Chapter 12
In: Handbook of Chinese Migration to Europe
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Abstract
Since Sino-Russian relations were normalized in the 1990s, the economic situation and immigration policy in Russia have attracted large numbers of Chinese entrepreneurs. Due to the economic complementarity of these two countries, this transnational economic migration has developed rapidly, from daoye 倒爷 (shuttle trade) in the early stage to the current transnational networks of entrepreneurship. By focusing on a group of small entrepreneurs in Moscow and tracing their development, this chapter adopts an integrative perspective to explore how the transnational economic network has been constructed and embedded through the opportunities and conflicts Chinese entrepreneurs encounter in Russian society. Data are collected from interviews with these entrepreneurs and some people in their hometown communities and also statistics from official websites. Influencing factors and forces are analysed at the micro level (individual entrepreneurs), meso level (organizations), and macro level (social-political and economic structure). The research findings will be discussed under the framework of the mixed embeddedness theory which connects perspectives of both economic and sociological studies. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a better understanding of new European Chinese.