Immigration policy of the people’s republic of China in the past and in the present (outline of contemporary Chinese historiography)
Abstract
The immigration policy of contemporary China began to take shape soon after the creation of the state itself in 1949. Today, there are works by Chinese researchers that examine the stages of formation of this policy, the features of each of these stages in accordance with their political and ideological content, and the ranking of groups arriving in the country immigrants, ways of adaptation to the PRC of highly qualified newcomers in demand in the country with unique experience or world fame, opposition to illegal immigration and other, more specific issues. Some of the analyzed works were published in Russia. However, they are of a review nature and it is impossible to trace the dynamics of studying the history of the immigration policy of the PRC. Therefore, the study of contemporary Chinese historiography, moreover, published specifically in China itself, seems to be an urgent and scientifically in demand task. The significance of such a study is also due to the fact that Chinese authors’ interpretations of the problems of immigration policy are determined by the ideological attitudes that exist in this regard. Therefore, by studying the immigration policy of China, one can trace the evolution of the socio-political ideas of this country from the era of Mao Zedong and further – through the time of the “policy of reform and opening up” that began in 1978 until Xi Jinping came to power and declared at the XVIII Congress of the CPC the aim of transforming the planet’s population into a “community of a common destiny for mankind.” Such a look at the Chinese historiography of immigration policy, in addition to systematizing information about the content of researches on this topic by PRC scientists and the evolution of the views expressed in them, will allow us to monitor changes in Chinese ideology over the past several decades on issues that are currently significant for the PRC, as well as assess the degree of ideologization purely practical issues related to ensuring national security. To do this, the judgments of Chinese researchers of past and present immigration policy will be compared with the opinion of a Chinese scientist, but working in the West and therefore free from the need to set the correct accents from the point of view of the PRC leadership.
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