The Chinese diaspora

Abstract

The term 'Chinese diaspora' is not used very frequently in literature on the subject. There is a view that the word 'diaspora' has a very special connotation and is best restricted to the historical phenomenon of the dispersal of Jews outside their original homeland. But the better known designation of 'overseas Chinese' is not without its ambiguities either. Confusion is caused when the precise sense in which the phrase is being used is not clearly stated. The term 'overseas Chinese' is often used as the English equivalent of the most commonly employed Chinese term: huaqiao (Chinese sojourners). Till the mid-fifties the People's Republic of China tended to use this term to cover all ethnic Chinese overseas, but then it was narrowed down to exclude those who had adopted other, nationalities, though there was tendency to include all those who still maintained some attachment to 'the Chinese homeland', But since many of the 'overseas Chinese' have no intention of returning to China, they prefer terms such as huaren or huazu (Chinese people) or huayi (people of Chinese descent) rather than huaqiao. Several other definitional issues need to be clarified when dealing with the subject: Do we include in 'overseas Chinese' Chinese diaspora inhabitants of Taiwan, considering that the PRC regards Taiwan as merely a renegade province? What about Singapore, an independent city-state, where the majority of the population is ethnic Chinese? How do we treat Hong Kong and Macao now that these are Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of PRC? It is necessary to maintain, for political and legal purposes, a distinction between Chinese nationals and those ethnic Chinese who have taken citizenship of other states or who may be stateless? Does one exclude those of Chinese ancestry who have by intermarriage or other means of assimilation over generations melted into other people? Some of them could in future reassert their Chineseness. What about the former Chinese citizens of non-Han races (in particular Tibetans) who have renounced their Chinese nationality (a renunciation that may not have been recognised by the PRC) and are now living abroad?.