Search

Chinese humanitarian actors have worked frequently with the Chinese diaspora in disaster‐affected areas, but little, if any, research has been conducted into the important role of the diaspora in disaster response and humanitarian assistance. This paper investigates what local knowledge the Chinese diaspora has offered to humanitarian actors from the People's Republic of China (PRC), and how this has contributed to their effectiveness. Based on a case study of the semi‐autonomous Indonesian province of Aceh in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, this paper argues that the diaspora can serve as a linchpin in local and international humanitarian action. It can do so by strengthening networks and bringing together local ethnic communities, local governments, and the PRC's humanitarian actors, while also offering local knowledge in the form of contextual memory. Such local knowledge may have to be fully utilised to address any underlying ethnic tensions in disaster‐affected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most ethnic Chinese in northern Thailand are Thai citizens now, their everyday lives are a site where we can witness the political power entanglement of China, Taiwan and Thailand. With this in mind, this paper aims to look into the relationship between global China and overseas Chinese from the perspective of the ethnic Chinese in the northern borderlands of Thailand. The purpose is not just to disclose the multiplicity of global China in people's everyday lives, but also to complicate the picture of overseas Chinese as portrayed in top-down grand narratives about global China. I argue that the ongoing re-Sinicization in South-East Asia and the territorial geopolitics among China, Taiwan and Thailand have opened a conceptual space for the ethnic Chinese in northern Thailand to flexibly articulate themselves within the changing geopolitical economy. I use tea production and related Chinese-language education programmes, two separate but intertwined cases, to address these issues. By looking beyond the competition, conflict and dilemmas between China and Taiwan, I argue that Taiwan's previous engagement with agricultural transfer to Thailand and the rooting of pro-Taiwan identity and discourse in language education have paradoxically paved a way for China to stretch its influence into the everyday lives of the Chinese communities in the northern Thai borderlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over more than three decades New Zealand (NZ) has abolished its racially-biased immigration policy and changed to select immigrants based on personal merits, since 1997 new Chinese immigrants from China have become the second-largest immigrant group in NZ. Reflecting the rapid changes in Mainland Chinese society, different waves of Chinese immigrants have arrived in NZ during the past three decades, each carrying distinctive characteristics. Despite the magnitude of this immigrant population both globally and in NZ, the subethnicities of these immigrants have never been conceptualised theoretically. Based on the digitally- enhanced research techniques together with ethnographically-based study, the paper aims to remedy this research gap in Chinese diaspora studies. Two theoretical concepts are used in this research. The first is the concept of sub-ethnicity which refers to finer boundaries drawn within an ethnic group by nationality, language, region of origin, class, or other distinctions. The second is the concept of ethnoburb – a model of ethnic settlement where the suburban ethnic communities and clusters of associated residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan cities are highly concentrated. This research considers these two concepts are correlated to each other since certain ethnoburb has particular attraction to certain sub-ethnic group; and vice versa, certain subethnic group intends to gather in same ethnoburb unintentionally or unconsciously. Applying these concepts, the research considers Albany as an example of a distinctive Chinese ethnoburb for the China-born new immigrants, especially for the most recent arrivals. The paper makes theoretical contribution to understand the complementarity between these two concepts and their methodological implementation towards studying new Chinese migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the People's Republic of China's diaspora as a tool of foreign policy from its founding (Mao's era) to the present (Jinping's era). China's diaspora policy evolved from time to time, showing the changing migration pattern and reflecting favorable global conditions. Chinese diaspora has become an instrument of China's domestic policy and foreign policy agenda since Kuomintang to the Communist government era. One of China's domestic agenda is the need to attract foreign investment -primarily through diaspora community. In the foreign policy field, there has been a significant continuity in its foreign policy objectives related to its diaspora policy. To strengthen its global ambition, China implemented "new diplomacy," aiming to change how its neighbors view their ambition with the help of their diaspora communities. Thus, the estimated 50 million Chinese diasporas have become important assets in connecting China to the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese diplomacy has been proactive under Xi Jinping and overseas Chinese are an important target. A better understanding of how overseas Chinese perceive Chinese diplomacy can increase our knowledge, but it is under‐studied in the literature. To fill part of this gap, this research focuses on the Pacific region where Chinaʼs activities have triggered growing geostrategic competition between traditional powers and China. Based on a survey of 182 ordinary overseas Chinese in Fiji and Tonga, this paper examines Chinese diasporaʼs perceptions of three aspects that are related to Chinaʼs diplomacy, including the Belt and Road Initiative, China‐Pacific bilateral relations, and old‐new Chinese issues. The survey reveals nuances in ordinary overseas Chinese views about Chinaʼs diplomacy, especially the concerns and apathy among some of them. It suggests that ordinary overseas Chinese support for Chinaʼs diplomacy is unlikely to grow substantially unless their views about this diplomacy become more positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asia Minor Studies is the property of Asia Minor Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the role of the Chinese in a Southeast Asian business cum societal context; from different approaches