends,
children and grandchildren
For seniors, the transnational practices that link
them to Hong Kong are an expression of their
deep emotional ties to Hong Kong. Michael,
who is 52 years old and has been a landed
immigrant for three years, represents these
views succinctly:
I need to at least know what’s going on there.
I lived there a long time. I need to know if
anything special is happening there (N1-1,
372–377).
Sally repeats his sentiments:
We always pay attention to Hong Kong news,
TV, and even the romance between Wang Fei
and Xie Ting Feng. Our hearts are in Hong
Kong (N4-3, 150–157).
Seniors also stay in touch with Hong Kong to
fulfil their familial obligations and to maintain
friendships through frequent telephone calls
and email messages to parents, siblings and
children. Staying current about public affairs
and popular culture by reading Chinese news-
papers and watching Hong Kong television
(Table 3) means the seniors who have migrated
to Canada have something in common not only
with friends still living in Hong Kong, but with
© 2007 The Authors

their friends in Canada as well. And doing so in
Cantonese is more important for this age group,
for whom the English language is not as strong
as for the younger groups educated in Canada.
Clara expresses her satisfaction with life in
Canada because of transnational ties:
I feel our relationship with Hong Kong has
been closer in recent years. We have Chinese
TV, therefore, we know more about Hong
Kong. Before that, we didn’t know about any
developments in Hong Kong. Moreover, I have
more friends from Hong Kong. The women’s
club is an example. Even though I don’t know
much about Hong Kong news, they’ll tell me in
our conversation. They will tell me entertain-
ment news and who’s who. It’s good (TNF2-1,
100).
Seniors have some of the most poignant nar-
ratives that speak to the emergence of a culture
of migration. Attracted to Canada by children
and friends who migrated before them, seniors
who are concentrated in Vancouver particularly
enjoy the environmental amenities and climate
of this coastal city, but they often find that the
children for whom they have relocated move
on, leaving them alone. Having retired, it is
difficult for many to follow their children back
to Hong Kong. Indeed, it may turn out that,
although we have not as yet found major differ-
ences between transnational families in Van-
couver and Toronto, Vancouver, with its milder
climate, will emerge as a more popular place of
residence for retirees.
Conclusions
Transnationalism is a growing phenomenon
throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This study
confirms what other scholars contend, that it is
a complex phenomenon centred on the
complex requirements of family life (Kwak,
2002; Chiang, 2004; Huang and Yeoh, 2005;
Waters, 2005; Yeoh et al., 2005). Our study
contributes to this growing understanding by
highlighting the ways in which decisions
around both migration and the maintenance of
transnational ties are linked to key life-course
transitions, viewed in a family rather than an
individual context.
Transnational practices evolve through the life
course in highly heteronormative ways. Canada
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
is seen as an ideal destination not only because
of the quality of education but because Canada
offers a lifestyle that is more relaxed, where
mothers can devote more time to caring for
children. Parents, children and grandparents are
involved in decisions that with remarkable con-
sistency revolve around the major points of life-
course transition. Many parents, having been
educated in Canada themselves, move to
Canada with their school-age children. Grand-
parents who find themselves lonely for family
and friends often follow. But fathers in their
prime working years often sacrifice family unifi-
cation to become astronauts. The cycle contin-
ues when children educated in Canada return to
Hong Kong where their Canadian degrees are
valued and where the labour market is less dis-
criminating (Waters, 2004). The narratives of our
participants suggest that return migration may
stimulate further rounds of movement as family
members seek to maintain contact and intimacy.
Our findings lead us to challenge Skeldon’s
(1994) depiction of Hong Kong’s ‘reluctant
exiles’ to suggest that for many it is the other
way around. These are willing emigrants who
see better prospects for family life in Canada but
often become reluctant exiles who return once
again to Hong Kong for economic reasons. They
are not hypermobile cosmopolitans interested
mainly in economic gain (see also Ong, 1999).
The contingency of the transnationalism phe-
nomenon does not follow a simple economic
model. Transnational ties focus mainly on social
connections: keeping the family connected,
staying in touch with friends, keeping up with
news and cultural events. Ironically, some of the
participants cited above even found that when
those transnational ties are strong, there is all
the more reason to stay in Canada where they
enjoy the lifestyle but can still remain con-
nected to Hong Kong. The majority would prefer
to live in Canada while still enjoying both the
economic and the cultural attractions of Hong
Kong. Henry sums up the feelings of many par-
ticipants that illustrate the policy dimensions of
our research:
It is very hard for the Hong Kong immigrants to
find jobs here. Some of my friends are business
class immigrants. The vast majority of them lost
their money in their investments here and had
to close their businesses down. Other indepen-
165
 A. Kobayashi and V. Preston
dent immigrants were professionals prior to
their arrival. Once they came here, they were
unable to re-enter their original occupations.
. . . As a result, some of my friends gradually
returned to Hong Kong in the past two years.
