Chinese Migration to Australia: Reasons, Positive and Negative Aspects

Chinese migration has had a large variety of positive and negative effects on Australia. These include increases in diversity, workforce, economic activity, stereotypes and prejudice, and decreases in housing affordability. There are three reasons why Chinese people migrated to Australia in recent years (from 1990’s onwards).

The First One is Education

China's mass migration of over 1.2 million people in the last 20 years can be explained with three factors. Firstly, since the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Prime Minister Bob Hawke allowed Chinese students to permanently seek residence in Australia. This sparked the first wave of immigration. Since then education has been a major reason for Chinese migration, with 22% of students currently at university being either Chinese immigrants or their children. Chinese students have sometimes felt uneasy in China for various reasons including: heavy censorship, threats to safety (Tiananmen Square Massacre), and lack of sufficient educational institutions. This has resulted in a large number of students leaving China to either permanently settle or complete higher education in Australia.

China has had a scarcity of higher education institutions relative to the need of the population. In Chinese culture parents aspire for their children to do well in education and the high school system puts intense pressure on students. For example, on the day of their final exam the police can be called to escort a student to school if they are stuck in traffic in order for them not to be late. This pressure translates into pressure to succeed in entering university, despite limited places. A solution to this is to seek university education in other countries perceived to be safe and welcoming, such as Australia.

The Second Reason Political Freedom

Australia guarantees its citizens a significant more amount of freedom compared to China. An example where less freedom is available is China is in the area of internet censorship and political expression online. China has been known to censor popular western websites such as reddit, YouTube and most notably google. It is also infamous for censorship of anything critical of the state. An example of the squashing of dissent is the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, where the government ran over students with tanks killing an unknown amount of people, likely in the high thousands. The massacre involved a pro-democracy group who were critical of the way the government was running the economy. In Australia you are free to organise protests, at to gather in public in groups to express your political views. There is currently very limited internet censorship, mainly targeted at pornography and not political opinion, although it is possible that some political websites might be accidentally censored depending on the algorithms that the government are using. This relative freedom in political expression may be a factor in the heavy migration from china.

The Third Reason is Job Prospects

Australia is a popular location for Chinese migration because of its minimum wage and workers’ rights. In Australia workers are guaranteed a minimum wage, employment rights, paid sick leave, and public holidays. Australia also has antidiscrimination laws and a system for appealing unfair dismissal. In contrast, in China some workers are paid as little as $5.30/hr compared to the Australian minimum wage of $19.50/hr (depending on the field), more than 5x as much. Australian workers are also guaranteed at least 18 weeks of paid maternity leave. Causal workers, however, tend to have less rights, but nevertheless, workers tend to enjoy more benefits and protections in Australia than in China.

Positive Impacts of Chinese Immigration

Chinese immigration contributes to the diverse culture of Australia. Australia prides itself on multiculturalism and migrants are an essential part of this. Since the abolishment of the White Australia Policy, more Asian migrants have been coming to our country and bringing aspects of their culture with them. This is evident in the many restaurants, shops and other businesses that all have originated from other cultures, resulting in new food and goods available to buy. For example, Chinese restaurants have proliferated across the country. This has had the effect of making traditional Chinese food, and westernised variants, a popular part of Australian cuisine.

Another cultural impact of Chinese immigration is the appearance of ‘Chinatowns’, which are condensed areas filled with Chinese food and products, usually near zones with large Chinese populations. An example is China Town in Sydney, and most major Australian cities have equivalent spaces where tourist and locals buy goods and services.

Chinese immigration has had significant economic impacts in terms of labour and housing. The immigration has resulted in an increase in workforce, and more demand for housing and Chinese culture related businesses. In places like Hurstville up to 70% of people interested in buying housing were either Chinese immigrants of their direct descendants. This has resulted in more houses being constructed in Hurstville and indirectly helps industries that relate to construction or maintenance of houses. Chinese immigration has increased the workforce, with 15% of our workforce consisting of migrants. Another way Chinese immigration has impacted the economy is the indirect increase in industries such as flight, currency exchange, restaurants and numerous others.

Negative Impacts of Chinese Immigration

Chinese immigrants have experienced a lot of racism which, while not their fault, creates tensions within society. For example, during the current covid-19 outbreak there have been racist attacks on Chinese communities, resulting from media coverage and political discourse such as Trump’s characterisation of the virus as the “Chinese virus”. This tension can hurt diplomatic efforts such as trade agreements as one side may feel they are being discriminated against.

An economic problem caused by Chinese immigrants is the extent to which they have purchased property in Australia, decreasing housing affordability for the rest of the population. Lack of affordable housing increases eviction rates and creates the multitude of social stresses that arise from homelessness. This can lead to unjustified increase in prejudice towards Chinese people, due to non-migrants arguing that Chinese people are “taking away” their ability to buy a home. The diagram below shows that Chinese investment has steadily been increasing over the past 10 years. This is directly correlated to an increase in the amount of housing purchased.

The Main Regions Within Australia For Chinese Immigrants

Chinese migrants have chosen to settle in many places across Sydney. Some of the main areas include Parramatta and Hurstville. Of the Hurstville population 35% are people with Chinese ancestry and in Parramatta the amount is 17%. One of the reasons these places were chosen for settlement is that they already had a significant population of Chinese people living in them due to historical migration patterns. This brought more Chinese shops and culture into these areas. For example, Hurstville is a particularly popular place to settle because of its established Chinese supermarkets. This has created an environment where immigrants can feel at home. Another benefit of this is that non or limited English speakers can still function in society, whilst they continue to learn the English language. The high density of Chinese speakers means that they can speak their native language freely.

Secondly, the concentration of migration in these areas can be explained by the affordable housing prices in the area. Chinese migrants often want to get a house as a solid investment and asset. In areas like Hurstville historically housing prices have been very low. This area also has a lower relative cost of living which increases the chances of being in a position to purchase a house. When migrants from china come to Australia it may initially be hard for them to afford the exorbitant costs of houses in Sydney near the ocean, which is why they might instead choose to live in cheaper areas.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Chinese migration has had many positive and negative effects socially and economically. These include the positive contribution of migration to cultural diversity and the workforce. However, this also includes negative effects such as racism and increased housing prices. Overall Chinese migration has had a positive effect on Australian society as it has contributed to an inclusive and multicultural society as well as economic prosperity.

Bibliography

• Statista. 2020. Population in China - Statistics & Facts | Statista.
• Jim O'Rourke. 2020. Changing face of a suburb.
• The Guardian. 2020. China continues to deny Tiananmen, but we won’t let the world forget | Rowena Xiaoqing He | Opinion | The Guardian.
• ABC News. 2020. Are Chinese buyers driving up Australia's housing prices? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
• Wikipedia. 2020. List of incidents of xenophobia and racism related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic - Wikipedia.