towards Chinese-ness via different notions of intra- and inter-ethnic relation towards a critique of the idea of a Chinese diaspora in a Southeast Asian context. The article argues that a culturalist reading of Southeast Asian Chinese modes of engaging in capitalist practices and societal entrenchments constitutes a deception that produces a variety of stereotypes of Chinese-ness, thus disregarding the complexity and dynamic developments within the ethnic Chinese community region-wise. Finally, in relation to Chinese business practices in a Southeast Asian context the paper suggests that cultural notions of guanxi and xinyong do not form a basis for doing business the Chinese way, but only options; that intra-ethnic relations do not play an important role in transnational Chinese linkages, and that contemporary conceptions of Chinese identity are always negotiated with the dominant ‘other’ so as to secure the construction of an economic ‘room’ or space from where business can be conducted in an overall societally acceptable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how the Chinese knowledge diaspora contributes to Peking University's endeavours to become a world-class university through an in-depth study of its implementation of the 111 Project. Based on the participants' personal experiences of international collaboration, the article finds that overseas Chinese scholars have played an invaluable role in linking Peking University to the international scholarly community. As well, they have constituted a key resource for its development, deploying their unique advantages, notably their familiarity with the research system and wider cultural dimensions of both milieus. Clearly, the vast size of the Chinese diaspora, its increasingly highly-skilled character, together with a strong and persistent sense of Chinese identity, provide a solid platform for international scientific collaboration. The virtually ubiquitous expressions of obligation to China constitute a major advantage for China's deployment of its knowledge diaspora in the service of the motherland. This paper delineates the key impediments that hinder full utilization of China's overseas academics. It concludes that despite some considerable achievements, the long-term effects of the 111 Project remain to be seen in the context of a complex global and internal situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses three case studies—(1) community building by Methodist Chinese in Sibu, Sarawak; (2) the construction of transnational temple networks originating in Chinese temples in Sibu; and (3) hybrid spirit medium processions in Kalimantan—to explore aspects of the role of religion within the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Analytic approaches to Chinese religion proposed by Weber and Mauss are discussed, and an argument is made in favor of following the spread of civilizational techniques into hybrid social and ritual formations. 摘要: 本文通過三個案例研究：1）華人衛理剬會在沙撈越州詩巫的社區建設；2）源自中國寺廟的跨國寺院網絡建設；3）加里曼丹的混合靈媒介隊伍遊行，來探討宗教在東南亞華人社群中的角色。文中討論了韋伯和毛斯對中國宗教提出的分析方法，並提出一個支持跟隨文明技術的傳播向社會和禮儀混合形式發展的論點。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the Cold War has a number of implications for Africa's relationship with China. One such implication is the surge in human movement (i.e. migration) between Africa and China. During the 1990s, a relationship characterized by politics and diplomacy began to give way to another one characterized by economics and self-interest. While Africans, the majority of them self-sponsored migrants, began to travel to China looking for greener pastures, the Chinese under the auspices of the zouquchu programme began to travel to the continent searching for raw materials, investment niches and markets for manufactured goods. Prior to that decade, Africans, much like the Chinese were in Africa, were a rare sight and consequently an object of curiosity in China. The majority of the few Africans residing in China, like the majority of the few Chinese residing in Africa, were diplomats. The migrant numbers began to increase apace as a result of the migration that began during that first decade of the post-Cold War period. With regard to Africa, as a result of the migration, an African diaspora has emerged in China - in cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Yiwu. This paper, sourced with literature as well as fieldwork conducted in Guangzhou during 2014-2017, surveys the African diaspora in Guangzhou, where the largest concentration of African population in China is found. A synthesis of history and sociology consists the framework of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese diaspora broadly includes the groups of huaren (华人, ethnic Chinese of different nationalities), huaqiao (华侨, overseas Chinese who are Chinese citizens overseas), guiqiao (归侨, returned overseas Chinese), and qiaojuan (侨眷, relatives in China of overseas Chinese). In the Chinese legal system, the determining of Chinese diasporic status is an important issue in the Chinese diaspora law, as it pertains to the protection of diaspora rights and interests by governmental authorities. The diaspora law in China identifies Chinese diasporic status and grants rights and duties according to nationality and residential qualifications but does not consider the actual contact between the Chinese diaspora and China. This has caused substantive legal procedural issues regarding the confirmation of the legal identity of Chinese diaspora and the issuing of relevant certifications both in China and abroad. These legal issues have presented significant challenges for the Chinese government in its efforts to engage with and manage the Chinese diaspora and it has created a bureaucratic barrier to the protection of their rights and interests. This paper aims to explore the current issues in determining the legal status of the Chinese diaspora, to critically review relevant laws, policies, and empirical research, and to suggest possible solutions for improving diaspora law in the legal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines recent transformations in diaspora governance at the local level, particularly the new, more integrated approach towards emigrated Chinese developed in places with longstanding and strong emigration movements. These places, known as "hometowns of Overseas Chinese" or qiaoxiang, have been actively reaching out to their expatriates for decades, but the initiatives and strategies for reaching out have changed recently due to central government policies, increased return migration, and the widespread use of information