The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, Identity
The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, Identity
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1800 年至今的英国华人：经济、跨国主义、身份
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发表时间：
2009
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通讯作者：
Elena Barabantseva
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作者：
Elena Barabantseva
《1800年至今的英国华人：经济、跨国主义、身份认同》（The Chinese in Britain，1800-Present：Economy，Transnationalism，Identity），格雷戈尔·本顿（Gregor Benton）和埃德蒙·特伦斯·戈麦斯（Edmund Terence Gomez）著。Houndmills：Palgrave Macmillan，2008.三十六+470页。£ 60.00（精装）。这本书是第一本全面研究中国移民英国的漫长历史的书。它涵盖了从世纪早期到现在的时期，集中讨论了与华人移民过程密不可分的六个复杂主题：移民模式、移民机构、经济活动、跨国主义、影响华人地位的政府移民政策、排华种族主义和华人身份认同模式。所有这些线索都在整本书中得到了彻底的处理。格雷戈尔·本顿（Gregor Benton）和埃德蒙·特伦斯·戈麦斯（Edmund Terence Gomez）批评了一种普遍的观点，即英国和世界其他地方的华人构成了一个同质的社区，拥有共同的文化背景、种族、制度和企业风格。他们抨击跨国研究缺乏历史视角来分析散居社区。这本书的主要目的是要表明，在英国的华人一直是多样化的，并沿着沿着多条线，如原籍，阶级背景，代和亚种族差异划分。本顿和戈麦斯认为，在英国的华人应该被视为英国社会的一个组成部分，而不是英国内部的一个社区。尤其是第二代和第三代中国移民，他们更认同英国文化，而不是中国文化。在英国的中国人缺乏一个总体的社区身份，这使得抵制英国社会中持续存在的种族不平等的过程变得复杂。中国移民的不同时期伴随着不同的移民策略、定居和职业。中国人不仅从中国和香港来到英国，而且还来自中国以外的国家，主要是东南亚。在英国的中国经济经历了深刻的转变，从航海、洗衣和餐饮到不同经济部门的创业。本顿和戈麦斯证明，中国的商业关系并不是由共同的民族认同所支撑的。他们认为，种族关系对中国企业在英国的扩张"无关紧要"，因为这些关系导致了种族内的竞争，而不是持久的商业伙伴关系（第149页）。例如，他们指出了早期从香港移民到香港的广东人和上海人之间的种族差异（第35页）。在中国移民到英国的历史上，有一段时期，大多数定居者从事类似的工作--比如战后从香港来的中国移民，最后从事餐饮业--本顿和戈麦斯认为这是英国政府如何安排他们的就业机会的结果（第39页）。本顿和戈麦斯表明，在英国的中国人是一个分散的群体，缺乏一个关键的群众来表达和代表他们的利益。华人社团的组织形式和结构多种多样，与英国其他族裔社区和世界其他地区早期的华人社区相比，华人社区的组织程度很差。…
The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, Identity, by Gregor Benton and Edmund Terence Gomez. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xxxvi + 470 pp. £60.00 (hardcover). This book is the first comprehensive study of the long history of Chinese migration to Britain. It covers the period from the early 19th century through to the present and concentrates on six complex themes integral to the process of Chinese migration: patterns of migration, migrant institutions, economic activities, transnationalism, government immigration policies affecting the status of the Chinese, anti-Chinese racism and the patterns of Chinese identity. All these threads are treated thoroughly throughout the book. Gregor Benton and Edmund Terence Gomez are critical of the widespread view that the Chinese in Britain and elsewhere in the world constitute a homogeneous community sharing a common cultural background, ethnicity, institutions and style of enterprise. They attack transnational studies for their lack of historical perspective in analyzing diasporic communities. The main objective of this book is to show that the Chinese in Britain have always been diverse and divided along multiple lines such as place of origin, class background, generation and sub-ethnic differences. Benton and Gomez maintain that the Chinese in Britain should be seen as a constituent part of British society rather than a community within Britain. This is especially the case with the second and third generations of Chinese migrants, who identify themselves more closely with British than with Chinese culture. The lack of an overarching community identity among the Chinese in Britain has complicated the process of resisting the racial inequalities that persist in British society. Different periods of Chinese migration have been accompanied by different types of migration strategies, settlement and occupation among Chinese settlers in Britain. Chinese came to Britain not only from China and Hong Kong but also from countries outside China, predominantly from Southeast Asia. The Chinese economy in Britain has gone through deep transformations from seafaring, laundering and catering to entrepreneurship in different sectors of the economy. Benton and Gomez demonstrate that Chinese business ties are not underpinned by common ethnic identity. They argue that ethnic ties were "irrelevant" for the expansion of Chinese businesses in Britain, as these ties led to intra-ethnic competition rather than to lasting business partnerships (p. 149). For example, they point to ethnic differences between Cantonese and Shanghainese among early emigrants from Hong Kong (p. 35). The fact that at certain periods in the history of Chinese migration to Britain the majority of settlers were engaged in similar employment - like post-war Chinese migrants from Hong Kong who ended up in catering - is attributed by Benton and Gomez to how the British government organized their employment possibilities (p. 39). Benton and Gomez show that the Chinese in Britain are a dispersed group lacking a critical mass to articulate and represent their interests. The organizational style and structure of Chinese associations are diverse and the Chinese community is poorly organized compared to other ethnic communities in Britain and with earlier Chinese communities in other parts of the world. …