Qian He

Research Interests 

International/Internal Migration; Social Stratification; Culture; Intergroup Relations; China; Asian Studies

My primary research interests span the substantive areas of international/internal migration, social stratification, culture, intergroup relations, and contemporary Chinese society. My research focuses on: (1) immigration and labor market inequalities; (2) Asian and Asian American studies; and (3) place and inequality in various national contexts.

My methodological approach is mainly quantitative, question-driven, and flexible in drawing on perspectives and techniques from multiple disciplines. I have analyzed datasets from various countries using a variety of quantitative methods, including demographic methods, social sequence analysis, fixed- and random-effects modeling, cluster analysis, quasi-experimental designs, and randomized experiments. I also have plenty of firsthand experience in original survey design, large-scale data collection, and interdisciplinary collaboration.  

Publications

Qian He, Theodore P. Gerber, and Yu Xie. In Press. "Restoring Culture and Capital to Cultural Capital: Origin–Destination Cultural Distance and Immigrant Earnings in the United States."  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Abstract:  An extensive sociological literature maintains that cultural capital is pivotal in perpetuating social inequalities. However, empirical tests of cultural capital theory focus on how culture influences educational outcomes, not earnings, and they mainly look for cultural differences across social classes within societies. We propose a direct test of economic returns to cultural capital based instead on differences in national cultures across countries. Using the American Community Survey and the National Survey of College Graduates, we analyze the relationship between immigrants’ lack of U.S.-specific cultural capital, proxied by cultural distance between the origin country and the U.S., and their earnings. Findings consistently indicate that origin–U.S. cultural distance is linked to immigrants’ lower earnings after controlling for numerous other factors, supporting cultural capital theory. Cultural distance earnings penalties are more pronounced for immigrants with at least a bachelor’s degree, those arriving in adulthood, and those with foreign degrees. Moreover, county-level analysis reveals more sizable cultural distance penalties in more competitive and unequal labor markets, highlighting how subnational receiving contexts shape origin-country disparities in immigrants’ economic incorporation at their destinations.

Yu Xie, Xihong Lin, Ju Li, Qian He, and Junming Huang. 2023. "Caught in the Crossfire: Fears of Chinese-American Scientists." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Abstract:  The US global leadership in science and technology has greatly benefitted from immigrants from other countries, most notably from China in the recent decades. However, feeling the pressure of potential federal investigation since the 2018 launch of the China Initiative under the Trump administration, scientists of Chinese descent in the US now face higher incentives to leave the US and lower incentives to apply for federal grants. Analyzing data pertaining to institutional affiliations of more than 200 million scientific papers, we find a steady increase in the return migration of scientists of Chinese descent from the US to China. We also conducted a survey of scientists of Chinese descent employed by US universities in tenured or tenure-track positions (n=1,304), with results revealing general feelings of fear and anxiety that lead them to consider leaving the US and/or stop applying for federal grants. If the situation is not corrected, American science will likely suffer the loss of scientific talent to China and other countries.

Qian He and Yu Xie. 2022. "The Moral Filter of Patriotic Prejudice: How Americans View Chinese in the COVID-19 Era." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(47), e2212183119.

Abstract:  About one in six Asian Americans have fallen victim to anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. By examining anti-Asian racism in the United States primarily as a domestic issue, most prior studies have overlooked the connections between shifting US-China relations and Americans’ prejudices against the Chinese in China and, by extension, East Asian Americans. This study investigates the patterns and perceptual bases of nationality-based prejudices against Chinese amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our nationally representative online survey experiment reveals that Americans assess a hypothetical Chinese person in China as inferior in multiple social and psychological characteristics to an otherwise identical Japanese person in Japan or East Asian American. Furthermore, subjects who perceive China as more threatening to America’s national interests assess Chinese more negatively, especially in terms of trustworthiness and morality, suggesting that perceived China threats propel Americans’ negative stereotypes about Chinese. A contextual analysis further indicates that counties with a higher share of Trump voters in 2016 tend to perceive all East Asian–origin groups similarly as a racial outgroup. By contrast, residents in predominantly Democrat-voting counties tend to perceive Chinese in China more negatively relative to Asian Americans, despite broadly viewing East Asians more favorably. Overall, this study underscores the often-overlooked relationships between the prevailing anti-Asian sentiments in the United States and the US-China geopolitical tensions and America’s domestic political polarization.

Qian He and Yu Xie. 2022. "Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Rural China: How Does Political Capital Matter? " Social Science Research. 

