Yu-hsin Liu. Homing the City

HOMING THE CITY Cross-scale exploration of negotiating the idea of home by Chinese women in Antwerp

Yu-Hsin LIU

Promotor: Prof. Hilde HEYNEN Co-Promotor: Prof. Ching Lin PANG

Faculty of Engineering | Department of Architecture Master of Human Settlements | 2017/18

© Copyright KU Leuven Without written permission of the thesis supervisor and the authors it is forbidden to reproduce or adapt in any formor by any means any part of this publication. Requests for obtaining the right to reproduce or utilize parts of this publication should be addressed to Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 bus 2200, B-3001 Heverlee, +3216-321350.

A written permission of the thesis supervisor is also required to use the methods, products, schematics and programs described in this work for industrial or commercial use, and for submitting this publication in scientific contests.

I would like to thank all the interviewees and all the organizations for being so generous to me.

TO MY PARENTS.

ABSTRACT

Homing is the process of remaking a home in a new place by migrants. The concept of home refers not only to material space but also to social relations. In this sense, the home-making process of migrants includes the representation of the spatial condition and social relationships. An individual’s notion of home is often shaped by their environment and experiences, which means that it is constantly changing.

As a result, the homing process is always a back and forth between a person’s real home and the home they aspire to live in. Furthermore, the home-making process can extend beyond the private living space as long as it takes place in a meaningful setting, and, this process also brings domesticity into the city. This research takes Chinese women in Antwerp as a case study, exploring their “homing” process in the city with a focus on both private and public spaces, from the perspective of a Taiwanese woman who is familiar with Chinese culture. In modern society, women live their lives not only in their own homes but all around the city. As a result, they create home-like spaces across different scales. The research questions address the transformation of the notion of home through different objects and the various ways in which they apply the homing process to different spaces. The two main methods used in this case study were participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, and the data was analyzed per each individual participant. The result indicates connections between home and culture, as well as the influence of identity, social relations, and individual experiences.

Keywords: homing, Chinese women, immigrant, Antwerp Chinatown, domesticity

CONTENT

1_Introduction

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1.1_Rationale for the proposed research

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1.2_Research questions

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1.3_Approach and methods

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1.4_Critical reflections

2_From Home to Homing

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2.1_The concept of home

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2.2_Migrants and home/ homing

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2.3_Woman and the modern home

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2.4_Homing the city

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3_Home and Chinese society

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3.1_The multi-meaning of Chinese home

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3.2_Home and the “root”

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3.3_Home in multiple scales

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3.4_Chinese women and Chinese home

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4_Homing the City: Three Cases

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4.1_Case 1: From home to Chinese school

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4.2_Case 2: From home to Chruch

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4.3_Case 3: From home to Fo Gung Shan Temple

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5_Discussion and Conclusions

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5.1_Discussion

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5.2_Self-experience of home during fieldwork

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5.3_Conclusions

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6_Bibliography

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CH APTER 1_INTRODUCTION

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1_ INTRODUCTION1

1.1_Rationale for the proposed research This research will explore the homing process of Chinese women in Antwerp. Antwerp has the largest Chinatown in Belgium, which represents spatialization of the Chinese culture. In addition, it is the result of Chinese immigrants trying to make their new city feel like home. In this sense, the notion of home can be felt and constructed not only in the very private domestic realm but also in semi-public and public spaces.

Chinatowns around the world are sites of expression and negotiation.

They are part of the city and are more than just a site for Chinese culture.

Ang (2016, p.267) suggests that Sydney's Chinatown is not just a place for immigrants but a "dynamic, vibrant, (and) multicultural" site. Because of this, when exploring the homing process in the extra-domestic realm, Chinatown is a very interesting place to start.

This research aims to approach home-making through the eyes of immigrants from both sides of the scale: the home scale, and the city scale (Fig. 1). The concept of home is closely related to culture, and therefore 1. This chapter is also the final assignment for the course "Urban Studies: Research Methodology, part 2 ", which is the parallel course with the thesis.

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Fig. 1 Immigrants homing in different scales

Fig. 2 Homing process (Source: Boccagni, 2017, p.25)

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the notion of home for Chinese immigrants will not be the same as that of Belgian natives. In that sense, this is also a study of cultural perspectives.

Therefore, the research domain will be the overlapping of home, immigrants, and gender.

The existing frameworks related to homing in social science are diverse. In this paper, homing refers to the term proposed by Boccagni (2017). He frames homing as "a range of spatialized social practices through which migrants – as exemplary of people who went through extended detachment from their earlier homes – try to reproduce, reconstruct and possibly rebuild meaningful home-like settings, feelings, and relationships." (p. 26) Homing is the new lens through which we can explore the home-migrant nexus (Boccagni, 2017). This frame is based on the concept of home, which is a much more complicated concept.

Home is the place we live in (Blunt & Dowling, 2006), but the concept of home is something more. The notion of home can be both material and immaterial, and the concept varies in different contexts. Although home can be materialized, it is still socially constructed. The notion of home emerges when the material environment is arranged in a meaningful setting (Boccagni, 2017). The formation of the meaningful setting can be through the way of living (Hanson, 1998) and everyday practice (Cristoforetti et al., 2011), which is influenced by culture. Home in the social realm is regarded as the anchor of the social relation (Dovey, 1985; Allen, 2008), and it links to identity and belonging (Liu, 2014) and thus the nation (Khondker, 2008). The concept of home evolves over time as it is influenced by experience. Therefore, the process of homemaking (Fig. 2) always goes back and forth between the real home and the aspired home (Boccagni, 2017), and the notion of home shifts between material and immaterial, private and public, distances, and life stages.

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Home is an evolving concept, it can be situated in different realms according to the context and keep transformed between them. Home is a set of relations shifting between material and/or immaterial objects.

For instance, some people may associate a photograph of their family members with home. Home can be practiced within a close proximity, or from a distance. For example, immigrants have a new home in their new country while maintaining connections to their home country. Home can be experienced in private and/ or extra-domestic realms - some people can feel a sense of home in their favorite cafe. Home for people thus shifts between those realms within the biographical field (Fig. 2). These concepts situate the real home and the aspired home within the field, both of which are constantly changing throughout our lives, influenced by our experiences at different stages of life. Homing is the "gap-bridging" process between the real home and aspired home which is affected by the external context (Boccagni, 2017).

The concept of home is fluid. For immigrants, the notion of home usually refers to more than one place, namely the original home and the new home. Kochan (2016) shows the complexity and flexibility of the notion of home for migrants. Immigrants bring their notion of home to a new country and give new meaning to it. The homing process can be attached to objects or socially constructed. For example, Zhao and Chai (2013) argue that home as a space is treated differently depending on a person or family’s cultural background2. The way they use the space reveals their concept of home, which is intertwined with society, especially Chinese society (Ma, 1999, 2009). As a result, the ways to represent home are diverse. Studies have been conducted on the relationship between migrants' life stories and home material culture (Miller, 2006), lived experience and the concept of home (Johnson & Bibbo, 2014), narratives of home and symbolic construction (Svasek, 2002), as well as home and emotion (Cristoforetti et al., 2011). This research will be a combination of these aspects, to which will be added 2. See also Chapter 3.1.

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the element of space, as the home is also a stage of negotiation (Heynen, 2005; 2013). Furthermore, Bowlby et al. (1997) discuss the influence of patriarchy and household chores that take place within the home. The special relationship between the home and women will also be discussed in this paper.

To add another element to the discussion, living a modern life means living in the city. Low (2016) refers to homing the city as a way of making the city home-like, which implies an aspect of negotiation between different groups in the city regarding the notion of home (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). The home-making process involves the formation of meaningful relationships and the spatializing of culture (Low, 2010), and it also brings domesticity to the public space.

Taking Chinese women as a case study, the discourse on home in this paper will integrate space, culture, and gender.

1.2_Research questions What are the crucial elements that contribute to the notion of home for Chinese women and why? How does the notion of home transfer between these elements?

To understand the homing process of Chinese women, it is necessary to first become familiar with their concept of home. This research question is trying to find out what kind of setting is meaningful for Chinese women, referring to both the material dimensions, such as furniture and other physical characteristics of the space, and the immaterial aspects, such as the use of the space. This study tries to deconstruct the notion of home into separate elements, and these elements reflect how the notion of home is formed. It also considers the ways in which these elements can be traced back to a person’s experiences, be it their specific upbringing or their cultural identity. Furthermore, taking into account that the idea of home usually evolves alongside the reality of a person’s living situation, this study will explore further how the women’s ideas of home have

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been shaped by everyday life in Antwerp. As mentioned previously, the notion of home is constructed through the living experience, social context, and cultural background of the individual or family in question.

These elements are likely to be different when comparing Chinese and Belgian families. Liu (2014) suggests Chinese people have a strong sense of their Chinese identity, which may be related to patriotism. As a result, the meaning of home for Chinese immigrants is assumed to have strong connections to the homeland, and so do the elements constructing the notion of home, which can be present in both private and public spaces.

The identification of the crucial elements may also give us a clue as to how Chinese women bring domesticity to the city. In this sense, the elements are the agents that conceive the notion of home, and thus this study aims to explore the diverse kinds of agents that enable the notion of home as it extends across space and time, and shifts between the material and immaterial spheres.

Where and how do Chinese women negotiate the notion of home in Antwerp across different scales?

Space can be a stage for negotiation (Heynen, 2013). The stage for negotiating the notion of home is cross-scales. The modern home is not restricted to private spaces; in fact, communal, semi-public and public spaces can all retain a sense of home. This research will focus on the neighborhood scale, because that is the scale located in between the domestic scale and the city. This means that it gives people a certain degree of freedom to appropriate the environment, while its public dimension means that it is also a space of expression. One place that demonstrates these qualities is Chinatown, which is an example of how Chinese people have spatialized their culture in the city, and also retains a sense of intimacy thereby allowing more freedom of expression. While few people actually live there, the presence of Chinese culture makes it feels like home. It represents both the process of negotiating the way of living and the result. This research aims to identify both the place of negotiating and the way of negotiating.

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1.3_Approach and methods As a Taiwanese person, the author has a cultural proximity to Chinese people, from the understanding of the context to the language (Mandarin Chinese). The approach aims to take advantage of this, when it comes to both the bibliography and the interview. The approach used in this research has three phases. However, they are not strictly divided or linear and will influence each other throughout the research.

Phase 1: Constructing the theoretical framework The first approach was an explorative literature review related to the research domain, which is mainly the interrelation between migrants, homing, gender, and city. While the time was relatively limited, the research domain was still too broad for a thorough review. Therefore, it was narrowed down to three topics in order to select literature which would provide more in-depth information on the field of interest: 1. Migrants' notion of home and the homing process The notion of home in academic discourse is very multidimensional3, so due to the limited time, this study did not go deeper than a more general review of the different formations related to home and focuses on the features of the migrants’ specific cases. In addition, the representation of home, which is a crucial link between home and homing, is another realm of focus.

The study aims to present a general idea of the homing process.

2.

Women and domesticity in the modern city

This section is relates to how women’s lives change over time and how they are entangled with modernity through the lens of 3. See, for exmple, Blunt, A., & Dowling, R. (2006) Home (Key ideas in geography), Ch. 2.

Abingdon: Routledge.

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domesticity. This involves a study on the ever-changing relationship between the home and the city and the back-and-forth shifting of women's activities between private and public spaces.

3.

Transnational Chinese identity

Chinese people have a strong sense of identity even after migration.

Chinatowns all around the world show the effects of Chinese migration on other places, indicating that Chinese migrants are not passive receivers of culture but instead make their culture present in foreign countries. This topic studies how Chinese people preserve their identity in other countries and focuses on the aspects that are linked to the home, as the concept of home is closely related to the cultural background of a group or individual.

Phase 2: Exploring the site The second part of the approach aims to study the relationship between people and the environment that has been created at the site, which is the Chinatown in Antwerp.

Antwerp Chinatown is a neighborhood where the Chinese culture is very much present. It is also the only official recognized Chinatown in Belgium 4. The archway located at the beginning of the street is a significant symbol of the unique atmosphere. The Chinatown was created as a result of Chinese migration after World War II. Like in other cities, the first businesses established were Chinese restaurants, and following this more and more other kinds of services and organizations were set up for immigrants. Nowadays, although Antwerp Chinatown is still dominated by Chinese culture, more and more new shops have been set up which create an environment for the expression of pan-Asian culture (Pang & Hauquier, 2006).

4. Antwerp Chinatown has gained the official recognization since 2001, when four lion statues was placed at the entrance, and the archway was constructed in 2010. (Chinatownology: http://www.chinatownology.com/chinatown_antwerp.html)

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However, the reason for choosing to focus on this site is not just because of the Chinese atmosphere and exotic environment but also because of the the social network hidden behind the commercial activities. Besides the shops and services in Antwerp Chinatown, there are many organizations which provide spaces for various activities, some of which relate to Chinese culture5 while others are common activities in Belgium but with a Chinese-oriented membership6. The places where these organizations operate are all potential sites to examine as they are spaces in which culture is spatialized, and are also crucial to the notion of home.

