Upward social mobility? The capital accumulation of Taiwanese talent in China

Abstract

AbstractFrom a nation‐state and regional perspective, global talent flows have traditionally been South−North, and the discourse has focused on brain drain or brain gain. This research extends beyond the South−North spatial structure to investigate Taiwanese talent flows to China, examining why young Taiwanese talent is migrating to China for employment in the complex context of cross‐Strait relations, and how they accumulate capital through their own particular globalized situation and the relationship they construct between capital accumulation and spatial mobility. The fieldwork for the present research included in‐depth interviews conducted in 2018 with 35 young Taiwanese who had relocated to Beijing for work. Results found that Taiwanese talent does not always accumulate capital through spatial mobility, but rather they experience the offset of privilege and depreciation of embodied cultural capital in the place of immigration and continue to accumulate mixed forms of embodied cultural capital such as ‘Chinese experience’ which enable the constant mobility or stop in the future. This research describes the dynamics of spatial mobility of talents caused by the accumulation of embodied cultural capital in countering the globalized situation.