Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Westminster
Department Name: Sch of Humanities
Abstract
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.
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.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Cangbai Wang (Principal Investigator) | |
| Cheun Hoe Yow (Co-Investigator) |
| Title | Public talk audio recordings |
| Description | A total of 12 public talks were successfully organised by the team, each given by a representative of one major diasporic Chinese museum. All the talks were held on Zoom and digitally recorded as the archive of the talks. The recordings have been shared with collaborative museums that participated in the activity. A shortened version of each recording will be made available on the project website subject to the agreement of Co-I's institute (that managed the Zoom meeting account and the recording) |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | The recording of the public talk series provides a foundation for publication and further collaborations between the team and the diasporic Chinese museums after the completion of the funded project. |
| Description | The project has met its objectives by establishing an unprecedented global network of diasporic Chinese museums. It successfully brought together 14 museums set up in different parts of the world, including China, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, the US, Canada, France and Britain through running a dynamic programme of activities over 20 months, including a year-long bilingual online public talk series, two thematic in-person workshops and a hybrid international symposium. The platform created by the project enabled museum curators and heritage practitioners, who otherwise had few opportunities to meet each other, to come together to exchange experience and good practices and have in-depth conversations on collecting, curating, education, public engagement, digital development and other issues. The project directly benefited the development of individual museums by creating opportunities for them to acquire knowledge and new perspectives, raise institutional profiles and expand audiences. Also, and more importantly, it contributed to the development of diasporic Chinese museums as a whole by exposing and discussing key issues central to the development of museums in this emerging field, including commonalities and differences between government and non-government museums in terms of funding models, management styles as well as challenges in sustaining museum operations and shared opportunities for further development. Furthermore, the project equipped museum curators with a comparative and relational perspective that enables them to think differently about museum work by going beyond the conventional territorial and institutional boundaries. It has laid a solid foundation for building and sustaining transnational partnerships between museums across borders, having long-term impacts that have a transformative effect on the development of Chinese diaspora museums. The academic findings of the project, which will be disseminated in the form of an edited volume and journal articles, are two-fold. First, it produces for the first time systematic research into museum representations of Chinese diasporas in the global context and from a comparative perspective, generating new knowledge and breaking new ground in the research on transnational Chinese migration. Second, it employs a multi-disciplinary, multi-sited and multi-linked research method for studying diasporic museums and heritage, challenging 'methodological nationalism' in academic inquiries. In so doing, the project bridges the gaps between academic inquiries and museum practices and between migration and museum studies, contributing to interdisciplinary research on migration and museum studies in Chinese diasporas and beyond. |
| Exploitation Route | This project established an unprecedented global platform and a transnational network for dialogue and cooperation between diasporic Chinese museums set up in different parts of the world. It provided museum curators with an innovative comparative and relational perspective that enables them to think differently about museum work by going beyond the conventional territorial and institutional boundaries. The networking infrastructure and the transnational partnerships developed through the project will be taken forward by participating museums to renew and upgrade their practices after the completion of the project, leaving long-term impacts that will have a transformative effect on museums' development in this growing field. By producing for the first time systematic research into museum representations of Chinese diasporas in the global context and from a comparative perspective, the project opens a new research area, breaking new ground in the research on transnational Chinese migration. Methodologically, it challenges 'methodological nationalism' in academic inquiries by employing an innovative multi-disciplinary, multi-sited and multi-linked research method. The findings of the project and the method it used will likely be taken forward and used by scholars who are interested in interdisciplinary research on migration and museums in Chinese diasporas and beyond. |
| Sectors | Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/diasporicchinesemuseums |
| Description | This project has long-term impacts on developing museums of Chinese diasporas, empowering migrant communities and enhancing EDI. First, it established an unprecedented global network and a transnational platform for conversation and collaboration between diasporic Chinese museums set up in different parts of the world. By running a dynamic programme of activities over 20 months, including a year-long bilingual online public talk series, two thematic in-person workshops and a hybrid international symposium, it successfully brought together museum professionals and academics to exchange experience and good practices and have in-depth conversations on collecting, curating, education, public engagement, digital development and so on. In addition, the project equipped museum curators and professionals with a comparative and relational perspective that enables them to think about their work in new ways by going beyond the conventional territorial and institutional boundaries. The Project Impact Survey shows that participants thought that the project 'let me to know diverse