Imaginary homecomings: Chinese villagers, their overseas relations, and social capital.

1. Introduction

Although the literatures on transnationalism, refugee issues, and immigration have placed much emphasis on the fact that leaving one's homeland does not involve a severing of ties, there is little analysis of either repatriation or of temporary return to their homelands on the part of refugees and immigrants. In particular, the encounter between those in the diaspora and those who stayed behind has been the subject of few analyses.

In the case of China, the "reopening" is a good case in point. China's change in policy since the early 1980s has made it possible for a host of dormant links between Chinese villagers and their overseas Chinese relatives to be revitalized again. But, as these relatives began to reestablish relationships, and to visit their village kin, new sets of questions arose. What was to be expected from these kin? What were the ground rules for relationships between those who had left and those who were left behind? How were the actions and decisions of those who returned to be judged? After all, it is not only the returnees who wrestle with contradictions between imagined and actual homelands, but in addition, those who never left must sort out multiple and often contradictory images of homecomings.

In this paper, I examine the reactions of villagers to their visiting overseas relations in Moonshadow Pond, a Hakka village in the northeast corner of Guangdong Province, China, where I did fieldwork from 1995-96, and again in the summer of 1997. The relationships they establish with their overseas kin are immensely important to their economic, political, social and moral lives. It is little wonder, then, that much talk and gossip center around these kin.

Villagers construe their foreign kin in several ways. They are viewed as family and lineage mates, who are expected to commemorate and remember their ancestors. But, they may also be viewed as foreigners, whose identification with these ancestors has waned because they now embody "foreign" values and orientations. Further, while overseas kin are viewed as potential benefactors, their ability to help both individual families and the community as a whole is subject to a variety of interpretations. In addition, it creates a whole new set of social tensions and conflicts amongst those with whom they visit or communicate.

Indeed, when villagers discuss their expectations about the obligations inherent in the various roles overseas kin can take, they articulate a number of competing moral visions. And, when this occurs they make moral judgments both about their visiting overseas kin and about other villagers who interact with them. Thus, the return "home" creates a complex and contested moral space. Conflicting evaluations circle around the overseas Chinese as kin, foreigners, and benefactors.

In this paper, I will focus in particular on the competing visions and expectations, which surround visiting overseas kin in their role as potential benefactors. Although much could also be said about villager constructions of the overseas Chinese as both kin and foreigners, it is their role as potential benefactors, that is most relevant to a conference focused on the analysis of social capital. (Clearly these roles are interrelated, since it is only because they are kin that villagers can expect support for both individual families and village projects, and it is only because they are foreign that they have the ability to help. In subsequent papers of greater length, these interconnections will be explored more thoroughly).