Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs

Book excerpt: Mobile Chinese Entrepreneurs draws extensively on the narratives of sixteen small-to-medium business owners, born on the mainland, who have immigrated to Hong Kong and returned to their ancestral hometowns in China to establish their enterprises. For these executives, business and social life alike are marked by constant interplay of identities, such as individual identity/group membership and ancestral/immigrant identity. Yet as often as this juggling of multiple “selves” can be beneficial in the economic sphere, it can also lead to feelings of rootlessness and alienation. Writing with rare sensitivity, the two authors synthesize insights from economic sociology, psychology, ethnic relations, emotions, and social networks, creating an exploration of social capital and social identity comparable to similar groups of businessmen and –women in other parts of the world.