Abstract:  To assess how the transition from state socialism to a market economy has impacted the social stratification order in China, some prior studies have debated whether the economic privileges of the political redistributors have declined relative to the emerging market elites, while others have examined the coevolution between the two in urban institutional contexts. This study provides new insights into how political capital influences economic inequalities in contemporary rural China by revisiting informal social institutions. Drawing upon a unique nationally representative household survey and using surname sharing with the village cadres to infer shared lineage membership, we find that lineage-based political ties help rural Chinese households to materialize income as well as asset advantages over fellow villagers bereft of such ties. Furthermore, the economic privileges of political connections are larger in villages with lineage groups than those without, and larger for villages of more frequent kin interactions than those of less frequent kin interactions. Our results extend prior findings on the coevolution between political and market elites by going beyond formal institutions and examining grassroots-level evidence in contemporary rural communities.

Qian He, Ziye Zhang, and Yu Xie. 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Americans’ Attitudes toward China: Does Local Incidence Rate Matter?" Social Psychology Quarterly.  

Abstract:  Linking local COVID-19 and population statistics to a U.S.-based survey we recently conducted, we examine the spatial variation in the impact of COVID-19 on Americans’ attitudes toward China. The research strategy capitalizes on differential local COVID-19 incidence rates as varying dosages of COVID-19 impact across local contexts in the United States. Our results reveal negative yet heterogeneous effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Americans’ attitudes toward China. We find that greater local exposure to COVID-19 is associated with a lower level of trust in Chinese and a less favorable attitude toward China. These findings lend consistent support to behavioral immune system theory by bridging the literature on contextual variations in public attitudes, with broader implications for U.S.-China relations.

Theodore P. Gerber and Qian He. 2021. "Sino-phobia in Russia and Kyrgyzstan: Trends and Correlates." Journal of Contemporary China. 

Abstract:  Sino-phobia, which has reportedly grown internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a potential obstacle to China’s economic and foreign policy initiatives involving Russia and Central Asia. After providing historical and theoretical context, the authors analyze publicly reported time-series data from Russia and original survey data from Russia and Kyrgyzstan to assess the extent of Sino-phobic attitudes and their associations with demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic variables. By also considering attitudes toward Americans and other national groups, the authors show that anti-Chinese sentiment, while high, does not exhibit especially pronounced tendencies. In Russia, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment are key correlates of Sino-phobia. Additional survey research is necessary to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Sino-phobia and determine whether it hinders China-friendly policies, as some observers have suggested.

Qian He and Theodore P. Gerber. 2020. "Origin-country Culture, Migration Sequencing, and Female Employment: Variations among Immigrant Women in the United States." International Migration Review 54(1), 233-261. 

Abstract:  Recent studies suggest that the employment rates of foreign-born women are related to cultural norms regarding gender and work in their origin countries. However, origin-country culture may have less influence on the labor-supply decisions of women who self-select into migration precisely in order to pursue work abroad. Female migrants self-select on the basis of employment opportunities to varying extents, and it is hard to measure which ones do and which do not. We propose “migration sequencing” (the timing of married partners’ respective migrations) as a proxy for female migrant selectivity with respect to gender-role beliefs and work incentives: female lead migrants and individual (unmarried) migrants are, on average, more motivated by labor-market opportunities or human-capital formation than concurrent or follower migrants. Using data from the American Community Survey, we analyze employment rates of female immigrants to the United States from 130 countries. Our results confirm that sending-country cultural legacies have smaller effects for lead and unmarried migrants and the largest effect for follower migrants. Consistent with our theoretical reasoning, lead and unmarried migrants apparently self-select on economic motivations or less traditional gender norms more than do follower migrants, whose employment rates are thus more influenced by origin-country culture. The findings yield a more nuanced understanding of the variable role origin-country culture plays in immigrants’ structural incorporation in the United States and potentially in other destinations as well.

Yao Lu, Qian He, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. 2020. "Diverse Experience of Immigrant Children: How Does Separation and Reunification Shape Their Development?" Child Development 91(1), e146-e163. 

Abstract:  Although many immigrant children to the United States arrive with their parents, a notable proportion are first separated and later reunited with their parents. How do the experiences of separation and reunification shape the well-being of immigrant children? Data were from a national survey of legal adult immigrants and their families, the New Immigrant Survey from 2003 to 2004 (for academic achievement, age 6–12, N = 876; for psychosocial well-being, age 6–17, N = 1,084). Results indicated that immigrant children who were once separated from their parents exhibited poorer literacy and higher risk of emotional and behavioral problems than those who migrated with parents. A protracted period of separation and previous undocumented status of parents amplified the disadvantages experienced by these children.