Wintec: The ability to maintain and nurture multigenerational family relationships is essential to the wellbeing of Chinese immigrants and their families.

Guanyu Jason Ran is an Academic Staff Member at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). He is also a well-travelled immigrant who was born and raised in China, has lived in the United States, Europe and, more recently, in New Zealand.

“I know how migrants feel when travelling and trying to get a foothold in other countries while also maintaining a strong link with their families,” he says. “This has a very real impact on family relationships, personal wellbeing and mental health issues. I wanted to explore this further.”

The research was funded with a Royal Society of New Zealand Marden Fund grant awarded to his PhD supervisor, Massey University’s Dr Liangni Sally Liu, for investigating the experiences of Chinese migrants and their intergenerational families.

Through his connections to the local Chinese Association and other Chinese community groups, Ran sought participants spanning three generations – first generation adult immigrants, the parents of first generation adult immigrants and the children of first generation adult immigrants.

“Originally, I planned to undertake household interviews, but after a pilot interview I decided against it,” he recalls. “There was quite an intense dynamic when the family members talked together, so I decided to interview representatives of each generation separately. In the end I had 45 participants, all from different families.”

It became clear that migration poses considerable challenges to the traditional Chinese way of life.

“Chinese families are very close-knit,” says Ran. “Multigenerational living is common and provides support to family members practically, financially and emotionally. Due to the legacy of China’s decades-long one child policy – and I am part of that cohort – the link between parents and children becomes even more important because there is only the one child to depend on.”

Ran says the Chinese cultural concept of filial piety – where the younger generation is responsible for the older one and family-based elder care is preferred – becomes disrupted through the immigration process.

“This causes stress to members of the older generation who worry that there will be nobody to take care of them, and also to the younger generation because they feel unable to fulfil their family duty.”

Where once it was relatively easy for immigrants’ parents, grandparents and even siblings to secure long-term residency visas in New Zealand, significant changes in the past decade have seen such visas capped and even halted for periods of time, as well as the introduction of stringent financial criteria.

When immigrants cannot bring their parents with them, they have to weigh the effects against their careers, lifestyles and responsibilities in New Zealand, including the impact on their own children.

To combat this, Chinese families have created a system Ran has termed ‘seasonal parents’.

“The New Zealand government gives limited access to the long-term residency visa, but it does allow access to a short-term visitor visa,” says Ran. “These parent or grandparent visas allow stays of up to 18 months every three years, as long as individual visits do not exceed six months. This has become the perfect solution for an imperfect situation.”

Ran says older parents usually come to New Zealand during its warmer months, and return home for Chinese summer. Pre-pandemic at least, travel links between China had intensified, making these visits easier and more cost-effective.

“The ‘seasonal parents’ approach has a positive impact on family dynamics,” Ran explains. “Many immigrants come to New Zealand and live here for a long time. They may have experienced a western-style education and created careers and families here. Sometimes, this leads to a change in their sense of identity and they may not feel so similar to their parents anymore, creating more potential for conflict and tension. Seasonal visits provide a welcome buffer for both parties.”

As the parents age, however, this arrangement can become less practical. If they needed to access medical care while in New Zealand, for example, this would come at a considerable expense.

Another factor influencing wellbeing is a common cultural gap between grandparents and grandchildren.

“Most grandchildren born or raised here speak English, while the grandparents only speak Chinese. They also live in different cultural contexts. This can make communication very difficult for both sides.”

With the emergence of Covid-19, New Zealand closed its borders to non-citizens or residents with the exception of some essential workers. Some of the families in Ran’s study have been separated for more than two years.

“Technology such as WeChat has helped the families bridge that divide,” Ran says. “The older Chinese participants were excellent at using these technologies because they are the most practical way to connect with their children overseas and to see them face to face.”

Ultimately, though, Ran found many Chinese immigrants were considering moving back to China because of the effects of prolonged separation from their families.

“This may have negative implications for New Zealand in the longer-term if the country cannot retain migrant workers with essential skills,” he says.

Ran and Liu have published a book called New Chinese Immigrants in New Zealand: Floating Families? which details the way so many factors – including policy, culture, language, practicality and family dynamics – all play a role in shaping the wellbeing of New Zealand’s Chinese immigrants and their families.

As Ran notes, these effects are likely felt beyond Chinese families, too: “There are many cultures around the world that prefer living intergenerationally.” 

• Guanyu Jason Ran has a PhD in Social Policy from Massey University, New Zealand. Before his PhD, he finished his Master de Sciences Humaines et Sociales mention Sciences de L’Education from Université Paris Nanterre in France with a full Erasmus Mundus master’s degree scholarship from the European Commission, and a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. His major research interests and expertise lie in the area of ethnic and migration studies. Under this focus, his research works cover topics including transnational migration and families, refugee settlement and integration, as well as policy-making and social services towards immigrant and refugee groups in the host society. He has published broadly under those topics on different platforms in different genres, including a book, book chapters and journal articles in high-ranking international journals such as Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Population, Space and Places, and The European Journal of Social Work. He is also a registered social worker in both China and New Zealand with extensive social work experiences in the field of public health, human rights advocacy, youth development, and social innovation. Contact Guanyu Jason Ran
  
  
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