Editorial Note

This issue begins with an insightful article by Prof. Edgar Wickberg, a renowned scholar on Chinese overseas. His discussion of Chinese overseas and their negotiation of identity is testimony to his experience of life-long research on the Chinese in Southeast Asia and North America. Using Vancouver as an example, Prof. Wickberg discusses the local sources of Chineseness; his inclusion of the internet on identity formation is both interesting and relevant.

Much has been written about major Chinese community leaders in Chinese overseas studies. But there are others — no less worthy in their contributions to the community — who have remained relatively unknown. Jason Lim writes about Lim Keng Lian (1893–1968), a tea merchant and a Kuomintang supporter as well as a Hokkien community leader in Singapore. The article describes his political and other activities in Singapore and Malaya and his concern with events in China. Above all, the author believes that it is on the reform of Chinese education in Singapore that he has left a lasting influence.

In his article on Chinese language maintenance based on his study of weekend Chinese schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, Wenzhong Yang assesses the influence of Chinese-American parents' perceptions and activities on their children's Chinese language use and proficiency. The study confirms the prevalent view that speaking Chinese regularly at home is crucial to Chinese language maintenance. As Yang points out, proficiency in Chinese is difficult "once English becomes the dominant home language." The Chinese-American parents in the survey expect their children to be both proficient in English and Chinese, not just to be well-prepared for the job market, but also to know Chinese heritage and culture. Although the study takes place in the US, many parents in Singapore and Malaysia will probably concur with the findings.

Ann Heylen writes about the life of Cai Peihuo in colonial Taiwan. Cai's experience under Japanese rule is relevant to the study of the lives of educated Chinese elites in other colonial societies, hence our decision to carry the article. Cai's promotion of romanized Taiwanese and his careful dealings with the Japanese colonial authorities reflect the class interest of elitist Chinese concerned with both the ambiguities and modernity of Chinese culture and identity.

Other than the usual Book Reviews section, we introduce in this issue a new feature, namely, Book News. Unlike some other journals which have a section on Books Received, our section provides news on books recently published and lists books that are useful to researchers but are not widely known because of the languages or venues of publication. For instance, publications by Chinese organizations or local museums may not be known to researchers in other parts of the world. Readers are encouraged to submit to the Review Editor details of items that may be of interest or useful to others.

For information about the Journal of Chinese Overseas, please visit <http://www.chineseheritagecentre.org>. The Chinese Heritage Centre gratefully acknowledges the Lee Foundation's sponsorship of the publication of the journal.