There’s No Place Like Home: Taiwanese Married Women in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examines patterns of return migration as a background to understand the intention among marriage migrants to return to their homeland. In a five-year period beginning in 2014, the author conducted qualitative interviews with Taiwanese immigrant women in Hong Kong who had married Hong Kong men and had arrived between 1965 and 2013, to understand major aspects of their adaptation. Despite successful efforts in developing careers, establishing families, and planting new roots by becoming Hong Kongers over the last few decades, a majority of the immigrants wanted to return to Taiwan to luo ye gui gen (落葉歸根, a falling leaf finds its way to its roots). Apart from regarding Taiwan as homeland and retaining a strong sense of belonging, their desire to re-migrate to a more hospitable environment, to enjoy a better quality of life compared to that of Hong Kong, has been spelled out with narratives. Return migration remains a paradox with regard to married women who have accepted patrilocal residence at the start. Whether returns do take place remains to be seen, as return migration in essence also suggests that migration is impermanent and transnational in nature.