Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010001
H. Wong
{"title":"Introduction: Some Problematic Issues in Overseas Chinese Studies","authors":"H. Wong","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74254334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010003
Hoi-yan Yau
This paper offers a critical review of the study of masculinity among overseas Chinese. Rather than turning to Confucianism which has been deployed as the “deep structure” for explaining Chinese masculinity, this paper argues that attention should be directed to the Chinese kinship ideology, which will prove to be a more helpful tool in conceptualizing Chinese masculinity. Through ethnographic cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong, I will show how Chinese masculinity has derived from the Chinese kinship system, on the one hand, and how men in Taiwan and Hong Kong ended up expressing Chinese masculinity differently because of the different geopolitics on the other. This paper concludes that the nature and character of Chinese masculinity overseas, after all, hinges upon another two contexts: geopolitics and its relationship with femininity. It follows that Chinese masculinity cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered in relation to contexts.
{"title":"A Critical Reflection on Chinese Masculinity: Are Chinese Men in Modern Hong Kong and Taiwan the Same?","authors":"Hoi-yan Yau","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper offers a critical review of the study of masculinity among overseas Chinese. Rather than turning to Confucianism which has been deployed as the “deep structure” for explaining Chinese masculinity, this paper argues that attention should be directed to the Chinese kinship ideology, which will prove to be a more helpful tool in conceptualizing Chinese masculinity. Through ethnographic cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong, I will show how Chinese masculinity has derived from the Chinese kinship system, on the one hand, and how men in Taiwan and Hong Kong ended up expressing Chinese masculinity differently because of the different geopolitics on the other. This paper concludes that the nature and character of Chinese masculinity overseas, after all, hinges upon another two contexts: geopolitics and its relationship with femininity. It follows that Chinese masculinity cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered in relation to contexts.","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75207198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010004
C. Chiang
This article challenges the label of legal pluralism used in overseas Chinese studies. While legal pluralism has been the long-standing academic tradition of characterizing the law in overseas Chinese societies, the case of colonial Hong Kong, with its experience in rejecting, distorting, and manipulating Chinese customs and customary laws, illustrates that legal pluralism is an untenable position regarding the “plurality” of laws under a colonial regime and the “plurality” of social fields or legal orders with a “plurality” of sources of law. It is further argued that “legal pluralism” as academic jargon, a theory, and a framework, is intertwined with colonialism and therefore not useful as a descriptive category or as a normative ideal. We must go beyond legal pluralism to understand law in overseas Chinese studies.
{"title":"Beyond Legal Pluralism: Chinese Customs and Customary Laws in Colonial Hong Kong (1841–1997)","authors":"C. Chiang","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article challenges the label of legal pluralism used in overseas Chinese studies. While legal pluralism has been the long-standing academic tradition of characterizing the law in overseas Chinese societies, the case of colonial Hong Kong, with its experience in rejecting, distorting, and manipulating Chinese customs and customary laws, illustrates that legal pluralism is an untenable position regarding the “plurality” of laws under a colonial regime and the “plurality” of social fields or legal orders with a “plurality” of sources of law. It is further argued that “legal pluralism” as academic jargon, a theory, and a framework, is intertwined with colonialism and therefore not useful as a descriptive category or as a normative ideal. We must go beyond legal pluralism to understand law in overseas Chinese studies.","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76881408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010005
Xing Fang
{"title":"Andrew Gyory, Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act","authors":"Xing Fang","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"238 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135593506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Andrew Gyory, Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act","authors":"Xing Fang","doi":"10.1086/ahr/105.5.1751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/105.5.1751","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"198 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75118841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010000
{"title":"Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010000","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135593507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1163/24522015-17010002
Alvis Ka-I Sio
Taking the Hongkonger identity as an example of an overseas Chinese identity, this paper reviews the studies of “Hongkonger” identification. The idea of a “hybridized Hong Kong—Chinese identity,” raised by media scholar Anthony Fung, is critically examined. I criticize this idea for disregarding the sociocultural context in which it was constructed, specifically the role and political aim of the colonizer, and for overemphasizing the “Other” role of the Chinese. This paper thereby contextualizes the emergence of the Hongkonger identity in the 1970s in the colonial context, examining how the role and political agenda of the colonizer related to the changing consciousness of Hongkongers and the emergence of the Hongkonger identity. In more concrete terms, this paper focuses on how the so-called “MacLehose reform” encouraged the consciousness of the “Hongkonger” as a separate category from that of the “Chinese” by “civilizing” the people of Hong Kong.