Even the children of my friends have a hard
time finding jobs here. They graduated here,
but still they had to return to Hong Kong. I
think the government should think about
it. . . . The Canadian government has spent a
lot of money on education; however, once the
immigrants’ children have finished their studies
here, they either go back to Hong Kong or go to
the US. It’s really a great loss to Canada.
Instead of focusing on how to attract people to
come to Canada, the government should figure
out ways to retain this . . . talent. . . . Don’t let
the money spent on education and immigra-
tion go to waste (N4-3, 7).
Henry is right. It is a waste that both migrants
and the larger society invest in immigration and
education only to see a significant number of
people spending, at the very least, many of their
productive working years separated from their
families. The costs are high for people who have
to make the paradoxical choice between
earning a living and meeting family goals. And
the costs are high for a society that values mul-
ticulturalism and for whom immigrants and
their children have much to offer in addition to
their high levels of human capital. To the extent
that many of our participants indicated social
exclusion6 as a factor in the decisions of their
family members to seek work in Hong Kong, the
cost of discrimination is also high.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by funding from
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada to Audrey Kobayashi as the
principal investigator and to David Ley, Guida
Man, Valerie Preston and Myer Siemiatycki as
co-applicants. We are grateful for superb
research assistance from Ann Marie Murnaghan
and Rocky Lam. Guida Man conducted many of
the interviews and coded the transcripts.
Notes
1 Although the literature shows that East Asian women
sometimes return to their places of origin after settling
children in schools abroad, men rarely are left alone to
166
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
care for children and settle in a new society while their
spouses pursue economic opportunities in Asia.
2 Most focus groups were led by a Cantonese native
speaker so that participants could speak the language in
which they were more comfortable. The transcripts were
prepared by a Cantonese native speaker who translated
where needed.
3 While the median age in the two older groups was 26
years, none of our participants under the age of 30 years
was married at the time of the focus groups, indicating
that the age of marriage will be higher in the current
generation. None of the married individuals between
the ages of 30 and 35 years were parents. We recognise,
however, that the size of our sample is not large enough
to draw conclusions about the demographic character-
istics of Hong Kong immigrants as a whole, but these
characteristics are consistent with a general trend
towards later marriage and childbirth.
4 In this respect, the focus group participants are typical of
many recent Hong Kong immigrants (Ley, 2003).
5 We address political issues and the meaning of citizen-
ship elsewhere (Preston et al., 2007).
6 In Toronto and Vancouver, heated public debates about
Hong Kong immigrants’ efforts to change the urban
landscape have heightened their feelings of exclusion
(Preston et al., 2006b).
References
Ackers, L. (2004) Citizenship, migration and the valuation of
care in the European Union, Journal of Ethnic and
Migration Studies 30: 373–396.
Bailey, A.J. and P. Boyle (2004) Untying and retying family
migration in the New Europe, Journal of Ethnic and
Migration Studies 30(2): 229–242.
Barbour, R.S. (1999) Developing focus group research: Poli-
tics, theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, California:
Sage Publications.
Boyd, M. (1989) Family and personal networks in
international migration: Recent developments and
new agendas, International Migration Review 23(3):
638–670.
Chamberlain, M. and S. Leydesdorff (2004) Transnational
families: Memories and narratives, Global Networks: A
Journal of Transnational Affairs 4(3): 227–241.
Chiang, L.N. (2004) Immigrant Taiwanese women in the
process of adapting to life in Australasia: Case studies
from transnational households. Paper presented at Glo-
balisation, Development and Feminism: Conference of
the Gender and Geography Commission of the Geo-
graphical Union (IGU), University of Durham, August.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Priorities, Planning
and Research Branch (2003) Foreign students in
Canada, 1980–2001. Retrieved 25 January 2007,
from Website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/research/
papers/foreignstudents/students-toc.html
Heinz, W.R. and H. Kruger (2001) Life course: Innovations
and challenges for social research, Current Sociology
49: 29–45.
Ho, E., M. Ip and R.D. Bedford (2001) Transnational Hong
Kong Chinese families in the 1990s, New Zealand
Journal of Geography 111: 24–30.
© 2007 The Authors

Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. and E. Avila (1997) I’m here, but I’m
there: The meanings of Latina Transnational Mother-
hood, Gender and Society 11(5): 548–571.
Huang, S. and B.S.A. Yeoh (2005) Transnational families
and their children’s education: China’s ‘study mothers’
in Singapore, Global Networks 5(4): 379–400.
Itzigsohn, J., C.D. Cabral, E.-H. Medina and O. Vazquez
(1999) Mapping Dominican transnationalism: Narrow
and broad transnational practices, Ethnic and Racial
Studies 22(2): 316–339.
Jones-Correa, M. (2000) The study of transnationalism
among the children of immigrants: Where we are and
where we should be headed, in P. Levitt and M.C.
Waters (eds.), The changing face of home, the transna-
tional lives of the second generation, pp. 221–241.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Kofman, E. (2004) Family-related migration: A critical
review of European studies, Journal of Ethnic and
Migration Studies 30(2): 243–262.