and communications technologies. Based on the case study of Qingtian County in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the paper examines different ways in which local government is reaching out to its members abroad, focusing on activities in the area of legal affairs and public administration, investments, digital transformation, public diplomacy, local urban restructuring, and response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings reveal innovation and experimentation at the local level rather than the passive implementation of central policies, and point to the need for further unpacking of the role of the state in diaspora engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an analysis of a pollution-based incident at Refinery-G in an infamousQiaoxiangtown in Fujian, China, this paper analyses how transnational migrants participate in and influence the public management activities in their hometowns. This paper underscores four factors driving civic and political participation that emerged during the revelation, resistance, negotiation and settlement of this incident: (1) the role of the ‘leisured’ villager; (2) the role of overseas Chinese in caring for the developmental path of their hometown; (3) the role of independent civic organizations; and (4) the role of the news media in shaping public opinion.Qiaoxiang's civic participation is both more active and more effective. With the development and globalization of modern communication technology and low-cost and convenient communication and transportation systems, it is possible for overseas migrants to influence public management activities in their hometown through civic organization and political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the Asia-Pacific region, India and China have spectacular role in promoting software industry. India is a leading destination for Information Technology (IT) software, while China is strong in the hardware segment. Unfortunately, the bilateral engagements between the two countries have been limited. This paper traces the immense opportunity available for strengthening the diasporic relations in the Indo-China software market. The paper identifies the important difference between the Chinese and Indian software with respect to the usage and the determinants of software development in both countries. Both diasporas are privileged to have their human resources that can play an important role through software outsourcing. The paper throws light on the SWOT analysis of both the economies in the area of the trends and patterns of software export and domestic market, factor inputs and the role of policy instruments, institutions and market forces needed for the promotion of the software industry. It also identifies the collaboration between companies from the point of view of the Indo-China economies that will be a win-win situation for competing and capturing the world market, if India's strength in software could be meshed with China's prowess in hardware. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese popular music, inspired by pre-war Shanghai music known as ‘shidai qu’ (时代曲) (songs of the era) and evolving to include Canto pop and Taiwanese Mandarin songs, has always been popular among the Chinese in Malaysia. This music is featured on radio, television, karaoke, and performed by orchestras such as the Dama Chinese Orchestra (大马) to enthusiastic reception. The songs have a broad appeal that transcends time, generation, and place. Of significance is the observation that the music has become a cultural marker and musical heritage for Chinese in Malaysia and in the region. The paper looks at factors behind this development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a surge in anti-Chinese sentiment emerged as a pressing issue, with debates on how the pandemic exacerbated such sentiments. To explore this intricate relationship, we conducted two survey experiments, incorporating COVID-specific contextual inquiries in Australia and the United States during two phases (8–21 June 2021 and 28 July-12 August 2022). Our findings reveal that individuals' perceptions of the Chinese diaspora remained unaltered when presented with information regarding the Chinese government's initial management of COVID-19. However, when exposed to a message suggesting the Chinese government's influence over overseas Chinese communities, people's attitudes towards the Chinese diaspora significantly deteriorated. In addition, Australian respondents demonstrated heightened sensitivity to perceived foreign interference from China compared to their American counterparts. Our study underscores the role of suspicions and apprehensions surrounding China-related foreign interference in shaping anti-Chinese sentiment in the Western context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social and economic implications of indigenous Christian discourses and practices in the Wenzhou Chinese diaspora in Paris, France. Popularly known as China's Jerusalem, the coastal Chinese city of Wenzhou is home to thousands of self-started home-grown Protestant churches and a million Protestants. Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork, this study provides an ethnographic account of a group of Wenzhou merchants who have formed large Christian communities at home, along with migrant enclaves in Paris. The study shows how these migrant entrepreneurs and traders have brought their version of Christianity from China to France and how they perceive and deal with issues of illegality, moral contingency, native-place based loyalty and national belonging. It highlights the thoroughly intertwined relationship between an indigenised Chinese Christianity and the petty capitalist legacy of coastal southeast China in a secularised, exclusionary European context, and suggests that Christianity provides a form of non-market morality that serves to effectively legitimate Wenzhou's pre-modern household economy in the context of market modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The economic miracle of the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia has been attributed to their unique economic culture forged from Confucian thought and the emigration experience. However, this Spirit of Overseas Chinese Capitalism (SOCC) hypothesis, based largely on qualitative research, has not been validated through quantitative work. This paper provides, for the first time, empirical evidence from a values survey and experiment which show that only some of the hypothesised SOCC values and behaviours differentiate the Chinese