As part of the cross-scale study of homing, Antwerp Chinatown was the chosen site for examining homing in the public space. In order to gain a sense of life in the city, the study engaged with some important places that function as parts of a traditional home. For example, the Chinese school serves as a place to teach the mother language as well as some traditions, and Chinese restaurants are dining rooms in the semi-public space. The places chosen were the places where Chinese culture was practiced, be it through food, language, people, or religion. Furthermore, another criterion for choosing the sites was that they were femaledominated. This was not only because of the higher possibility of meeting women but also because we assumed that the decisions made in these places are more likely to be made by women. Moreover, there were some practical reasons for the choice of sites, such as the difficulty of getting in contact, the frequency of meetings, or the language (a large portion of immigrants speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin). The following sites were chosen for the initial exploration of Chinatown: Chinese school Antwerp Van Arteveldstraat 56, 2060 Antwerpen Chinese school Antwerp is a non-profit organization founded 5. For example, the acupuncture center, Kung Fu, lion/dragon dance and karaoke cafe.

6. For example, churches, women's association, and elderly association.

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Fig. 3 A restaurant in Chinatown.

Fig. 4 Exhibition in the library near Chinatown.

Fig. 5 The archway at the starting point of Van Wesenbekestraat.

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in 1994. Children learn not only the Chinese language but also Chinese culture and traditions through the process of language learning. The school is managed by three women, and the teachers are mostly women. It is a female-dominated place. The students consist of both immigrants with Chinese as a mother tongue and Belgian children.

Fo Guang Shan Belgique Temple Van Wesenbekestraat 61, 2060 Antwerpen Like most of the mosques in Belgium, this temple is located in a typical house in Chinatown. It is painted in yellow, which is a widely used color for Chinese temples. Founded in Taiwan, Fo Guang Shan now has over 200 branches throughout the world, propagating Humanistic Buddism in different places. As the most popular religion in China, Buddism is closely intertwined with Chinese culture, from literature to painting and even food. Fo Guang Shan holds various activities ranging from religious events to cultural courses such as calligraphy and Guzheng (a traditional Chinese string instrument). The temple is frequently visited by a variety of groups interested in Buddhist culture.

Christ's Kingdom Church Van Arteveldestraat 57 Although Christianity is a religion from the west, in China it has taken on a highly localized form. There are Chinese translations of the Bible and hymns written in Chinese, and Chinese Christians are used to praying and conducting meetings in their own language.

Christ's Kingdom Church is not the only church in Chinatown. The members used to meet twice a week regularly on Wednesdays and Sundays, but now that fewer members are available on Sundays, they meet every Wednesday between 14:30 and 16:00.

The primary method used when visiting the site was participatory

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observation. The visits mostly took place on days with activities or special events, while a few separate visits were conducted to observe the difference between the two or gain an idea of what the area is like during a normal day. The focus point of this phase was a more spatial approach to understanding the changes that occur in the space. The data was collected through notes and photos. In addition, drawings were produced to show the space, where necessary. During the visits, group interviews were conducted to gain more information, in the form of informal chats with members of the public. The idea of this method was to reduce the feeling of being watched and interviewed in order to capture the activities in their most natural form.

Phase 3: Meeting the women After exploring the site, gaining an idea of the space, and thinking about it collectively, the study shifted towards capturing a more personal experience. This approach was the qualitative study of individual interviewees. The interviewees consisted of Chinese immigrant women who identify themselves as Chinese, go to Chinatown at least once a week, and preferably are involved with one of the organizations in Chinatown so that the personal experience can link to a more general experience in the space of Chinatown. During this phase, interviews were conducted in two parts. Considering that the notion of home is a relatively intimate topic to ask about, the interview was not recorded, and sometimes, notes were taken only after the conversation to get a more natural reaction from the interviewee. Furthermore, all the interviews were conducted in Mandarin.

The first part of the interview aimed to gain a general idea of the concept of home for Chinese women in Belgium. As a result, the interview could be very informal or very short to increase the possibility of talking to more people. Interviewees were met during field work in the organizations or randomly on the street or shops in Chinatown.

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The method used in this part of the study was the semi-structured interview. A series of questions was designed to find out some important information: 1. When you think of home, what immediately comes to mind?

2. Would you refer to more than one place as your home?

3. What gives you a sense of home in the place where you live now?

4. Did you bring anything from China to your home in Belgium?

5. Do you consider the house you live now to be your home? Why? 6. Do you consider Antwerp to be your home? Why? 7. Which is closer to your ideal home, your home in China or your home in Antwerp? Do you want to move back to China in the future?

8. When do you feel a sense of home in your daily life (doing what, and with whom)?

9. Is there any place in Antwerp that feels like home to you?

10. How often do you come to Chinatown?

11. Where do you usually visit when you come to Chinatown? Does it feel like home for you?

The second part of the interview aims to explore the interdependence of an individual’s personal experiences and their notion of home, as well as the way they use space. As a result, the data was collected through a variety of methods depending on the interviewee and the context.

Apart from the semi-structured interview conducted in the previous part of the study, the interviewee was asked to depict life in different scales.

For the city scale, the interviewee was asked to draw a mind map of the city, which should include the major places she uses in the city, as well as the connections of each place. Then the conversation was conducted according to the mind map she drew. For the home scale, a home visit took place if possible, but as the limited time did not make it easy to convince the interviewee to let a stranger enter her home, a self-taken photograph or video of her home was asked for instead. The photograph not only showed the space but also gave an insight into the way the interviewee sees her own home.

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Phase 4: Analyzing the results The data collected in different parts was put together to produce a hybrid analysis of the spatial and social approaches. To answer the first research question, the data was sorted and discussed according to the different elements of the notion of home. The results were categorized into different topics. Then, the second part of the analysis was individual-based. The experiences of the women were linked back to the field work done in phase 2 (participatory observations and semistructured interviews) to explore the cross-scale homing process for each individual. Taking the cases of three of the women as the main structure, the results will be presented as a combination of phases 2 (participatory observations and semi-structured interview) and 3 (in-depth interview and home visit). Finally, the results of each person were put into the scheme of homing, which was produce according to Boccagni's scheme, and compared.

1.4_Critical reflection Compared to the initial proposal, there were some changes made during the research. Firstly, one of the proposals was to trace the experience of the interviewee and the changing of their notion of home from the past to the future. Unfortunately, after some of the interviews had been conducted, the results revealed that it would require much more time to understand the relationship between an individual’s experiences and their notion of home. It would be too arbitrary to make connections between the results expected and thus almost impossible to study the mechanism of the formulation and changing of the notion of home. As a result, the new research question was less ambitious, focusing on the links between a person’s experiences and their homing activities they are currently engaged in instead of trying to understand every detail of the story in full.

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Secondly, the initial research proposal assumed that Chinatown is a community and that the immigrants who go there regularly have a sense of belonging or are at least familiar with the whole area. However, during the interview, most of the women said that they did not use as many spaces as it was assumed. Most people go straight to wherever they need to be without any detours. Furthermore, because they are so familiar with the area of Chinatown, they spend even less time exploring it than the average tourist. To deal with this issue, the research question was redirected to the semi-public space. The semi-public space has both the freedom of private space and the possibility of being seen by or interacting with others. In addition, the semi-public spaces in Chinatown set up by different organizations have varying degrees of public exposure depending on which activities are taking place, which adds another layer of interest when compared with public spaces. The variation in activities and the way they arrange the space can be linked to the homing process dealt with in this research. Also, according to Ma (2009), the structure of the Chinese home is the prototype of the structure of other social networks. The relationships between these organizations and the spaces they use could be seen as an example of a kind of homing process which is conducted by groups instead of individuals. Therfore this change has enriched the research from the perspective of cross-scale study.

The approach and methods were also met with some difficulties and had to be altered during the research period. Obviously, the limited amount of time allowed for the research restricted the quantity of literature included in the literature review. Although, as mentioned in the previous section, this was partially dealt with by focusing on a few key topics, the Chinese literature used was still much less than the English literature. The reason for this is that since the key reference was in English, it was much easier to find relevant theories and references of reliable quality, especially considering the researcher’s lack of familiarity with the academic environment in China. Furthermore, while in Belgium, it was difficult to access some of the Chinese articles online or get hold

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of the hard copies. While some references from China were still included in the final project, to be critical, the research may have been more comprehensive if it had included more Chinese theories about home The main limitation of the method used in the field work was the number of informants, which provides a relatively narrow view of the homing process among Chinese immigrants. As the time allowed for the research was only enough to review a few places in Chinatown, the selection of the organizations was important. However, although the chosen cases did fulfill the initial criteria, there were some difficulties that made this list less ideal than originally assumed during the initial planning stage. First of all, the organizations in Chinatown are all open to everyone but their methods of communication are not always typical of public organizations. As a result, it was hard to contact certain organizations. For example, the Center for Chinese Elderly in Belgium was one of the organizations listed in the potential contact list, but there were no contact details online and it had no website. There was a venue but it appeared to be empty most of the time. Furthermore, the language barrier presented another difficulty as a large number of immigrants in Chinatown speak only Cantonese. This issue meant that some of the interviewees were less willing to speak.

The chosen method of data collection also came with some disadvantages. The interviews were not recorded in order to allow for a more natural conversation, which means that there are no complete and precise transcripts of the interviews. Therefore, the results of the interviews were highly reliant upon the interviewer's memory and notes, and some statements may in fact just be the interviewer’s own interpretations of what the interviewee was saying.

CH A P TE R 2 _ FROM HOME TO HOMING

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2_ FROM HOME TO HOMING

2.1_The concept of Home When we think about home, we do not always think of the place we are living in now. Home is not the same as a dwelling. So what is home?

Home can refer to the material space we live in, but in fact it is more than just a space. As Blunt and Dowling (2006) suggest, "(Home) is a place, a site in which we live. But, more than this, home is also an idea and an imaginary that is imbued with feelings.

These may be feelings of belonging, desire and intimacy…., but can also be feelings of fear, violence and alienation."

(9% into Ch.11) The feeling of home for different people is varied, and depends on the context of the person’s life, so besides the material and the imaginary, it is also the relationship between a built place and a person’s feelings (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). This relationship allows the sense of home to extend beyond the house. Furthermore, relationships between place and feelings 1. This is a digital version, the quote locates in the Chapter 1: 4/52

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are guided by a number of rules. Feeling at home is special. It requires more than just a sense because it must take place within a specific context, and it involves a special kind of relationship with a place (Boccagni, 2017:). Boccagni (2017) argues that the difference between home and dwelling is that the notion of home implies a sense of security, familiarity, and control, and the notion of home emerges when the material environment is arranged in a meaningful setting. The meaningful setting is different for each person, and it is the immaterial dimension of home, which can be constructed in various different ways. The concept of home is linked to emotions, memories, culture and so on, which are all part of our relationship with a space. For instance, according to an interview on the subject of home with an immigrant, Smith (2014) suggests three kinds of concepts of home: centered home, which relates to location; sentimental home, which refers to identity; and transportable home, which shows the fluidity of home. These associations can be formulated through everyday life, and can also be a result of the cultural or political context (Boccagni, 2017). The concept of home gains its meaning when people interact with the built environment and attach emotion to it. As a result, it changes along with our experiences and through the interactions we have with others. The construction of relationships is a continuous process, and thus the notion of home can be fluid and temporal.

Furthermore, home as a concept can be experienced in multiple scales, from the very domestic private house to the neighborhood, city, and even the country. Objects such as photographs allow us to take part of our homes with us when we go away, and video chatting connects our homes to far away places. To summarize, despite being both material and immaterial, home can also shift between fixed and fluid, between temporary and permanent, and between different scales (Boccagni, 2017).

On the other hand, home is also socially constructed. It can be seen as a social concept because it is the anchor in social relations, which is to say that it is the center from which to extend further relationships. Home is the site from which people start to make connections with others, and

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thus plays a role of linking rather than being completely independent from society (Blunt & Dowling, 2006), as the meaning of home constructs on where is not home. Home is also a base for self-making. It is the anchor of emotion and cognition (Boccagni, 2017). Social identity includes multi-dimensional self-making such as social class or nation (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). The commodities you chose and the way you live reveal your social situation. Home is the place where ‘personal and social meaning are grounded’ (Papastergiadis, 1998:2; Blunt & Dowling, 2006).

Furthermore, self-making not only formulates identity but also results in recognition of "the other". The boundary of home marks out what is different and determines how we decide to deal with these differences.

Home is thus constructed based on the tension between "being home" and "not being home" (Pratt, 1986: 195-6). Given that home distinguishes between inside and outside, it functions socially as a shelter, which separates people from the outside world and makes them feel relaxed and free to express themselves. However, the sense of “not being home” makes people realize that the safety they feel at home is just an illusion and forces them to notice "the other". “Not being home” helps people understand the home. Home, as a concept, is thus conceived of multiple social meanings.

2.2_Immigrants and Home/ Homing The concept of home gains meaning when people are leaving it, as this forms the distinction between where is home and where is not (Case, 1996). Although migration seems to be an opposite concept from home, it still connects to home, albeit a new home. As an act of leaving “home”, it usually leads to a process of home-making in a different place. Home ,for an immigrant, is a strange concept (Blunt & Dowling, 2006), as it is not limited to one place. The notion of home for immigrants sometimes connects to somewhere other than the place they are currently living, especially when they first arrive in a new country. This process

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may also lead to the multi-sitedness of the concept of home (Boccagni, 2017), because it links to the place of origin while still connecting to the everyday reality of the new life (Ahmed, 1999). The original home in the eyes of immigrants is the "complete home" or "ideal home", as this was where they learned about what home means, although now it is just an imagined home as they can never go back to the exact same time and place they were living in. The experience of the old home is consistent and clear while the new home is inconsistent and uncertain (Boccagni, 2017). Migration can be regarded as the interruption of the home experience. The pursuing of a new home in another country implies that the home in the new country is incomplete and is a continuous process.

