Zhu Qian, Lu Ming, Qin Yanjia
School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Blk410135 Xinggang Xi Road, Guangzhou, 510275 No China.
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Int J Anthropol Ethnol. 2023;7(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s41257-023-00083-2. Epub 2023 Mar 21.
Social network theories are used extensively to analyze the international migration of Chinese to overseas regions in the era of Market Economy Reform since 1978. Attention is paid especially on the role of social networks among overseas Chinese on disaster relief in China. Focusing on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates how social networks work as a crucial mechanism through which Chinese immigrants in Germany initiated and delivered monetary and material donations to China in early 2020 and then organized self-help in their everyday lives in Germany in late 2020. Different from previous studies, this paper scrutinizes social networks for disaster relief on the macro, meso, and micro levels. Multi-site ethnographic fieldwork in China and Germany combined with online and offline data collected from focus group sessions, interviews with individuals, participant observations, surveys, analysis of news reports on the pandemic, and analysis on relevant policies are utilized comprehensively to collect data on the three levels. This research discovers that internet tools - represented by WeChat - have integrated tightly into the traditional social networks of Chinese immigrants and consolidated the cultural cohesion from overseas Chinese to their connections in China. This paper aims at contributing to present studies on Chinese new immigrants, social network, and disaster management theories with an updated ethnographic case on the COVID-19 pandemic from Germany.
自1978年市场经济改革以来，社会网络理论被广泛用于分析中国人向海外地区的国际移民情况。尤其受到关注的是海外华人社会网络在中国救灾方面所发挥的作用。本文聚焦于当前的新冠疫情，研究了社会网络如何作为一种关键机制，使在德国的中国移民于2020年初发起并向中国捐赠金钱和物资，随后在2020年末在德国的日常生活中组织自助活动。与以往研究不同的是，本文在宏观、中观和微观层面审视了用于救灾的社会网络。在中国和德国开展的多地点民族志田野调查，结合从焦点小组讨论、个人访谈、参与观察、调查、疫情新闻报道分析以及相关政策分析中收集的线上和线下数据，全面用于收集三个层面的数据。本研究发现，以微信为代表的互联网工具已紧密融入中国移民的传统社会网络，并巩固了海外华人与其在中国的联系之间的文化凝聚力。本文旨在通过一个来自德国的关于新冠疫情的最新民族志案例，为当前关于中国新移民、社会网络和灾害管理理论的研究做出贡献。