Kwak, M.J. (2002) Work in family businesses and gender
relations: A case study of recent Korean immigrant
women, Master’s Thesis, Department of Geography,
York University, Toronto, Ontario.
Levitt, P. (2000) Migrants participate across borders:
Towards an understanding of form and consequences,
in N. Foner et al. (eds.), Immigration research for a new
century: Multidisciplinary perspectives, pp. 459–479.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Levitt, P. (2001a) Transnational migration: Taking stock
and future directions, Global Networks 1(3): 195–
216.
Levitt, P. (2001b) The transnational villagers. Berkeley, Cali-
fornia, London and Los Angeles, California: University
of California Press.
Levitt, P. (2002) The ties that change: Relations to the ances-
tral home over the life cycle, in P. Levitt and M.C.
Waters (eds.), The changing face of home: The trans-
national lives of the second generation, pp. 123–144.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Ley, D. (2003) Seeking ‘Homo Economicus’: The Canadian
state and the strange story of the business immigration
program, Annals of the Association of American Geog-
raphers 93: 426–441.
Ley, D. and A. Kobayashi (2005) Back to Hong Kong? Return
migration or transnational sojourn? Global Networks
5(2): 111–127.
Man, G. (1997) Women’s work is never done: Social orga-
nization of work and the experiences of middle-class
Chinese immigrant families in Canada, Advances in
Gender Research 2: 183–226.
Meintel, D. (1992) L’identité ethnique chez de jeunes Mon-
tréalais d’origine immigrée, Sociologie et Sociétés
24(2): 73–89.
Ong, A. (1999) Flexible citizenship: The cultural logics of
transnationality. Durham and London: Duke Univer-
sity Press.
Pessar, P.R. (2001) Women’s potential consciousness and
empowerment in local, national, and transnational
contexts: Guatemalan refugees and returnees, Identi-
ties: Global Studies in Culture and Power 7(4): 461–
500.
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Victoria University of Wellington
Transnationalism through the life course
Pessar, P.R. and S.J. Mahler (2003) Transnational migration:
Bringing gender in, International Migration Review
37(3): 812–846.
Portes, A., L.E. Guarnizo and P. Landolt (1999) Introduction:
Pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field,
Ethnic and Racial Studies 22(2): 217–237.
Preston, V., A. Kobayashi and G. Man (2006a) Transnation-
alism, gender, and civic participation: Canadian case
studies of Hong Kong immigrants, Environment and
Planning A 38(9): 1633–1651.
Preston, V., M. Siemiatycki and A. Kobayashi (2006b) Tran-
snational urbanism: Toronto at a crossroads, in L.
Wong and V. Satzewich (eds.), Negotiating borders
and belonging: Transnational identities and practices
in Canada, pp. 91–110. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Preston, V., M. Siemiatycki and A. Kobayashi (2007) The
dual citizenship of Hong Kong–Canadians: Conveni-
ence or commitment?, in T. Faist (ed.), Dual citizen-
ship: Democracy, rights and identities beyond borders.
New York: Palgrave Press (in press).
Pribilsky, J. (2004) ‘Aprendemos a convivir’: Conjugal rela-
tions, co-parenting, and family life among Ecuadorian
transnational migrants in New York City and the Ecua-
dorian Andes, Global Networks 4(3): 313–334.
Siemiatycki, M. and V. Preston (2007) State & media con-
struction of transnational communities: A case study of
recent migration from Hong Kong to Canada, in L.
Goldring and S. Krishnamurti (eds.), Organizing the
transnational, pp. 46–74. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Skeldon, R. (1994) Reluctant exiles: Migration from Hong
Kong and the new overseas Chinese. Armonk: M.E.
Sharpe.
Statistics Canada (2003) Income of Canadian families,
2001 census: Analysis series. Catalogue no.
96F0030XIE2001014. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Waters, J. (2002) Flexible families? ‘Astronaut’ households
and the experience of lone mothers in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Social and Cultural Geography 3(1):
117–134.
Waters, J. (2003) Flexible citizens? Transnationalism and
citizenship amongst economic immigrants in Vancou-
ver, The Canadian Geographer 47: 219–234.
Waters, J. (2004) Geographies of cultural capital: Transna-
tional family strategies in migration and education
between Canada and Hong Kong, Doctoral Disserta-
tion, Department of Geography, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver.
Waters, J. (2005) Transnational family strategies and educa-
tion in the contemporary Chinese Diaspora, Global
Networks 5(4): 359–377.
Wong, M. (2003) Borders that separate, blood that binds:
Transnational activities of Ghanaian women in
Toronto, Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Geog-
raphy, York University, Toronto, Ontario.
Yeoh, B., S. Huang and T. Lam (2005) Transnationalizing the
Asian family: Imaginaries, intimacies and strategic
interests, Global Networks 5(4): 307–315.
Yeoh, B., S. Huang and K. Willis (2000) Global cities, trans-
national flows, and gender dimensions, Tijdschrift
voor Economische en Sociale Geografie [Journal of
Social and Economic Geography] 91(2): 147–158.
167