Main description:

This book is an exploration of how Chinese communites in the United States and Germany create and disseminate a sense of diasporic Chinese identity. It not only compares the local conditions of the Chinese communities in the two locations, but also moves to a global dimension to track the Chinese transnational imaginary. Van Ziegert analyzes three strategies that overseas Chinese use to articulate their identities as diasporic subjects:

being more American/German
being more Chinese
hybridizing and commodifying Chinese culture through trans-cultural performances.

These three strategies are not mutually exclusive and they often intersect and supplement each other in unexpected ways. The author also analyzes how the everyday lives of overseas Chinese connect with global and local factors, and how these experiences contribute to the formation of a global Chinese identity.

Contents:

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Rethinking the Chinese Transnational Imaginary 2. Re-Appropriating the Model Minority Stereotype: Reflections on the 2000 Organization of Chinese Americans Convention 3. Between Being More American and Being More Chinese: An Ethnography of the Lowell Chinese School 4. Tang Poetry: The Paradox of Impossible Return 5. Between Fragmentation and Commodification: Performing Chinese Culture for Self and Other in Lowell and Tilburg 6. Transcultural Performances of Chinese/German Identity 7. Conclusion: Global Spaces of Chinese Culture: From Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Cui Jian.