ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the incentives of migration amongst the Malaysian Chinese skilled migrants in the four cities, as well as their national identities and the degree of satisfaction concerning their migration lives. The Malaysian Chinese community was socially and politically segregated from communist China throughout the Cold War. Higher education has long functioned as a link between the Malaysian Chinese skilled migrants and Taipei, since a good number of them were initially foreign students in Taiwan before they settle down in Taipei. The Malaysian Chinese professionals in Hong Kong (HK) today are not HK-trained. The first university in HK – The University of Hong Kong – enrolled Malayan students as early as the 1910s upon its establishment, and the numbers soared in the 1930s. An estimation in 2015 claims that at least 30,000 Malaysians live in China, and amongst them, 7,000–10,000 reside within the greater Shanghai region. Singapore is undoubtedly the most popular migration destination amongst Malaysian professionals.
