RESEARCH PAPER
Cultures unfolding: experiences of Chinese-Hungarian mixed couples in Hungary
 
More details
Hide details
 
Submission date: 2015-05-06
 
 
Final revision date: 2015-09-06
 
 
Acceptance date: 2015-09-13
 
 
Online publication date: 2015-10-05
 
 
Publication date: 2015-12-01
 
 
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2015;3(4):254-264
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background
The research outlined in this paper focuses on a subfield related to Chinese migrants’ integration in Hungary: Chinese-Hungarian mixed partner relationships. I present some findings of an anthropological study on Chinese-Hungarian couples in Hungary, although other localities may also be involved in some of these couples’ lives.

Participants and procedure
Based on interviews conducted with members of Chinese-Hungarian married, cohabiting and dating, separated or divorced couples, and on data gathered through predominantly online fieldwork, this research explores notions and values that are at play in shaping the dynamics of these relations.

Results
The sample of thirty-seven couples features two characteristically different types of relationships: those referred to as “student love”, and the relationships of “typical” Chinese migrants with Hungarians. The former tend to be much more successful and persistent in time, with two cases of divorce or separation out of sixteen, whereas the latter are considerably less persistent, with eight cases of divorce or separation and two cases of crises out of thirteen bonds. Another notable finding is that Chinese-Hungarian marriages are much more persistent in time if the Chinese partner is female.

Conclusions
The paper consists of the following consecutive parts: an introduction to the Chinese migrant context and inter-ethnic partner relations in Hungary; a review of relevant literature; presentation of research methods and fieldwork; presentation and discussion of the research sample; presentation of some results from the interviews; and conclusions.
 
REFERENCES (26)
1.
Basch, L., Glick Schiller, N., & Szanton Blanc, C. (1994). Nations unbound. Transnational projects, postcolonial predicaments and deterritorialized nation-states. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers.
 
2.
Bélanger, D., & Tran, G. L. (2011) The impact of transnational migration on gender and marriage in sending communities of Vietnam. Current Sociology, 59, 59-77.
 
3.
Chua, A. (2011). Battle hymn of the tiger mother. UK: Penguin Books.
 
4.
Chua, A. (2014). The triple package: how three unlikely traits explain the rise of fall of cultural groups in America. UK: Penguin Books.
 
5.
Davin, D. (1976). Woman-work: women and the Party in revolutionary China. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
 
6.
Davin, D. (1999). Internal migration in contemporary China. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
 
7.
Davin, D. (1988). Book review on Domenach Jean-Luc, Chang-Ming Hua (1987). Le marriage en Chine. Paris: Presses de la Fondation des Scinces Politiques, 187 p. The China Quarterly, 113, 119-120.
 
8.
Dribe, M., & Lundh, C. (2008). Intermarriage and immigrant integration in Sweden: An exploratory analysis. Acta Sociologica, 51, 329-354.
 
9.
Efron Pimentel, E. (2000). Just how do I love Thee?: Marital relations in urban China. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 32-47.
 
10.
Erikson, E. H. (1997). The life cycle completed. Extended version with New Chapters on the Ninth Stage of Development by Joan H. Erikson. New York: W. W. Norton.
 
11.
Gaspar, S. (2011). Comparing EU bi-national partnerships in Spain and Italy 1. Sociologia On Line, 2, 101-119 (Retrieved from Research Gate on 10 August 2015).
 
12.
Hohmann-Marriott, B. E., & Amato, P. (2008). Relationship quality in inter-ethnic marriages and cohabitations. Social Forces, 87, 825-855.
 
13.
Kalmijn, M. (1998). Intermarriage and homogamy: Causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 395-421.
 
14.
Kalmijn, M., de Graaf, P., & Janssen, J. (2005) Intermarriage and the risk of divorce in the Netherlands: The effects of differences in religion and in nationality, 1974-94. Population Studies, 59, 71-85.
 
15.
Kalmijn, M., & van Tubergen, F. (2010). A comparative perspective on intermarriage: Explaining differences among national-origin groups in the United States. Demography, 47, 459-479.
 
16.
Kleinman, A., Yan, Y., Jun, J., Lee, S., & Zhang, E. (2011). Deep China. The moral life of the person. What anthropology and psychiatry can tell us about China today. Berkely: University of California Press.
 
17.
Kováts, A. (2014). Migrációs helyzetkép Magyarországon [Migration overview of Hungary]. In: I. Tarrósy, V. Glied, & Z. Vörös Zoltán (eds.), Migrációs tendenciák napjainkban [Contemporary trends of migration] (pp. 329-345). Pécs: Publikon Kiadó.
 
18.
Kwok-bun, C. (ed.). (2013). International Handbook of Chinese Families. Springer: New York.
 
19.
Martin Ahern, E. (1981). Chinese ritual and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 
20.
Nyíri, P. (2006). Kínaiak és afgánok Magyarországon: két migráns csoport érvényesülési stratégiái [Chinese and Afghans in Hungary: immigrant strategies of two migrant groups]. In: M. Feischmidt, & P. Nyíri (eds.), Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi Gyerekek magyar iskolákban [Unwanted children? Foreign children in Hungarian schools] (pp. 39-74). Budapest: MTA Nemzeti-Etnikai Kisebbségkutató Intézet – Nemzetközi Migrációs és Menekültügyi Kutatóközpont.
 
21.
Nyíri, P. (2010a). Egy transznacionális “közvetítő kisebbség”: kínai vállalkozók Magyarországon [A transnational middleman minority: Chinese entrepreneurs in Hungary]. In: M. Feischmidt (ed.), Etnicitás. Különbségteremtő társadalom [Ethnicity. Society marking the difference] (pp. 141-151). Budapest: Gondolat-MTA Kisebbségkutató Intézet.
 
22.
Nyíri, P. (2010b). Kínai migránsok Magyarországon: Mai tudásunk és aktuális kérdések [Chinese migrants in Hungary. What we know today and relevant issues]. In: A. Hárs, & J. Tóth (eds.), Változó migráció – változó környezet [Changing migration in a changing context] (pp. 147-171). Budapest: MTA ENKI.
 
23.
Stafford, C. (ed.). (2013). Ordinary ethics in China. London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology. Volume 79. London: Bloomsbury.
 
24.
Várhalmi, Z. (2013). Vállalkozó migránsok Magyarországon [Migrant entrepreneurs in Hungary]. In: A. Kováts (ed.), Bevándorlás és integráció. Magyarországi adatok, európai indikátorok [Immigration and integration. Hungarian data, European indicators] (pp. 89-100). Budapest: Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
 
25.
Watson, R. S. (1981). Class differences and affinal relations in South China. Man, New Series, 16, 593-615.
 
26.
Worner, S. (2010). Inter-ethnic marriage and partner satisfaction. Ruhr Economic Papers #221.
 
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
eISSN:2353-561X
ISSN:2353-4192
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top