Shifting Paradigms of Chinese Diaspora Studies and the Changing Dynamics of Transnational Chinese Communities: a Holistic Review

Abstract

Abstract 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.