Integration And Differentiation:the Internal Relations In The Ethnic Chinese Community Of Mandalay From The Perspective Of Overseas Chinese Education

Myanmar is an important neighbor of China, and there is a long history of friendship between China and Myanmar. According to historical records, Chinese people have entered Myanmar for business since the Qin and Han dynasties. The oldest Chinese community in Myanmar was formed in the Yuan dynasty, and the Chinese community in Myanmar reached maturity in the Ming and Qing dynasties. During that time,"Ming Street","Chinatown" and other well-known Chinese communities appeared. According to incomplete statistics, there are about1million ethnic Chinese now living in various parts of Myanmar, and ethnic Chinese has become an important ethnic group in Myanmar. Therefore the study of ethnic Chinese in Myanmar has become a contentious issue in academic circles, with many studies focusing on internal relations in the ethnic Chinese community. There are two very different views on the internal relations in the ethnic Chinese community of Myanmar. Many scholars believe that the ethnic Chinese community in Myanmar is highly integrated and united, while others believe that the ethnic Chinese community in Myanmar is highly diverse and full of contradictions. This paper attempts to answer the questions raised by these two different point of views.Using anthropological methods, this paper focuses on the ethnic Chinese community in Mandalay as a case study of the ethnic Chinese community of Myanmar. It tries to look into the issue of internal relations in the ethnic Chinese community of Myanmar through a community-depth investigation. After a long period of field research, I found that we could glimpse into the issue of internal relations of the ethnic Chinese community in Mandalay through investigations of overseas Chinese education in Mandalay. The overseas Chinese education in Mandalay is not only a platform for transmitting Chinese language and culture, but also what holds together and strengthens social integration in the Mandalay Chinese community. The overseas Chinese use the platform of overseas Chinese education to strengthen integration, through mother tongue teaching methods, making rules for the campus language life, holding festivals and rituals associated with overseas Chinese education, and with the help of external forces etc. The overseas Chinese education in Mandalay has become an important means for ethnic Chinese in Mandalay to build the society of acquaintances, which is called the "Chinese circle". But at the same time, the overseas Chinese education in Mandalay has become a focus of differentiation when dealing with the internal interactions and relations in the ethnic Chinese community. First of all, the differentiation appears as regional differentiation. Although fellow Chinese, the overseas Chinese education in Mandalay reveals different ancestral identities (mainly from Yunnan and Fujian). Secondly, this differentiation is also reflected in differences of political identity. Some ethnic Chinese are shaping a "pro-Taiwan" political identity, while others are trying to strengthen the "pro-Mainland" political identity through overseas Chinese education. Thirdly, the overseas Chinese education in Mandalay is involved in the battle for economic interests.This paper attempts to prove that the integration and differentiation of the internal relations embodied in the overseas Chinese education are a kind of initiative practice. The ethnic Chinese take this as a fight against their own unfavorable external environment. In Myanmar, the ethnic Chinese cannot enjoy full civil rights:as "inferior citizens" they are at the edge of society and politics. On one hand, the ethnic Chinese are strengthening internal integration through the initiative practices of overseas Chinese education. They use this method of consistent unity to maintain the survival and development of the marginal groups. On the other hand, the ethnic Chinese in Mandalay are promoting internal differentiation in the ethnic Chinese community through overseas Chinese education, taking this as a political practice of the powerless struggling for power. In conclusion, this paper proposes a new concept called the "inhibiting effect of the Golden Hoop", based on symbolism from Chinese novel ’The Journey to the West’. This proposes that the initial practice conducted in overseas Chinese education by overseas Chinese has not caused its external structure to change in a favorable direction, but has led to further marginalization of their status.