Introduction to the Special Issue-- Re-Positioning China's and Taiwan's Migration in Southeast Asia Finding Passages with Cultural Capital: New Dimension of Mobilities in East and Southeast Asia

Introduction to the Special Issue-- Re-Positioning China's and Taiwan's Migration in Southeast Asia Finding Passages with Cultural Capital: New Dimension of Mobilities in East and Southeast Asia

The idea for this special issue came after the International Workshop on Making Global Trajectories of Chinese Diaspora Studies in Asia, held in L Jakarta on November 5-6, 2017, at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The intention of the seminar was to understand the dynamics of Chinese migration and diaspora populations in East and Southeast in both historical and comparative perspectives and the long-term impacts to Asian societies. By following Hall's conceptualization (Hall, 1990, p. 235), the term 'diaspora' was used 'metaphorically' not 'literally.' In other words, we did not discuss 'Chinese diaspora' as a group of people who are culturally defined in relation to their 'homeland' in China, but rather as different generations of descendants of Chinese outside of China whose identities are hybrid and 'constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference” (Hall, 1990, p. 235). While Hall's main interest is on the issue of identity, not all papers presented in the current volume are centered on identity. Instead, they focus on various forms of mobilities between Southeast Asia and Greater China (China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) which are partly caused by the diasporic identity though not always in direct way. With the rise of China as a major global power, we are witnessing new flows and patterns of Chinese migration both in physical and cultural dimensions. We observe these mobilities as the result of both contemporary and historical relationships between Greater China and Southeast Asia.