Global Spaces of Chinese Culture: Diasporic Chinese Communities in the United States and Germany

This book explores how Chinese communities in the United States and Germany create and disseminate a sense of diasporic Chinese identity. The book not only compares the local conditions of Chinese communities in the two locations, but also moves to a global dimension to track the Chinese transnational imaginary. The book analyzes three strategies which overseas Chinese use to articulate their identities as diasporic subjects: (1) being more American/German, (2) being more Chinese, and (3) 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 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.