Furthermore, the immigrant’s homeland also has another meaning for them, as they usually have relatives and friends who remain behind, so their bond with the place includes the social bonds that were formed there. The "ideal home" implies more than just a material setting, it also includes social relations (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). For some migrants, the homeland is a place to return to. It is a place that, in the imagined future, will be home again; it is the home they ultimately pursue. On the other hand, the sense of home for migrants will be re-attached and re-materialized to the new place (Jacob & Smith, 2008). As a result, the notion of home becomes fluid and changes with the new environment through their everyday activities. This means that they sometimes live a dual life, making social spaces that span across nations, and the notion of home for them is thus more dynamic. Home-making for immigrants is not just a reaction to nostalgia but the process of creating a new home in a foreign country (Blunt & Dowling, 2006).

However, immigrants usually do not just adapt to their new life in the foreign city, they also try to make the place more homelike, which is referred to as the homing process. Boccagni (2017) defines homing as a process of the representation of home by migrants, which involves the rebuilding of the “meaningful setting”, and the definition of "meaningful setting" is highly related to the person’s experiences, such as their cultural

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background, as well as the reality of their current living situation. He claims that the home-making happens in three dimensions: cognitive and normative, emotional, and practical.

Cognitive and normative: “what” is expected in the home, which refers to the material things that compose the meaningful setting for each person. It implies a familiar way of living as well as traditions.

Emotional: the feeling of being at home. It is more immaterial and relates to the atmosphere created by, for example, a family photo or native language.

Practical: the conditions of the home. It describes the specific function or qualities of a space such as clean or spacious.

People gain more of a sense of belonging through their use of certain spaces, which also makes these spaces feel more homelike, while everyday practice creates patterns which help to formulate the home.

Also, Hanson (1998) suggests that the configuration of the house shows the patterns of social and cultural life, and these patterns represent some crucial elements of home, which relates to daily life. As a result, the notion of home is constantly evolving throughout our lives. From this perspective, home is both a process and a product (Boccagni, 2017).

Therefore, the process of home-making (Fig. 2) always goes back and forth between the real home and the aspired home (Boccagni, 2017), and the notion of home shifts between private and public, material and immaterial, distances, and life stages.

The homing process is like the bridging of the gap between the real home and the aspired home. It is also a process that bridges the past home and the future home. Migrants practise the notion of home in everyday life in order to maintain their identities, and form connections throughout their lives, between the past, present and future (Boccagni, 2017). Home is a continuous presence throughout the course of a migrant’s life.

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In the case of an immigrant, they have less power to change the outside environment. Thus the interior becomes an important realm for them to create their home. Also, Blunt and Dowling (2006) suggest that tradition is often maintained in the foreign country. Tradition links to the place of origin and brings them back to the "original home". Building the notion of tradition, for example through food, language, or religion, contributes significantly to feeling at home. The familiar surroundings help immigrants feel connected to their home and gain a sense of belonging even when abroad. In this sense, studying the homes of migrants is crucial because it can reveal multiple meanings. A migrant’s home is the closest to the default situation of their vernacular life (Boccagni, 2017). Their home shows both the way they live as well as the way they negotiate with the external society (as home is the interface).

Also, when they bring their ideas of home to the new country, they bring foreign culture at the same time. Home can be a lens through which to study migration.

2.3_Women and the modern home Women are usually linked to domesticity (Heynen, 2005), and they are expected to work within the home. Because housekeeping and interior decoration are considered traditional "women's jobs" and are related to home-making, women are expected to be the person who makes a home.

However, modernity has the potential to change everything (Berman, 1982), and even to destroy the notion of home as a safe place. Modern architecture is usually related to the sense of being unhomely (Heynen, 1999). The values promoted in modern city living, for example "living naked2", go against the emotional feeling of home. Modern architecture creates a sense of being ready to leave home and go towards a new world, which makes part of the meaning of home, protection, no longer 2. The concept of "living naked" here refers to Bruno Taut's term in Van Herck, 2005, which means living with the minimun decorations and feeling the original material of the building.

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so important. Furthermore, the adaptation of new materials such as transparent glass reveal blurred boundaries between inside and outside, enabling the permeability of the public sphere into the private realm. As a result, the domestic realm, which is usually linked to femininity, has a weaker significance. Also the "right" way of living defined by the maledominant modern architectural sphere restricts women’s control over the interior (Van Herck, 2005). This prevents women from taking ownership over the home, one of the few places women have more freedom to express themselves, and thus their power within society is also reduced.

However, this does not mean that women are always against modernity.

Women are not just the passive victims of modernity, as they also want to pursue a better future. Making a modern home for their children is one of the most important jobs taken on by women in modern life. The making of a clean and safe home which meet the new standards of living enables women to also be active agents in the process of modernization.

Furthermore, this process gives them a sense of making their own future, which encourages them to become allies of modernity.

On the other hand, during the industrial revolution, home was regarded as a place to relieve the pressures of industrialization, and it played the role of protection and shelter. Thus the division between private and public was enhanced. Women, who were regarded as belonging to the private realm, were largely invisible in the public realm. Furthermore, women were seen as the property of men and were restricted to developing their own identities only within the home, thus the home functioned to remove women from the "real world" (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). But in modern cities, the private and public boundaries have become less rigid. The development of new kinds of buildings such as department stores has legitimized the free existence of women in public spaces because shopping is part of domestic work (Wilson, 1992).

Also, in the feminist movement, the demand for shared facilities and services has brought domestic work out of the private realm and made it more visible, which has enabled people to think about it differently and

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treat it as a “real work” (Sangregorio, 2010). Ultimately, these strategies that have taken place in modern cities have brought intimacy into the city. Moreover, while during wartime governments focused more on military construction, in peacetime they tend to focus on planning for a better society, which involves both private and public life, and serves to improve the everyday lives of citizens. As a result, more and more public buildings have emerged in cities, such as libraries, hospitals, and community centers, which can all be traced back to the domestic work that used to be done by women and the jobs done by mothers in particular. A modern city in this sense is full of the elements of home (Haar, 2002).

In addition to the domesticization of the public realm, new technology has also brought publicness into the home. For example, the radio and television enable people to stay connected to the outside from within their very private space. Cyberspace allows people not only to receive information but to show themselves to other parts of the world, which is also part of the self-making process. The division between inside and outside, private and public, has become blurred.

To sum up, women in modern society live not only in the "house" but also in the city. Home can extend beyond the house, the apartment, and even the neighborhood. Living in the city transforms the public space into a domestic realm. To study the notion of home in modern life, we also have to pay attention to public space.

2.4_Homing the city Living a modern life means living in the city, so making the modern home, a process which increasingly requires engagement with the city, is also a kind of city-making. Low (2016) refers to homing the city as a way of making the city home-like. Given that people live part of their lives in the public spaces and semi-public spaces of the city, homing the city

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implies the aspect of negotiating the notion of home between different groups in the city. The way the migrants engage with their home can transform the landscape of the community, and also has an effect on the interface between the private and public realms (Boccagni, 2017).

The distinct way in which migrants interact with their environment is therefore likely to have an effect on the city. For migrants, the homing process involves both attaching the meaning of home to a new place and claiming the space as their own (Boccagni, 2017). The Chinatown in Antwerp is a good example of this. Also, when migrants are able to gain a sense of security, familiarity, and control in a public space, this relates to how the remaking of the meaningful relationship is the spatializing of culture (Low, 2003), and it makes the public space domestic. If we take these domesticized spaces as an extension of the home, the extended boundary defines the place that is not home. Although when looking at home as a multi-scalar concept its meaning varies across different scales, this boundary marks "the other." In this sense, the location of the places where people regularly spend time and the pattern of these spaces in the city are essential for understanding their home. Furthermore, the boundary traces the activities of everyday life and social relationships, and also influences a person’s daily routine. Thus the boundary is the result of negotiating the role of culture within the city, and it is a crucial element in the debates surrounding the concept of home (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). Homing the city is the negotiation of the notion of home between residents in the city.

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CH A P TE R 3 _ HOM E AND CHINESE SOCIETY

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3_HOME AND CHINESE SOCIETY

3.1_The multi-meaning of Chinese home The word for ‘home’ in Chinese, " 㵶 " (jia), conveys multiple

meanings, including the individual, the group, the society and the

nation (Ma, 2009). For example, " ⛿㵶 “ (zhu-jia) refers to the physical

living space, while " 㵶‫( " ﳰ‬jia-ting) means family. But the word can also be linked to broader concepts. The meaning of " 㵶㏣ " (jia-yuan) ranges

from the small scale of a single building to the entire world in which we live. " 㵶 ꍂ " (jia-xiang) is the hometown or native land. These various

connections to the concept of home imply the different ways in which Chinese people define their home and project the concept of home onto

social relations (Ma, 2009). When " 㵶 " is mentioned, the connections

a person makes can reveal what the most important dimension in the construction of home is for that person.

Home in Chinese society is always a crucial concept in enabling people to identify themselves, and this relates to the ethical, cultural, and political concept of home.

The ethical home: For Chinese people, home as the social structure

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implies a set of rules and moral principles. These principles are rooted in Confucianism and are still widely recognized in Chinese society. A person’s position in the family defines how they should behave towards other family members and also around other people who do not belong to the family. In traditional Chinese buildings, there are even rules for the allocation of space among family members. The rules of who should live in the middle, who should live at the back, and which spaces and rooms should link to each other are all strictly fixed. The ethical meaning of home helps people to identify themselves within a group.

The cultural home: Life within the home reflects traditional Chinese customs. Ma (2009) claims there are three main values that Han Chinese people, the majority ethnic group in China, traditionally pursue in their

lifetime: good fortune ( 琀 : fu), prosperity ( 珞 : lu), and longevity ( 㜍 :

shou). These three values have a strong influence over the way in which Han Chinese people manage their homes. The pursuit of fortune results in a series of religious events. The prosperity relates to the ensuring of sufficient food, and thus food has also become a significant part of Chinese culture. The pursuit of long life is represented in both the decoration of the home and in Taoism. Thus the characteristics of Han Chinese people are represented in the cultural home.

The political home: Home in China has always been seen as a political community, especially considering the large families that were common in the past. Traditionally, the leader of the family arranges the relations within the family and to other families. Also, the nation and home have always had a strong interdependence in China. Chinese people project the management of the family onto the management of towns and of the whole country. When considering identity, home as a concept exists to promote a sense of belonging and to define territories.

As a result, the construction of home in China can be seen as distinct from western countries. A study (Zhao et al., 2013) shows that the Chinese home has more exclusivity than the Dutch home. Chinese people

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would rather meet their friend in a public space than invite them home, and only the closest relatives are likely to visit each other's homes, while Dutch people invite friends home more often. This study shows how the concept of home can change in different cultural contexts. It also suggests that the difference may stem from the specific meaning of home to Chinese people and the social condition in China.

The formation of the Chinese home is multi-dimensional, and is entangled with the multiple meanings of home. These connections reflect the concept of home for Chinese people.

3.2_Home and the "root" Home has the meaning of origin, which is a crucial part of the Chinese concept of home. Han Chinese people like to describe themselves as "the descendants of the dragon" ( 볨 溸 ⥝ ☭ ), which may only be imagined "roots", but still plays a role in their identity and gives them a position in

the world. The origin defines a large part of Chinese identity on a number of levels. People find others with the same origin and gain power from the feeling of solidarity. Having the same origin can mean having the same parents or grandparents, or it can mean sharing the same ancestor several generations in the past. The definition of the same origin can also extend to having the same last name (as a clan), the same hometown or even the same ethnicity. Chinese people try to define themselves by the groups they belong to, which can be more than one in different situations. As a result, they are more likely to be considerate of the group, and the pursuit of longevity is not just the longevity of the individual but the longevity of the group. Also, the pursuit of good fortune for Chinese mainly refers to “zi-fu ( 㲳 琀 )" (Ma, 2009), which means the fortune of the child, and relates to the importance of producing many successful

descendants. This concept makes the relationship between "father and son 1" the most crucial connection in the family. Chinese regard the posterity of the group as the extension of its life, and thus they consider

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themselves and their ancestors as one. The survival of the individual is not personal, but relates to the existence and extension of the group (Ma, 2009). The human lifespan is limited, but as a group, there are no limitations on longevity, so an individual’s most important responsibility is to make sure the family lasts as long as possible. The values, identity, and memories of a family or group pass from generation to generation.

In this sense, the group represents the past, the present and the future.

Chinese people see themselves as the connection between their ancestors and their descendants (Fei, 1999). Moreover, the notion of home, origin, and identity are merged. Home for Chinese people is the eternal position they present to the world.

To maintain respect for the "root", Chinese people have certain events and norms. For example, it is manifested in the worship and offering of sacrifices to their ancestors. This ceremony helps them make connections with their ancestors, links that remain even though the person is dead.

On the other hand, relations with elders who are still alive can also reflect their respect for their "roots". Chinese people have the concept of paying back, which is less common in other cultures. It is a duty and a virtue to pay back one’s parents. This relationship between parents and children, and between ancestors and descendants enhances the vertical connections within the group. People owe their existence to their ancestors, while the ancestor is able to exist in the present through the posterity of the family. This pattern has become a diffused religion2 which forms the structure of Chinese society. The concept of paying back is also projected onto daily life and the nation. Investment in the homeland can be seen as a representation of this.

