The Chinese Diasporic Cyberspace: versus Chinese Essentialism vs. Hybrid Transnationalism

The Internet is exerting a great influence on the Chinese diaspora not only on the new transnational links which have emerged both within the diaspora and between the diaspora and the homeland(s), but also on identity formation. Two seemingly contradictory developments have been described in more recent literature on that topic: the first claims that the Internet helps to foster a global, postmodern and hybrid Chinese diaspora, thus leading to an identity formation beyond nationalist and nostalgic yearnings. The second development, however, postulates the upcoming and re-emerging strong links between, in particular, the so-called new migrants in the diaspora and the PRC, thus re-building a strong China-centered nationalistic diaspora. The aim of this paper is to establish whether these seemingly contradictory developments are not better described as signifiers of an increasingly fragmented globalized world, in which a global, postmodern, and hybrid diasporic Chinese identity has emerged (with the help of the new communication technologies) so that the new and the old Chinese diaspora is now constantly building links with China.

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