Communication Studies

Yotes, Tommy S.; Maydell, Elena; Croucher, Stephen M.

doi: 10.1080/10510974.2025.2548481pmid: N/A

The number of new Chinese migrants (Xinyimin) in Indonesia has been growing steadily in the past decade, with many arriving in the country to work in Chinese businesses, from manufacturing to mining businesses. Using Orbe’s co-cultural framework, this study employed interviews to gain insights from the Xinyimin and found they employ numerous co-cultural communicative practices – nonassertive assimilation, nonassertive accommodation, assertive accommodation, assertive assimilation, and aggressive assimilation – in their daily interaction with locals. Their communicative strategies are also shaped by defensive nationalism and the cultural imperative to maintain harmony, a core Chinese cultural value.