The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today

Abstract

The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today edited by Tu Wei-Ming.

This is a collection of eleven papers from a conference on the meaning of being Chinese held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1990. All but two of the papers were published in an issue of the journal Daedalus in the spring of 1991. The aim of this book, as stated by the editor, is to explore the meaning of being Chinese as a complex process and to avoid static definitions. This anthology includes papers by historians Tu Weiming, Mark Elvin, Vera Schwarcz, Wang Gungwu, and L. Ling-chi Wang, by the sociologist Ambrose Yeo-chi King, by anthropologists Myron L. Cohen and David Yen-ho Wu, by the legal scholar Victor Hao Li, and by literary scholars Leo Ou-fan Lee and Zhu Hong.

One central theme of this book is the role that the "core" and the "periphery" play in the formulation of Chinese identity. The particular meaning of the "core" and the "periphery" depend on the context in which the terms are used. These terms sometimes designate geographical locations, with China as the core and areas outside of China forming the periphery. The core and the periphery can also represent states of mind. For example, the core might be concepts and values such as "Chinese tradition," "Chinese culture," "patriotism," or "Chinese life-style," and the periphery would then be deviations from these values and practices. One's location on the geographical continuum between core and periphery need not dictate one's relationship to "Chineseness" as a state of mind. One might live in China and yet feel alienated from the core of Chinese traditions, culture, history, or politics. One might, on the other hand, live on the geographic periphery and feel strong affiliation with what one defines as "Chineseness." Being physically removed from China might even provoke a deeper search for the meaning of being Chinese and a stronger sense of being Chinese.

This book makes the point that the formulation of identity is a complicated, and often unpredictable, process. It also emphasizes that the construction of one's identity is always the product of interactions between individual self-definition and definition by others.

Wang Gungwu, David Yen-ho Wu, and L. Ling-chi Wang, in particular, give three excellent perspectives on the changing meaning of being Chinese by examining the experiences of overseas Chinese. Their papers successfully integrate the concepts of core and periphery as a geographical designation and as a state of mind. David Yenho Wu gives a cogent account of the formation of Chinese identity by juxtaposing the experience of Han Chinese who moved to the outlying provinces of China with the experience of Chinese immigrants in Southeast Asia. Wu describes a group of Malaysian-born people of Chinese descent who give no outward appearance of being "Chinese." Nevertheless, they continue to identify themselves as Chinese for a variety of reasons. Similarly, Wu describes ethnically Han Chinese who moved to the outlying provinces and adapted to local customs, but maintained their view of themselves as Chinese.

Myron L. Cohen's lucid paper on the peripheralization of Chinese traditional identity provides further insight into how local cultures were adapted and reinterpreted to forge a common Chinese self-identity. Their self-identification was reinforced and provoked by categorizations made by others. For instance, Wu refers to the role of the host and Chinese governments in encouraging or discouraging Chinese identity among immigrants. Policies towards ethnic minorities by the Chinese and Malaysian governments promoted changes in the way that individuals emphasized or minimized their Chinese identity. L. Ling-chi Wang also uses the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States to make clear that changes in selfidentification cannot be separated from changes in the larger political-historical environment. Victor Hao Li's reflection on his experience residing outside of China is a wonderful addition which adds a thoughtful and personal perspective to these studies.

Two aspects of this book require further consideration. First, the meaning of terms such as "culture," "Chinese values," "things Chinese," and "Chineseness" are as contentious and "non-static" as the meaning of being Chinese. A discussion of the changing meaning of being Chinese today and of the many meanings of being Chinese should proceed with a keener sense that these terms have no clear definition. It is sometimes not clear what terms such as "Chineseness," "Chinese tradition," and "Chinese values" mean to a particular author on a particular page. As David Yen-ho Wu points out in his essay, the meaning of these terms depends on the relationship among such elements as time, place, self-identification, and categorizations made by others. Second, it is surprising that this anthology does not include any systematic examination of the lively contemporary discourse on the meaning of being Chinese taking place in Hong Kong and Taiwan. These are, after all, branches of the "living tree" that are currently undergoing complex, challenging, and meaningful changes.