Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic description of a group of foreign workers in Beijing, refereed to as 'smart slackers' and who reflect a developing category in contemporary migration. This thesis seeks to describe the daily lives of these young foreign professionals in Beijing, referred to as 'smart slackers'. Focus is placed on the professional jobs held by 'smart slackers' and the leisure activities that they pursue in an area of Beijing named Bar Street. The ethnographic description derives from the ten months I spent conducting fieldwork in Beijing. During that time, I became employed as an English teacher in order to gain a better perspective of those who I was studying. Furthermore, I spent my leisure time in one contained area of the Chaoyang District, called Bar Street. It was in Bar Street that I encountered my informants and collected formal and informal interviews. Some of the issues addressed in this thesis are how young Western professionals seek out jobs in foreign locations, the emergence of a young, distinct, Western, affluent class of professional workers and China's reaction to the presence of these foreign migrant workers. This thesis explores the interludes, which are being taken by young Western professionals who are combining adventure, escape, work, and tourism in these travels. This particular form of travel I saw in Beijing is an instance of a progressively common form of travel that is increasingly blurring the lines of movement.