Vanishing Selves under Hong Kong’s Unified Screening Mechanism

Drawing on Erving Goffman’s analysis of total institutions and his concept of mortification of the self, the present article deals with the process of identity construction and identity loss among refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong. We argue that the slow pace of processing of political asylum applications as well as the harsh restrictions imposed on rights to work and the minimal welfare provisions for refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong operate as means of isolating them from the broader society. Another consequence of these restrictive conditions becomes manifest in the loss of identity experienced by those who have been stuck in Hong Kong for many years waiting for their applications to be processed. Being unable to preserve the sense of identity they had in their countries of origin, they find themselves deprived of the social and institutional resorts necessary to forge a new one.

Street-Level Multiculturalism: Cultural Integration and Identity Politics of African Migrants in Hong Kong

Multiculturalism is about co-existence of diverse cultures. Current literature on multiculturalism mostly uses a top-down approach to examine how the governments adopt different policies to manage cultural diversity. However, how the migrants use their own culture including music to enhance integration is often neglected. This paper uses the experience of African migrants in Hong Kong to reveal an alternative account of multiculturalism. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observation with African drummers, this paper examines the role of African drum as a means of cultural integration. It raises the concept of “street-level multiculturalism” for analysing how African migrants experience and negotiate cultural difference on the ground. It argues that African drum music promotes intercultural contact by arousing curiosity and creating friendly atmosphere. Africans’ engagement in identity politics is based on their marginal status. Their ability to negotiate their African culture and their Hong Kong experience is a politically conscious process.

Metonymic Figures: Cultural Representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers and Discourses of Diversity in Hong Kong

Foreign Domestic Helpers account for nearly half of Hong Kong’s total ethnic minority population and are therefore integral to any discussion of diversity in the postcolonial, global Chinese city. In Asia, discourses of diversity have evolved from the juncture of complex historical, political, and cultural factors including colonialism, postcoloniality, traditional and precolonial customs and values, religious and spiritual beliefs, as well as Western-derived liberal-democratic discourses of rights and citizenship. “Diversity” has been identified as one of the core values and attributes of the territory by the Hong Kong Government yet it is not a concept that is carefully interrogated and delineated. This essay examines discourses of diversity via analysis of a varied set of cultural representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers, including a television programme and advertisements, a work of short literary fiction, online erotic fiction, social media, as well as an example of multi-media artwork. Taken together, these representative forms provide insight into the cultural imaginary that shapes private and public discourse and perception. Using an approach informed by both cognitive linguistics and postcolonial studies, the essay focuses on metonymic techniques, for example, doubling and substitution to argue that representations of Foreign Domestic Helpers reveal the anxieties, fears, and desires of the dominant culture. The essay shows that the Foreign Domestic Helper becomes a critical figure around whom linked questions of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in the majority ethnic Chinese population of Hong Kong circulate.

The Impact of Christian Education on Miao: A Case Study of Han Jie

Han Jie (韩杰) belonged to the Flower Miao, a sub-group of the Miao in southwest China. When foreign missionaries began to evangelize among the Miao of China in the early twentieth century, they emphasized education and set up numerous schools to teach literacy. Learning literacy was not just an educational achievement, it allowed the Miao to imagine that they could have a better way out and be more than just poor farmers. Han Jie was the first generation of graduates of British Methodist Church schools, and he went on to set up more schools in remote areas, thus spreading literacy among poor Miao. Through contact and communication with different denominations, Han Jie felt that the Miao people needed an independent, self-reliant church；accordingly he poured his energy into increasing the sense of autonomy among the Flower Miao through evangelization and education. This paper examines the influence of Christian introduction to Miao identity and Miao ethnic relations through the biography of Han Jie. I argue that the history of religious proselytization transformed the Miao, their relations with their church ultimately determining their relations with the Chinese state as well. Thus Christian evangelization played a pivotal role in shaping Miao identity under the Nationalist regime of the Republic of China.

