Acting Australian and being Chinese: Integration of ethnic Chinese business people

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports the integration experience of ethnic Chinese business people as they search for a sense of place in their host country, Australia. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 30 ethnic Chinese business owners in the city of Brisbane. The respondents collectively represent 12 types of businesses (e.g., retail, trade, and hospitality). Findings indicate that the two dimensions of Berry's acculturation model, the heritage culture and the host culture, are not necessarily creating incompatible demands on immigrants as they integrate into the host country. Instead, the two dimensions complement one another in the integration process. This paper challenges the dual majority–minority conceptualization, which treats home culture and host culture as existing entities, and it provides further support for viewing cultural identity as performance, always flexible, changing, situational, and being shaped by the immigrants’ interactions with their co-ethnics and the host nationals.