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China WWW Virtual Library Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library |
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海外华人文化
Chinese cultures abroad
WWW Virtual Library
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This Internet library consists of detailed entries and links to an experts' sample of 134 websites. They share and discuss the experience and influence of immigrant and post-immigrant Chinese diaspora and transnational communities. The numbers in parentheses above indicate how many of these websites are focused on each country or region.
Website entries for the above countries, regions and subnational or transregional areas document the following details:
Title, theme • Content manager • URL • Primary audience • LanguagesClick below for technical details, teaching resources and editorial norms of the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW Virtual Library:
• Special features • Navigability • Phone, fax • E-mail, snail mail address
Archival URLs • Dates created, last updated • Evaluator, dates accessed
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 Lion Dance, San Jose, California.
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Scope, special features. Eleven languages are used in these websites. They are English, Chinese, Bahasa, Japanese, Filipino/Tagalog, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Polish and Hungarian — in descending order of frequency. About 30 of these websites are bilingual, and a handful are trilingual.
This experts' sample highlights the following subjects: Overseas Chinese social services; newspapers, TV stations; youth, women, clan, family; preserving community traditions, history; business networks, professional associations; political advocacy, anti-discrimination struggles; and philosophy, religion, health, self-cultivation, education and fine arts.
Historical notes introduce each of eleven geographic clusters of evaluated websites. A strong candidate for the distinction of being the earliest Chinese diaspora-focused web pages is on the ChinaSite.com website. Reportedly created in 1994, its webmaster is corporate executive Weiqing HUANG of Wheeling, Illinois, U.S.A. (Visit the Transregional section of the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW Virtual Library, and scroll down to the Trans-5 entry.)
Defining the Chinese diaspora. Definitions matter. Without clear definitions, one lacks agreement about who or what is being discussed. The etymological ancestor of diaspora is the ancient Greek verb διασποειν. It means "to scatter across," for example, as in sowing seeds broadcast. But if the Chinese diaspora appear scattered across the planet, they have survived in once-unfamiliar and sometimes hostile new communities. And just as China has always been diverse, so too are Chinese diaspora cultures
Rather than foreclose learning opportunities for students, faculty and researchers visiting the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW Virtual Library, an expansive definition is used. Of course, any visitor here is free to add or subtract examples for her specific purposes of study or research.
In Chinese, at least three overlapping terms refer to Chinese diaspora. In putonghua or so-called "Mandarin" Chinese, 华人 Huárén means "ethnic Chinese." Pronounce Huárén with a rising-long tone on each syllable.
In contradistinction, 華僑 Huáqiaó means "Overseas Chinese." This has the connotation of Chinese citizens who happen to live outside China, suggesting that their primary political loyalty is owed to China. Several websites evaluated in the Directory fall into this category.
And 华裔 Huáyì is the broadest concept. It refers to "people of Chinese descent," even if their family or personal names are not Chinese. This concept is reflected in the translation of "Chinese Cultures Abroad" as 海外华人文化.
Finally, the use of the English phrase "Chinese diaspora" here does not imply an essentialized, homogeneous and unchangeable Chinese identity outside China. That is an arguable claim — supported by some, rejected by others. See also Mette Thuno's edited volume Beyond Chinatown: New Chinese Migration and the Global Expansion of China, NIAS Studies in Asian Topics series, Volume: 41 (Københavns: NIAS Press, 2007).
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Estimates of the size of ethnic Chinese, Chinese diaspora and transnational Chinese communities vary. "In May 2000," according to the Overseas Chinese Confederation, "there were 34 million Chinese residing in 140 countries" (Wei Chi Poon, "Introduction," Chinese Overseas: Challenges and Contributions, Brown Gallery exhibition catalog [University of California-Berkeley Libraries, Fall 2002], p. 5). Two years later, a higher reported estimate of Chinese migrants or their descendants was 60 million (Robert E. Gamer, "Introduction," Understanding Contemporary China, 2nd. ed. (Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003). Higher estimates may be found.
