Diasporic Chinese Boundaries and Bonds Revisited: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

Over myriads of migration trajectories, settlement adaptations, and generation variations, diasporic Chinese have constantly reconfigured their subjectivities as a group, locally, regionally, and globally. Either as migrants transcending geographic demarcations and territories or ethnic groups with distinctive cultures and mentalities, members of the Chinese diaspora have aspirations and concerns that have evolved over time and space. This special issue re-examines and reconceptualizes boundaries and bonds of Chinese diaspora in various realms and aspects. It features six revised papers, from an international conference on “Boundaries and Bonds” held in October 2021, and an article that shares the same academic concern. They are riveting accounts of how multiple disciplines should be engaged in order to approach Chinese diaspora as subject matter and to reveal the diversity of situations where Chinese as migrants and ethnic groups are positioned and constructed for a myriad of reasons. Their case studies on Guangdong, Brazil, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar reveal the various processes and routes of resetting networks and boundaries that have brought about new elements of Chinese ethnicity.