Dumont’s Hierarchy Among the Nuosu of China

In this article we consider whether Dumont’s theory of hierarchy in the Indian caste system (or elements thereof) might be applicable to the hierarchal distinctions of Nuosu society in south-west China and vice versa. Nuosu society is characterized as both a ‘slave society’ and a caste society. It is the categories of ‘slavery’ and ‘caste’ that deserve our attention here. Like slaves in Nuosu society, Hindu society in India sees untouchables as ‘outsiders’. They live outside the village and have to use their own wells for drinking water. At the same time, they are in fact the slaves of the dominant ‘pure’ caste in the village and depend entirely on it. They have to show deference when they encounter a member of the dominant caste, and in some regions, such as Kerala, there were slave markets where they could be bought and sold. We do not produce a point-by-point comparison between Indian society and Nuosu society here, but examine Dumont’s theory of hierarchy in the light of what we know of Nuosu society.

Gender and Urban Aspirations: The Case of Highly Educated Uyghur Women in Shanghai

In spite of the growing attention given to minority Uyghurs in China, there has been little focus on gender issues in relation to the Uyghur migration to inland cities since the 1980s. Based on fifteen months of ethnographic research from 2012 to 2013, this article focuses on the lifeworlds of highly educated Uyghur women and their aspirations in the megacity of Shanghai. A combination of local gender norms, patriarchal Islamic ideologies, and state policies that aim to promote the emancipation of women have influenced the current status, conditions, and gendered identities of Uyghur women. Added to these are the shifting demands of an environment marked by rapid socioeconomic change in urban China that sees Uyghur women on the move. Tracing the migration story of Uyghur women through a case study of Xumar, a woman who pursued university education and then worked in Shanghai, I demonstrate the dilemma of staying or returning with which they constantly wrestle as they attempt to balance the normative Uyghur cultural values and their experiences of urbanism and cosmopolitanism in Shanghai. These factors all inform their understandings of what it means to be a Uyghur woman. Looking at the shifting ideas of gender among highly educated Uyghur women, this research contributes to understanding changes of Uyghur identity in relation to migration on the one hand, and reflects the ambivalence and complexity of Uyghur migration experiences on the other. Personal narratives of migrant Uyghur women shed light on the subtleties of the gender roles, arguments for and against returning home, and their later resignation to (arranged) marriages. The migration experiences gained by the women offer them a better understanding of themselves and of the demands and expectations of their cultural heritage. The urban aspirations of highly educated Uyghur women, this article argues, are produced by structural, cultural, and social factors that rely on dominant discourses of migration, minority, gender, age, class, and place.

Christianity and Religious Syncretism in Early Twentieth-Century China

Christianity in China is known to have been influenced by Chinese popular religion. Yet it is less known how much Christianity has influenced other religions in China. This article examines the syncretic trend of the early years of Republican China, which aimed at reinventing Chinese religions. I argue that as early as the 1920s, followers of Chinese religious traditions were appropriating various aspects of Christianity – from its symbols and institutions to its values – for their own ends. This trend was crucial for Christianity to become a part of Chinese religion and society.

Chinese Temples and Transnational Networks: Hokkien Communities in Singapore

This paper is intended as an overview of different categories of Chinese temples and other institutions in Singapore and their transnational networks, in particularly on Hokkien communiities in Singapore. It focusing on some preliminary research findings related to this Hokkien communities and their religious networks, examines the Minnan (South Fujian) Protector Gods (Regional or Village temple Main Gods) and the Minnan Taoist Altars, as well as their religious networks connecting Fujian, China and the Chinese communities in Singapore. The main argument of this paper is that all the religious networks of the Minnan Main Gods and the Minnan Taoist Altars play a significant role in the transnational movement of resources between Singapore and China, particularly Fujian. These resources include people from all walks of life, various forms of ritual knowledge and innovations, money and materials.