Recommended Reading

Edited by Lynn Pan, the Encyclopedia is the first of its kind. It provides a panoramic and comparative view across past and present overseas Chinese communities worldwide. In this it reflects the growing interest of international scholarship in diasporic communities and the worldwide upsurge in ethnic awareness.

Not an A-to-Z book with short entries, the volume is geographically and thematically organized. The largest section consists of country-by-country profiles of individual Chinese communities. The rest divides into thematic sections on origins, migration, institutions, ties to China and inter-ethnic relations.

While the book contains a wealth of factual material and is thus an invaluable reference for those seeking specific information, each of its sections is designed to be read continuously. It is written in a way that is accessible to the general reader, but it is also scholarly and authoritative enough for the academic specialists.

For more information contact the Chinese Heritage Centre.

This study by Wang Gungwu presents the story of Chinese migration seaward despite an earthbound continental mind-set and imperial prohibitions against leaving the land and travelling overseas, beginning with the 3rd century BC right to the present time. In the process it deals with the problem of the nature of Chinese migrants overseas and examines the concept and practice of sojourning, as the Chinese response to ingrained values against foreign settlement and assimilation. That response has to be continuously adaptive as the Chinese overseas face new challenges in a complex and changing world, and especially with the birth of modern nation states and new waves of migration. One alternative is the pursuit of cultural autonomy within a multicultural context.

In presenting this complex and fascinating story the author uncovers some major themes of global history: the meeting of Asian and Western civilizations, the ambiguities of ethnicity and diasporic consciousness, and the tension between cultural maintenance and assimilation.