Abstract
The people investigated in this dissertation are Burmese-Chinese who currently living in Myanmar, move to Taiwan and settled in Jhong-he city in 1960’s, and immigrated to Toronto, Canada directly out of Myanmar, or via Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan in 1970’s. The aim of research is to examine how do they identify and present themselves and whether they formulate new identities through their cultural life and social performance according to their unique immigration experience. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters and arranged by the chronological process of Chinese immigration, settlement, departure, and return to Myanmar. Different types of cultural representation of Burmese-Chinese immigrants in three nation-states are discussed through the multi-sited fieldwork in Yangon, Jhong-he, and Toronto. In Myanmar, most of them still maintain the traditional Chinese ways of life and gather in Chinatown. Their social relations are largely driven by their Chinese ancestry. When they “return” to their country of cultural origin, Taiwan, where Chinese are the ethnic majority, they adopt and present various Burmese cultural performance through the religion Theravada Buddhism, Burmese food, clothing, aesthetic materials, language, and music which symbolize their common origin and formulate the awareness of “shared descent”. The “Burmese Water Festival ” is held yearly in Jhong-he city since 1997. They are commonly recognized as an “ethnic group” through the exotic performance in Taiwan. While in Toronto, they established the Theravada Buddhist temple as a religious center for pan-southeast Asians. By actively participating in the Asian voluntary groups, they play a contributor role in the multicultural society Canada. After 1990’s many of them set out to reconnect their “homeland” Myanmar with the flow of people, capital, and commodities in a more open market. They hold tightly with the past collective memory and through the link of Burmese food, language and religion. They have established a close network and maintained an intimate connection between Yangon, Jhong-he, and Toronto.