Citizenship, Political Engagement, and Belonging: Immigrants in Europe and the United States

Chapter 9: Globalization and Citizenship: The Chinese in Silicon Valley

183 Chapter 9 Globalization and Citizenship The Chinese in Silicon Valley Bernard P. Wong Many scholars have suggested that globalization diminishes citizen attachment and participation in local and national institutions and will create a rootless society of transnationals who have severed their ties with family and nation states (Appadurai 1995 and 1996; Hannerz 1990, 1993, and 1996; Hannerz and Lofgen 1994) and become noncommittal flexible citizens (Ong 1999; Ong and Nonini 1996; Soysal 1994; Jacobson 1996). The present chapter will argue that this expectation is far from the truth. The data obtained from this study shows that the Chinese in Silicon Valley have made extraordinary efforts in grounding themselves economically and politically in their new land. The process of establishing themselves locally includes the use of cultural and economic resources to find lucrative employment in the United States and overseas and to develop global and local entrepreneurship. Transnationalism through the use of social and economic resources in two or more countries is now common place. However, the use of these resources does not preclude civic engagement, participating in local politics, and experimenting with a form of cultural citizenship and incorporating oneself in one’s local community. Further global economic transactions require linkages between the transnational migrants with the host and home communities. Globalization, as will be demonstrated later in this chapter, propels citizenship making rather than creating rootless existence among the Chinese in Silicon Valley. Globalization intensifies the use of cultural resources and social connections to help the transnational migrants to establish themselves in the community. A Transnational Community The Chinese community in Silicon Valley is a transnational community with members participating intensively in the global economy. To begin with, the Chinese there are immigrants from different parts of the world, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, Southeast Asia, Europe , Canada, and South America (Wong 2006). By far, Taiwan and Mainland China are the two main sources of the Chinese immigrants. Many of these immigrants are transnational workers who straddle two or more cultures. Further, even the children of first-generation immigrants who are employed in Silicon Valley commute to different parts of the world. In both cases, these individuals serve as trouble-shooters in order to solve problems for their companies in various areas of their operation, from technology, investment, sales, production, and personnel management to research. Most of these international itinerants are concerned with establishing roots in the United States, but they attempt to achieve their American Dream via participation in the global economy. Their return trips to Asia are vehicles for them to establish themselves in the United States. The multifaceted aspects of the existence of these transnational migrants show that it is difficult to have a monolithic categorization of these globe trotters simply as transnationals or flexible citizens (Soysal 1994)). The Chinese community in Silicon Valley shows that one can be a transnational (Basch, Glick Schiller, and Blanc 1994) and at the same time a committed citizen with a cultural heritage. They are experimenting with a form of “multicultural citizenship ” (Rosaldo 1989) with feet in two cultures but citizenship rooted in one national state (Wong 2006). An Ju Le Ye: Establishing Home and Business Starting a company in Silicon Valley requires money, time, and commitment . It is done not just for financial gain, but also for an indication that one wants to settle in the community permanently. This is particularly so among new immigrants. After they have been in Silicon Valley for a while, and if they plan to stay in the United States, they will take certain decisive steps like purchasing a house, establishing a business, or continuing their employment in the United States. To have a comfortable home and a satisfying enterprise (an ju le ye) is their goal. “Enterprise” means either a career or a business. One informant told me that to be really successful and to be respected in the United States one should own a business: I worked for a number of years for a big company after I got my PhD. From working and living in America, I learned that I could teach in a university and publish a number of books. It would be a comfortable life 184 B e r na r d P. Wo n g Globalization and Citizenship 185 for me. But this will not earn me much respect in society. I would be known among my colleagues and...