马来西亚客家移民的家庭流动策略与中华文化认同

Family Mobility Strategy and Chinese Cultural Identity of Malaysian Hakka Immigrants

海外华侨的跨域流动策略以家庭的经营与建设为基础。从19世纪起,越来越多的客家人拥到南洋谋生,此后不同世代的家庭流动策略反映出华南客家人在东南亚地区跌宕起伏的社会过程,海外客家人的代际记忆与中国经验也伴随着时局动荡与民族国家建设而不断变动。以一个马来西亚客家移民家庭为个案,从生命历程的研究视角,结合村志记录、书信文本与口述史料,围绕该家庭三代华侨对客家民居济美楼的兴建与重修为线索,勾勒出1892-2017年这个家庭三个世代从“背井离乡”到“两地为家”再到“家族寻根”的流动历史,探讨在此过程中客家人“离乡不离家”的流动策略。在马来西亚华人流动的历史里,“家”的结构与意义虽不断变动,但“家”所蕴含的中华文化认同却始终不变。

The transnational mobility strategy of overseas Chinese is based on family operation and construction. Since an increasing number of South China Hakka people flocked to Southeast Asia to make a living in the 19th century, the family mobility strategy of different generations hereafter reflects the tortuous social process in Southeast Asia. The intergenerational memory and Chinese experience of overseas Hakka people are in constant flux along with the turbulence of the times and the building of the nation. Taking a Hakka immigrant family in Malaysia as a case study from the perspective of a life course and combining village records, letters and oral historical materials, this article revolves around the construction and reconstruction of the Hakka residence, Jimei Building, by three generations of the family. The study outlines the floating history of the family from 1892 to 2017, from “leaving their hometown” to “making their home in two places,” and then to “seeking their family roots”, aiming to explore the Hakka family’s mobility strategy of “leaving their hometown while keeping their home”. Throughout the floating history of Malaysian Chinese, the structure and meaning of ‘home’ has been constantly changing,but the Chinese cultural identity embedded in ‘home’ remains the same.