Transplanted Wenzhou Model and Transnational Ethnic Economy: experiences of Zhejiangcun's Wenzhou migrants and Wangjing's Chaoxianzu (ethnic Korean Chinese) migrants in Beijing

Abstract

This paper explores why Zhejiangcun's Wenzhou migrants and Wangjing's Chaoxianzu migrants were able to maintain and actively restructure their settlements in Beijing while Beijing's other migrant settlements either disappeared or were forced out from their original locations. Highlighting the role of the Wenzhou model in Zhejiangcun and that of the transnational ethnic ties in Wangjing, this research illustrates how certain rural migrants emerged as a new social group by utilizing their cultural capital based on native-place and ethnic ties and newly found economic power. The present study examines the urban space of Zhejiangcun and Wangjing where alternative sources of economic power and social networks were created and utilized and therefore offers a unique perspective by locating a specifically-founded ethnographic analysis within the general debate on the restructuring of post-reform urban space.