Chinese ‘snowbirds’ in tropical Sanya: retirement migration and the production of translocal families

Family plays a large part in retirement migration, exerting great influence on migrants' decision-making and post-migration experience. However, extant studies direct limited attention to the issue of the family, and usually perceive it as stable and positive during retirement migration. In contrast, this paper explores the dynamism and complexity of the family, which is continuously negotiated in time-spaces and functions as both enabling and constraining factors in the elderly mobilities. Drawing on the study of Chinese 'snowbirds' (Houniao), this paper analyses the construction of translocal families through retirement migration. It scrutinises the negotiation of intergenerational relations and spousal care, and the diverse implications of familial ties and obligations on the Houniao's motivation for and experience of seasonal lifestyles. By exploring the elderly movement and consumption-led migration of the Houniao, this paper also enhances our understanding of the family restructuring stimulated by population mobilities in contemporary China.