I don't think that's the usage here at all. The author is talking the entire time from within China and the perspective of culture within China, and refers to h

I don't think that's the usage here at all. The author is talking the entire time from within China and the perspective of culture within China, and refers to himself and his fellow foreigners as expats. By your description he should be using the term immigrant, since he isn't writing the article from the perspective of American/European soil.