{"title":"The Construction of “Difference”: a Contextualization of Heunggongyahn Identification in the 1970s","authors":"Alvis Ka-I Sio","doi":"10.1163/24522015-17010002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24522015-17010002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Taking the Hongkonger identity as an example of an overseas Chinese identity, this paper reviews the studies of “Hongkonger” identification. The idea of a “hybridized Hong Kong—Chinese identity,” raised by media scholar Anthony Fung, is critically examined. I criticize this idea for disregarding the sociocultural context in which it was constructed, specifically the role and political aim of the colonizer, and for overemphasizing the “Other” role of the Chinese. This paper thereby contextualizes the emergence of the Hongkonger identity in the 1970s in the colonial context, examining how the role and political agenda of the colonizer related to the changing consciousness of Hongkongers and the emergence of the Hongkonger identity. In more concrete terms, this paper focuses on how the so-called “MacLehose reform” encouraged the consciousness of the “Hongkonger” as a separate category from that of the “Chinese” by “civilizing” the people of Hong Kong.","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76722674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Comparative studies of the development of larger-scale social formation often promote our understanding of the internal dynamics of social change. Hongshan societies in northeastern China and Lingjiatan societies in the Yuxi valley of the lower reaches of Yangzi River represent the scopes and various forms that can be taken by early hierarchical societies. Similarities in the shape, function, and symbolic meaning of jade artifacts of Lingjiatan and Hongshan have long been discussed in comparative studies, but the communities and social dynamics of the two archaeological cultures within the larger regional areas they occupied have yet to be compared. The research reported here conducted comparative exploration of social trajectories across four regions -- Yuxi in lower Yangzi River and Chifeng, Upper Daling, and Niuheliang in northeastern China -- from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Our comparison reveals the similarities and differences in patterns of settlement and demographies across the four regions and provides some insights into research questions that need to be answered in future. Keywords: comparative archaeology, early complex societies, settlement analysis, Lingjiatan, Hongshan, China
{"title":"Communities and Social Dynamics: A Comparative Analysis of Settlement Systems in the Yuxi Valley and Northeastern China","authors":"Wenjing Wang, Wenpeng Xu","doi":"10.1353/asi.2022.0040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.2022.0040","url":null,"abstract":"Comparative studies of the development of larger-scale social formation often promote our understanding of the internal dynamics of social change. Hongshan societies in northeastern China and Lingjiatan societies in the Yuxi valley of the lower reaches of Yangzi River represent the scopes and various forms that can be taken by early hierarchical societies. Similarities in the shape, function, and symbolic meaning of jade artifacts of Lingjiatan and Hongshan have long been discussed in comparative studies, but the communities and social dynamics of the two archaeological cultures within the larger regional areas they occupied have yet to be compared. The research reported here conducted comparative exploration of social trajectories across four regions -- Yuxi in lower Yangzi River and Chifeng, Upper Daling, and Niuheliang in northeastern China -- from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Our comparison reveals the similarities and differences in patterns of settlement and demographies across the four regions and provides some insights into research questions that need to be answered in future. Keywords: comparative archaeology, early complex societies, settlement analysis, Lingjiatan, Hongshan, China","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"29 1","pages":"-"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73886673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yingfu Li, Dong Han, Sheng-song Yang, Lei Huang, Ge Yang, Yuniu Li
The Gejiu region in southeast Yunnan Province was an important metal and ore production area in China as early as the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. – A.D. 220). Past archaeological investigations in this region discovered an ancient smelting site. Large numbers of smelting-related relics including lead discs, copper ingots, and smelting wastes were also excavated from the Heimajing cemetery site nearby. These discoveries suggest that the burial occupants were probably involved in ancient mining, metal smelting, and the metal production industry. An archaeometallurgical analysis of smelting-related relics was conducted. The results demonstrated that lead, copper, and different copper-base alloys were produced in the region. The chemical compositional analysis and lead isotope studies of the samples collected from the Heimajing cemetery site suggest that there was probably a production and supply system and a demand for copper-base products in the Dian Kingdom (now central Yunnan) and Jiaozhi commandery (now northern Vietnam) through cross-regional resource allocation. The Gejiu region therefore might have had a complete industry chain on the southwest frontier of the Han Empire.