from less economically successful ethnic groups in Malaysia. While we find no evidence that Confucian values explain the success of the Overseas Chinese we do find it may lie in their (a) more conductive work values and (b) greater intra-ethnic cooperativeness, both accentuated by the emigration experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese emphasize the importance of their innovation policy as a way of becoming a more powerful country. Generally, monetary resources and state policies were thought to be the leading factors that have contributed to China's growing number of patents and innovative projects. This paper discusses the role of cultural traits related to the China's innovation policy since the country started reforming its economy after 1978. A question arises whether culture has any impact on the achievements in the field of innovation, and whether those cultural attributes are positive or negative. Conclusions related to the question are derived from a process of deductive and reductive reasoning. The author finds that culture may both foster and stunt the creation of new ideas, and that culture does not play a crucial role, just an auxiliary one. Nonetheless, attention to cultural traits are important in understanding the driving forces of economic development of the People's Republic of China. Specific aspects of Chinese culture that are identified as having a positive influence on innovation are copying and modernizing, long-term orientation, the sociological concept of "face", the influence of the Chinese diaspora, and Chinese nationalism. All of these elements are intertwined to a degree, but are discussed separately. This work includes some fresh perspectives on a relatively narrow body of scholarly literature on the relationship between innovation in China and the nation's cultural traits. This relationship has just gained more attention recently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese in Malaysia constitute an ethnic minority of diasporic origin formed by several waves of migrants and their descendants; therefore, they are often confronted with the issue of identity and the notion of home. While Chinese Malaysian identity is shaped through interethnic and intraethnic interaction, the idea of home can be connected to the place of origin (China) and/or the place of residence (Malaysia). By employing the concepts of sojourner (Siu), middleman (Bonacich) and settler (Uriely), this paper examines how ethnic Chinese characters in two Sinophone Malaysian short stories frame their identity and construct their conception of home. Through close readings of “Jun zi guxiang lai” (君自故鄉來), by Shang Wanyun (商晚筠), and “Dage kuankuan zoulai” (大哥款款走來), by Li Kaixuan (李開璇), three interconnected issues are explored: the relation of the Chinese Malaysian subject to China, the representation of China, and how these two authors approach the construction of the Self when the Other is constituted by the mainland Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to analyze the development of three aspects of Chinese Studies, namely Sinology, China Studies, and Chinese Overseas Studies in Malaysia. Each aspect corresponds to different levels of looking at China: civilizational, state, and ethnic. It also examines how identity politics in Malaysia shapes the development of these fields and how these fields created different images of China. Sinology depoliticizes China and presents the magnificent Chinese culture as a positive element in Malaysian nation-building project. Chinese Overseas Studies de-centers China and examines the multiple identities of the Chinese people. China Studies were officially pursued under the agendas of inter-civilizational dialogue and friendship between China and Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remittances of Chinese overseas during the decades before and just after the Second World War formed an important part of China's economy and were a significant feature of Southeast Asia's economic history. Familial and ethnic sentiments drove this impulse to send money back to China. In reviewing evidence for Malaya and Singapore, this paper is a new study on the nature, the role and the mechanisms of transmission of these remittances. In charting the ebb and flow of remittances during the period, this study examines several factors responsible for the subsequent decline of these flows. These are political changes, both in China and Southeast Asia, the policies and regulations of the British colonial administration, and generational change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With fast globalization and large-scaled transnational population migration, different ethnic groups and cultures exchange, collide, and even conflict with one another, which has shown unprecedented trends in breadth and depth. Diaspora research has thus risen and proliferated. It has stepped into various areas of culturology, anthropology, ethnology, economics, politics, and literature, and all fields are interrelated; nevertheless, diaspora research has the characteristics of the sociology discipline and all branches are related to sociology as ethnic groups, immigration, emigration, refugees, ethnicity, and transnationalism are all major concepts of concern in sociology. Multicultural theories have greatly stimulated the development of diaspora studies and they have become the important theoretical basis for diaspora research. Being the major targets in diaspora studies, diaspora groups are classified into the classic group and the modern group. Distinguishing the two helps depicting the historical frame of diaspora issues and their developmental trends. Immi/Emigrants have a special position among the diaspora groups, with ethnicity being the core of diaspora studies. Transnationalism has become the realistic expression of diaspora as transnational mobility is now the reality that has attracted keen attention in current diaspora studies. Classic diaspora concepts have been changing along with rapid societal changes and diaspora studies are closely related to these changes. Concepts change in meaning, similarities and differences, and interconnections and transformations. Such conceptual changes directly reflect the change trends in reality. The current paper distinguishes the differences in diaspora conceptual changes; discusses the origin, developmental history, and characteristics of diaspora studies; and tries to speculate the future developmental trends in diaspora research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the roles of immigrant dance in