Being Chinese : voices from the diaspora / Wei Djao.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Djao, Wei, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese--Foreign countries.

Chinese.

Physical Description:

xxi, 240 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Tucson : University of Arizona Press, [2003]

Summary:

Chinese have traveled the globe for centuries, and today people of Chinese ancestry live all over the world. They are the Huayi or "Chinese overseas" and can be found not only in the thriving Chinese communities of the United States, Canada, and Southeast, but also in enclaves as far-reaching as Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Peru. In this book, twenty-two Chinese living and working outside of China -- ordinary people from all walks of life -- tell us something about their lives and about what it means to be Chinese in non-Chinese societies. In these pages we meet a surgeon raised in Singapore but westernized in London who still believes in the value of Chinese medicine. A member of the Chinese Canadian community who bridles at the insistence that you can't be Chinese unless you speak a Chinese dialect. Individuals all loyal to their countries of citizenship who continue to observe the customs of their ancestral home to varying degrees, whether performing rites in memory of ancestors, practicing fengshui, wearing jade for good luck, or giving out red packets of lucky money for New Year.

What emerges from many of these accounts is a selective adherence to Chinese values. One person cites a high regard for elders, for high achievement, and for the sense of togetherness fostered by his culture. Another, the bride in an arranged marriage to a transplanted Chinese man, speaks highly of her relationship: "It's the Chinese way to put in the effort and persevere." In compiling these personal accounts, Wei Djao, who was born in China and now lives near Seattle, undertook a quest that took her not only to many countries but also to the inner landscapes of the heart. Being Chinese is a highly personal book that bares the aspirations, despairs, and triumphs of real people as it makes an insightful and lasting contribution to Chinese diasporic studies.

Contents:

The Chinese diaspora. Leaving China: a brief history of emigration

Voices from the diaspora. Eating cats / T.Y. (United States)

Paper son meets father / Joaquin Li (Cuba, United States)

My country and my origin / Tan Chong Koon (Malaysia)

From Liverpool Chinatown / Sylvia Marie Chinque (United Kingdom) and Natascha Chinque (Germany, Canada)

Leong Wong-Kit the paper daughter / Rochelle Wong de la Cruz (United States)

Fighting for education / Fay Chung (Zimbabwe)

Lotus in the swamp / Laileen Springgay (India)

Pomelo / Walter Keoki Quan (Canada, United States)

The musician / Fook Poy Woo (United States)

The sinologist / Adrian Chan (Australia, New Zealand)

I brought myself up / Lillie Yuen Louie (Canada)

All bases covered / Deanna Li (Philippines)

The financial wizard / Peggy Chow (Netherlands, United States)

San Ramon the coffee town / Juan Miranda (Peru)

Good in business / D.T. (Indonesia)

Filial piety: virtue and demands / Joseph Huang (United Kingdom)

Chinese faces / Bernie Dun and Lee Dun (Canada, United States)

Working all my life / Yeoh Ean Tin (Singapore)

Bow wow! a second language / Florence Chan Chow de Canseco (Mexico)

Chinese words on sleepless nights / Diana Hong Hop-wo Hart (Canada)

Being Chinese in the diaspora. Living in the diaspora

Being Chinese overseas

A new conceptualization of ethnic identity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [225]-228) and index.

ISBN:

0816523029

OCLC:

52240288