Constructing a sense of home: Older Chinese migrants ageing in a foreign land

Abstract

This article explores the meaning of home to older Chinese migrants and what they do to construct a sense of home as they live and age in Australia. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 older Chinese migrants (80 per cent aged 60+), who were born in mainland China and Hong Kong. Unlike the traditional interview method, we asked each participant to provide two photographs, which signified the concept of home to them and used these as visual elicitations for interviews. The findings from an inductive thematic analysis of the data show that the location of their adult children, home gardens, and cultural objects play a significant role in giving the participants a feeling of home in Australia. The study highlights that ageing in a foreign land involves older migrants’ continuous (re)integration of people and places in both the old country of origin and the new country of resettlement.