“Fen-jia ( ⮖ 㵶 )" is a Chinese tradition, which means the division of

the household. Fen-jia is like the reproduction of the family. However,

fen-jia does not mean that the two (or more) households cut all ties, in fact the bonds between them remain. They help each other when in need 1. As a partriarcal society, daughters were regareded to belong to other families in the future, so the connection was weak.

2. It is usual for Chinese to have a place at home with a table and memorial tablets to worship the ancestors, although it becoemes less nowday.

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and take care of their parents together or in turns. The parents, which are their roots, are their most important connection. “Fen-jia" presents both separation and solidarity.

For Chinese people, the "root" is important to their identity as well as to the culture. Many Chinese people abroad still maintain strong connections to China even after generations. Making the trip back to their hometown to visit their "roots" is a crucial part of this phenomenon.

3.3_Home in multiple scales Jin (1999) suggests that the meaning of the Chinese home is more than just people living together, and instead extends to the family, lineage, clan and the country. As a result, the Chinese home is an extended, huge, multi-dimensional home. He also points out the flexibility of the Chinese home, and that the home is an anchor for social relationships.

Fei (1947,1999) describes the pattern of social relations in China as an "arithmetic sequence". Social relations start from the individual, then to the closest person, and then they are made with other people further and further away. The closer the social distance is, the stronger the connection, which is represented in the unique social phenomenon in China -

"guanxi" ( ꬨ➵ ) . Confucianism suggests that each person, rather than being an isolated or independent individual, is partially defined by their

interactions with society, and this is what is meant by guanxi. Guanxi defines the hierarchy and categories of social relations (Jin, 1992). Also, having guanxi or not enables people to distinguish whether a person is “zi-ji-ren” ( 蔦 䉁 ☭ , one of us) or one of “the others”. However, guanxi

is flexible, which means the definition of zi-ji-ren is also flexible. People find their common traits, which is the first step in the process of making guanxi, and form groups. The fundamental and most natural group is the family. Sometimes, if the common trait is a person or a group, people ask that person (or another member of the group) to introduce them to each other, and this is the way they establish their guanxi.

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The Chinese home is multilayered, just like their social relations. The concept of home is flexible. When people define the other, they are also defining their home, and the scale is varied. This is the way Chinese people establish their identities. People find a group identity and form a group. It is flexible, which means that one person can belong to many groups. Chinese people tend to hide behind the group rather than showing their personal characteristics. Home for them is the symbol of their identity when they deal with the others (Ma,2009). They define themselves by different groups in different situation and scales. They like to act as a whole, and they also presume that people will judge them as a whole. Home is an organic community within the society (Ma, 2009). The concept of being "one" is emphasized in many situations. People help each other to get the best outcome for everyone. This explains the many groups that Chinese people make with other people from China or from their hometown when abroad. Home for them is a cross-scale concept.

As a result, the home-making process is also cross-scale. Home is the basic unit in Chinese society, and it exists in different scales not only as the symbol of the same "root" but also as the prototype of social structure. From family to the nation, we can observe the same logic of group formation and the same ethics people adopt when part of a group.

The vertical connection mentioned previously is present in many groups in China. The father as the ruler corresponds to the leader of the clan and the ruler of the country. People are asked to pay back to their country in the same way as they do to their parents. Almost all groups are imitations of the home, and are not just independent duplicated groups but are also intertwined with different scales of home. Home as the basic unit of social structure influences the way people establish relationships. As an example, Ma (1999) states that the pattern of Catholicism spreading in Zhao County was almost the same as the Zhang family tree, which suggests that religion is connected to the way in which a family is handed down to future generations. Home is the basic unit of society, but it is not independent (Fei, 1947; Ma, 2009). It is always included in a bigger

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structure and continuously evolving, which are key features of the multilayered home.

The concept of home changes with time and space. In the past, the family was the most common group. However, in a society that is more unstable such as the immigrant society, people tend to form groups with people from the same hometown or home country. Furthermore, the ever-changing society triggers new ways of group formation, which is the spatial connection (Ma,2009). These methods of establishing relationships are also the means to help people survive.

3.4_Chinese women and Chinese home A typical house in Chinese is divided into the front section and the back section, which are separated by doors. The reason for the division is not only for privacy but also for division of the genders (Zhuge, 2016). In the past, women were regarded as belonging to men and were supposed to be hidden inside. However, the boundary varied in different situations according to the guest. The boundary was blurred when there were no guests, allowing women to move freely within the house. When there was a man visiting, all the women had to stay in the back of the house.

When the guests were women, the women in the family may have more freedom with the guest but they will be separated with men. The gender division imposed by the men controlling the space was a symbol of their control over the women. This was how space was negotiated in the typical Chinese family.

A traditional extended family in China consists of three generations.

However, it is three generations of the paternal line. The desire to extend the family line is traditionally centered around the male members of the family. The main reason for marriage is to have children. Thus women are, in a way, "borrowed" from the other family in order to produce descendants (Ma, 2009) and are less important than men. In addition, a

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woman’s ties to the family are less strong than a man’s because of their more complicated "roots". Women are the unstable element in the family and often cause fen-jia.

Due to the continued presence of the extended family, the gender equality movement in Chinese has not enabled a massive change in this situation. In contrast to Europe, where the gender equality movement went hand in hand with the human rights of women, Chinese women were liberated to become a new workforce for the country (Wang, 2000), and the main trigger of the gender equality movement was the government, influenced by communist ideology. Women were treated resources belonging to the country, which was the reason they were equal to men. They gained both rights and responsibilities. Communism put an end to women’s status as family property and transformed them into human resources for society, rather than liberating them as free persons with free minds. They were still controlled by the government.

As a result, the gender equality strategy in China did not change the way women were seen fundamentally. Chinese gender equality produced a phenomenon in which the status of women enforced by the law went beyond how women themselves saw their position in society (Li, 2000).

It was government policy that made them equal, not their own demands for equality. Women still saw themselves the same way in which other people saw them. Furthermore, the structure in the family barely changed.

However, the situation did begin to change with the modernization of China and the importing of new ideas related to women’s rights. In addition, due to the one-child policy, there were more and more families without sons, and this weakened the paternal structure as women were becoming family heirs (Shen, 2009).

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4_ HOMING THE CITY: THREE CASES

The structure of this chapter is a person-based story with boxes that highlight the critical issues being discussed. Each part starts with a mindmap of a person and then her experience in the private realm.

Each person belongs to an organization in Chinatown which will also be included in their story. The boxes embedded in the content link specific experiences described in the case study to other interviewees who share the same topics.

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Home

Chinese School Chinatown

Antwerp

CASE 1 From Home to Chinese School Ms. C is a teacher at the Antwerp Chinese school. Her husband is from Belgium, and they have a child. I met her first in the Chinese school, and we were introduced by Prof. Pang. I joined the teachers at lunchtime for several weeks, so I had frequent opportunities to conduct collective interviews. I also participated in some of the school’s events as a volunteer. Then a home visit was made to Ms. C's home. We sat in the kitchen, at the table. She made tea for me. Then she gave me a tour around the first floor of her home.

CH A P TE R 4 _ HOM I N G THE CITY: THREE CASES

Fig. 6 Mindmap of Ms. C

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Chinese School

Mcdonald's /Meeting friends/Cafe/Yoga

Park with child Supermarket Home

Music school / Swimming with child

Tutoring

Fig. 7 Translation of mindmap of Ms. C

Mindmap From the mind map (Fig. 6, 7) of the city, we can notice that Ms. C’s home is the center that connects to other places in the city. Her trajectories extend from home. Home, in this case, is the anchor for her, not only for the social but also the spatial dimension. On the other hand, the trajectories of Ms. C are highly related to her child's activities such as the music school and the park. These activities show that her life is significantly influenced by her child. Perhaps because she is almost a fulltime housewife (she only teaches at the Chinese school on Wednesdays and Saturdays), taking care of her child is a significant portion of her job. Her routine is therefore closely intertwined with her child’s. Having a child can be the first significant shift in the notion of home that takes place in a person’s life. Parents share their time and resources with their child, and also try to build an ideal home for their child (Box 1.1).

CH A P TE R 4 _ HOM I N G THE CITY: THREE CASES

Box 1.1: Children For the many women in Chinatown, the birth of their children is one of the most significant changes in life and contributes to the notion of home. On a practical level, taking care of children is one of the "tasks" usually taken on by women, and thus children become a large part of their everyday routine. But to add to this, maternal love makes women considerate of their children’s needs. What they want is what is good for their children. Ms. A said: "My ideal home now would be more like an ideal home here. My child will grow up and may compare our home to other classmates’ homes. I want to make a home that is nice according to the standards they have here, for my child’s sake. We cannot continue all the aspects of our lifestyle in China. For instance, we would rather our child did not drink cold water, but in the schools here they only have cold water."

During the interview, she also said that when she was looking for a place to live, she wanted it to have space for the children such as a big yard. From her story, we can feel how important children are to women. We also see how children change their parents' notion of home. Ms. A embraces European culture because of her children.

Children are also a critical factor in influencing whether or not parents want to stay in Belgium - as Ms. T said: "When I think of home I think of the home here in Antwerp because my children are here...I think I will stay here as my children will probably still live in Belgium in the future. They are more familiar with life here than in China, and it would be almost impossible for them to go back to China."

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Children for her define the location of home both now and for the future.

home territory The dining room of Ms. C’s home is an excellent example of how she focuses on her child. Ms. C used to have meals with her child at the dining table, but they do not do this anymore. The table is full of pieces of her child's Lego. She said helplessly that every time she cleans the table during the day her son messes it up almost as soon as he gets home. She sees Lego as her son's hobby, and she doesn’t want to oppose this hobby by bothering him. Therefore, the dining table remains her son's working table and they have meals in the kitchen instead.

There may be another reason for the occupation of the dining table.

Ms. C and her husband usually have meals separately due to her husband’s working hours and their different dietary habits. They are used to food from their own countries and are only willing to eat the food of the other country once in a while. As a result, Ms. C usually has meals with her son and her husband usually eats alone. They only need a small space for dining. The dining time is no longer a time to chat and discuss daily life at the table and the dining room is not the space for it, either.

The separation of dining was one of Ms. C’s complaints about her home: "The notion of home for me is the family having meals together, but my husband cannot have Chinese food every day. He likes Chinese food, but just as a special meal every now and then, and I am not used to eating Belgium food nor do I know how to cook it. As a result, we eat separately, and sometimes this makes me feel that there is no sense of home."

The use of the dining room is also related to other activities. The kitchen is Ms. C favorite place (Fig. 8). She spends most of her time there cooking, dining, and also using the computer or reading at the kitchen

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Cookwares for Chinese food

Chinese calendar

Electric kettle for tea Fig. 8 Ms. C's favorite place - the table in the kitchen.

Fig. 9, 10 Objects of Chinese in the kitchen.

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table. She like this space not only because of its features (it is bright and well ventilated) but also because it is the place she is most familiar with and has the most control over. This familiarity and sense of control allow her to feel a sense of home. In this context, the notion of home was created through routine. As she said, the dining room is occupied by her son and the living room is occupied by her husband. It appears that the space in their house is divided into three parts. Even her guests use only the kitchen. However, the dining table is sometimes cleaned and used.

"My husband has no relatives (his parents died). He does not usually invite people home. However, when he has guests visiting, it is more formal than when my friends visit. We clean the living room and dining table, and have meals there."

When her husband has guests, they are entertained by the whole family, and both the living room and dining room are used. Unlike her own friends, who are considered more intimate, the guests of her husband are the "other" to them and make the family one.

Negotiation also happens in relation to the way the family treats the house. As Ms. C mentioned, her husband regards the house as his fortress, and she gave an example of this. Her husband wants every window closed to cut off any connection to the outside world while she prefers to keep some windows open for ventilation. Furthermore, she once considered moving to a better neighborhood, but her husband thinks it does not matter what the surroundings are. He wants his house to be comfortable and have no interaction with its surroundings. The idea of home is also reflected in choices related to interior design. Ms. C believes that the huge sofa her husband bought does not fit their living room. He considered only the comfort of "his corner", not the entire interior space. Ms. C feels that these differences stem from their different cultural backgrounds. She also mentioned that her husband has no interest in food so they usually go to the same restaurants, while she and her Chinese friends like to try new places to eat, and share information

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of nice places they have found. Their habits and concept of space result in the different ways they use it. The negotiation of windows and restaurants is the negotiation of the notion of home. Home is practiced through the unique ways in which the couple uses the space.

Furthermore, the lifestyles of them are distinguished in another way.

“My ideal home would be more like Chinese home. There were more people at home when I lived in my previous home in China. It was lively. My sisters and I could talk together, eat together. However, I did not have a room of my own, so I was always long for my own house. Now, I have my house, but I feel empty.”

The experience of Ms. C in her previous home gave her some ideas of what a good home should be like. The concept that dining together or chatting with friends would make her feel home would probably come from her home experience in a big family. However, it is different from her husband’s experience, and which is the reason they have so many things to negotiate.