{"title":"A Metal Production Center on the Southwest Frontier of the Han Empire: An Archaeometallurgical Study of the Heimajing Cemetery Site in Gejiu, Yunnan Province, China","authors":"Yingfu Li, Dong Han, Sheng-song Yang, Lei Huang, Ge Yang, Yuniu Li","doi":"10.1353/asi.2022.0035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.2022.0035","url":null,"abstract":"The Gejiu region in southeast Yunnan Province was an important metal and ore production area in China as early as the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. – A.D. 220). Past archaeological investigations in this region discovered an ancient smelting site. Large numbers of smelting-related relics including lead discs, copper ingots, and smelting wastes were also excavated from the Heimajing cemetery site nearby. These discoveries suggest that the burial occupants were probably involved in ancient mining, metal smelting, and the metal production industry. An archaeometallurgical analysis of smelting-related relics was conducted. The results demonstrated that lead, copper, and different copper-base alloys were produced in the region. The chemical compositional analysis and lead isotope studies of the samples collected from the Heimajing cemetery site suggest that there was probably a production and supply system and a demand for copper-base products in the Dian Kingdom (now central Yunnan) and Jiaozhi commandery (now northern Vietnam) through cross-regional resource allocation. The Gejiu region therefore might have had a complete industry chain on the southwest frontier of the Han Empire.","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"34 1","pages":"-"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73912997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The study of cultural change associated with the emergence of complex societies in Ancient China has heavily relied on evidence from ceramics, lithic technologies, changes in settlement pattern, burial practices, and prestige goods. However, it remains unclear whether, and if so to what extent, other aspects of material culture follows similar evolutionary trajectories. Here, we analyze a large bone tool assemblage found in Longshan (n = 76) and Yueshi (n = 124) contexts at Yinjiacheng, a key site from the Haidai region. These two cultural entities are of particular interest as they allow to investigate cultural change dynamics in the Haidai region during the transition between the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Our assessment allows us to document changes in bone technology along three lines of evidence: typological diversity, technological know-how, and morphometric standardization. From a typological standpoint, we document an increased diversity in tool types during the Yueshi period compared to Longshan. However, the techniques used to manufacture bone tools during the Longshan and Yueshi periods remain broadly the same. Furthermore, we identify the persistence of a specific reduction sequence for the manufacture of some awl and projectile point sub-types shared by the two cultural systems. Morphometrically, Longshan domestic tools are generally more standardized than Yueshi tools, while Yueshi hunting implements show a higher degree of standardization compared to their Longshan counterparts. We argue this pattern reflects the preservation of a common know-how among Longshan and Yueshi settlers at Yinjiacheng. We interpret the typological diversification of Yueshi hunting implements and changes in the standardization of Yueshi bone tools as a proxy for the articulation of this knowledge through applying less rigid rules of production to meet new emerging needs.
{"title":"Changes and Consistencies in Bone Technologies as a Sign of Cultural Transition about 4000 Years Ago in Eastern China: Insights from the Yinjiacheng Site, Shandong, China","authors":"Ruixue Yin, Fengshi Luan, Luc Doyon","doi":"10.1353/asi.2022.0034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.2022.0034","url":null,"abstract":"The study of cultural change associated with the emergence of complex societies in Ancient China has heavily relied on evidence from ceramics, lithic technologies, changes in settlement pattern, burial practices, and prestige goods. However, it remains unclear whether, and if so to what extent, other aspects of material culture follows similar evolutionary trajectories. Here, we analyze a large bone tool assemblage found in Longshan (n = 76) and Yueshi (n = 124) contexts at Yinjiacheng, a key site from the Haidai region. These two cultural entities are of particular interest as they allow to investigate cultural change dynamics in the Haidai region during the transition between the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Our assessment allows us to document changes in bone technology along three lines of evidence: typological diversity, technological know-how, and morphometric standardization. From a typological standpoint, we document an increased diversity in tool types during the Yueshi period compared to Longshan. However, the techniques used to manufacture bone tools during the Longshan and Yueshi periods remain broadly the same. Furthermore, we identify the persistence of a specific reduction sequence for the manufacture of some awl and projectile point sub-types shared by the two cultural systems. Morphometrically, Longshan domestic tools are generally more standardized than Yueshi tools, while Yueshi hunting implements show a higher degree of standardization compared to their Longshan counterparts. We argue this pattern reflects the preservation of a common know-how among Longshan and Yueshi settlers at Yinjiacheng. We interpret the typological diversification of Yueshi hunting implements and changes in the standardization of Yueshi bone tools as a proxy for the articulation of this knowledge through applying less rigid rules of production to meet new emerging needs.","PeriodicalId":36318,"journal":{"name":"Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives","volume":"39 1","pages":"-"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75639997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}