Tianmen and Qingtian present different patterns of migration. Most Tianmen immigrants moved overseas due to floods and other disasters, and they relied on street performing skills such as playing the "three-beat drum," selling paper flowers, and extracting teeth worms to make a living. In contrast, Qingtian residents mainly migrated abroad because of the shortage of arable land and frequent natural disasters in the region, leading to difficult living conditions. To escape these difficulties, Qingtian residents moved overseas to seek their livelihoods.
Tianmen and Qingtian immigrants also took different migration routes. As an inland city, early Tianmen immigrants mainly had two migration routes: northward or southward. Qingtian immigrants used their stone-carving skills as a means of small-scale trade, and moved northward from the mainland in small groups. They passed through Siberia, crossed the ocean to Japan, and traveled to Europe and America, scattered through the wider world, engaging in small-scale business activities.
Despite the differences in their migration patterns, both Tianmen and Qingtian immigrants have strong emotion ties to their homeland. They support national liberation, are concerned about their motherland, and have made important contributions to promoting cultural exchange and friendship. Due to their blood and kinship ties with their motherland and hometown, they have strong feelings of nostalgia for their home country. The culture and resources of diasporic Chinese communities are rich and varied, and deserve to be fully utilized.
Professor Qirong Li is the founding Director of the Centre for the International Immigration and Overseas Chinese Studies at Central China Normal University. He is also the founding Director of Wuhan Overseas Affairs Theoretical Research Center and Wuhan Department for Theoretical Research on Overseas Chinese Affairs of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of China's State Council. He is an expert for project evaluation at the National Social Science Fund and the Ministry of Education, a dissertation evaluation expert at the Degree Centre of the Ministry of Education, and Vice President of the Chinese Society of World Ethnography. He was formerly a Visiting Professor at Lishui University, Dean of the Overseas Chinese College and a member of the university's Academic Committee. He was a Visiting Professor at various universities in USA, Canada, UK, Denmark, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. His main research areas are on International Migration and Overseas Chinese Studies. He has published 30 books and more than 190 academic papers.
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This event is organized by the Chinese Heritage Centre at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Center for Chinese Entrepreneur Studies at Tsinghua University (CCES); Malaysian Chinese Research Centre at University of Malaya; International Migrations, Spaces and Societies Research Laboratory at University of Pottiers; and Asia Pacific Center at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).