Settlement Patterns of Toronto's Chinese Immigrants: Convergence or Divergence?

Abstract

The authors acknowledge the support of a research grant from the Toronto Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, and the research assistance of Xiao-feng Liu and Chi Shen. The first author also thanks Bob Murdie for suggesting the use of the terms convergence and divergence and a reviewer for his/her comments which provoke distillation of the terms. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the March 1998 Boston meeting of the American Associations of Geographers and the June 1998 Ottawa meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers. Lucia Lo Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), www.ceris.metropolis.globalx.net Department of Geography, York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Shuguang Wang Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), www.ceris.metropolis.globalx.net School of Applied Geography, Ryerson Polytechnic University Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 While ethnic Chinese make up only 3% of the Canadian population, they are the fastest growing ethnic group in recent years, resulting mainly from accelerated immigration. In 1996, Chinese immigrants accounted for more than 10% of the immigrant population in Canada, and over 20% of all immigrants settled in the Canadian metropolitan areas. Migration of Chinese to Canada is a product of discrete pushes and pulls resulting from changing geopolitics in both sending and receiving countries as well as the global economic restructuring process (Wickberg 1994; Knowles 1997; Liu and Norcliffe 1996). All the major events listed in Table 1 had a role in effecting the magnitude of emigration from Asia and the social mix of Chinese migrants to Canada in the postwar era. While the first Chinese arrivals more than [Part 1 of 2] TABLE 1 A Chronology of Events Affecting the Immigration of Chinese to Canada CANADA 1800's CPR construction 1850-1900 1885 Head tax on Chinese immigrants 1931 1923 Chinese Immigration Act 1941 prohibiting entry into Canada 1945 1947 Entry restricted to spouse and 1949 children 1967 Introduction of point system 1960 1966 1967 1973 Adjustment of Status Program 1960's 1976 Humanitarian Clause in Immigration Act 1970's 1978 Introduction of entrepreneurial class 1976 1984 Entrepreneur Immigrant Program 1980's 1984 1989 Entrepreneur program expanded 1989 to include an Investor Program 1990 Humanitarian Program on nationals from China [Part 2 of 2] TABLE 1 A Chronology of Events Affecting the Immigration of Chinese to Canada ASIA 1800's Coolie trade in China 1885 Japan invaded China 1923 Outbreak of World War II Civil War in China 1947 Communist Regime established; Nationalist fled to Taiwan; 1967 Beginning of Cold War Great Leap Forward Movement began in China Cultural Revolution started in China Hong Kong political riots 1973 Economic take-off in Hong Kong 1976 and Taiwan End of Vietnam War; Boat people 1978 flight Chinese Open Door Policy 1984 Chinese economic take-off in China Sino-British Declaration on Hong Kong Sovereignty 1989 Tiananmen Incident 1990 a century ago were poor peasants from rural China, most of the later arrivals were urbanites in their places of origin. Due to the racist Canadian Immigration Policy of the time and the close door policy of the then Chinese communist regime, immigration from Mainland China to Canada in the early 50's was restricted to wives and children who had been separated from their husbands and fathers during the long period of exclusion in the first half of the century (Li 1988). …