The division also relates to everyday life in the house. Ms. C is the one who cooks most, which means that she is also the one most familiar with the kitchen. She claimed that her husband knows nothing about the kitchen and gave an example: once he surprised her with the renovation of the kitchen after she returned from China, and the problem was that the kitchen looked tidy, but everything was in the wrong place.

"He could hardly tell the difference between various Chinese ingredients such as vinegar and sesame oil, so I kept finding things in weird places with other ingredients that do not belong to the same category. It took more than a month to find all my kitchenware and food and put it back in the right places."

The kitchen is also where Ms. C has most things from China to enable her to make Chinese food, which is both the result and the reason for the territory division (Fig. 11). The kitchen, which "belongs" to Ms. C, is full of kitchenware and food that is only used by her. The living room and the hallway, on the contrary, are filled with her husband's computer

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Lego on the table

Big television "Oversized" sofa Computer hardwares on the shelves Computer

Ms. C's territory Ms. C's husband's territory Ms. C's son's territory

Decoration on the window (Fig. 12)

Decorations around the windows (Fig. 13)

Fig. 11 The territory in Ms. C's home.

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Fig. 12 Decoration on the window

Fig. 13 Decorations around the windows

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accessories and computer hardware, and the Lego in the dining table is part of her son’s activities. The place a person spends most of their time in has more of their belongings, and being surrounded by familiar things helps to formulate a sense of belonging, which encourages one to stay there more often. This is similar to home-making.

Food activities Food has always been an essential part of Chinese culture. It is not only the taste, but also the activities surrounding food, that can make people think of home (Box 1.2). Dining together is one example. Chinese food is usually shared with everyone, and this sense of sharing enhances the sense of being a community. Similarly, Ms. C mentioned another food that is shared with friends.

"Tea means a lot to me. Whenever my friends come to visit me, I make a pot of tea. I am not a big fan of tea, and the tea is not a premium one, but when we share the same pot of tea, I feel a sense of home."

Sitting around the table, having a cup of tea and chatting with friends is what makes Ms. C feel like home. This kind of activity is a part of daily life for many Chinese women in Belgium. They can talk for a whole day, with topics ranging from husbands and children to fashion. According to Ms. C, Chinese people prefer to interact by exchanging their daily stories and problems than through other activities such as exercise. Mr. C enjoys the regular meetings with her friends every week. They usually choose to spend time at McDonald's in the morning and go to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

"We usually go to Chinese restaurants, but not for the food. The reason is that we talk loudly and we feel more relaxed doing this in Chinese restaurants. It is less noticeable when we are loud and speaking Chinese. This is the same reason why we like to go to McDonald's."

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As a northern Chinese person, Ms. C doesn’t really appreciate the food in Chinatown, where the owners are mostly from southern China. The choosing of the place relates to the atmosphere. When Chinese people gather in a restaurant, it transforms the space into another cultural context and allows all the Chinese people in the restaurant to behave more "naturally" instead of being careful about what is improper in that space.

Box 1.2: Food Food is part of culture. Chinese culture is highly related to food. It is not only the taste food that can make people feel at home, but also food-related activities. One example, as Ms. C says, is having meals together. Furthermore, another interviewee Ms. W says that what is important in creating the notion of home is not furniture, but the family relationships, and she uses food to explain: "If the relationship is good between family members, it doesn’t really matter if they dine separately. It will be shown in other ways such as one person waking up early to make breakfast for the others. They will appreciate the gesture, even though you have already left for work."

Food is something that can produce many emotions share them among people. It is the agent that helps the notion of home extend. Ms. C also talks about making food with other Chinese friends. She enjoys discussing flavors and recipes with them, and this is also a topic that the teachers in the Chinese school often talk about while having lunch. "once my friend invited me to make dumplings with Belgian people, and when I did it, I felt like I was working even though I was making familiar foods. I couldn’t enjoy it. When I make dumplings

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with other Chinese people, we can discuss whether it is too fatty, too salty or too sweet. But not with foreigners. They can barely tell the difference, just like discussing whether a steak is medium or medium-rare , I can only tell if it is cooked or not."

Food is related to identity. People who can understand or appreciate Chinese food are more likely to form intimate relationships with Chinese people.

Antwerp Chinese school The transformation of space also happens at the Antwerp Chinese school. This is also a place that has features of both private and public space. The interaction is similar during the lunchtime of the school day.

The students at the Chinese school are mostly second generation Chinese children, while the teachers are all Chinese women. Thus this semi-public space also forms an "enclave-like" space in Antwerp.

The location of the Chinese school is a typical house in Antwerp.

Starting from the entrance, there is already some decoration that reminds people of Chinese culture. The student artwork displayed in the hallway (Fig. 14) marks this space as a school. The room on the ground floor is more formal than the upstairs space. There are many Chinese paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls (Fig. 15-17), items that are connected to the Chinese Association as this is their headquarters. These kind of Chinese paintings do not often appear in their houses, in fact only a few of the interviewees said they have Chinese paintings or calligraphy hanging in their homes. The artworks here are a symbol of the nation, claiming this space. The meaning of the cultural objects creates a stronger link to the country in an attempt to bring the members closer. Moreover, as a headquarters, these objects have transformed the space from an ordinary house into a more official environment.

The objects in the kitchen are different. Here there are Chinese

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calendars which include a lunar calendar and Chinese art. The calendars are not just for decoration but have a function, and they show how everyday life can change the interior. The kitchen is also the place where teachers usually have lunch. During lunch, teachers bring their own food, which is mostly home-made Chinese food, and talk to each other. The food they bring sometimes reflects their origin. Teachers from northern China often bring cooked foods made from wheat (buns, scallion pancakes) while others usually prepare rice. They discuss how to cook and what to cook a lot while having their food. For example, they may discuss how to make lamb tender, or recipes for using up leftover rice.

They also talk about other things, any topics related to their lives such as an incident that happened when doing yoga, the right way to brush teeth, or the design of earrings. In addition, they discuss issues related to students with their colleagues in order to find solutions. The kitchen is transformed into a more private space with these kind of activities, eating and talking about private life.

During school time, the front door is closed. Although the school is open to everyone who wants to join, the space is still closed to prevent unwelcome visitors.

The Chinese atmosphere is also noticeable outside the building.

Aside from the Chinese characters outside the building, the sound of students reading text or singing Chinese songs together is loud enough for passers-by to hear clearly. The gathering of many Chinese parents waiting for their children outside (Fig. 19) the entrance is also an exotic scene in Belgium.

The Chinese school teaches more than just the Chinese language to the students. There are classes about Chinese culture around once a month.

The courses are sometimes combined with Chinese holidays. Students learn about the traditions of that holiday as well as the traditional food (such as dumplings) eaten on that day, and make special decorations.

For example, they made the spring festival couplets for the Chinese New

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Fig. 14 Students' works in the hallway.

Fig. 15 The decorations in the first room transform the Belgium street house.

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Fig. 16, 17 Decorations on the wall.

福 (Fú)：Fortune. (See Ch. 3)

Fig. 18 Decorations on the window brought from China.

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Year. The students’ work is displayed in the entrance hall and makes the space very "Chinese". They are not just learning Chinese for practical reasons, most parents want their children to be "Chinese", and this is one of the ways to help their children become more engaged in Chinese culture. One of the parents said: "I sent my sons to this school because I want them to learn about the Chinese culture, and also because Chinese is think mother tongue. I don’t think two hours a week is enough, so I ask them to practice at home, but they sometimes refuse because they think writing Chinese is too difficult. I also take them to Chinese restaurants and visit China with them every year."

For this parent, Chinese is more than a language. It is part of her childrens’ identity. Ms. C also thinks that the Chinese school means more than just the language.

“Many second generation children feel isolated and feel that they are “the other” at school. We want this school to help them realize that they are not alone and that there are many children just like them."

Chinese school is therefore more than just a place to learn and teach Chinese, it is also a place where Chinese is spoken and students can meet the people with the same origin. While studying together, they discover shared characteristics which help them become more intimate with each other.

The interior setting of the school also changes according to different events. This arrangement is part of the process of making a home.

Sometimes the members of the school community use additional elements to set up the space.

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Fig. 19 Parents waiting outside the school.

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Fig. 20 Decorations and books in the classroom.

Fig. 21 The flags are visible from the classroom.

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Appropriation of the classroom The room on the first floor, in comparison to the one on the ground floor, has a cozier setting. The interior is simple, with only the Chinese books on the shelves and a few pictures providing evidence of the Chinese culture (Fig. 22). During different events, the room can be appropriated according to the needs of the school. It is the most common room for holding events because it is spacious. However, for some events such as the graduation ceremony, they still need a place outside the school to fit all the guests.

Decorations and books (Fig. 20)

The flags (Fig. 21)

Fig. 22 Classroom on the first floor during normal school day.

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Events 1 - Speech Competition The Chinese school held a speech competition this semester to give the students a chance to practice their Chinese speaking skills. The speech competition was divided into lower and higher levels. Students had been practicing for months and were chosen from each class for the competition. The competition was held on a school day, but all the students joined the event instead of having classes.

The space for the competition was in one of the big classrooms. The setting of the classroom was adapted to fit the event and to fit a much larger number of people than usual into the space (Fig. 24). The space between the judges’ table and the backdrop formed a stage for the participants. The panel of judges consisted of the principal and some guests invited by the school. The event promoted the interaction between students, the whole school, and the outside guests.

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Fig. 23 Decorations for the speech competition.

Fig. 24 Arrangement of the speech competition.

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Event 2 - Teacher Training The training was conducted by an organization in China, which aimed to promote the skills of Chinese teachers abroad. The course was given through a video call. As a result, a big screen and camera were set up for this event (Fig. 26).

The event included a ceremony of initiation into the training course.

People from the two sides communicated through the devices as though they were in the same space. They even managed to take a group photo with some of the people in China on the screen (Fig. 25).

This event provided an excellent example of how new technologies can help to connect people to their homeland. The internet nowadays is an essential tool for immigrants, especially considering how fast and how easily it can bring people from different spaces together.

Moreover, during the introduction to the session, the video kept mentioning Chinese history and Chinese culture, which implied that their intention for the course was not only to promote the language but also the Chinese identity as a means of unofficial diplomacy. This kind of training involves an implicit connection to the home country. Although far away from China, the Chinese teachers in Antwerp can still follow the things happening there. Their "roots" are also represented in this cooperation.

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Fig. 25 Group photo with the screen. (Source: Bei jing si zhong wang xiao)

Fig. 26 Classroom on the first floor during normal school day.

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Box 1.3: Homeland The homeland, the place of origin, is no longer a place to live for immigrants. However, as mentioned in previous chapters, the connection remains. Ms. C thinks of her home in Antwerp at the beginning, but she then says: "...then I think of my home in China because all the rest of my family are there."

The family and friends left behind are the most common connection between migrants and their homeland. The only ways they can maintain these relationships are through the internet and travel. The virtual space online is the extension of home(land) and means a lot to them. When Ms. T talks about activities that remind her of home, she mentions video chatting.

"For me, I feel a sense of home most when I video chat with my parents. I also send them messages through WeChat1 every day.

When I contact them, I feel a sense of home."

As virtual space gets more and more accessible, it contributes a lot to the possibility of living in two homes at once.

"Diaspora tourism" is one way for immigrants to experience "the moment of home" (Etemaddar et al., 2016).

During lunch, teachers sometimes discuss flights or when they next plan to visit China. Although their hometowns are distributed around different places in China, it is a common topic to talk about. They talk about the dates or tickets on sale. However, given that the family is an important symbol of home, the loss of family members, especially parents, will

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affect how immigrants feel about their homeland. Ms. C feels there is no place that can be home for her in China since her parents passed away. She usually stays in her sister's home when she goes back to China, but she feels like she is a guest in their home. She considers their home as another person’s home rather than her own home. As a result, she makes shorter visits to avoid bothering her sister too much. Also, Ms. J says "Now that my mother has passed away, I would rather travel to a foreign country than to China. We have to apply for visas and take a long flight to China. There are better choices of places to spend the holiday."

Although there are people who still go back to China for ancestor worship, for some people they lost these connections when they lost their relatives.

1. WeChat is a message app that is popular in China.

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Event 3- Graduation Ceremony The ceremony took place at another building near Chinatown because the school could not fit all of the students and their parents. In addition, the school wanted the ceremony to look more formal. The place they borrowed was a Chinese church. Unlike the ones in Chinatown, this church is located on the third floor of a mid-rise building which also houses several offices.

The main door was an automatic door, which could only be opened from the inside. As a result, one or two people stood at the entrance to keep the door open. There was no visible sign for the church or for the ceremony, so having these staff members at the entrance enabled guests to recognize the place more easily - since the venue did not belong to Chinatown, it was necessary to have Chinese people at the entrance to make it more noticeable.

The place was slightly too small to fit all of the attendees. The parents were more enthusiastic than the staff had imagined, which may imply that the reason the students learn Chinese is because their parents want them to learn it, rather than being a result of their own motivation.

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Fig. 27 The graduation ceremony took place at the church.

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Home Christ's Kingdom Church Chinatown

Antwerp

CASE 2 From Home to Christ's Kingdom Church Ms. H is the "Shi-Mu" (the pastor's wife) in the Christ's Kingdom Church near Chinatown. She has lived in Belgium for more than 30 years, since high school. She and her husband have three daughters who live with them in an apartment above the church. The church opens only on Wednesdays. I walked in one Wednesday, and joined in on a casual conversation which took place before the meeting while they were waiting for the other members to arrive. I also participated in a meeting, including the chatting afterwards. Shi-Mu did not invite me to her home, but she described it and showed me some pictures. I interviewed her several times before and after the meeting.

