Research (Week 2): Exodus of the Educated

Today I went back to the Taiwanese Church to meet more people. The "passerby" theme was again emphasized, even the pastor mentioned it in his sermon. "No matter what our purpose of being in this country is - as I know that many people are here as passerbys..."

First I was planning to focus on into how parents educate their kids and preserve Chinese culture, but after many preliminary interviews, it really doesn't seem different from that in the United States. However, I've been repeatedly informed of a more pressing issue about assimilation in the community – work opportunities for the second generation.

I spoke to Roxana Hsu, who arrived in Buenos Aires when she was 8. Roxana works for a trade company that deals with China, and she said that they are having a hard time hiring other educated, bilingual Chinese employees. She said that one problem is that many educated 1.5 generation or 2nd generation immigrants who could still speak Chinese had left the country. Many of them head on to the United States, and others with better Chinese skills head to Taiwan. Most of them never come back. Roxana said that the ones who remain are either uneducated or not fluent enough in Chinese or Spanish to qualify for the position.

The reason for leaving? Almost every person I've spoken to has mentioned that it is still very hard for Chinese immigrants, even if they are raised and educated in Argentina, to find higher level jobs. "Unless you're exceptionally talented at what you do, Argentine companies usually will not hire a Chinese person, unless the job has something to do with speaking Chinese," Roxana said. Although general discrimination is rare, there is definitely discrimination when hiring.

As a result, there seems to be a mass exodus of the educated Chinese population. (These are mostly from Taiwan. Most children of Mainland Chinese immigrants are not old enough to attend college yet.)

I later spoke to a group of four 30somethings who had arrived in early childhood. They've been friends for years and speak Spanish amongst themselves and play soccer on their days off. However, one of them still said, "it's not that easy to assimilate into Argentine society."

They agreed that currently, the only work opportunities for Chinese immigrants that grew up in Argentina is either work for an Asian-run company or find work that requires speaking Chinese. And even so, the pay is low, and most of them said it's not worth it. "It's much easier to start your own business," they said. "There's more freedom, less competition, and it doesn't require much money. Look at the stores here - most of them don't need to be fancy."

One of them, Willy Tseng, further explains the exodus. He said that due to unstable political and economic conditions, most people didn't plan to stay here for long in the first place. After the collapse in 2001, a huge group of educated Taiwanese immigrants left for better opportunities. "There's a gap in the demographics of Taiwanese immigrants – 20 to 30 year olds," he said. "The ones that are still here at this point, have probably settled and found ways to survive."

Three of them run their own shops and one of them went back to Taiwan to work after he finished college. He's back in Argentina on business.

"There are people who do make it, but it's really rare," said Jaime Chen, who runs a Chinese medicine shop. "I know one guy who found a job as an architect with the government and a few doctors, but that's about it."