A 'reality of return': the case of the Sarawakian-Chinese visiting China

Using an interpretive ethnographic framework, this paper focuses on how travel to the homeland informs the identity of the Sarawakian-Chinese, a diaspora that contains a composite of subcultures. The data collection is based upon 35 semi-structured interviews and participant observation of a SarawakianChinese tour group to China. Whilst emotional connections with China are universally signi�cant in constructing the diaspora's ethnic identity, the strength of association is influenced by characteristics of education, religion and language, as identity becomes re-de�ned and plural. The �ndings suggest that the influence of tourism to the homeland may not necessarily be signi�cant in enhancing emotional and cultural connections with China. Instead, ambivalent connections to homeland become established during tourism experiences. Visits to the homeland could play a signi�cant role in forging new and hybrid identities of ethnic communities outside the homeland, thereby bringing a new vital dimension to identity formation and communication of the Sarawakian-Chinese in the future.