Abstract
The advent of the internet has led to the globalization of cultural images of Chinese identity. Online Chinese immigrants’ associations, in conjunction with Chinese-language electronic media, offer various and often competing images of Chinese ethnic and cultural identities. The multiple representations of Chinese identity in the various media formats provide options for individuals to negotiate their identity and belonging in different contexts. This paper examines the roles that the internet plays in influencing ethnic identity among Chinese immigrants in the province of British Columbia, Canada. I argue that the array of images offered by online Chinese-language media websites and virtual communities create more options for individual Chinese immigrants to negotiate and redefine their ethnic and cultural identities in relation to other Chinese and non-Chinese immigrant groups.
Highlights
Public debates on immigration in Canada increasingly focus on the influences that immigrants have on shaping Canadian ethnic and cultural diversity
I will argue that the globalization of Chinese images has created new and alternative spaces for individual Chinese immigrants in British Columbia to redefine their ethnic identity and cultural identity as well as to differentiate themselves from others perceived as non-Chinese in the province, across the country, and across national borders
As we have seen in this paper, Chinese immigration patterns in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada are shaped by the gender, race, and national discourses of the dominant white communtiy
Summary
Public debates on immigration in Canada increasingly focus on the influences that immigrants have on shaping Canadian ethnic and cultural diversity The rise of electronic mass media and the establishment of online communities among Chinese immigrants around the world has given rise to new cultural images of Chinese ethnic and cultural identities among Chinese immigrants in Canada. I will examine the role that the internet plays in shaping individual identity among Chinese immigrant groups in the Canadian province of British Columbia. I will argue that the globalization of Chinese images has created new and alternative spaces for individual Chinese immigrants in British Columbia to redefine their ethnic identity and cultural identity as well as to differentiate themselves from others perceived as non-Chinese in the province, across the country, and across national borders
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