Self-initiated Expatriates: Taiwanese Migrant Professionals in China’s Global Cities

This paper explores the migration of Taiwanese skilled professionals to China through interviews taken of expatriates in three large Chinese cities. In recent years, there has been an increase in cases of Taiwanese skilled professionals migrating to China. Nevertheless, this increase originated with less organizational sponsorship than in previous trends. This migration pattern originated mainly by decisions of the expatriates themselves—so-called self-initiated expatriation.Our research shows that Taiwanese skilled professionals who migrated through self-initiated expatriation did not build themselves into a homogeneous group in China’s global cities. Results show also that there have been various patterns of self-directed expatriation. Most such migrants have been categorized as young adventurers, job-seekers, localized professionals, international professionals, and dual-career couples. Through this research, we conclude that as globalization deepens and regional cross-border mobility becomes more commonplace, self-initiated expatriation might gain more influence in the future of skilled migrations.