Inclusiveness and Exclusiveness of Chinese Network:

As Seen in the Life Histories of the Transnational Migration of the Ethnic Chinese in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

  The transnational networks among the ethnic Chinese in Papua New Guinea demonstrate both inclusiveness and exclusiveness. At the present, the ethnic Chinese who live in Papua New Guinea are composed of several sub-groups. In addition to those who have been living in Papua New Guinea since the colonial period, there is a new type of Chinese who has been migrating to Papua New Guinea since the 1980s. The Chinese newcomers in contemporary Papua New Guinea are different from old comers in that they are from various areas, such as Malaysia and Mainland China, and that they have little by way of common backgrounds. The old comers who were born in Papua New Guinea do not consider newcomers as part of their same group, and vice versa. Those Chinese sub groups do not have close contact with each other. Further, the sub-groups of the ethnic Chinese have transnational networks between Papua New Guinea and other countries. While the Chinese old comers have estabished transnational social space between Papua New Guinea and Australia, the new comers, such as Malaysian Chinese and Mainland Chinese, also construct transnational social spaces between Papua New Guinea and their home countries. Because those sub groups of the ethnic Chinese in contemporary Papua New Guinea have different cultural backgrounds, it seems to be difficult for them to establish common networks with each other.