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(Translation)

Church

Work Home

Relatives

Fig. 28 Mindmap of Ms. H

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Simple life The mind map (Fig. 28) of Ms. H is quite simple. The church is actually in the same place as their home. Her workplace is in another city and so are some of her relatives' homes. Her ties to Antwerp are therefore not very strong.

Ms. H thinks she lives a simple life because as a Christian she pays more attention to spiritual contentment. She has few decorations in her home and barely anything from China, which is not just because she prefers things that are easy to get but also results from the fact that she moved when she was a teenager, which is relatively early. Her lifestyle has been influenced more by foreign culture. Although her home is simple, she still has a few preferences such as the brightness of the space.

"I want my home to be very bright. That's why I use the cotton yarn for the curtains."

Territory at home Ms. H’s lifestyle is reflected in her kitchen. Usually, the kitchens of Chinese immigrants are full of Chinese kitchenware and ingredients.

However, Ms. H says that she is not particularly interested in cooking and she cooks mostly using simple recipes, dishes that do not obviously belong to either the Chinese or Belgium cuisine. The kitchen is therefore not very important to her. She only has a rice cooker, which she feels is indispensable, and a steamer, which she only uses occasionally. The steamer is not from China but from the biggest Chinese market in Chinatown, Sun Wah Supermarket. Her friend says "You didn't bring the steamer, Sun Wah brought it for you."

This shows how Chinese supermarkets have contributed to Chinese immigrants’ notion of home (See Box 2.1). Furthermore, Ms. H also mentioned the smells in Chinese supermarkets and restaurants.

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Fig. 29 Ms. H's dog. (Source: provided by Ms. H)

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Fig. 30 Decorations on the shelf. (Source: provided by Ms. H)

Decorations

Her dog Fig. 31 Ms. H's favorite place at home with her dog

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Fig. 32 Ms. H's home plan drew by herself.

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"I think the Chinese supermarket also has the feeling of home when I see and smell all kinds of Chinese food there."

"Smells can create a sense of home. There are some odors you can only smell in China or in Chinatown, such as Douchi (

, fermented soya beans). You know

there is a Chinese family when you can smell the Douchi from outside their window."

The smells present in a space, although invisible, can change the space significantly, which is an example of the interaction between the material and the immaterial.

Although she does not spend much time cooking in the kitchen, it is interesting that Ms. H’s favorite place at home is the dining room. She likes to sit at the dining table next to her where her dog sits (Fig. 31).

She feels as though her dog is like a family member. She likes to be with it. She also mentioned the dog when asked about her notion of home.

"For me, one of the most important things at home is my dog. I feel a sense of home when it is around. I love it so much, and I always miss it very much when I travel for a long time."

She spends most of her time in the dining room alone with her dog.

Her daughters spend most of their time in their bedrooms. She likes to sit on the dining table alone with her dog. Also, there are some Chinese decorations (Fig. 30) around the dining room. From the plan she drew for the favorite place (Fig. 32), she pointed out the most important thing for her at home: the dining table, her dog, and the desk.

Box 2.1: Chinese supermarkets and restaurants As Chinese food is an essential part of Chinese culture, Chinese supermarkets and restaurants play crucial roles in Chinese immigrants' daily lives, given that these are the

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places where they get their food. For example, when asked about which things make her feel a sense of home, Ms. T mentioned the supermarket: " Chinese snacks make me feel like home. I like to go to the Chinese supermarket and buy a lot of Chinese snacks to take home."

It is interesting that she feels snacks are more meaningful than dishes. In the same way that Ms. H's friend claims Sun Hah brought her the steamer, the supermarket provides a lot of important things for the immigrants in Belgium. It is also an important reason why people visit Chinatown.

"I go to Chinatown more or less five times a week. I usually go to meet my friends and to visit the Chinese supermarket. I buy Chinese vegetables here, as other things I can usually find in a common supermarket."

For Chinese people, Chinatown is a place where they can do several things in the same area. Because of the need for Chinese vegetables, they can meet their friends here, as their friends also want to shop in the supermarket.

Chinese restaurants are also more than just restaurants for these immigrants. Of course they enjoy the food, but they also enjoy having a place to meet their friends. Parents take their children to Chinese restaurants not only to eat, but also to get to know the Chinese culture. Moreover, a Chinese restaurant is a place with a familiar context (see case 1). Ms. W claims that the restaurant she owns is the place that makes her feel like home the most.

"One of the places where I feel a sense of home in my daily life is my restaurant. Many elderly people meet there regularly.

Sometimes when someone has passed away, they gather together

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at the restaurant to mourn that person. Sometimes a new person joins them, which makes me feel a sense of vitality."

For this community, the Chinese restaurants are special not only because of the food or the owners, but also because of the frequency with which they visit, which makes these places feel like home.

Friends and relatives Unlike other interviewees, Ms. H moved to Belgium with her parents and some other relatives. As a result, she only has a few relatives in China. She does not have the strong connection to her home country that usually exists when there are family members who remain behind. She visits China approximately once a year because most of her relatives are here in Belgium and she has fewer and fewer friends in China. For her, China is no longer her home, nor is it a place that she misses.

She sometimes meets her friends in Chinatown when they come to buy Chinese food or do other things. They like to meet in a Chinese restaurant instead of at her home or at the church. For her, home is a private space for family and close relatives, which shows how Chinese people view their homes.

The church is another place where Ms. H often meets friends, as many of her friends and relatives are members of the congregation. The church can be regarded as another home, a place where she is able to establish connections with others.

"I am a translator, so I have many opportunities to meet new people. I often give the address of the church to new friends and invite them to participate in our weekly meetings."

The church, as a conceptual home, is not as private as the home where

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she lives. It is much easier to let a person you barely know into the church than into your own home, as the church is more public. However, the way they manage the church makes it a public space with a strong identity. The church is a place everyone can access, but it still enables people to interact in an intimate way.

Christ's Kingdom Church The church is located on one of the streets next to Chinatown. It is on the ground floor of Ms. H's house. It has big windows that welcome passers-by (Fig. 33). However, the windows are completely closed with roller shutters (Fig. 34) and only open when there is a meeting, every Wednesday afternoon. They used to meet every Sunday, like in most churches, and also on Wednesdays. However, because the members mostly work at restaurants and only a few can participate on Sundays, they cancelled the meeting on Sunday, and now they only meet on Wednesdays. This is also one of the reasons Ms. H and her husband chose to live here.

"When looking for a home we knew we wanted to devote the ground floor to the church, and we believe we were able to find such a nice place thanks to the blessing of God. We wanted to set up a church near Chinatown so that it would be more convenient for people to come, and thus appeal to more people."

The meeting When there is a meeting (Fig. 35), the door and windows are opened.

The brochure and magazine of the church are placed on the tables in front of the window (Fig. 37), and are visible to people passing by. Also, the big windows allow people to see what is happening inside, although they cannot hear anything. The meeting starts at 2:30 pm and some members usually come earlier to chat. They prepare tea for the members

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Fig. 33 Christ's Kingdom Church during a meeting.

Fig. 34 Christ's Kingdom Church when closed.

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to help themselves. The members are mostly female, and more women than men come earlier to talk (see Box 2.2). Furthermore, the pastor, who is a man, usually comes later than Ms. H - she is the one who waits inside the church for anyone who arrives early.

Most of the members speak Cantonese, so the meeting is usually conducted in Cantonese. However, if there are people who do not understand Cantonese very well, the pastor uses Mandarin, and Ms. H translates for the people who speak Cantonese. The translation makes the space more public. It is no longer a place where only select people can join in and understand - although it is still exclusive to those who know Chinese, it becomes a place which also welcomes those who do not speak Cantonese. The chatting in Cantonese may be more intimate, but as for the service, it is open to the public. As Ms. H says: "The church is open to everyone. Everyone is welcome to join the meeting."

The desire to make the church into a public space is also reflected in the arrangement of the space, from the place that was originally chosen to the way in which the space has been set up.

"As we only meet once or twice a week, we could also just rent a place to meet, but it is hard to find a good place to rent. That is why we wanted a place of our own. To find somewhere with a space large enough to accommodate a church was crucial for us when we were first looking. The church we have now is big enough to allow many people to join, and the quality of the space is nice."

They start the service with hymns. The lyrics are projected on a big screen so that people who are unfamiliar with the hymns can easily follow along. Considering the number of the participants (less than ten), the church feels fairly private. However, the set-up transforms the space into a more public space. For example, the screen faces outside towards the street. The barrier-free space makes the ground floor seem very open.

But the door is closed during the meeting (although not locked), which helps maintain the privacy of the meeting. Although there are not very many members, they still want the service to be formal.

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Cross on the wall

Big screen showing the lyrics of hymn

Bookshelf with Chinese Bibles

Trolleys at the entrance

Coffee and Asian snacks

Brochure and magazines visible from outside

Fig. 35 Arrangement of Christ's Kingdom Church.

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Fig. 36 Bookshelf with Chinese Bibles

Fig. 37 Brochure and magazines visible from outside

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After the meeting, there are coffee and snacks available for people who want to stay longer and chat. The chatting is more casual and not just about religion.

Church as home Apart from the language they speak, other evidence of the members’ identity can be seen in the church. The interior is as simple as Ms. H's home, but the objects they choose to display are more distinct. From the Chinese Bible (Fig. 36), which was brought from Hong Kong, to the Chinese snacks they put on the table, the items used are clearly different from other Belgian churches. These items give the members of the congregation a feeling of familiarity. When making the church the way they like, they were also making a home for themselves and the other members. Furthermore, things such as the trolleys at the entrance give evidence that this space belongs to somebody live there and show the extension of the private space upstairs.

Their faith in their religion is the crucial element that has brought this group together.

"If you find God then you find home. God helps us come together and wants us to help each other."

Their religion is the most important reason for them to be together, and is also the reason why everything is kept as simple as possible. Their relationship is like a family. They each have their own relationship with God, and based on this common trait they have become members of the same group. This is similar to the clans in China which bring people who have the same last name together.

"The church is like a big family. For example, my mother always wants to celebrate her birthday with the church members, and does the same for other holidays."

Religion has brought everyone here, but it is not the only reason

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they enjoy getting together, which is reflected in the chatting before and after the meeting. The religion has helped them to make guanxi and this guanxi enables them to do other things together.

Box 2.2: Women in the groups It is interesting that most of the people who participate in the activities in Chinatown are women, whether it be in the Chinese school, the church or at Fo Kuang Shan Temple. One teacher in the Chinese school suggested that this is because of the different characteristics of men and women.

"I guess it is because women usually have more patience to deal with children. Also, it is more common for women to be teachers.

People are more accustomed to female teachers."

It seems as though the all-female school is highly related to the traditional division of labor between genders. To add to this, a member of Fo Kuang Shan suggested: " (A lack of male members) also occurs in Chinese temples. Men are interested in other things."

Some people suggested that men are generally busier, which means they have less time for other things besides work and rest. However, Ms. H believes there is another reason why the members are mostly female.

"Perhaps it is because women think of themselves as weaker, so they know there are some things they cannot solve by themselves.

That is why more women come to church."

All of the above reasons can be linked to the traditional role of women in China. Although Chinese women also work, their workload is often different to that of men. As a result,

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they try to find other aims in life. One of the members at Fo Kuang Shan says: "I was a housewife, and spent my whole life focusing on my husband and children. When I came here (Belgium) I feel like I lost my goal in life. But then I came to Fo Guang Shan. Shi-Fu guided me to transform my thoughts and focus on myself. I feel much better now."

For these women, participating in organizations such as this is more than just a job. They have found something they want to do in these places. This is also the means by which they can discover value in themselves and be liberated from the "home". The activities in these organizations also enable them to extend their social network, which is especially essential for those who do not have a job. The fact that there are more women in these organizations may also be because the organizations mean more to them than they do to men.

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Home Fo Guang Shan Temple Chinatown

Antwerp

CASE 3 From Home to Fo Guang Shan Temple Ms. D is a member of Fo Guang Shan Temple. All of her family are in China, and she lives in Belgium alone in the social housing in Linkeroever. She worked in a restaurant in Chinatown and now she is retired. I met Ms. D in Fo Guang Shan Temple when she was on duty. I interviewed her there for the first time. Then I met her when I participated in the event to commemorate Buddha's Birthday. After the event, she gave me a tour from Chinatown to the park she goes to every day. Fo Guang Shan temple is open to everyone, so the first time I went I just walked in. I went to the Fo Guang Shan temple several times, and each time I met different people on duty. They invited me to some of the events. I participated in a normal Fa-Hui (devotion) and the Buddha's Birthday ceremony.

CH A P TE R 4 _ HOM I N G THE CITY: THREE CASES

Fig. 38 Mindmap of Ms. D

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Street marker (Wednesday/Friday)

Chinatown

Home

Park

Fig. 39 Translation of mindmap of Ms. D

The mindmap of Ms. D (Fig. 38, 39) in Antwerp shows the routine of her daily life. The park and Chinatown are places she goes almost everyday in the city. As retired and has no family here, her routine is simple. She goes to the park in the morning and the restaurants or the temple in Chinatown in the afternoon.

