STAY IN SPAIN

BY JAMES WIlKINSON

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四海一家DIASPORA

STAY IN SPAIN

BY JAMES WIlKINSON

Mem bers o f the Chinese comm un ity ho ld a lo ft a giant dragon figure during a procession to celebrate The Year o f The Monkey on F B e Y b D ru A a V r ID y D13A,W 2S0O1N6 in Madrid, Spain.

Despite Eurozone worries， Chinese immigrants thrive

奮斗在西班牙的中國移民

T he 2008 fnancial crisis hit Europe hard—w ith Spain bearing the brunt more than many Western European countries. A grossly infated housing bubble， creative accounting by Spanish banks， and a decline in the tourist industry were among the multitude of issues tangled around its throat.

And as the economy sank，imm igration to the country—which had seen the foreign population of Spain almost double from 6.24 percent in 2003 to 11.3 percent in 2008—began to slow down. By 2012， aided by a government offer of €10，000 for imm igrants willing to repatriate and not return for three years， Spain's population had begun to fall.

One imm igrant group， however， not only stayed， but fourished： the Chinese.

As of April 2016 there were 93，810 Chinese nationals registered on Spain's social security system， of whom 48，107—51.8 percent—were self-emp loyed. That's more than twice as many as there were before the fnancial crisis， and a percentage that dramatically outstrips Spaniards （of all ethnicities） at 18.1 percent. It also com fortably beats Spain's next-biggest self-emp loyed groups： Danes （39.6 percent）， the Dutch （37.5 percent） and Germans （36.8 percent）.

And many of those self-emp loyed peop le are entrepreneurs， says Joaquín Beltrán Antolín， Professor of East-Asian Studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. In fact， he says， “The Chinese own more businesses than any other foreign community in Spain.”

Why？ For Professor Antolín， the exp lanation is cultural： a combination of expectations， connections， and social mores that give Chinese in Spain an advantage over the opposition. One key facet， he says，is that unlike other foreign groups，Chinese migrate to Spain expecting to own a fam ily-run business.

“［They expect to］ be the owners of the means of production so that all of their fam ily members w ill prof t from the business， instead of expecting them to only make money through wage labor. By contrast， the white Spanish population and most other groups of foreign imm igrants in Spain do not have as great an expectation... This is the key difference.”

It's not the only one， however： fam ily ties bind the Chinese business community together stronger than those of other ethnic communities in Spain. “Most are small fam ily businesses where all fam ily members work together， which allows them to save money on wages，” says Professor Antolín. “They can also use networks of relatives， acquaintances and friends to fnance their businesses if necessary—so no need to go to a bank to borrow money， since the Chinese community w ill lend w ithout comm ission.”

For imm igrants that have come to Spain with lim ited funds and no credit history， this element of the complex social networking system of guanxi immediately puts would-be Chinese entrepreneurs ahead of those from other countries. It also means that emerging Chinese businessmen were insulated from the fractious post-2008 fnancial industry in Spain that saw banks foundering and access to loans and mortgages dim inished.

Having familial and friendly relationships at the core of a business plan has led to one surprising statistic：most of the Chinese people living in Spain are from the same place—namely Qingtian， a 963-square-m ile county of Zhejiang Province. Hard numbers are tough to come by， but in 2012 Chinese newspaper Changjiang Daily estimated that of the 160，000 Chinese imm igrants in Spain that year，90，000 were from the mountainous，sparsely populated county. For a little perspective， that's 25 percent of the 361，062 people who were living there in 2010.

New Chinese imm igrants to Spain follow in the footsteps of their more experienced peers both literally and metaphorically； many who move there work for a while in a particular type of business run by another Chinese imm igrant before borrowing the money necessary to open their own within the same industry. So restaurants beget more restaurants；stores beget more stores. But， Professor Antolín says， Chinese entrepreneurs are quick to move to other sectors when the one they are in reaches saturation. He believes this fuid and pragmatic attitude towards business helped protect them from the crisis. “Most Chinese businesses are small and the crisis has not affected them，especially because if a type of business is not successful then they will open another in a different industry. ［The entrepreneurial culture］ is fexible and can quickly adapt to the possibilities and opportunities.”

That's how Chinese industry in Spain has expanded from the ubiquitous restaurants， “one dollar shops”， and convenience stores—the latter so common they're colloquially known as chinos in some areas—to encompass media f rms， fashion studios， import-export houses and other high-end businesses.

Ivana Casaburi， an Associate Professor at the Marketing Department of Barcelona's ESADE University with a focus on Sino-Spanish trade， says： “The Chinese business community is increasingly entering market sectors that combine quality and keen pricing—it is not a question of offering cheap products that consumers may see as shoddy.”She explains that small-to-medium Chinese enterprises in Spain are mostly focusing on quality retail and catering， investing in urban areas with many offces and m iddle-toupper-class Spaniards. “To these，one can add second-generation Chinese entrepreneurs trained at top business schools… whose business is in technology and other emerging sectors such as services and exports to China.”

Professor Antolín agrees—though he notes that the incredible infux of Chinese into Spain is dim inishing. “In recent years， as quality of life has improved in China—particularly in Qingtian—the pressure to go abroad to do business has subsided，since there's plenty of opportunities to thrive in China now，” he says. “Arrivals are slow ing down.”

“However， the number of Chinese kids born in Spain keeps growing，and so does the number of members of that second generation that reach university. Their expectations after college are different from their parents， and they will open businesses with higher added value.”

But while the Chinese community in Spain continues its upward climb， it seems the country's w ider population hasn't quite recognized their success. Quan Zhou is an Andalusia-born Chinese-Spaniard，whose online com ic Gazpacho Agridulce （Bittersweet Gazpacho） explores her experiences as someone w ith “a Chinese face and an Andalusian heart”. She says that the Spanish media doesn't represent the country's Chinese population well at all. “The Spanish media started mentioning the Chinese community more in recent years， especially since the O lympic Games in Beijing. But they often get lost in sensationalist news on topics such as of how Chinese tourists are rude， or how they evade paying taxes，” she says.

As a consequence， while perceptions of Chinese people among w ider Spanish society have altered over the years， it hasn't necessarily been an improvement. “Rather than being seen as poor，hard-working immigrants， now they think that most Chinese people have a lot of money and are rude，” she explains. “Sometimes they are still surprised that I speak fuent Spanish， or that I consider myself more Spanish than Chinese. But I think the perception is still evolving—and for the better， I hope.”