Transnational Cultural Flows within the Collaborative Chinese Cultural Basin

Kuah advances the "Collaborative Cultural Basin" framework to analyze the transnational flow of Chinese cultural elements—such as religion, popular culture, food, museum exhibits, and educational knowledge—within the global Chinese Diaspora and mainland China.

The book highlights how these cultural elements are increasingly utilized as tools of cultural power and diplomacy, fostering local and transnational sociocultural networks among various agencies within this collaborative space. The shared, differentiated, and hybridized nature of these cultural elements, that are circulated within the Diaspora Chinese and mainland China universes, enabling individuals and social groups to derive social meanings and memories. It also uses rich empirical data to explore how Diaspora Chinese communities engage with these cultural elements to interact with local communities and mainland Chinese, articulating their version of Chinese culture, identity, social memories, and sense of belonging.

A valuable book for researchers and scholars of Chinese Studies, Migration and Diaspora Studies, Asian Studies, and Social Sciences, offering insights into the dynamics of cultural interaction and identity formation within the global Chinese context.

Khun Eng Kuah, retired professor and independent researcher, is adjunct professor at the Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore. She has held positions as distinguished professor at Jinan University (Guangzhou, China), professor and Head of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, University of Hong Kong and University of Melbourne; and visiting positions at Harvard-Yenching Institute, University of Paris Cíte and Oxford University. Her key research include (1) Chinese Diaspora-China Connections (hometown connections, migration and identity, Chinese entrepreneurship, heritage and traditional Chinese medicine and herbal tea; and (2) Reformist Buddhism, Buddhist compassion and philanthropy in East and Southeast and Asia.