Park Tour (Fig. 40) Ms. D goes to the park almost every day if the weather is good enough. She usually walks in the park for exercise, and then she sits and enjoys the atmosphere. The park is her favorite place in the city. She also meets her friends there sometimes.

"I don't like to set an exact time with friends to meet. Sometimes you have to wait for each other, which is a waste of time. I prefer to meet friends in the park when I stay for a long time. I have gotten used to telling my friends that they can

CH A P TE R 4 _ HOM I N G THE CITY: THREE CASES

Bibliotheek Permeke

(Start) Fo Guang Shan Temple Chinatown

Stadspark

(End) Ms. D's favorite place

Fig. 40 The trajectory of the park tour with Ms. D.

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ing/

alk ple w

ng

joggi

Peo

Lake

Fig. 41 Ms. D's favorite place in the park.

find me under the usual tree. I think this is easier and gives freedom to both me and my friends."

"Sometimes I sit here, and I see one of my friends jogging past me several times.

She will find me here after she finishes her exercise."

By using the space every day, Ms. D transforms the park into an extension of her home. She spends time in the same spot every day (Fig. 41), and she also asks her friends to meet her there as she will always be there. Through these actions she treats the park like her home, which is proof that she lives in the city beyond her house.

The social network in the city Living alone, Ms. D spends most of her day outside of her home.

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Chinatown is one of the places she goes to almost every day. Walking along the street, she she often bumps into her friends, because she used to live and work there and she knows most of the people there. While we were together, she was constantly greeting people and sometimes stopped to chat for a while with passers-by.

Ms. D lived in Chinatown just after she arrived in Belgium. She enjoyed the familiar environment and the people there. That is why she still knows so many people in Chinatown. Although she has now moved to Linkeroever, going to Chinese restaurants owned by her friends is still part of her daily routine.

"I usually go to the restaurants in the afternoon, in between the peak hours. I chat with my friends while there are few customers. In the evening, when the restaurants start to get busy, I let them get back to work and I go home."

She also extended her social network when people she knew in Chinatown moved to other places.

"I do not always go to restaurants in Chinatown. Sometimes I go to other places in the city. The owners of these restaurants worked in Chinatown before when we met, and then they moved. As a result, I have friends all around the city."

Chinatown is the most prominent place for Chinese immigrants to gather, and from there they have extended their social network across the city. Chinatown is like a home for them in Antwerp, a place they can always go back to and find something familiar. It is also interesting that you can meet people there that you know from somewhere else, as almost every Chinese person has connections in Chinatown.

"When I has just arrived and went to the city hall for some documents, I had difficulties communicating with the officer. Then a Chinese person came to help me. Later on, I found out that he is one of Shi-Jie's (a member of Fo Guang Shan temple) sons."

The social networks in Chinatown connect through places such as restaurants and a variety of organizations, which has transformed

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Chinatown into a unique neighborhood, even though a large portion of its community does not actually live there (see Box 3.1).

Box 3.1: Guanxi Chinatown is like a base for the Chinese immigrants' social network. Ms. D's case study demonstrates how guanxi can extend to the rest of the city. The immigrants have different connections to other Chinese people in Chinatown. Perhaps they meet through the organizations they participate in, and then sometimes take their friends along to these organizations where they can meet other Chinese people. They might go to certain restaurants very often and get know the owners, eventually becoming friends. It is normal to see people staying in restaurants long after mealtimes and talking to the owners, just like Ms. D. Some people only stay for a short time but chat with the owner while eating. This shows how networks can be established through connections and daily activities.

Chinatown is like a neighborhood, where people come often and have frequent opportunities to interact with the people they meet, thus connections are made. Furthermore, the connections are often related to people’s similar backgrounds.

People go to the restaurants that have food which tastes more like the food from their hometown. They are also more likely to interact with people who speak their mother tongue.

"I feel like home when I spend time with my friends, especially friends who come from the same province in China."

They understand Mandarin perfectly, but they feel more intimate when they speak in their own dialects.

The network in the Chinese school is another example.

Some parents in the Chinese school know the teachers in

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person. They chat with teachers when they come to pick up their children. Sometimes they ask their children to pass something on to the teacher or the other way around. Once a student's mother complained about a teacher’s method of teaching directly to the principal instead of to the teacher in question because they had become acquainted with each other when getting together with other Chinese people.

The social network of Chinese immigrants is complicated.

The different groups, organizations and communities are all interdependent. It is like a home within a bigger home. These invisible connections work inside the city to bring Chinese people together. Chinatown is the most significant setting for these activities.

Temporal Home Ms. D's child lives in China. As a result, she thinks she may go back someday when she is too old to live alone.

"I think I will return. When I am so old that I cannot even walk, even though I could go to a nursing home, the people there will not be able to understand my language. Even the ghosts cannot understand me! My child is in China. Some people have to stay because their children are here."

On the other hand, making the decision to return can also be influenced by traditional Chinese ways of thinking.

"Perhaps I will miss China and want to move back in several years’ time , but not now. Now, my home is here. However, I think I will move back one day when I am really old, because of the concept of 'Luo-Ye-Gui-Gen' (

, Fallen

leaves return to the roots -- to revert to one‘s origin)."

The concept of returning has always been important to Chinese

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people. In the case of Chinese men, they are usually buried with their ancestors. However, it is not that important for women to be buried in the family grave as the grave is a place where vertical connections are formed between patriarchal generations. For Ms. D, the desire to return is more about living with her child and returning to her original life.

The reason why she still lives in Belgium is mainly because she is satisfied with her present living conditions . ”The place I live in now is even better than the most ideal house I could own in China!......It is big, has a great view of the park, and the neighborhood has everything I need, such as a supermarket and a library. Also, the bus stop is just a 5-minute walk away, and the buses can take you anywhere.”

She lives in social housing in Linkeroever. Although it is a little far from the city center compared to her previous home (in Chinatown), she still feels that her house is well connected to the city center, and it is not a problem for her to get around. However, it was not her first choice to live in Linkeroever.

"I used to live in Chinatown, and I felt familiar with the environment. Now I live in the social housing in Linkeroever because it’s hard to find a place in Chinatown with an elevator."

For Ms. D, she likes the atmosphere in Chinatown, but she had to move because of aging. This is an example of how shifts in life stages can affect the place one chooses to call home. However, after living in her new home for a while, Ms. D gained familiarity and a sense of belonging.

She was able to adapt to the change in lifestyle by getting used to a daily routine.

"I thought the 16th floor would be too high and felt scared, but after I had lived there long enough, I got used to the height."

Furthermore, ownership of the house is another factor that helps Ms. D feel a sense of home.

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"Of course I feel it is my home as it is my house!"

The sense of ownership and the fact that the location fits in well with her lifestyle has enabled Ms. D to attach the notion of home to this house.

However, in the long term, she still plans to go back to China. The idea of returning means that she thinks of her current house as a temporary home. Furthermore, as she lives alone, she does not want to spend time and money on decorating her home.

"I never buy furniture. I have even rejected the second-hand furniture people have offered me if they required me to pick it up myself."

The video taken by Ms. D gave a virtual tour of her home (Fig.42).

There is a rice cooker (Fig. 44) in the kitchen just like most of the Chinese people. However, the other kitchenware is simple, and there are only a few Chinese ingredients compare to the others. Same in the living room, there are spring festival couplets (Fig. 47) on the door and the Chinese calendar on the wall (Fig. 46), which show the Chinese identity, but the other space is almost empty. There are only an electric fan and some chairs in the living room. The chairs are not in the same style, which implies they might come from different persons. On the contrary, the windowsill is full of plants, mostly orchids, which is a common flower in a Chinese house. The emptiness of her home shows her attitude toward this temporary home in Belgium.

Besides the temporary nature of her stay, there is another reason why Ms. D arranges her home in a modest way. She spends most of her time in the city instead of staying at home alone, and she barely invites people to her house. She does not have to divide her home into different areas.

Also, she does not have a favorite place at home. She thinks her home is unlike a regular home, as when asked for the pictures of her home, she replied: "I don’t think there is anything interesting in my home. If you want pictures of Chinese immigrants' homes, I can ask some of my friends who have been here for a long time. Their home is more like home."

H O M I N G T H E CI TY

ng

mi

Fil

To bedrooms

2 3

2 4

1

5

lm

in

g

Storage

Fi

90

Entrance

Fig. 42 Plan of Ms. D's home.

1

Fig. 43 View from the windows. (Source: screenshot of the video provided by Ms. D)

CH A P TE R 4 _ HOM I N G THE CITY: THREE CASES

2

3

4

5

Fig. 44-47 Objects in Ms.'s home.

(Source: screenshot of the video provided by Ms. D)

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Fo Guang Shan Temple Ms. D is a volunteer at Fo Guang Shan Temple. She was not a devout Buddhist before she came to Belgium. Fo Guang Shan for her was a symbol of Chinese culture (see Box 3.2). ”When I had just arrived everything was unfamiliar to me, but when I passed by the temple, I felt a sense of familiarity. Although I was not a devout Buddhist, the religious atmosphere made me feel peaceful.”

Buddhism is part of Chinese culture in many dimensions. This is exemplified in the way Fo Guang Shan promote Buddhism in Europe.

They aim to introduce not only the religion but also the art and the food.

They call it "Ren-Jian Fo-Jiao" ( ☭ꪨ✐侷 , Humanistic Buddhism). The

Shi-Fu (buddhist nun) in Fo Guang Shan explained that

"It is hard to separate Chinese culture from Buddhism. From literature, art and architecture to food, most of the Chinese culture is related to Buddhism."

They have held events to teach people how to make tasty vegetarian food, and they even managed to hold an exhibition of Master Hsin-Yun's calligraphy in the European Parliament. They have brought Chinese culture and religion together. Culture provides a way for them to easily interact with others. They regard themselves as a group when they present Chinese culture to the world.

When the members went to the European Parliament for the exhibition, they represented Fo Guang Shan Temple, and for most of them this provided a valuable opportunity to interact with the rest of the country Ms. D was no exception: "It was my first time visiting the European Parliament, and it was a nice experience. I don’t think I would ever have had the chance to go there if I had not joined Fo Guang Shan."

Many of the members were grateful to the temple for bringing them

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somewhere they would not have been able to access by themselves. Some people sent pictures of their visit to their friends, and were proud of it.

As Shi-Fu mentioned "They appreciated Fo Guang Shan for giving them this new experience. Most people's lives have little to do with the Europe and this event gave them the opportunity to interact (with the European Parliament)."

In this sense, Fo Guang Shan is like home. It is a place where you can find a position in the world. When the members attended the event, they all hid behind the organization. They presented themselves as a group rather than separate individuals.

It is the same when people visit the temple in Chinatown. There are volunteers almost every day, waiting for believers or tourists. The people are different every day, but they have the same discipline and welcome guests in the same way.

Box 3.2: Culture The notion of home is closely related to culture, especially when people are abroad, where they are experiencing the differences between two cultures. In situations such as Ms. D experienced when first arriving in a new country, it is normal to attach the notion of home to something familiar – in her case, this was Chinese Buddhism, even though it was not originally her religion. Also, having cultural objects in a space can help people feel intimacy. Ms. G says "Chinese culture is something I have been familiar with since I was a child. I learned calligraphy, and as a result, I have "Wen-Fang-SiBao" (

, the Four Treasures of the Study – writing brush,

ink stick, inkslab, and calligraphy paper) at home."

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Calligraphy is not her hobby, but because it is related to the culture she is familiar with she keeps "Wen-Fang-Si-Bao" at home. The objects of culture are thus transformed into the objects of home.

The holidays in Chinese culture are also linked to homemaking. From the decoration used during certain holidays (see case 1) to the special food or events, all of these elements give people a sense of home, especially when they celebrate with other Chinese people. Like the Buddhist's birthday, they celebrate with friends. It is the combination of culture and religion. The culture course in the Chinese school is the same. The school gives the students the chance to experience what Chinese people do during different holidays, and they celebrate all together. Sometimes they eat the specific foods associated with that holiday, and sometimes they make the decorations to display during the holiday. The practicing of holiday-related activities is part of the homing process.

They create an environment in which everyone knows the background of the holiday and is able to celebrate together, thereby recreating the events they they took part in while in China.

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Normal Days The temple is located in a typical house. The facade is painted yellow, (Fig. 48) which is the typical color for a temple in China. The

Buddhist hall ( ✐㕔 ) faces towards the street, and passersby can see the

hall through the big window (Fig. 50). Usually temples are open to the public, but in Chinatown the door is closed, and you have to ring the bell to enter. This is to prevent unwelcome guests, as there is only one member looking after the temple most of the time. As a result, although the temple can still be accessed by everyone, this barrier makes the space more private and makes it slightly different from temples in China.

The Buddhist hall is decorated with calligraphy and lanterns (Fig. 55,

56), which again demonstrates the interdependence of Chinese culture and Buddhism. In the middle room, some objects related to Buddism are displayed (Fig. 54, 57). At one end of the ground floor there is a kitchen and dining tables. This is the place where the volunteers spend most of their time. One of the dining tables is a roundtable (Fig. 53), which indicates the preference of the people using it.

Sometimes large groups make an appointment for a more extended tour of the temple (Fig. 58). They will discuss the activities before the event, which will then be tailor-made according to the group's interests and the amount of time they have. The group listens to the introduction in the Buddhist court. It can be seen from the outside that there is a big group inside, participating in a special event. The temple is a base for the members of Fo Guang Shan to introduce their culture to others, and from this base the organization goes out to make their culture visible through further events held elsewhere (Fig. 59).

