Global Chinese migration in geographical perspective: a Kolkata (Calcutta) case study

Abstract

The contribution of migration to global demographic dynamics has resulted in a growing public and academic interest. The landscapes of Chinese overseas ethnic economy and associated migrant Diaspora networks require special scholarly attention from cross-disciplinary perspectives. The present study seeks to understand the same from geographical viewpoints and thus selected international migration theories have been applied upon the trajectory of Chinese overseas migration. For the last two centuries, this particular stream portrayed dimensional and structural shifts from single male sojourning to transnational family entrepreneurship. The global Chinese overseas associations promote ethnic solidarity, kinship ties and the sentiment of 'Greater China' over the foreign soils. The strategic geographical location of Calcutta, the then colonial capital of India played a vital role in the evolution of the ethnic enclave economic landscape in the spatial context. Hence, the authors by applying both theoretical and empirical methods have represented the Chinese migration to Kolkata (Calcutta) through twin Chinatowns as a case study with its varied dimensions to harness the perspective from spatial magnitudes.