Chinese Ethnic Identity Research Articles

Becoming civically engaged adolescents: Individual and parenting mechanisms in Chinese American families.

To understand processes contributing to Chinese American adolescents' civic engagement, our study examined: (a) the mediating role of Chinese American adolescents' ethnic identity resolution in the associations between their parents' cultural socialization and their own civic engagement (i.e., political participation and civil participation), (b) the moderating role of parents' racial socialization competency in the association between parents' cultural socialization and adolescents' ethnic identity resolution, and (c) the moderating role of adolescents' behavioral acculturation toward American culture in the associations between adolescents' ethnic identity resolution and civic engagement. Participants included 303 Chinese American adolescents aged 10-18 years old (Mage = 14.1, SD = 2.2; 50% girls) and their parents (Mage = 44.1 years, SD = 6.0; 78% mothers). Chinese American parents' cultural socialization was positively related to their adolescents' ethnic identity resolution, which in turn contributed to adolescents' greater political participation and civil participation. The positive association between parents' cultural socialization and adolescents' ethnic identity resolution was further strengthened by parents' greater racial socialization competency. Moreover, a complex moderating effect of adolescents' behavioral participation in American society was revealed, in which adolescents' ethnic identity resolution was significantly associated with greater political participation only when they also had high levels of behavioral acculturation. Conversely, the relation between adolescents' ethnic identity resolution and their civil participation was not dependent on their behavioral acculturation level. Our study highlighted the joint contribution of adolescent and parenting factors in promoting different forms of youth civic engagement in Chinese American families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Between transnational engagements and local integration of Chinese communities in Italy: An analysis of the role of migrant organisations

AbstractChinese communities represent one of the largest migrant groups in Italy. Current scholarship overwhelmingly focuses on Chinese ethnic businesses and identity issues. This article addresses an important but under‐researched topic: the role of migrant organisations in enhancing migrant transnationalism and/or local integration. We examine three predominant types of Chinese migrant organisations in Italy—civic, educational, religious—across multiple cities. We show that, at first sight, educational and religious organisations aim to serve the communities in maintaining transnational links with the Chinese‐speaking world, while civic organisations directly promote interactions with the local society. However, deeper analyses reveal that all three types of organisations can play an active role in fostering both migrant transnationalism and local integration, to different degrees in different domains. We discuss policy implications and how potential synergetic collaborations between host society stakeholders and migrant organisations could be explored.

The Voice Within: Chinese Muslims, Ethnic Identity, and Self-Representation in Hui Microfilms

ABSTRACT: The Hui (Chinese Muslims) have been either absent from or misrepresented in mainstream cinema in China. Between 2007 and 2016, a group of young Hui filmmakers actively used the wei dianying (often translated as “micro-film”) format to explore Hui identity, tradition, and everyday life. Through a close analysis of representative films, this article argues that Hui micro-films challenge mainstream representations, actively constructing the Hui’s ethno-religious identity and negotiating the tension between their twin identities—Chinese and Muslim—in a context in which the state enforces secularization and assimilation. This study shifts the existing literature’s focus on negative representation of the Hui in films by Han filmmakers to empowering narratives from the Hui themselves.

Constructed Identities and Potent Imaginaries

Abstract This paper offers a missiological reflection on the construction of Mainland Chinese ethnic and racial identity. Through a survey of scholarly literature on both the ethnic classification project in Mainland China and “yellow” as a racial designator in Western imagination, this article demonstrates their fluid, constructed, and imagined nature in the context of power, inequality, and vulnerability. While these imposed constructions are contested and negotiated, they are also, to varying extents, shared and accepted. This article also argues that such constructed identities and imaginaries can powerfully shape our understanding and encounter with others in our increasingly diverse and interconnected world. For the Christian, Jesus’ humble, self-giving, sacrificial love and service should shape our identity and relationship with others in ways that transcend our inherited ethnic and racial identity constructions. As citizens of heaven, Christians – in both their attitudes and practices – should thus model an alternative to the ethnic and racial division and brokenness already evident in the church and the world.

