The Interpretation of “diaspora” in Chinese Language: its Diversity and Influence on Social Theory and Practice

Introduction . The Chinese language, unlike Russian, has several terms, denoting different statuses of Chinese migrants, but there is no term such as “diaspora”. These features are interpreted by the authors along the lines of social ontology as independent sociological concepts, constructing particular migrant groups. The article’s oobjective is to show their internal coherence and correlation with the notion of “diaspora” as well as to outline the difficulties and problems occurring as the result of the interaction between researchers dealing with the topic. The relevance of the study stems from the fact that researchers have paid little attention to differences in national academic discourses that are meanwhile very important because intercultural differences can only be negotiated if there is an understanding of what they are. With regard to diaspora discussions, this understanding has yet to be developed. The article shows that in diaspora studies there is a language barrier, which at the moment is currently an impassable obstacle for authors who write about the diaspora in different languages. Methodology and sources . To work on the article, the authors used a discursive analysis of academic texts on Chinese migration and Chinese migrants, as well as dictionaries and official documents such as the Large Chinese-Russian Dictionary, the Tsihai Dictionary (辞海 ci hai – Sea of words), the Large Russian Encyclopedia, State Council resolutions, and Chinese legislation. Results and discussion . The treatment of 10 terms replacing the notion of “diaspora” in Chinese language is disclosed. The authors describe characteristic features of each group. It is illustrated that there is a linguistic asymmetry, as a result of which the European notion of “diaspora” receives specific connotations when translated into Chinese that cannot account all the features of this community, thus in the Chinese academic discourse the substitution with the most important from the translator and editor's point of view equivalent (the situation “instead of diaspora”) is made. Conclusion . It is concluded that in Chinese, through translation, the author expresses important features of the migrant community, emphasising either its closeness, or its distance to the “diaspora” status.