Study On The Fundamental Construction Of HUAYU Basic Information Resource Database For Overseas Chinese In America

Since the beginning of the 21 st century,the population of overseas Chinese has grown substantially.In the Americas,there has been a surge in the number of Chinese in North America,the traditional destination for Chinese immigrants,and a growing number of Chinese immigrants in Latin America.At present,there are more than 5.5million Overseas Chinese in the United States and 1.9 million overseas Chinese in Canada.In the past 15 years,the overseas Chinese population in Latin America has increased by 410,000 people.By 2014,there were 1.21 million overseas Chinese in Latin America,and the number exceeded 3.4 million if the Chinese are included.Overseas Chinese play an important role in the exchanges between China and the Americas,and the large number of overseas Chinese are a key force in enhancing cultural exchanges,promoting friendly cooperation and enhancing China’s image.There are abundant Chinese language resources hidden behind the rapid growth of overseas Chinese in America.With the development of information and electronic age and the deepening of the view of language resources,it is imperative to build a database of basic Chinese language information resources for overseas Chinese in America.Based on the design of the Database of Basic Chinese language information resources for Overseas Chinese in America,this paper introduces the general situation of the database collection,and analyzes the cases of Cuba,the United States,Canada,Venezuela,Dominica,Brazil and Peru,focusing on the population of Chinese speakers,fields of Chinese use,transmission and inheritance paths,Chinese identity and so on.In this data collection,there are unbalanced regions,countries and resource themes.Through collating relevant data,it is found that the new immigrants in the Americas show different demographic characteristics from the old immigrants.In addition,the declining use of Mandarin in countries dominated by older immigrants may eventually lead to a shift to the local language.It is more common to use both Chinese and the language of the country where the majority of immigrants are coming from or where immigrants are constantly coming from.The main places where Mandarin is used in America include: Chinese families,Chinese schools,Chinese communities,Chinese churches,etc.The language policy of the host country,the language planning of the "Three Treasures of The Chinese Community" and the language awareness of the parents are all influential factors.In contrast,the effect of north American Chinese inheritance is better.The use and inheritance of Mandarin in America are closely related to political identity,identity and cultural identity.Finally,this paper puts forward the prospect of the application of Chinese basic information resource database for Overseas Chinese in America.