Myths of Creation and the Creation of Myths: Interrogating Chinese Diaspora (1)‪.‬

We live in an age of globalization. As everyone knows, in the present era it is almost impossible to open borders for movements of information, capital, and commodities but close borders to movements of people. In fact millions of people are moving from their countries of origin to wherever they believe to be a better place. In the age of migration, the term diaspora is no longer a concept strictly associated with the particularities of the Jewish experience. Instead, diaspora has become popular, both as a concept and as a term commonly used to describe those ethnic groups who settle down in other countries rather than in their country of origin. Chinese diaspora, a term which has been used quite often now, has come to be regarded as one of the major diasporas in human history. But to what extent is the Chinese diaspora a reasonable concept to describe the general attributes of the Chinese who have settled down outside China? Does there exist a collective Chinese-diaspora consciousness? Or have Chinese abroad established a diaspora reality? Where do non-Han ethnic groups (such as Tibetans, Uighurs, Dai, Miao, and Yao) and locally socialized Chinese offspring (such as baba, Peranakan Chinese, Chinese Filipino, Sino-Vietnamese and Sino-Khmer) "fit" within the Chinese diaspora? In general, how can we understand Chinese diaspora?