Migración y empresas chinas en el Pacífico Sur: una visión de largo plazo

> The Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the world

Description:

This social and economic study of Chinese entrepreneurship in the South American Pacific tests the analytical frameworks previously employed for the analysis of Chinese entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia (Liu, 2012; Yen 2014, among others) in order to enable comparative approaches in future research.

The first stage of this analysis will focus primarily on the 20th century, starting with the second wave of Chinese migration from 1904. This wave was characterized by immigrants who traveled with small amounts of capital to set up businesses, along with larger numbers of professionals and women. Furthermore, the period coincided with the establishment of subsidiaries of Hong Kong-based Chinese companies in the region.

The part of the project will contribute to our understanding of how companies are formed and managed in a context of constant political risk, due to racial discrimination and violence against the Asian population. The study then goes on to explore how the formation of large Chinese-owned businesses benefited from the existing network of small Chinese-owned companies and their relations with China, as well as pondering the extent to which diaspora networks facilitated access to information and credit. Finally, by examining the network of Chinese businesses in southern Peru and northern Chile, the research provides insights into how immigrant entrepreneurs consolidate regional economic spaces that go beyond the limits of the state.