Abstract
Following China’s economic reform since the 1980s, today China has become the “world’s factory” deeply integrated into the global economy. Yet behind its commercial ties that connected different parts of the world, individual Chinese commercial migrants and their diasporas across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia have been an important yet understudied complement to the role of the transnational corporation in international trade. At the same time, this type of migrant contrasts with the traditional types of migrations in the context of globalization for they are business-motivated and do not seek permanent residency. Based on abundant primary sources from interviews and field studies conducted by the author in Chile between Feb to July 2021, this study captures the presence of the Chinese transient commercial migrant community in Chile and pioneers in this underexplored field. This primarily descriptive research intends to establish the first comprehensive understanding of the history, ways of living, migrant organizations, and their relations with the host society of the contemporary Chinese commercial migrants in Chile. This thesis also considers historical Chinese immigration to Chile as an attempt to supplement existing knowledge about their presence in Chile. My project also aims to provide valuable references and a foundation for future studies on this unnoticed type of migration as well as Chinese migrants in Latin America as a case study.