Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative

在过去的二十年里，中国和海外华人社区都掀起了一股关于海外华人的博物馆建设热潮。中国所在的博物馆展示的中国侨民大多是以中国为中心的；相比之下，海外华人建立的博物馆提供了一个散居海外的视角来看待中国遗产。此外，不同地方的散居华人社区采用不同的方式来代表自己。到目前为止，在中国设立的中国侨民博物馆与散居海外的华人社区之间几乎没有互动，更不用说合作了；侨民建立的博物馆也基本上是在孤立的情况下发展起来的。这个研究网络项目的目的是发展一个散居海外的中国博物馆的全球网络，作为一个平台，发起和促进该领域博物馆之间跨越地理和国界的智力对话和专业合作。它将把博物馆馆长、学者、政策制定者和这一新兴文化领域的其他利益攸关方聚集在一起，就收藏、策展和展览实践以及公众参与交流经验和分享见解，并对中国及其他地区的移民和博物馆的公共政策制定和跨学科研究产生影响。这些目标将通过一系列活动实现，包括：(1)关于散居海外的中国博物馆的在线公众讲座系列，包括10至12个讲座，每个讲座由一个参与博物馆的馆长/馆长主持，并向公众开放。(2)两个现场专题讲习班，深入讨论公众讲座系列中出现的关键问题。第一届将在新加坡举行，中国、东南亚和澳大利亚的重点博物馆将参加。第二次会议将在伦敦举行，美国、加拿大和英国的主要博物馆和文物机构将参加。(3)结束项目的虚拟国际研讨会。它将汇集来自世界各地的学者、博物馆从业者、政策制定者和散居海外的华人社区成员，讨论合作收藏、策展、展览和公共参与方面的创新，以及对公共政策和研究的影响。(4)一个开放访问的网站将通报活动，并报告根据上述活动创建的产出。该网站还将作为网络博物馆的在线总部基地，并记录各种活动，包括双语博客。该网站还将举办一个联合在线展览，展示成员博物馆的关键收藏品和外联活动，比较中国人在世界各地的散居经历。该项目的调查结果将以各种形式和通过不同渠道传播。公开讲座系列的录像将在该项目的网站上公布。在项目结束时将编写一份政策简报。博物馆策展人/馆长将共同编辑博物馆馆长/馆长为公众讲座系列所作的贡献。将制作两份专题研讨会报告，其中将包括小组摘要、评论文章和多媒体专题，如简短的音频和视频采访。PI和Co-I将共同编辑同行评议的学术期刊(《海外华人杂志》)的一期特刊，向学术受众传达这一发现。最后，我们计划在项目完成后成立国际散居华人博物馆协会，为博物馆网络提供永久的制度结构，并巩固该项目的价值和可持续性。该项目具有广泛和长期的影响，将对中国散居海外博物馆的发展产生变革性的影响，为在民族国家框架外开展博物馆和遗产的跨学科研究提供肥沃的土壤，并为政策制定提供参考。

The past two decades have witnessed an upsurge in the building of museums on Chinese diaspora both in the PRC and among the diasporic Chinese communities. Museum representations of Chinese diaspora in China are mostly dominated by a China-centred approach; by contrast, museums set up by Chinese overseas offer a diasporic perspective to Chinese heritage. Furthermore, diasporic Chinese communities in different places adopt different approaches to represent themselves. So far, there has been little interaction, let alone cooperation, between museums on Chinese diaspora set up in China and in diasporic Chinese communities; museums established by the diasporic Chinese have also developed largely in isolation. The aim of this research network project is to develop a global network of diasporic Chinese museums as a platform that initiates and stimulates intellectual dialogues and professional collaborations between museums in this field across geographic and national boundaries. It will bring together museum curators, scholars, policy makers, and other stakeholders in this emerging cultural sphere to exchange experiences and share insights into collecting, curating and exhibition practice and public engagement, and to generate impact on public policymaking and interdisciplinary research of migration and museum in the Chinese context and beyond. These objectives will be achieved through a set of activities, including: (1) An online public talk series on diasporic Chinese museums, consisting of 10 to 12 talks, each given by the curator/director of one participating museum and is open to the public. (2) Two on-site thematic workshops to have in-depth discussion of key issues emerging from the public talk series. The first one will be held in Singapore, with the participation of key museums in China, Southeast Asia and Australia. The second one will be held in London, with the participation of key museums and heritage institutes in the US, Canada and the UK. (3) A virtual international symposium to conclude the project. It will bring together academics, museum practitioners, policy makers and members of diasporic Chinese communities from around the world to discuss innovations in collaborative collecting, curating, exhibition and public engagement, and impacts on public policies and research. (4) An open-access website will communicate events and report on the output created on the basis of the above activities. The website will also function as an online home base for network museums and chronicle various activities, including bilingual blogs. The website will also host a joint online exhibition of key collections and outreach activities by member museums comparing the Chinese diasporic experience around the world. The findings of the project will be disseminated in a variety of forms and through different channels. Video recordings of public lecture series will be posted on the website of the project. A policy brief will be written at the end of the project. The PI and Co-will co-edit an edited volume of contributions made by museum curators/directors to the public talk series. Two thematic workshop reports will be produced and will include summaries of panels, commentary pieces, and multimedia features such as short audio and video interviews. The PI and Co-I will co-edit a special issue of a peer-reviewed academic journal (Journal of Chinese Overseas) to communicate the finding to academic audiences. Finally, we plan to set up an International Association of Diasporic Chinese Museums following the completion of the project to give the museum network a permanent institutional structure and cement the value and sustainability of this project. This project has wide-ranging and long-term impacts that will generate transformative effects on the development of Chinese diaspora museums, offer a fertile ground for developing interdisciplinary research of museum and heritage beyond nation-state framework and inform policy-making.