ethnic construction. It is based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with a Chinese dance organization in the US Midwest. Chinese dance in the US, a transnational cultural practice, solidifies a sense of belonging among Chinese immigrants. As these immigrants make sense of what it means to be Chinese and to do Chinese dance in contemporary American society, they reinvent their collective identity while holding on to primordial understandings of ethnicity rooted in the constructed ideas of ancestry and homeland. A case study of the ethnic construction theory, this research sheds light on the paradox of embodied immigrant identities: they are constructed through cultural practices and yet often understood as primordial, transnational and yet necessarily place-bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 135 Australian firms with operations in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), this paper seeks to examine whether members of an ethnic diaspora can facilitate trade between Australia and their countries of origin. Specifically, it found that companies that are owned by immigrants and/or hired immigrants in key decision making positions (immigrant effect or IE, in short) were (a) more likely to resort to a higher resource commitment when entering into the target market; and (b) used more extensively in target markets where there are greater variations in customer behavior. There was no significant difference (a) in the deployment of immigrants between Australian firms operating in Mainland China vis-à-vis those in Hong Kong/Taiwan; (b) where there were variations in product life cycle stages between the home and target markets; (c) based on the length of operations in the target market; and (d) in performance between firms with IE and those without in the target markets. The influence of firm size, overall international business experience, variations in political-legal, economic, and competitive environments between the home and target markets, and industry type were also examined. The findings of the study with implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting with the 2005 Chinese Heritage Centre exhibition 'Chinese More or Less' (for which I wrote the storyboard) - specifically with that part of the exhibition that profiles diasporic Chinese exemplars of different ways of combining cosmopolitanism with Chineseness - this paper attempts to respond to questions raised by Anthony Reid, viz: whether my moving from diaspora to Shanghai comes of 'Shanghai (re)joining the diasporic sense of Chinese modernity and post-modernity'; whether 'the diaspora no longer seems quite so distinctive once China is again an open and cosmopolitan place'; and whether I am still a 'Chinese Overseas' when I live in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the origins, rise, and rapid decline of the Amoy-dialect film industry — an industry which was centered on the production of commercial Hokkien films in Hong Kong for mass consumption amongst Hokkien-speaking audiences throughout East and Southeast Asia in the 1950s. Building on recent research into “Diasporic Chinese film markets,” it examines this industry in light of the social and political changes (e.g. decolonization, the formation of new, postcolonial nation-states, etc.) that were occurring throughout the course of the 1950s in those areas in which substantial Hokkien-speaking communities existed. It also suggests that the very nature of the Amoy-dialect film industry should prompt us to rethink how we approach the study of “national” and “transnational” cinemas in Asia during the postwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the fluidity that permeates the contemporary international community is driven by especially political and economic globalisation, which has a huge impact on the relationship between the nation and the state. As the individual nation state is increasingly dependent on the international community for its economic survival this dependency on the global has as a consequence that it rolls back aspects of national sovereignty thus opening up the national hinterland for further international influences. These developments initiate a process of disaggregating state and nation, meaning that a gradual disarticulation of the relationship between state and nation produces new societal spaces, which are contested by non-statist interest groups and transnational more or less deterritorialised ethnic affiliated groups and networks. The argument forwarded in this article is that Southeast Asians of Chinese descent utilise these newly created spaces for setting up diasporic-like networks thus providing substance for transnational ethnoscapes or nations without states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with an examination of the burgeoning interest in literatures in Chinese. It argues that studies in literatures in Chinese map out a terrain where complex negotiations and interventions for different purposes are carried out. As studies in literatures in Chinese often imply a shift from the nation-state paradigm to the transnational paradigm, which implicitly celebrates diasporic imagination as a counterforce to the power of the nation-state, this paper proposes to examine the intersection of Chinese Malaysian literature and Taiwan literature at two specific moments of transnational literary production—the late 1970s to the mid-1980s and the late 1990s to the present—so as to demonstrate the unstable meanings of the diaspora sign. It highlights the importance of historicization in investigating phenomena of transnational cultural production and the need to reincorporate the notion of "place" into our agenda in conducting cultural critiques. The paper ends with a critique of the global city as a methodological concept and argues for a place paradigm without privileging the global city as a metaphor for transnational space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, through a comparative study of the roles Chinese and Indian diasporas in the United States play in the political economy of their respective homelands, explores the relationship between the diaspora and homeland development and how this dynamic relationship contributes to economic growth and foreign relations of the homelands. The author argues that the roles of Indian and Chinese diasporas in their respective homelands’ development consistently reflect, and are heavily influenced by, their homelands’ economic development strategies as well as political history and culture. The author also argues that the impact of the diaspora