The Role of Dress in the Embodiment and Articulation of Chinese Diaspora Identity in the UK

Studies of historical Chinese dress previously developed in relation to Western museum collection practices, and research into the contemporary Chinese fashion industry has grown alongside China’s increased importance across global fashion markets. Missing from these accounts is a consideration of what Chinese-style dress means to, and how it is used by, people of Chinese heritage living in the West. This thesis explores the role of Chinese-style dress in individual articulations of Chinese ethnic identity in contemporary Britain, drawing on a sample of 19 British Chinese people aged 22-60. Following a material-oriented ontology, I combined qualitative semi-structured interviews with analysis of family photographs and Chinese garments and jewellery in personal wardrobes. This British Chinese case study complements research on UK ethnic minority dress practices, and extends the growing work on Chinese diaspora dress worldwide.

Dress is a key appearance-management strategy for this visibly ‘racialised’ ethnic minority. Individuals navigate diverse ingroup and outgroup attitudes towards Chinese ethnicity and Chinese visual styles. I position wearing Chinese dress as a diasporic act that emphasises group-belonging. In the absence of a developed Chinese diaspora fashion economy, such as supports other diasporic communities in the UK, acquiring Chinese dress involves family gifts, purchases made via e-commerce or diaspora tourism. Further, Chinese-inspired styles periodically emerge in UK fashion cycles which individuals may interpret as ‘Chinese’.

The multi-sensory experience of wearing affects an emotive response that creates a personal connection to Chinese heritage. Self-Orientalism can be a strategy to wield the visual emphasis of ethnic ‘difference’ to one’s advantage. I argue that wearing Chinese-style dress creates a ‘diaspora dress moment’ emphasising Chinese heritage. When Chinese dress represents familial relationships, it is a form of generational cultural transmission. Dress offers Chinese diasporic subjects the opportunity to articulate personally authentic formulations of their ethnic heritage across multiple spaces.