Editors' Note

In this issue, we are pleased to present five articles which cover a wide range of topics that deal with the Chinese in Southeast Asia, New Guinea and USA. The first three articles deal with new and old Chinese migrants as well as issues of identity and political participation. Brenda Chan describes the new Chinese migrants to Singapore, and discusses the articulation of identities in cyberspace. The article adds to the relatively new academic interest in studying virtual communities, and is also useful for our comparison of virtual communities with traditional Chinese associations in the maintenance of cultural and national identities by migrants. The second article by James St. André examines cultural identities by studying the Chinese literature written by selected Chinese writers in Malaysia and Singapore. His use of "trunk" metaphor for cultural memory and identity formation is interesting, as different writers can pack their cultural baggage differently to present their Chinese identities. Pei-Te Lien's article discusses transnational "ethnic homeland" concerns and participation in US politics, and finds that "homeland political concern among Chinese Americans may be associated with a higher level of general activism in US politics."

This brings us to the last two articles, by Huang Jianli and Tetsu Ichikawa. Huang examines the interrogation of wartime patriotism of the famous Chinese businessman Aw Boon Haw, whose name is associated with the Tiger balm ointment. His discussion shows the intricate links between business and politics. Tetsu Ichikawa describes the Chinese in New Guinea, adding to the existing literature by bringing in new data on recent Chinese migrants from Southeast Asia and China. The migration of Chinese from Malaysia, for example, is already a form of re-migration, and interestingly the article also discusses the re-migration of the new migrants, to Australia in particular. The role of the local Buddhist temple in providing Chinese education and in maintaining Chinese cultural identity is also discussed.

In this issue we have a report by Carine Guerassimoff on Chinese migration to France and Europe, with a focus on women. There are also four book reviews that deal with publications on Chinese overseas.

For more 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 this journal.