When migrant entrepreneurs meet global religion: transnational Chinese christian businesses in Paris

Abstract

In this paper I present some findings of my fieldwork research on a group of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs who have formed large Christian communities at home, along with migrant enclaves in Paris, France. According to a French government‘s estimate, about 100,000 Chinese migrants live in Paris, mostly from the coastal Chinese city of Wenzhou. There are dozens of costly Wenzhou Chinese migrant churches in Paris. The expansion of this diasporic religious community is built on the migrant entrepreneurs‘ newfound wealth from transnational business. Though a small number of Wenzhou pastors have been invited to minister the migrant churches there, few Chinese have migrated to Western Europe for purely religious reasons and most are focused on production and commerce. I examine the impact of transnational religious connections on these migrant entrepreneuers‘ religious and ethnic identities and the role socioreligious dynamics in Paris play in their transnational religious and business practices. Emphasis will be placed on the subjective self-understanding of these Chinese Christian transnationals in the dual contexts of global religion and China‘s global business expansion.