Compared to the total around 1930, those estimates represent a a threefold to fivefold increase within a seventy-year period. At the time, global and regional maps depicted the distribution of 12,000,000 "Chinese in a foreign country or town" — sometimes many thousands of miles from China (Albert Herrmann, "Chinese Abroad, c.a. 1930 A.D," History and Commercial Atlas of China, Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph series, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935).
For a brief summary of two different views of the extent to which the Internet presence of Chinese diaspora distorts perceptions of Chineseness outside China, see Vincent K. Pollard, "From Southern Seas to Cyberspace: Chinese Diaspora Websites in South East Asia and the South Pacific" [從南洋到電子空間：在東南亞和南太平洋的華人網站], Research Notes and Data Papers, Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies [Centre for the Study of Chinese Southern Diaspora, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University], vol. 1 (2007), vol. 1, pp. 139-140 and 143.
Governments with capitals in Beijing and Taipei are well aware of the online presence of Overseas Chinese activities. Not surprisingly, the two governments actively court the Chinese diaspora's online cooperation — and in the case of Taiwan, that of self-identified Overseas Taiwanese, as well.
For example, "The third fraternity conference of organizations of overseas Chinese and foreign nationals of the Chinese origin ..... [was] scheduled to close [on 23 May 2005] in Xiamen city" (Xinhua ["New China News Agency"], "Overseas Chinese Organizations callfor peaceful reunification of China, People's Daily, online edition," 22 May 2005). Meanwhile, the "Political History" page of the Taiwan Cross-Strait Directory sheds further light on Taiwan's complex and contested social history.
Quality assurance. An advisory board of seven scholars in Asia and North America advises the editor Vincent Pollard. Other contributors are also named on the same page.
In the country and regional pages, a "v.k.p." notation follows the editor's bulleted summaries and assessments. The assessments by other evaluators — experts and students — are credited by name and institution.
If otherwise unattributed, quotations have been taken directly from the website being described and evaluated. In contrast to Wikipedia and other publications, anonymous evaluations are not used in the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW Virtual Library. And since webmasters' goals vary, no overall ranking system is used.
This Directory's value is recognized by Asian studies scholars, educators and information specialists.
If you are aware of necessary updates or corrections, please e-mail the editor.
Technical notes. Translations of website titles are in italics. Whether first or last, latinized (alphabetized) Chinese family names of website authors, directors and webmasters are fully capitalized in Pinyin or Wade-Giles spelling.
Unfortunately, websites disappear! Where possible, links to archived versions are supplied for websites no longer to be found on the server that originally hosted them. Archival URLs also allow the researcher to compare development of Chinese diaspora websites over time. Occasionally, a webmaster blocks access to archives; if this is the case,, it is noted in the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW VL entry for the website.
The "date created" is supplied by the webmaster. If it cannot be verified independently through the Internet Wayback Machine or in some other manner, the date should be regarded as provisional. Accurate or not, it also is not necessarily the same as the date for the earliest archived version of the website.
Teaching resources. Teachers may adopt Pollard's field-tested writing assignment for undergraduates. Or adapt parts of this assignment to your specific teaching-learning objectives.
Interested scholars and students are invited to assist in expanding the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW Virtual Library.
Last modified, 2 July 2008.
© 2003-2008, Vincent K. Pollard. Copyright extends to all linked pages written by the author. It is prohibited to include this website's content in passworded or fee-for-service electronic databases. If your website uses "no-frames" html web pages, linking is allowed.
HTML is coded in a UNIX-based Pico editor. PC users will get better results with Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. If your computer's operating system or browser incompatibility gives inconsistent access to location hyperlinks, scroll down to the desired entry.
Contribute to high-quality, accessible Internet research by reporting dead links.
SUGGESTED CITATION: Pollard, Vincent K. (ed.). 2003-2008. "Chinese Cultures Abroad Directory," China WWW Virtual Library and Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library, http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pollard/chculture.html .