Legal and illegal Chinese immigrants in Greece: status, stories, narratives from a fieldwork in Thessaloniki

Abstract

As early as around 1995, Thessaloniki ushered in the first batch of Chinese immigrants. After more than 20 years, they have established their own communities here. While adapting to the local economy and culture, they have had a huge impact on the society of Thessaloniki. Based on fieldwork, this article conducts an analysis of the major groups of Chinese immigrants and their arrival time, motivation and main approaches to Thessaloniki. Besides, it also introduces the geographical distribution of Chinese immigrants in Thessaloniki, population size, their business activities and key features. Then this article also introduces the daily exchange and organization of Chinese immigrant communities from the internal perspectives of Chinese immigrant communities and the external perspectives of Greek society. Finally, based on the living experiences and life stories of Chinese immigrants living in the community, this article presents a more vivid picture of the living conditions of legal and illegal immigrants living in Thessaloniki.