Symbol Reinterpretation as a Motivation for Integration of Chinese Muslim Ethnic Identity

This study focuses on research with a phenomenological approach regarding the symbolic meaning of the ethnic Chinese Muslim identity at the Lautze 2 Mosque in Bandung City, which focuses on concluding the meaning of ethnic symbols in Chinese New Year as a means to integrate in the form of friendship and participation with the Chinese extended family; the meaning of Ethnic Symbols in Feng Shui which is still used and believed among Chinese Muslims; the meaning of the ethnic symbols in the lion dance which is still preserved as an art in various Chinese performances and endeavors; and the meaning of ethnic symbols in the Lucky Cat, which is still practiced in some Chinese Muslim circles, and is valued as part of the wisdom of the Chinese ancestor. The study attempted to remain integrated with a more significant initial ethnic identity. For Chinese Muslims, family ties or relatives are essential in maintaining friendly relations, and believing Islam is the teachings of rahmatan lil 'alamiin. In addition, there is a reinterpretation of the symbols of Chinese ethnicity as a form of strengthening the identity of the Chinese Muslim ethnic group. This study can be used as theoretical knowledge in the form of theoretical conception to enrich the theories of the study of religions to assess the religious phenomenon associated with symbols of ethnic identity and religious identity, even acculturation between newcomers and natives. In addition, practically from the research, it is suggested to be an academic consideration for various government policies to build inter-religious harmony and harmony between ethnicities and groups, especially regarding religious conversion and belief and taboo issues in Indonesia.

Multiculturalism, Culture Mixing, and Prejudice: Effects of Priming Chinese Diversity Models Among Hong Kong University Students.

In two studies, we investigated how Hong Kong university students reacted to descriptions of China as multicultural vs. assimilatory, examining effects on emotions, prejudice toward Mainland Chinese, attitudes toward Hong Kong/China culture mixing, and cultural identities. Study 1 compared a multicultural priming condition to a control condition and found that the multiculturalism prime significantly reduced desire to socially distance from Mainland Chinese. Study 2 compared multiculturalism, assimilation, or control primes’ effects, and found that the multiculturalism prime, through increased positive emotions, indirectly reduced social distancing from Mainland Chinese and disgust toward culture mixing, and increased Chinese ethnic identity and multicultural identity styles; the assimilation prime had the opposite indirect effects through increasing negative emotions. Results show new evidence of the importance of emotion in how non-immigrant regional groups, who are both minority and majority culture members, react to different diversity models. Multicultural frames increased positive emotions, with downstream positive effects on both intergroup attitudes and integrated identities.

MENAKAR METAMORFOSIS NASIONALISME PERANAKAN TIONGHOA DI KELURAHAN KUTO PANJI DAN DESA LUMUT SEBELUM DAN SESUDAH REFORMASI

Nasionalisme Indonesia dikontruksi berdasarkan konsep kepribumian, etnis Tionghoa dianggap bukan bagian dari Indonesia selama tidak mengasimilasikan diri secara total. Perubahan kebijakan dan kepemimpinan turut merubah posisi identitas etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia. Bangka Belitung salah satu wilayah dengan sebaran penduduk etnis Tionghoa yang cukup banyak. Desa Lumut dan Kelurahan Kuto Panji adalah wilayah dengan banyaknya penduduk Tionghoa di Bangka. Adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk mengetahui perubahan nasionalisme dan bentuk nasionalisme peranakan Tionghoa terkini. Penelitian ini menggunakan konsep nasionalisme dari Anthony D Smith yang menjelaskan bahwa nasionalisme berdasarkan 2 aspek yaitu berdasarkan wilayah teritorial (sosiologis) dan berdasarkan etnis (psikologis), yang kemudian menurut Smith nasionalisme menekankan penjelasan historis dan sosiologis namun karena pemahaman tentang penjelasan hal tersebut telah abstrak sehingga mencakup unsur emosi, simbol, kenangan, kehendak, sosial dan sosial psikologis. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode campuran (mix method). Sumber data primernya dari observasi, wawancara dan kuesioner dengan jumlah responden sebanyak 40 orang yang terbagi menjadi 20 responden di Desa Lumut dan 20 responden di Kelurahan Kuto Panji. Temuan utama pada penelitian ini adalah perubahan nasionalisme peranakan Tionghoa mengalami beberapa fase yaitu mengakui bukan asli darah Indonesia, penerimaan diri, dan mengakui sebagai orang Indonesia dengan bentuk nasionalisme kenegaraan. Selain itu juga ditemukan bahwa usia dan pendidikan berpengaruh pada nasionalisme peranakan Tionghoa.

