寮國華人角色的改變

Abstract

本文探討對寮國經濟素有影響力的華人，在寮國歷經共產主義封閉後再開放的近代社會中，扮演什麼樣的角色？期望呈現當代寮國華人社會的區域特色及背景，客觀地分析在時代與政治變遷的脈絡下，寮國華人社會的變與不變。為能清楚地呈現寮國華人「移民決策」的轉折，文中詳述了諸多華人移民個人的前期生命歷程，包括其在中國與寮國社會的相對位置。在這樣的回溯中，儘量結合移民個人特徵（社會地位、受教育程度）與社群特徵（社會經濟發展、易達性、遷移紐帶）的分析，以清楚呈現之間的因果關係，了解移民的決策過程。可以確定的是：移民決策的推力，雖然有時代背景、國家政策等提供誘因，親緣與鄉緣的紐帶也產生相當影響，但「個人生命週期的動態」仍是主要因素。拉力部分，寮國當地雖有華人族裔社區存在，仍需要更多的社會群體支援，以提高宜居性。本文亦在國際和歷史的大框架下，探討寮國華人社會角色。結合宏觀至微觀的各種觀察，比較分析寮國華人群體與其他時代及地區移民的差異，期能探得未來寮國華人移民的動向。關於華人的地位與角色，近年因為中國的興起，寮國華人–包括屬於離散族裔的老華僑和實踐跨國運作的新移民，其在寮國的社會地位，均處於前所未有的高度。The Chinese population in Laos has long had a major impact on the nation’s economy. This thesis explores the role that the Chinese play on contemporary Laotian society, specifically during the reform after the isolation from its former communism. The studies were done in hopes of capturing the regional characteristics and background of the contemporary Chinese society in Laos, and objectively analyzing the constants and variables within the society throughout time and political reforms. In order to clearly demonstrate the evolution of the Chinese migrants in Laos and their decision-making, the author described in detail many life stories of Chinese migrants, including their relative social status in both China and Laos. The author analyzed in combination the personal traits (social status, education level) and community traits (socioeconomic development, geographical accessibility, migration ties) of the migrants, and concluded the key push factor of migration decision-making is the “current stage of the migrant’s life”, followed by environmental factors like national policies, globalization, kinship and township. As to the pull factor, although there are Chinese enclaves in Laos, migrants still need more support from communities to minimize the difficulties in transitioning. Under the frameworks of global development and history, the author combines macroscopic and microscopic observations, comparatively analyzes the differences between the Chinese communities in Laos and migrants from other times and in other regions, and eventually hopes to predict the flow of future Chinese migrants in Laos. Lastly, due to the rise of China in recent decades, the Chinese in Laos, both the older generation diaspora and the more transnational newer migrants, have reached new heights in Laos in terms of social status.