Chinese in Hungary and their significant others:: A multi-sited approach to transnational practice and discourse

Transnationalism is usually examined in a two-sited framework to the country of origin and the country of residence. The first objective of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of a multi-sited optics in understanding transnational practices and discourses. Field observations of such practices, together with narratives from novels, soap opera scripts, and media produced by recent Chinese migrants to Hungary, cicumscribe a self-consistent and coherent transnational social space that extends to many countries beyond China and Hungary. Placing these pieces in the broader configuration of migration from the People Republic of China since the late 1980s, I will argue that discourses and practices within this space are so linked and standardized across geographic boundaries, and disseminated to non-Chinese, as to justify speaking about a "Chinese globalization. " The second objective of this paper is to problematize the role of non-co-ethnics in defining the "we-group" using pieces of art ethnography of Chinese in Hungary and to explore the roles of non-Chinese actors in the Chinese transnational network.