practices in the field and learn from other museums', 'reinforce and rethink some of my work', and 'help me expand ideas on developing programs and collaborations'. Furthermore, the networking infrastructure created by the project paves the way for developing long-term partnerships between museums across borders. At least two participating museums had started to discuss sharing archives and co-produce exhibitions during the project. The PI started to work with the Migration Museum, immediately after the completion of the project, to apply for new funding to support the building of a dedicated Chinese Collection as part of the 'dispersed collection' hosted by the Museum in its permanent home in central London, opened in 2028. If successful, it will produce a pathway to translate the project output into outcome and impact in the context of Britain. The project has produced timely and significant impacts on research. Building upon the public talks and workshop presentations, the team will publish an edited volume with Routledge (2026/26), tentatively titled 'Chinese Diasporas in Museums: Local Experiences, Global Issues and Comparative Perspectives'. This will be the first published research on global museum representations of Chinese diasporas, opening a new research area in Chinese studies and migration studies. It also paves the way for developing a 'diasporic Chinese museology' that can potentially inform museum practices of diverse migrant and diasporic communities. Methodologically, the project challenges 'methodological nationalism' in academic inquiries by employing an innovative multi-disciplinary, multi-sited and multi-linked research method which will likely be taken forward and used by scholars who are interested in interdisciplinary research on migration and museums in Chinese diasporas and beyond. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2025 |
| Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Invited member of the advisory group for the Migration Museum |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | My role as a member of the advisory group will bring a difference to how the stories of immigrants esp, the Chinese communities in the UK are told and shared with the public, changing the public attitude and improving public understanding of immigrants and their contribution to the making of Britain. |
| Description | PhD student recruitment |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The award has increased the reputation and profile of interdisciplinary research on museums and migration into Chinese diasporas and beyond at the University of Westminster, contributing to the increase in the university's PhD student recruitment and enhancing the research environment of the School of Humanities. |
| Description | Chinese Heritage Centre, Singapore |
| Organisation | Nanyang Technological University |
| Country | Singapore |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | As the PI of this research project, I reached out to the research partner who shared the same interest in Chinese museums and heritage for collaboration in this networking project. I have been working closely with the research partner to organise research activities to bring together diasporic Chinese museums around the world for dialogues and cooperation in the form of a monthly online public talk series (ongoing), two regional thematic workshops (planned for July and October 2024 respectively) and a final symposium (planned for January 2025). |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Chinese Heritage Centre at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has played a key role in connecting diasporic Chinese museums in China, Southeast Asia and Australia for organising public talks. It has also contributed to the provision of simultaneous translation of the public talks to reach a broader audience. It will host the first thematic workshop in Singapore and contribute to the dissemination of the project by co-organising the concluding symposium and through publications. |
| Impact | We successfully organised a dynamic programme of activities, including an online public talk series, two in-person workshops and one concluding international symposium, bringing together diasporic Chinese museums set up in China, East and Southeast Asia, Europe and North America for innovative exchange and collaboration across institutional and geographical borders. The team and I brought the latest theories and understandings on museums to the collaborator which has directly informed their museum practices in the collection, curation, education and public engagement. The project has led to fruitful outcomes. We have signed a book contract with Routledge to publish an edited volume to disseminate the output of the project. Please see the details below: Title: Chinese Diasporas in Museums: Local Experiences, Global Issues and Comparative Perspectives Editors: Cangbai Wang, Yow Chuen Hoe and Huimei Zhang Routledge Research on Museums and Heritage in Asia Expected date of publication: 2025/2026 We also plan to publish an edited volume or a special issue based on a selection of symposium presentations. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Museum of Chinese in America |
| Organisation | Museum of Chinese in America |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Through collaborations between academics and museum professionals, the team and I brought the latest theories and understandings on museums to the collaborator which has directly informed their museum practices in the collection, curation, education and public engagement. By organising a dynamic programme of activities, we successfully brought together diasporic Chinese museums set up in China, East and Southeast Asia, Europe and North America for innovative exchange and collaboration across institutional and geographical borders. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaborator contributed to the project by actively participating in the activities we organised, including the online public talk series on diasporic Chinese museums, the in-person thematic workshop held in London and the publication project, sharing with us their knowledge and expertise in museum management and public engagement in the social and cultural context in which the museum was set up. It also contributed by sharing good practices on the preservation and promotion of diasporic heritage and reflections on challenges in developing future-oriented agendas in the field. |
