“That is Real America!”: Imaginative Geography among the Chinese Immigrants in Flushing, New York City

Abstract

Imaginative geography is lived. It is grounded in everyday life, embedded in local context, and influences place identity and place making. By using Chinese immigrants in Flushing, New York City, as an example, this article will explore the formation of multi‐scalar imaginative geographies of the receiving nation, city, and neighborhood among immigrants in their everyday work and travel. The study demonstrates that after migration, physical distance is replaced by the social and cultural distance across which imaginative geographies are formed, reconstructed, and contested. In the case of Flushing, the easy access to ethnic resources leads to a superficial exposure to the world outside the community, thus the geographic knowledge among the Chinese immigrants largely remains imaginative. The imaginative community nurtures a sense of insider‐ness that stands in large contrast with the sense of the outsider‐ness beyond the community, reflected in daily language, racial consciousness, perceived boundaries, and the sense of place among the Chinese immigrants in Flushing.