Introduction

The ‘heritage corridor’ concept is introduced and a theoretical basis is provided for its validity as a framing device for the material heritage of transnational migration. The relevant literature in the fields of migration studies and heritage studies is reviewed. Particular attention is given to the phenomenon of transnational simultaneity, in terms of which migrants experience home and away simultaneously, and the way that this translates, in heritage terms, as arrays of interconnected objects and places distributed across the space of transnational migration corridors. The Zhongshan–Australia heritage corridor, the main subject of the book, is then introduced with a brief summary of the history of Chinese migration to Australia between the 1840s and 1940s. The involvement of Chinese–Australian in the building of ‘remittance houses’ in their ancestral villages in China is summarised. The order of chapters is then presented along with a brief overview of what each comprises.