“The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas” (English and Chinese editions) was launched in October 1998 by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong.

Edited by the Founding Director of the Centre, Lynn Pan, the Encyclopedia is the first written work to provide a panoramic and comparative view across past and present overseas Chinese communities worldwide. Its publication reflects the growing interest of international scholarship in diasporic communities and the worldwide upsurge in ethnic awareness.

The Chinese diaspora is a product of the interplay of diverse histories and traditions. It has inherited Chinese experiences and has also been modified and enriched by transplantation to other continents and civilisations. The encyclopedia’s task is to cover the most important aspects of these experiences.

Not an A-to-Z book with short entries, the volume is geographically and thematically organised. The largest section consists of country-by-country profiles of individual Chinese communities. The rest divides into thematic sections on origins, migration, institutions, ties to China and inter-ethnic relations.

 Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas – French edition

While the book contains a wealth of factual material and is thus an invaluable reference for those seeking specific information, each of its sections is designed to be read continuously. It is written in a way that is accessible to the general reader and yet remain scholarly and authoritative for the academic specialists.

Complex material is clearly and vividly presented in text, boxed features, maps, graphs, and tables, archival and contemporary pictures. Chinese proper names and terms are identified with their characters in a glossary, while full references to Chinese, English, French, Dutch and Russian works are given in the bibliography.

Call Numeber:DS732.E56 2006