Consumption, ongoingness and everyday-life embeddedness: Lifestyle experiences of Chinese transient migrants in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Abstract

This article examines recent Chinese migrants to Thailand, with a specific focus on those who migrate for education and remain in Thailand after graduation. It aims to drive the analytical theory from a methodological nationalism to a transient migration approach, and to capture the sense of “transience” of the new wave of Chinese migration in a broader Asia-Pacific context. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, with data collected from Chinese migrant website communities, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings show that the Chinese migrants lead a consumption-oriented migration life that benefits from hypermobility by enjoying a “mobility surplus” in education as a family project. This article discusses the temporariness as a strategy that the Chinese use to bridge migratory resources in a permanent state of in-betweenness. The key issue that has been highlighted is the meaning of being transient in everyday life. As it articulates authenticity and the meaning of “self” in modern life, transient migration, thus, does not aim at its overcoming, but is rather a form of life in itself.