ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses home as a transnational place for older Chinese migrants and explores how they develop autobiographic insideness - the sense of identity, belonging, and emotional bond with a place that is developed through people’s cumulative experiences of living in a particular place. Drawing on empirical data from interviews and photographs supplied by older Chinese participants, the chapter shows that many older Chinese participants see themselves as Chinese-Australian. This dual cultural affiliation is reflected in their intergenerational relationships, cultural identity negotiation, and interactions with friends via face-to-face and mediated channels. However, the Australian and the Chinese components of their identity come from different sources. The former resides in their ethnic origin and blood, which cannot be changed, whereas the latter tends to be associated with length of residence in the country, citizenship, and having a house and family members in Australia. The findings illustrate that older Chinese migrants’ cultural identification, belonging, and place attachment are always embedded in both their country of origin and their country of settlement. This chapter highlights the dynamics of identity and belonging among older Chinese migrants who live in a transnational place of their own creation.
