| Since the middle to late 1990 s,migration from China to Africa,especially to central and western Africa,has increased dramatically,which forming a new geographical landscape of international migration.However,schoolars have very limited understanding of this process,and its running rules and influencing mechanism.This study builds a theoretical analysis framework by referring to the“Flying Geese Theory” of economics on industrial transfer,chooses Angola,an important grouping country of Chinese new migrants in central Africa,as a case country,conceptualizes the migration pattern of Chinese new migrants in Angola as “flying geese migration”,and does this work under the background of “South-South” international migration and the formation of a large number of Chinese new migrants groups after the reform and opening-up.Through fieldwork investigation,questionaire survey,participant observation and in-depth interview,the process,pattern and mechanism of the migration of Chinese new migrants in Angola are deeply investgated,and compared with the existing migration process,pattern and mechanism of traditional Chinese Overseas and Chinese new migrants living in other countries and regions.The main findings are as follows:(1)Under the background of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Angola,linked by comparative advantages and vertical industrial division of labor,led by state-owned enterprises(SOEs),Chinese new migrants groups are consisted of employees of SOEs,investment migrants and business migrants,followed China enterprises to “Go Global”successively,leading to flying geese migration pattern.Catalyzed by the “Angola Model”,construction groups and their employees initively help for their post-war reconstruction and the employees of SOEs became the “flying geese leader” in this process.SOEs formed “joint fleets” to carry out industrial coordination to further consolidate the “flying geese leader” effect of SOEs employees.Attracted by the post-war reconstruction business opportunities,investment migrants has gradually spread from investment along the construction industry chain to other industries,becoming the “flying geese body” and the main forces of migration group.Driven by post-war reconstruction and the pre-migration groups’ market demand and China’s domestic overcapacity,a new push-pull pattern is formed,business migrants experience from Namibia and Angola’s border trade to enter the local market in Angola and Chinese trade cities process of migration and evolution process of time and space,become “flying geese tail” to boost flying geese migration.Post-migration groups can reduce migration resistance and improve the probity of success by the power of the pre-migration groups.(2)The pattern of flying geese migration is influenced and evolved by external mechanisms such as Sino-African and Sino-Angola relations,Angola’s domestic economic situation and internal mechanisms such as reciprocal interaction between migration groups.From the perspective of external influence mechanism,Sino-Africa cooperation leads migration.With the rise of Sino-Africa cooperation,the intensity of migration will continue to increase.Cooperation between China and Angola has boosted migration.The “Angola Model” provides the driving force and trade ties enhanced the flying power for the flying geese migration.The migration is restricted by Angola’s domestic economic development,and the post-war reconstruction and economic diversification strategies all have effect to the migration.From the perspective of internal influence mechanism,the pre-migration group provides economic reciprocity for the post-migration group and all migration groups discuss,build and share to achieve security reciprocity and form a migration community to deal with various risks and challenges.The localization of SOEs employees and the economic crisis in Angola has lasted since 2014 have led to a large number of Chinese new migrants returning to China,and the pattern of flying geese migration that has lasted for more than 10 years has undergone significant changes: the role of SOEs employees as the “flying geese leader”tends to decline,the “flying geese body” position of investment migrants has risen relatively,and business migrants still stays in “flying geese tail” position which has little change.(3)The pattern of flying geese migration is a periodical summary of the migration rules of Chinese new migrant to Angola and other central and western African countries.The in-depth study of this African case of China’s international migration practice is of great significance in enriching,improving and developing the hypothesis of the mobility transition and the existing international migration theories.Flying geese migration occurred in the period of rapid rising in industrialization,urbanizationand modernization in China,which broke through the existing migration pattern of the traditional Chinese Overseas and the Chinese new migrants in other countries and regions and the understanding of the general laws of population mobility transition and transformation in the literature so far.With the cooperation between China and Angola,Chinese new migrants migrated from “high-level country” to “low-level country” of “marginal countries” following enterprise along the industrial chain and business network.The motivation of migration is not entirely to realize the economic interests of individuals or families but to realize the economic interests of the country and organizations such as enterprises.Migration does not move into the secondary economic sector of the country of destination but into the primary economic sector.These findings and conclusions not only impact and challenge the hypothesis of the mobility transition and the existing theory of international migration to explain the phenomenon of large-scale Chinese migration to Africa since the reform and opening-up,especially the middle and late 1990 s,but also greatly improve the explanatory power of existing theories on the new “South-South” international migration phenomenon. |
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