The Question of Nation and Nationalism in Chinese Postcolonialism

This paper examines the impact of postcolonial theory in China on the question of the nation from historical and genealogical perspectives. China first encountered Jameson’s third-world national allegory and Edward Said’s Orientalism, which were quickly assimilated into the framework of the China/West dichotomy. Then Homi Bhabha’s ideas of national identity and cultural hybridity were utilized in studying Chinese ethnic minorities and identity construction. From the earlier views of postcolonialism as cultural resistance to cultural production now, Chinese postcolonial studies have acquired new energy for growth.

Building Houses by the Rootless People: Youth, Identities, and Education in Hong Kong

In this essay, Chung-Hin Kevin Ho, a history education university student in Hong Kong, narrates his search for civic identity. Composed through a process of critical and reflective dialogue with Hayes Tang, the essay describes the tension between Chung-Hin’s Chinese ethnic and cultural identity and the democratic values held by Hong Kongers. As a student, he and his peers had to navigate these competing conceptions of identity in their coursework and examinations. The youth of Hong Kong, including Chung-Hin, have protested against the Chinese government, and have fought to protect the values of Hong Kong. As a future educator, Chung-Hin has advice for the government administrations of both Hong Kong and China: work with Hong Kongers to help them “build their own house.” Chung-Hin argues that if Hong Kong is to become closer to China, it cannot be done through force or propaganda. Further, Chung-Hin contends that education initiatives that change the history curriculum of Hong Kong schools is not enough to bring the youth of the city to heel. Chung-Hin’s experiences, and his own understanding of history education in Hong Kong, have helped him see that the values of Hong Kongers need to be respected if there is any hope of gaining their trust and acceptance. In this timely essay, Chung-Hin highlights how government policies and historical legacies have shaped his personal experience and educational trajectory in Hong Kong, as well as the other students who are a part of the largest youth protest movement in recent memory.

Dialogical Intersections of Tamil and Chinese Ethnic Identity in the Catholic Church of Peninsular Malaysia

The contemporary Malaysian Catholic church bears witness to the many bridges that connect ecclesial and ethnic spaces, as liturgical practices and cultural materiality of the Malaysian Catholic community often reflect the dialogic interactions between ethnic diversity and the core of traditional Roman Catholic practices. This essay presents key ethnographic data gathered from fieldwork conducted at selected churches in peninsular Malaysia as part of a research project that aimed to investigate transcultural adaptation in the intersections between Roman Catholic culture and ethnic Chinese and Tamil cultural elements. The discussion presents details of data gathered from churches that were part of the sample and especially reveal how ceremonial practices and material culture in many of these Malaysian Catholic churches revealed a high level of adaptation of ethnic identity and that these in turn are indicative of dialogue and mutual exchange between the repertoire of ethnic cultural customs and Roman Catholic religious practices.

Revealing Medan's Chinese Ethnic Identity in Advertising Grief at Harian Analisa Newspaper

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mass media and commodity relations of death to the Medan Chinese in the advertisement of mourning in the Harian Analisa newspaper. The method used in this study was descriptive to reveal the mass media and commodity relations of death to Chinese ethnic in Medan in the advertisement of mourning in the daily newspaper The analisa was clear. Data obtained from the results of direct interviews with speakers are qualitative data used to answer the research objectives. The results obtained were Mass Media and the Relationship of Death Commodities to Chinese Ethnicity in Condolence Advertisements in Harian Analisa Newspapers in Medan are two things that are closely related to respect for ancestors as well as the economy. These two activities were embodied by the Harian Analisa Newspaper managed by Chinese people. The Grief Advertisements in Harian Analisa , became one of the Chinese Ethnic identity markers in Medan, which distinguishes it from other ethnicities in Medan City. There are two types of death advertisements, namely Grief News and Grief. Anatomy of Grief Ads: Headline; Sub Headline; Name; Bodycopy; Family name; Photos and Frames. Chinese Ethnic Identity, seen from the presence of Condolence Advertisements in Harian Analisa Newspaper as one of the teachings that the brand is still doing to Repay Budi to People Who Ever Helped; Maintain Closer Kinship in the family; Social Bonding and Togetherness, Cultural Defense and Respect for Ancestors.

