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ow there should be consideration as to which policy should be amended to be more suitable for current trends. To date, China does not recognise dual citizenship. Presently, the issue of citizenship is still a dilemma for a number of respondents. On a few occasions, it was apparent that there were distinct differences within the families as to whether they should apply for citizenship. While one couple openly debated with each other the utility of ruji, another couple’s disagreement grew apparent when the wife asked me repeatedly ‘Have you met others that have different feelings within a family?’. In both cases, it was the wife who preferred to apply for citizenship. Some respondents attributed the differences*from their observations (and what they heard from others)*to the gendered nature of settlement experiences. Women were commonly perceived to ‘adapt’ better to Canada than men. It is pertinent to note, too, that women were more likely to be the initiators in the case of PRC migration (Teo 2003). Overall, though, it is individual experiences that shape the migrants’ perspective of their realities in Canada, as Haojie, a technician, illustrated: Maybe because I have been working with Canadians, I find that when I am talking to my friends, I feel that my change is greater than theirs. Really [laughed]. I feel that I am gradually having feelings for Canada. Indeed, I have found a job in Canada. Canada has given my family and me good benefits. It really varies for individuals. If you are still doing rotten work after seven years, working in a Chinese Richmond factory and being paid hourly, then I think the feeling would definitely be different. The feeling would definitely not be to treat Canada as your mother. I really do have the feeling that Canada is like my mother [laughed]. My second mother.
816 S.Y. Teo When asked whether they saw themselves as zhongguoren [Chinese nationals], huaqiao [overseas Chinese] or Canadians, participants in both the male and female focus groups unanimously declared that they were zhongguoren. For them, national identity was not so much an issue of citizenship as of feelings of attachment to a country they grew up in. Peixian, who expressed a desire to apply for Canadian citizenship, perceived time as a significant factor in her identification: I have been here for more than one year. The time is not that long. All the while I have been feeling that I’ma zhongguoren. Whenever I talk about Canada, I would say ‘their’ Canada, ‘their’ place, ‘their’ Canadian government, ‘they’ Canadians, etc., but I think as time gets longer, and I have stayed here for years, this kind of feeling may fade...and I won’tsay ‘their’ Canada [laughed]. In contrast, Kaiyang, who has lived in Canada for five years, demonstrates that the passage of time or even adaptation to Canadian society does not necessarily mean a straightforward identification with Canada: We are not citizens of China anymore [smiled]. We are already citizens of Canada. To return to China to stay for the long term? But we have already adapted here. [...] We are Canada’s zhongguoren. Because we have pledged loyalty to our motherland [China]. Actually we also quite identify with this country Canada. Postmodern notions of ambivalence, hybridity and ‘in-between’ spaces, which are celebrated by cultural theorists such as Bhabha (1990, 1994) and Gilroy (1993), help to illuminate Kaiyang’s feelings of belonging*of being simultaneously a Canadian citizen