Department of Sociology, Institute of Empirical Social Science Research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 24;19(17):10519. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710519.
Since "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) of 2014, the number of foreigners in China has increased rapidly and China has become an importing country for immigrants, a change ongoing since the beginning of the 21st century. To respond to the rapidly increasing number of foreigners in China, the government frequently revised the immigration policies and issued new regulations for foreigners. However, scholars understand very little about how the foreigners perceive their integration into Chinese society or decide to pursue long-term residency or lawful permanent resident status. While some pioneering studies touch on this, with samples from the coastal megacities, no empirical evidence has been collected from smaller, inner cities. Three new findings about the foreigners in Xi'an, a major city in western China, fill this literature gap. First, the level of subjective social integration is largely influenced by the local networks. Second, the level of objective social integration depends largely on local and hometown networks. Third, the intention to obtain long-term and permanent residency in China is more evident in those foreigners who come from countries covered by the BRI and who consider China to be a better place to live than their home country.
自 2014 年“一带一路倡议”（BRI）以来，在中国的外国人数量迅速增加，中国已成为移民的输入国，这是自 21 世纪初以来一直在发生的变化。为了应对在中国的外国人数量的迅速增加，政府频繁修订移民政策并为外国人发布新规定。然而，学者们对外国人如何看待自己融入中国社会或决定寻求长期居住或合法永久居民身份知之甚少。虽然一些开创性的研究触及了这一点，但其样本来自沿海特大城市，而没有从小型内陆城市收集实证证据。关于中国西部主要城市西安的外国人的三项新发现填补了这一文献空白。首先，主观社会融合程度在很大程度上受当地网络的影响。其次，客观社会融合程度在很大程度上取决于当地和家乡网络。第三，那些来自“一带一路”倡议覆盖国家并认为中国比自己的祖国更适合居住的外国人，更倾向于获得在中国的长期和永久居留权。