on the foreign relations of their homelands is conditional upon the state of bilateral relations between their homeland and the country of residence. This study raises issues for future research, such as the relationship between the diaspora and regime type of the homeland. The author concludes by suggesting that since activities of overseas Chinese and non-resident Indians provide a unique perspective in the comparative study of Chinese and Indian political economy, the two diasporas warrant more scholarly and policy attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Chinese genealogical records, also called pu die , zong pu , zu pu , jia pu , zi pu , or jia cheng , have been used for thousands of years to record the genealogical history of a family, including a family''s origin, its collateral lines, names and ages of the members, records of marriages, births and deaths, merits and deeds, and brief biographical information of the male family members. This paper examines the current documentation status of Chinese genealogical records. It begins with the historical background of genealogical records and describes the existing sources, including primary sources for researching Chinese surnames and secondary sources for reading on immigration history, the Chinese diaspora, foreign settlements, and ethnic identity. The paper proceeds to investigate the nature of extant genealogical records and provide author''s own genealogy of He shi zu pu as an example to analyze the contents of a typical genealogical record. The importance and value for the study of names and genealogical records are emphasized. The paper concludes with comments on how to make the best use of genealogical records to enhance the research on Chinese overseas studies through resource-sharing and collaboration with libraries, museums, and institutions, locally, regionally, and internationally. Display Omitted Display Omitted Display Omitted Display Omitted Display Omitted Display Omitted Display Omitted [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The global diaspora of Chinese migrants maintains vital economic, social and cosmopolitan connections between China and many Western countries. These migrants face the challenge of navigating and building social capital within Western host countries. Previous studies show that Chinese networks make use of pre-existing strong guanxi ties based on shared cultural expectations to support members. However, the thinness of guanxi networks in foreign countries raises doubts about their capacity to support the migration experience. This study uses qualitative interview data to show that both Chinese migrants and non-migrant Australians use strong ties to acquire resources, such as favours. However, Chinese migrants also make use of weak guanxi ties to seek favours in ways Australian non-migrants typically do not. This indicates a more important role for weaker – or what we call peripheral – ties in Chinese migrant guanxi networks than previous studies suggest, but also points to a lack of alternative resources amongst Chinese migrants struggling to build non-guanxi social capital ties with non-migrant populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore how the Chinese diaspora state during the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020 managed to transform a severe health crisis into a geo‐political opportunity for transnational nation‐building through diaspora governance based on extensive use of social media technologies. By adopting a multi‐scalar perspective, we analyse the intertwined nature of top‐down and bottom‐up processes of the Chinese Party‐state's diaspora mobilization. Based on discourse and ethnographic analysis, we argue that China's diaspora governance exposed a new and strong capacity for extra‐territorial governance. We explore how discursive hegemony, social control and diaspora mobilization were achieved by widely employing the Chinese social media application, WeChat. We also contend that this was facilitated by the Italian government's and media's pro‐China attitudes to emphasize the importance of considering transnational embeddedness when studying the implementation and impact of interactive online technology for diaspora governance in an illiberal political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role played by tourism in affecting cultural identity and place attachment among members of the North American Chinese diaspora who travel to China. Previous literature portrays diaspora tourists as homogeneous and suggests that home return travel engenders broadly similar impacts on the individual. This study reveals diasporic communities are quite diverse and complex. Five types of diaspora tourist are identified, each having distinct travel motives, experiences, migration backgrounds, cultural identities and place attachments. The consequences of diaspora tourism particularly in terms of place attachment and cultural identity are further discussed, as home return travel induces positive, neutral and negative reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's ruling Nationalist government saw the Second World War as an opportunity to shape the postwar world in China's favour. However, existing studies have often focused on China's plans on territorial arrangements in East Asia. This article examines how Nationalist China imagined and attempted to improve the postwar status of the Chinese diaspora in host countries. During the war, Nationalist China envisaged the removal of discriminatory treatment against the Chinese diaspora and planned to advocate racial equality. However, this equality was often intended to be parity with white people and Japanese rather than other Asians. Some Chinese officials even claimed that the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia should receive preferential treatment, which resonated with their perceptions that Chinese were superior to other Asians. As atrocities against Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia after the war mounted, China was forced to concentrate on saving their lives and assets. At the Asian Relations Conference, held in India in March–April 1947, Chinese delegates defended the Chinese diaspora against sceptical delegates of Southeast Asian nations. Although the conference delegates reached an agreement on treating foreign migrants in each country fairly, the Chinese diaspora still found itself in a precarious position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to flesh out the theoretical framework of franchise nation first broached in 2009 as a means of