More lack of proof of immigrants' creative equity? Bollywood Bound Going through the 2006 census material over the past couple of days, some interesting points came up: - There has been a dramatic decrease in the Chinese applications to immigrate to Canada - There has been another dramatic decline in Chinese students applying for student visas - More and more "Chinese-Canadians" are returning to China Some of the rationale given is the Chinese inferior knowledge of French and English required in the immigration application; China's own economic growth; more colleges and universities available for Chinese to study in their own country; the perception that Chinese credentials aren't readily accepted due to a long process of degree accreditation; and aggressive recruitments of Chinese by other countries like Australia and New Zealand. I also think there is more of a psychological problem. Despite several generations of living in Canada, and a recent
monetary and symbolic apology for the head tax incurred on the original Chinese laborers in Canada, the Chinese will always continue to feel like second-class citizens, scrambling for a piece of the multicultural pie. Richard Florida's hypothesis that Chinese would somehow innovate themselves as leaders, if not dominant players in the Canadian (and Western) society has not been demonstrated. In fact, I will argue that they will always be taking cues, rather than giving directions. I would think it is better to feel a first class citizen in your own country rather then find ways to reach the top in another one which you will always think is trying to thwart your growth. On the other hand, the South Asian immigration rate has increased sharply. There are many factors including strong community and political clout which results in more aggressive recruitment techniques. But, second generation Indians who frequent
MyBindi.com, and whose fantasy is to
star in a Bollywood movie (via the National Film Board of Canada) surely shows us that they're operating on a different aesthetic? Richard Florida will have a lot to answer for.