Patterned Fluidity of Chinese Ethnic Identity: Networks, Time, and Place

This study tests the salience/prominence of Chinese ethnic identity by applying identity theory, social identity theory, and social network analysis. Using survey data of Chinese graduate students in two universities in the United States, I show how Chinese ethnic identity salience varies with the percentage of Chinese in an individual’s ego network revolving around him or her. In addition, among newcomers to the United States, as the percentage Chinese in ego networks increases, the decline of Chinese identity salience/prominence declines, but for old timers in the United States, as the percentage Chinese increases, the decline of Chinese identity salience/prominence is reversed. The ethnic identity salience lapses with time unless the respondents keep a cohort of co-nationals. Moreover, a cosmopolitan sociocultural environment is conducive to the maintenance of ethnic identity when an individual has many co-nationals in his or her ego network while having many co-nationals does not stop the decline of ethnic salience in an isolated social environment.

Am I ‘Chinese’ or ‘Scottish’? children’s perceptions of the adaptive nature of Chinese Scottish children’s dual identities

Chinese Scottish children (children who are born and live in Scotland with Chinese parents) face challenges in establishing their identity. However, there is lack of research that investigates ethnic minority Chinese children’s identity and associated feelings about the dual social context in which they live. The study introduced a social identity vignettes task to examine Chinese Scottish and White Scottish children’s perceptions of Chinese ethnic identity and Scottish national identity of a Scottish born Chinese character within two contrasting socio-cultural contexts (Scottish vs. Chinese). This study examines whether children’s ethnic and national identity and feelings of positivity are adaptive and sensitive to social context. In addition it explored age-related changes in perceptions of ethnic and national identification in the vignettes. The sample comprised of 161 children (8, 11, and 14 years). The results found Chinese Scottish children and White Scottish children’s judgments of the characters’ ethnic identity changed with the cultural context. Both groups of children had a similar perception of vignette characters’ feeling of positivity. Both Chinese and White Scottish children judged that the character would feel more positive about him/herself in the Chinese context. There was no main effect of age.

Looking Chinese and Learning Chinese as a Heritage Language: The Role of Habitus

ABSTRACTThe identity-language link has been widely recognised. In Heritage Language research, the complex entanglement between Chinese ethnic identity and Chinese Heritage Language has gained increasing attention in recent decades. Both social psychological and poststructural schools have offered meaningful insights into this field, but have also received criticism from other perspectives. To think through these two camps of scholarship, this paper draws on Bourdieu’s sociological notion of habitus and zooms in on the visible racial identity of Chinese looks. To unveil the dynamics and nature of this particular form of Chinese identity in relation to Chinese Heritage Language learning, the author first surveyed 230 young Chinese Australian adults and then interviewed five of them. The survey result indicated that perceptions of Chinese looks were significantly related to Chinese Heritage Language proficiency. In addition, the theme of looking Chinese repeatedly emerged from the interview data. Participants considered looking Chinese as an integral part of their Chinese identity, reported powerful others’ stereotypical perception that looking Chinese necessarily meant being able to speak Chinese, and indicated that these internal and external understandings of looking Chinese came to shape their Chinese Heritage Language learning.

"Patterned Fluidity of Chinese Ethnic Identity: Networks, Time, and Place"

Based on the survey data of Chinese graduate students in two universities in the U.S., I investigate the Chinese ethnic identity. With combined insight of identity theory and social identity theory...