understanding the three intersecting relationships between home nation and diaspora, host nation and diaspora, and home and host nations that surround the migrant condition. The term franchise nation seeks to encapsulate and critique the idea that the core elements of a nation's culture can, like all franchises products and services, be replicated to order. I contend such a framework to be necessary because current approaches tend to emphasize certain aspects of migration dynamics at the expense of others. In what follows, I explain why this is so and what the franchise nation frameworks add to the analysis of Chinese migration that would otherwise be absent. Instead of dyadic understandings of the relationship between diaspora and nations that explain diasporic connectivity variously as long-distance nationalism, state-led transnationalism or domestic abroad transnationalism, the franchise nation framework is premised on a triadic relationship between diaspora, home and host nation. Starting with the example of Mainland Chinese provisional business migrants (PBMs), the article explains what the franchise nation framework brings to the investigation of the ways in which their everyday connections via Chinese social media inflect their experience of multiple belongings in Australia. The three arms of franchise nation triad in this instance consist of: the business migration policy that connects the Chinese PBMs to Australia; the diaspora engagement strategies with which China reaches out to the Chinese PBM diaspora; and the soft power policy that China employs in its dealings with other nations like Australia. The aim here is to argue for a change in how the study of migration is approached, shifting from a dyadic to a triadic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the launching of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia have been confronted with both growing business opportunities and emerging challenges. How do ethnic Chinese businesses and their associations respond to the BRI, and by extension, a rising China? How do transnationalism and the nation-states shape their engagement strategies? What are the implications of the Southeast Asian experience for an understanding of diaspora transnationalism? Drawn upon empirical studies conducted in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, and by examining the emergence of the new structural characteristics of Chinese business associations, we argue that these associations have formed institutionalised transnational interactions with China through a variety of mechanisms to facilitate cross-border flows of capital, goods, people, and information. Resultant from various policies instituted by the Southeast Asian states, this economic transnationalism has not led to the dilution of the national identity and political loyalty of ethnic Chinese towards their respective countries. We conclude that the institutionalised transnationalism has operated within a 'dual embeddedness' structure in which the state is involved as a key network node in the transnational socio-economic field connecting China and the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research which explores the business networks in the U.S. Chinese diaspora. It introduces the concept of ethnic business networks. It outlines the historical background on the Chinese diaspora and the role of Chinese business networks to the global market. It discusses the effects of these networks and suggests a research agenda. Its results suggest the evolution of a different type of business networking pattern in the U.S. context which is less reliant on the traditional pillars of language, family, and culture.

The movement of people leaving and returning to China from the second half of the 19th century to the present is of such a phenomenal magnitude and complexity that Wang Gungwu has devoted a lifetime of his scholarship to tracking and explaining the various cycles of Chinese migration and settlement. Through this effort, he has not only contributed to China studies in general but has also pioneered and become the doyen of a new sub-field in the study of Chinese communities located outside of China and scattered all over the world. This has been a long and rewarding engagement for him, but not one without its moments of diffculties, especially at the conceptual level. Centering on Wang's pool of scholarly writings and reminiscences, this article discusses his vigorous examination of the accuracy and appropriateness of various terms of analysis, such as "Nanyang Chinese," "Overseas Chinese," "Huaqiao," "Greater China," "Chinese Diaspora," and "Chinese Overseas." This discussion on terminology will also be used to reflect on Wang's position on larger issues such as the danger of emotive responses to inappropriate labelling, the role of scholars in facilitating a better understanding of the contemporary world, as well as the relationship between scholarship and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at how Hong Kong theatre is expressing the city's relationship to globalization and its own position within a changing international framework. The performances feature the city responding to challenges of globalization and nationalism by resorting to various means of global connectivity. The impact of globalization on presenting the ultralocal, the national, and the global on stage will be examined. These are responses to internal factors such as Hong Kong theatre history and conventions, as well as reactions to external factors such as the resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong by the People's Republic of China in 1997. Hong Kong theatre dexterously negotiates the conflicting claims of localism, nationalism, and globalism to create a unique Hong Kong identity as a capitalistic Special Administrative Region within the communist People's Republic of China. Vignettes of the Chinese diaspora can also be found, with people converging in and diverging from Hong Kong, trying to respond to calls for modernity and globalism without loosing Chinese identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the migration of the Chinese people. During the 19th century, the first migration of the Chinese people occurred as a result of many factors including poverty. In the assessment of the diaspporic trajectory of migration, the reproduction of social institutions such as family and voluntary organizations flourished. The process of migration emphasized assimilation in the host society. Thus, it led to the reformulation of self-identification of the Chinese community.

