A study on acculturation of Chinese in Finland at the beginning of the 21st century

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.As an attempt to obtain a brief image of the acculturation process of the Chinese in Finland, this study examines the acculturation attitudes of three different groups of ethnic Han Chinese in Helsinki: masters students, employees in non-ethnic business sector and owners of ethnic businesses. Through semi-structured interviews focusing on a series of intercultural variables, such as cultural identities, language proficiency and usage as well as social contacts, the study shows the maintenance of heritage culture and identity as well as the intentions to seek intergroup relations of the informants, based on which the acculturation strategies adopted by the chosen informants are judged. Findings of the study reveal that integration attitude is the strongest among employees in non-ethnic business, followed by master students and ethnic business owners. However, due to limited number of informants accessed, this pattern needs to be further examined by extended research in the future with a larger scale of informants covering more categories and more regions in Finland. Discussions are made based on the findings of the study regarding the construction of multiculturalism in Finland as well as Finland’s international competitiveness in the process of European integration and globalisation as regards the friendliness of its domestic social environment (especially language environment and employment market) toward other groups. It is also pointed out in the discussions that sufficient communication is one of the keys to a better understanding among ethnic groups to create favourable inter-group relations