The immigration of Chinese traders in post-Communist Bucharest

The Chinese immigration has emerged in Romania since the collapse of Communism. Still under researched, these new flows first concerned a population of traders; other categories of migrants came later. Their migration will be analysed though its embeddedness in the social, economic, political and institutional environment in Romania. The Chinese traders who soon attracted attention from authorities and the national media are concentrated in Bucarest. There they benefit from an opportunity-structure which sustained their commercial activities. They play an important role on the open air markets of the capital and take part to the ethnicization process that is nowadays occurring in the economy and the labour market. Only part of them are however economically successful. Furthermore, changes in Romania's immigration policy have increased disparities within the Chinese population by favouring a few important businessmen.