This study seeks to reground concepts of "diaspora" and "transnationalism" in the realities of everyday life through examining the lived experiences of immigrants. Based on in-depth household interviews and focus groups, it examines the newest Chinese diaspora in Vancouver-skilled immigrants from the People's Republic of China. It explores the challenges that they face in an unfamiliar city, including employment and language barriers as well as domestic anxieties surrounding childcare, education and marital difficulties. The strategies that they adopt to counter these problems are at times transnational-in the form of astronaut families or transnational childcare-but almost always familial. Ultimately, the settlement challenges that they face, coupled with the available transnational possibilities, raise the question of whether they are settlers or "immigrant prisoners", temporarily serving their time in Vancouver before a further relocation. © 2007 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.

Vancouver People's Republic of China Skilled immigrants Diaspora Transnationalism

education China strategic planning Eurasia immigration Asia Regional planning Transnationalism Far East migrants experience diaspora North America Canada Prisons international migration skilled labor Asian immigrant Childcare British Columbia Vancouver