Who could be an Oriental angel? Lou Jing, mixed heritage and the discourses of Chinese ethnicity

Lou Jing was born in Shanghai to a Chinese mother and an African American father. She never met her father as he left China before she was born, and so was brought up by her mother in a single-parent family. In 2009, Lou Jing entered the Shanghai Dragon TV’s talent show Go Oriental Angel! Lou’s skin colour engendered heated debates among netizens, which became polarized between comments of support and racist slurs against Lou and her mother. This study reveals how mixed heritage subverts the overlapping boundaries of gender, race and Chinese ethnicity, and online debates demonstrate the persistent influences of historical discourses and contemporary context in a rapidly globalizing China. The blogosphere has provided a forum for heated discussions of biopolitics, in which Chinese ethnic identity is continuously contested.

The Relationships among Heritage Language Proficiency, Ethnic Identity, and Self-Esteem

With the trend toward globalization and the continual change of the ethnic composition of the U.S. population, there is increasing awareness in the U.S. that not every child is raised in an English-only family. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationships among heritage language proficiency, ethnic identity, and self-esteem in the American-born Chinese (ABC) children who go to Chinese language schools for Chinese language learning on weekends. A total of 63 students and their 56 parents are surveyed in the quantitative study. Results show that there are positive relationships between Chinese heritage language proficiency and ethnic identity (r = .316, p = .006), language proficiency and self-esteem (r = .255, p = .022), and ethnic identity and self-esteem (r = .240, p = .029). The study provides implications for the Chinese language schools, parents, educators, and policymakers, as well as the implications for future study. The full text of the article can be found at 10.18275/fire201502021039

Confucian Heritage, Public Narratives and Community Politics of Chinese Australians at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract This paper focuses on the meanings of Confucian heritage for the Chinese ethnic community at the time Australia became a Federation. It will argue that public narratives about Confucian heritage provided a new agency for mobilizing urban Chinese Australian communities. These narratives politicized culture, helped to shape Chinese ethnic identity and diasporic nationalism over time. The appearance of narratives on Confucian heritage in the late 19th century reflected the Chinese community’s attempt to differentiate and redefine itself in an increasingly inimical racist environment. The fact that Chinese intellectuals interpreted Confucian heritage as symbolic of their distinctiveness does not necessarily mean that the Chinese community as a whole aligned themselves with the Confucianism revival movement. By interpreting Confucian heritage as a national symbol, Chinese Australian public narratives reflected a national history in which the Chinese community blended Confucian heritage into a nationalist discourse. This paper argues that this interpretation of Confucian heritage reflects the Chinese community’s attempts to redefine their relationship with the non-Chinese culture, they were a part of, in ways which did not draw on colour or race.

Chinese Buddhism and ethnic identity in Catholic Philippines

In the waning years of Spanish colonization in the Philippines, the ethnic Chinese there began gathering in private homes to carry out devotions to the bodhisattva Guanyin. These seeds of Chinese Buddhism in the Philippines bore fruit as temples began to be built during the American colonial period, and peaked in the decades following the Second World War. Based on fieldwork and the review of available literature, this article traces the development of Chinese Buddhism in the Philippines up to the present time, and argues that religion played an important role in the preservation of ethnic identity for the Chinese Buddhists of the Philippines. This experience will be contextualized through references to the practice of Chinese Buddhism in other overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and the efforts of Christian churches in the Philippines to link religion and Chinese identity.

Ethnic Identity of Older Chinese in Canada

In Canada’s multicultural society, ethnic identity is important to the elderly and can influence areas such as access to services, health promotion and care. Often, the complex nature of ethnic identity is underestimated when looking at cultural groups. This study aims to: (a) validate the factor structure of a Chinese ethnic identity measure for older Chinese in Canada, (b) examine the level of ethnic identity of the participants, and (c) examine the correlates of ethnic identity in these older individuals. Using data from a large, national research project on the elderly Chinese in Canada, this study analyzed the results gathered from a total of 2,272 participants. Principal component analysis, maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed. The results indicated that ethnic identity of the older Chinese is a multi-dimensional construct made up of three factors: (a) culture related activities, (b) community ties, (c) linkage with country of origin, and (d) cultural identification. The findings have provided a better understanding of how ethnic identity can be measured among the aging Chinese population in Canada.