Within the Chinese Diaspora, ancestor worship is an important cultural element that binds a group of people together and provides them with a sense of comfort, kinship and communal identity as they sink their cultural roots in a new country, luodi shenggen. Thus, ancestor worship is widely reproduced and practised by the Chinese in the Diaspora, as it is central to the Chinese understanding of the continuation of family and lineage. However, in Mainland Chinese villages, the practice of ancestor worship, which is still considered important by the villagers, was not allowed until the Open Door Policy in 1978. With this policy, emigrant villages, (qiaoxiang) embarked on an aggressive campaign to woo the Chinese in overseas communities to return to their native villages to help with economic development through various strategies. One of the strategies is to allow for the revival and practice of ancestor worship in the rural villages. This paper explores how ancestors continued to be regarded as important members of a transnational lineage in the Fujian Province in South China, and also in Singapore. Because of the central focus on ancestors and ancestor worship in the Chinese society, ancestors are moralised as a significant social capital by the Chinese State, local government and rural villagers, in an attempt to establish transnational guanxi linkages between the ancestral villages in rural China and their Diaspora members in Singapore. The Chinese State, with instrumental consideration, sees this transnational guanxi networks and the revival of ancestor worship as a strategy to encourage the Chinese Diaspora to visit their ancestral home and help with village development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an increasingly assertive People's Republic of China (PRC) leadership has sought to extend the PRC's influence globally. To this end, it has developed diverse strategies ranging from soft power to more coercive means. The more visible strategies include the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese Dream, and 'wolf warrior' diplomacy. At the soft power end of the spectrum, Chinese overseas students are at the nexus between two strategies of soft power – the Chinese diaspora and the internationalisation of higher education. While there is an established literature analysing China's soft power worldwide, relatively little has been done on the role of higher education, particularly where this concerns overseas Chinese students. The article will examine China's use of overseas students to project its soft power. It then identifies the strategies that support this, viz. ideological and political education to prepare young people for this role and, once overseas, an appeal to a conception of the Chinese diaspora, as well as the organisations (e.g. embassies and student associations) that form potential channels to students and monitor and support them in their role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native-place associations have played an indispensable role in the global migration of ethnic Chinese. Although there has been growing attention to their political role in advancing the Chinese state's interests, few studies have looked into how they are organized and how they operate vis-à-vis the state. This article focuses on post-handover Hong Kong, where native-place associations, despite their long presence, are still growing in number and sophistication after the 1997 handover. It posits that native-place associations there are forming a "cultural nexus" through which the Chinese state fosters political mobilization in support of its interests and policies. Based on an original set of event and biographical data, it shows that native-place associations are consolidating into a massive network connected by power-seeking elites. It also demonstrates how these associations seek to renew the significance of native-place and national identities. The findings point to how native-place associations may serve as a powerful cultural space for the Chinese state to project its influence offshore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Huang Jianli on professor Wang Gungwu's contribution to the study of Chinese overseas, one by Chang-hui Chi on Jinmen migrants in Singapore from the 1850s to before World War II and one by Shen Huifen on China's changing perceptions and policies about qiaojuan.

This article considers the pathbreaking developments that are quickly changing the field of Chinese diaspora studies. China's rise and its ongoing integration in the world and the concomitantly changing international position of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan launched a wave of Chinese elite students studying abroad, of nouveau riche emigrating to the West, and of returning Chinese recent emigrants. This brought forth a new discourse on the Chineseness and the Sinophone world that reshaped the meaning of how an ancestral hometown and host countries connect, and of the imagery and meaning of being Chinese, including being Chinese Overseas. Ironically, the new discourse, however sophisticated, global, and multidisciplinary, is primarily produced by non-Chinese and expatriate Chinese scholars. The challenge here is that, for many decades, political and ideological considerations worldwide have motivated the scholarship on Chinese diaspora, by both Chinese and non-Chinese scholars. A holistic approach, which frames Chinese diaspora as an integral part of world history, may help to meet this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to push and pull factors, millions of Chinese migrants fanned out into the Nanyang from the mid-1800s onward. The G1 (first generation) diasporic Chinese left China with a sojourner mentality, compelling their philanthropic action back to motherland China. As G1 diasporic Chinese and their second or third generation ethnic Chinese (G2, G3 ...) eventually settled as nationals into various countries in Southeast Asia, their Confucian Chinese values were confronted, severely tested, remolded, and evolved as they assimilated and converged with the political, social, and economic circumstances of the times. With self-help and mutual aid philanthropy, they thrived and prospered in the Nanyang and were soon propelled to lead local communities. As they engendered gratitude to where they built their wealth, raised families, and honored ancestry in their resettled new homes, their loyalties, generosity, and philanthropy also began to shift away from China. This study investigates these traditions, ethos, and value systems through the lens of philanthropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a state-of-the-field assessment of a large body of English-language scholarship on Chinese migration to colonial Southeast Asia. It first explores the theoretical literature that grapples with the conceptual utility of "diaspora" as well as the attempted periodization and identities. It then turns the analytical gaze to the paradigm-shifting debates on transnational Chinese capitalism wherein the studies of networks, enterprises, and commerce in the age of empire have questioned the validity of "Chinese-ness" in dominant approaches to Chinese businesses and capital circulations. Finally, it engages with a growing scholarship on the social and cultural histories of Chinese diasporas that captures the diversity of their experiences, family and kinship networks, survival strategies, and Chinese encounters with the colonial powers. Rather than exhaustive, the article selectively focuses on the most productive areas of research that have preoccupied major scholarly debates in the field and hopes to shed light on new research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]