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For many centuries, Chinese people have been emigrating and creating distinctively Chinese communities outside mainland China, even as they adjust to the foreign cultures in which they put down roots. A third-generation huaqiao, overseas Chinese, in Los Angeles is a very different person from one in, say, Manila, yet they share a heritage that may have molded their diverse experiences in similar ways. This book provides everything one could want to know about the Chinese diaspora in a very user-friendly way. Though encyclopedic in its wide-ranging detail, the information is not presented in encyclopedic form. First, essays analyze the origins of the overseas Chinese, their migrations, institutions, and relations with the motherland and with non-Chinese peoples. The rest of the book, more than half, is devoted to outlines of Chinese societies around the world: in Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, Europe, East Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Africa. Maps, charts, drawings, and imaginatively chosen vintage and contemporary photographs describe the Chinese communities established in these disparate places. Questions of racial discrimination and identity in the modern world are approached rationally and dispassionately. A vast amount of history and social analysis is presented, yet editor Lynn Pan has maintained unusual clarity and accessibility in a book that could have been overwhelming in its thoroughness. --John Stevenson, 1999
This meticulously researched book is a must read for understanding the Overseas Chinese community in Asia. But despite their economic dominance of the region, the role of the Overseas Chinese in business is very poorly covered in this encyclopedia and almost leaves you feeling that this role has never been analyzed. I recommend that readers supplement this book with a balanced book on the Overseas Chinese in business: Having just finished "New Asian Emperors: The Overseas Chinese, their Strategies and Competitive Advantages" by George T. Haley et al., I see both books as essential to understanding the role of the Overseas Chinese community as both cover the same area from different, though extremely well-researched perspectives. -- A reader from Hong Kong , April 2, 1999
Congratulations to the Chinese Heritage Centre for their courage, perserverance and satisfaction in publishing the first comprehensive view of Chinese migrants over the last 200 years or so. This book assembles the many of the puzzling pieces of the Chinese mosaic. Each country's contributor/researcher/academic presented their views on the Chinese communities. Overall accurate but some contributors negative views influenced their contributions. As a 3rd generation Overseas Chinese I would have appreciated if the local communities or societies had been invited to present their views. -- A reader from Asia , March 27, 1999
- Settlers and Sojourners, by Delia Davin Times Literary Supplement, 1 October, 1999
- Tracking the Chinese Diaspora, by Michael Backman, Far East Economic Review, 18 February, 1999
If you have read this publication and would like to give us your reviews, please email your comments to the Chinese Heritage Centre.
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