This research employs the narrative of mental suffering as a prism through which to study Chinese migration in France. It provides new analytical angles and new perspectives on the paradoxical existence and conditions of the migrants, and traces the social links between individuals and societies, objectivity and subjectivity, the real and the imaginary.

The ethnographic survey in this study is situated in the context of the transformation of Chinese society over the last forty years. Dr. Wang deconstructs the stereotypes of Chinese people, demonstrates the dynamics of social mobilities and heterogeneous living conditions of Chinese migrants, who experience and narrate happiness as well as pain, joy as well as sorrow, and hope as well as despair.

The transversal approach used to analyse the heterogeneity within an ethnic group will be of interest to scholars of migration studies in general.