| Impact | A book contract has been signed with Routledge to publish an edited volume to disseminate the output of the project. The collaborating museum contributes one chapter to the book. Please see the details below: Title: Chinese Diasporas in Museums: Local Experiences, Global Issues and Comparative Perspectives Editors: Cangbai Wang, Yow Chuen Hoe and Huimei Zhang Routledge Research on Museums and Heritage in Asia Expected date of publication: 2025/2026 |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | A year-long bilinggual public talk series on diasporic Chinese museums |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | From August 2023 to November 2024, the team successfully organised a year-long online public talk series, including a total of 12 talks, each given by a representative of a major museum on Chinese diasporas set up a wide range of countries including China, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Canada, Australia, France and the UK. To generate a wider impact, the talks were made bilingual (English and Chinese) to reach both English speakers and members of Chinese communities. The inaugural talk given by the PI attracted nearly 100 participants and each of the following talks was attended by 30-50 people from different countries and time zones. The research team (PI, international Co-I and the Project Coordinator) chaired the talks in rotation. In total, more than 500 people from around the world participated in the talks we have organised. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/diasporicchinesemuseums/public-talk-series/ |
| Description | An international symposium hosted by the University of Westminster to conclude the project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An international symposium, titled 'Bridging the Gap Between Migration and Museum Studies in Chinese Diasporas and Beyond', was hosted by the University of Westminster in January 2025 to conclude the project. This hybrid event successfully brought together about 100 participants (60 in person and 40 online) including academics, museum professionals, and members of diasporic Chinese communities from a wide range of countries, to discuss the intersection and interaction of the movement of people and things in a global context through the prism of the museum. The team also reported to the audience on the past events of the project and discussed its future research and publication plans. Feedback shows that attendees have increased interest in the 'interdisciplinary research field including art curating, Chinese diaspora, history and cultural studies', 'learned various perspectives provided by different disciplines to see similar phenomena', 'knowing more about the main trends in the field', 'meeting outstanding scholars from different backgrounds', and 'glad to meet PhD students, as I am interested in understanding the what the next generation of scholars find relevant in the field of museum studies'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.westminster.ac.uk/events/international-symposium-bridging-the-gap-between-migration-and-... |
| Description | Public talks on diasporic Chinese museums |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The team has so far focused on organising a monthly online public talk series, each given by the representative of one museum on Chinese migration and diaspora. A total of six talks have been conducted since the project started. They were given by museum curators/directors of museums in China, the Philippines, the US, Australia and the UK respectively. Four to five more talks have been planned for the next stage of the project. To generate a wider impact, the talks were made bilingual (English and Chinese) to reach both English speakers and members of Chinese communities. The inaugural talk given by the PI attracted nearly 100 participants and each of the following talks was attended by around 50 people coming from different countries and time zones. The research team (PI, international Co-I and the Project Coordinator) chaired the talks in rotation. The biggest impact of the series so far is that it has developed a platform for curators and professionals of diasporic museums set up in different parts of the world to for the first time come together to exchange ideas and practice and explore collaborations in curating, exhibition and outreach activities. It also offers an opportunity for grassroots cultural organisations in the UK and other countries to join the conversations to learn from each other how to engage with the public and construct a more inclusive society through bottom-up heritage-making and museum practice. Thirdly, the talks have drawn wider attention from academics on the research of China, museums and heritage. We have been contacted by scholars based in the UK, France, Poland, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore and China who have expressed interest in the project and the intention to collaborate in research and funding applications on the research into Chinese diaspora, museums and cultural heritage. Finally, the activities have also stimulated wide interest among a global audience in the topic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/diasporicchinesemuseums/public-talk-series/ |
| Description | Two in-person workshops on diasporic Chinese museums held in Singapore and London respectively |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two in-person workshops were successfully held in Singapore and London respectively. The Singapore workshop was hosted by the Nanyang Technological University (where the Co-I was based) in July 2024, participated by museum directors and curators from seven different Asian countries and Australia as well as more than 30 local museum and heritage professionals of Singapore. The London workshop was hosted by the University of Westminster (where the PI was based) in October 2024, bringing together museum directors and curators from Australia, Canada, the US, France and Singapore as well as more than 40 museum and heritage practitioners, scholars and doctoral researchers in the UK. Workshop feedback shows that participating in the workshops increases the attendees' interest in the topic of diasporic Chinese museums, helps them gain new knowledge and understanding of the topic and opens up new avenues for their work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://blog.westminster.ac.uk/diasporicchinesemuseums/workshop/ |