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Fig. 48 Facade of Fo Guang Shan Temple.

Fig. 49 Decoration on the door.

Fig. 50 The windows facing the street.

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Private

Kitchen

W.C. Fig. 53 Round table where the volunteers usually stay

Fig. 57 Books of Buddhism

Fig. 54 Buddhist artworks displaying on the shelves

Fig. 55 The lantern on the ceiling

Buddhist hall Fig. 52 Decorations in the lobby

Lobby Fig. 56 Formal fireplace with buddha and calligraphy

Fig. 50 Passers-by watching the event from the street

Fig. 49 Decoration on the door visible from both sides

Fig. 48 A typical street house painted in yellow

Public

Fig. 51 Plan of the temple

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Fig. 52 Decorations in the lobby.

Fig. 53 Round table where the volunteers usually stay.

Fig. 54 Buddhist artworks displaying on the shelves.

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Fig. 55 The lantern on the ceiling.

Fig. 56 Formal fireplace with buddha and calligraphy.

Fig. 57 Books of Buddhism.

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Fig. 58 Chairs are put in the Buddhist court for the large group.

CHA PTE R 4 _ HOM I N G TH E CITY: THREE CASES

Fig. 59 The exhibition news on their newspaper.

(Source: ☭ꪨ琀㖦 The Merit Times, 2018/03/23)

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Fa-Hui ( 岻劋 , devotion) Fa-Hui is an event in which the Shi-Fu leads everyone in a chant and also explains some of the concepts of Buddhism. During Fa-Hui, people sit in the Buddhist hall and follow what Shi-Fu does. It is tranquil and solemn. Sometimes passersby stop to watch the event taking place inside. They are curious about the ceremony. Also, the sounds from the ceremony can be heard from the street. As a result, the Buddhist court becomes a stage for the performance of the Buddhist culture.

After the event, the members usually stay for a while in the kitchen.

They make tea and eat the fruit used in the Buddhist offerings. They will discuss plans for future activities. Then the chatting becomes more casual, focusing more on their everyday lives. As Shi-Fu said "(Fo Guang Shan) is like a big family. Everyone helps each other. For instance, if someone has an issue regarding their visa, other people will share their experiences of similar situations. They come here not only for religious purposes but also to solve the other problems they have."

For most people, the chatting after the event is as just as important as Fa-Hui. It is their social network. For example, Ms. D says "I also join the trips organized by the church when my friends invite me. It does not matter which religion you believe in."

CHA PTE R 4 _ HOM I N G TH E CITY: THREE CASES

Chatting after the Fa-Hui

The speaker for the chant.

Where Shi-Fu stands.

Fig. 60 Objects of Fa-Hui.

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Buddha's Birthday The event held on the Buddha's Birthday is one of the most important days in the temple’s calendar. On that day, they will show their devotion for the Buddha's Birthday, and then they will pour fragrant water onto the statue of the Buddha. It is a symbol of pure rebirth.

Due to the importance of the event, many more devotees were in attendance than usual, and it was more than could fit inside the Buddhist hall. Some people had to stand outside the hall at the entrance. This merged the separate spaces into one. The Buddha's statue was placed in the front of the Buddhist court. After the devotion, people waited in line to pour the water.

In the middle room, there was food prepared by the volunteers on the table (Fig. 61). The food was all vegan, and was mostly Chinese food. It was for everyone participating in the event People took their food and then either stood in the room or took a seat in the dining room.

It was crowded in the dining room. People talked in Mandarin and Cantonese. They sat with others who spoke the same language. The tables, usually empty, were full of people and made the space feel warmer.

Because this event is a special one and has more participants, there are usually a few Belgian people who join in with the experience. They are also allowed to taste the food. It is unusual that they participate in event alongside Chinese people instead of visiting in tour groups.

CHA PTE R 4 _ HOM I N G TH E CITY: THREE CASES

Fig. 61 Food for the participants.

Fig. 62 Arrangements of Buddhist birthday.

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5_ DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

5.1_Discussion The three case studies have shown how the different features of a person’s life can affect their homing process. They have also raised a number of issues for further discussion.

Life in the domestic realm The women in each of the three case studies have three different types of domestic life. Ms. C lives with her husband, who is Belgian; Ms. H also lives with her husband, but he is Chinese-Malaysian; and Ms. D lives alone. For Ms. C and Ms. H, their family is the people who negotiate the notion of home with them. Ms. C, who married a Belgian man, has the most frequent need for negotiation at home due to their different cultural backgrounds. In contrast, Ms. H, whose husband has a similar cultural background to her, talked a lot less about having the need for negotiation at home. However, they both share the space with others while Ms. D lives by herself.

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Although this negotiation restricts the women’s freedom to set up their home exactly as they want it, the process does enable them to form attachments to certain spaces. Ms. C feels that the kitchen is her home within the home, while her son and husband occupy other spaces. Ms. C’s ownership over the kitchen is an example of how the feeling of being "not at home" can make you feel "at home". Ms. D, in contrast, does not have a favorite space in her home. She treats her home as a whole and feels the same wherever she is in her house. There is no space that she attaches the notion of home to the most.

Children and returning The three women in the case studies are all mothers, but the difference is where their children are. Ms. C and Ms. H's children are in Belgium, while Ms. D's child is in China. The place their children decide to live in the future is an important factor in determining where these women will live. Ms. H has lived in Belgium since high school. As a result, she does not see returning to China as a potential choice for the future. On the contrary, Ms. C and Ms. D still think of China as home and would like to live in China if they have the opportunity. However, Ms. C's child has grown up in Belgium and is likely to remain here in the future, so for Ms. C, it is not a viable choice to leave her child and return to China. In contrast, Ms. D thinks she is very likely to return because her child lives in China. For her, there are several reasons to return. Firstly, she wants to have somebody nearby who can take care of her when she is old.

Secondly, her desire to return is related to the idea of her ‘roots’. And finally, she wants to return to a place that she is familiar with.

Furthermore, in the same way that children influence their mother’s choice of location for their home, they can also have an effect on how their mothers treat their homes. Ms. C and Ms. H, whose children live with them in Belgium, think of the places they live in now as homes for their children now and possibly in the future, so they want to create good

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homes for their children. From the arrangement of furniture to the food they cook, their actions are aimed at enhancing the connection between the family and the home. In contrast, Ms. D's child does not live with her.

Therefore her home-making in Belgium is only for herself. As a result, she spends less time taking care of her house.

Homing schemes The different features of the three women's lives in Belgium also reflect their homing schemes. The homing scheme (Fig. 63-65) is based on the scheme of Boccagni. The three colors represent three dimensions of the shifts in a person’s notion of home. The dotted lines show how it shifts, while the lighter words represent the objects whose meaning has been transferred onto the darker words.

Use of space in Chinatown’s organizations The different characteristics of the various organizations in Chinatown also influence how the members make the space home-like.

The Chinese school shares their space with the Chinese Association.

As a result, they have little freedom to appropriate the space. They can only rearrange the furniture and facilities during the school day. They mainly use activities to make space homelike, such as teaching Chinese, bringing Chinese food for lunch and talking in Chinese. On the other hand, due to the special nature of the place which is linked to cultural and political identity, the interior of the building has already been decorated with cultural and political objects. The ‘Chineseness’ that already characterized the space made it an ideal location for the school.

Christ's Kingdom Church and Fo Guang Shan, in contrast, have their own spaces. They have the freedom to decide what the place should look like. The difference is that Christ's Kingdom Church is the private

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Ms. C (Fig. 63) has the most complicated scheme of the three. She transfers the notion of home between objects. For her, holidays and the gathering of friends and family are transformed into food and decorations. They are symbols to her.

Material Home Steamer Chinese Food Decorations

Private home

Family Kitchen Cooking

Home over a distance Family in China Parents

Meeting friends

Sharing tea

Child Chinese school

Child Home in poximity

Having meals together Friend in Belgium

Chinese restaurant Mcdonald’s

Chatting Gathering Holidays

Immaterial Home

Fig. 63 Homing scheme of Ms. C.

Public home

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Ms. H's scheme (Fig. 64) is relatively simple. This may be because religion encourages her to live a simple life, or because the length of time she has lived in Belgium means that it feels enough like home. She no longer has a sense of belonging to her home in China. Her current home and church are places that she is physically and emotionally unable to separate from.

Material Home

Chinese food Dog

Private home

Home over a distance

Dog

Home in China

Dining table Chinese supermarket Dining room and restaurant Church

Church Church members Chinese restaurant

Home in Belgium Home in poximity

God Smells of Chinese food Brightness

Immaterial Home

Fig. 64 Homing scheme of Ms. H.

Public home

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Ms. D's scheme (Fig. 65) shows the strongest multi-sitedness in relation to the notion of home. This is mainly because of her child. For Ms. D, home in China is her home in the past, in the present, and in the future. It is a place she imagines she will be in ten or twenty years. Also, compared to the other two women, her notion of home is much more attached to public spaces.

Material Home

Private home

Social housing and the surroundings Home in Chinatown

Fo Guang Shan

Chinese restaurants Chinatown

Friends

Children Home in Chian

Chinese restaurants Chinatown

Home in Belgium Home in poximity

Home over a distance

Park Public home Owenership Chinese culture Immaterial Home

Fig. 65 Homing scheme of Ms. D.

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property of the pastor ’s family and they have the power to make decisions. Also, they meet only once a week, and there are usually no visitors on other days. While the church is set up for temporary use by the public, it is only the pastor family who occupy the space on a permanent basis and act as hosts. The church space has thus become more intimate for the pastor family. It is a public space once a week but a private space most of the time. In contrast, Fo Guang Shan opens almost everyday, and the members manage the space. When there is an event, the members host it collectively, which contributes to the publicness of the space. Also, as there are frequent visitors, the temple is a space set up for exhibition. Many of the decorations are not just for practical use but for are on display for visitors. On the whole, there is more frequent and meaningful interaction between the members and the space.

5.2_Self-experience of home during fieldwork As a Taiwanese person, my cultural proximity to China has allowed me to empathize with some of the interviewees’ ideas of home as a "meaningful setting". As a result, I would like to discuss my personal experiences of the different environments in which they practice the homing process.

The experience started with the visits to the different locations. At first, the written language used in Chinatown gave me a sense of familiarity. I am referring mostly to the Chinese characters used for the signs, as well as the information inside the buildings. Also, some spaces were familiar to me but rare in Belgium, such as the acupuncture center and the temple.

The language (Mandarin) spoken at the Chinese school gave me a sense of intimacy from the very beginning. Then I had the opportunity to join the conversation that took place during lunchtime. The food they had brought, as well as the smells, and discussions about cooking

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Chinese food also gave me a sense of home - these are topics that I rarely have the chance to discuss with others in Belgium. The Chinese books at the school reminded me of my childhood at home in Taiwan. However, during the teacher training event, the school felt less like home, which might be a result of the political nature of the courses. When trying to find the venue for the graduation ceremony, I noticed the Chinese people at the entrance, who helped distinguish the building.

The church for me was less familiar, but I did have some experience of churches in Taiwan. Listening to the hymns in Chinese and seeing the Chinese Bible evoked those experiences in Taiwan.

The temple, on the other hand, is something very much intertwined with life in Taiwan. I felt relaxed and calm in Fo Guang Shan temple.

Also, the calligraphy and the decorations both gave me a sense of home.

When I was invited to sit at the roundtable and offered tea, I enjoyed the atmosphere. Furthermore, the vegan food at the event was a nice surprise which completed my experience at this location.

5.3_Conclusion Home is a unique part of our existence. It is not just a physical space or a social concept, but is a combination of both. Therefore the notion of home for each individual is a complex web of experiences and imagination. In this paper, the case studies have enabled exploration into the formulation and transformation of the notion of home for Chinese women in Antwerp, and how this is represented in the homing process that takes place in both private and public spaces.

To answer the first research question, the notion of home was examined through these cases. The idea of home is closely related to a person’s cultural background, and this can be observed in certain similarities that can be found between the different case studies. The way the women think of home and the objects they think of as important

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are all influenced by the cultural contexts they are living in. However, their practical living situations are still varied. In addition, the notion of home is flexible and fluid. The case studies presented some examples of how the women’s notion of home took on different forms: this was in relation to shifts between the material and the immaterial, private space and public space, distances, and life stages.

The shifts between material and immaterial can refer to the shift from an activity or concept to a symbolic item (from Chinese New Near to spring festival couplets) or from specific objects to the concepts surrounding relationships (big family and chatting). The everyday routine is also important in attaching the notion of home to certain places. The notion of home is a special relationship between people and the environment, and it is established through the interactions between them. The activities that take place in a space, and what you think of the space will generate these links, and this is how the notion of home transfers between objects.

Home is a place where home-based activities usually happen. The notion of home is attached to public spaces when these home-based activities are practiced outside of the domestic space. For example, dining together in a restaurant can make people feel relaxed. The notion of home can also be attached to a space outside the home through familiarity , for example by using the space everyday or setting up the space in a way that is home-like. The three organizations represented in the case studies all showed how the notion of home could be created in public spaces. On the other hand, the negotiations that take place within the home mean that certain places in a person’s house can give them a stronger sense of feeling at home. The shifts between private and public space are also made by establishing a special relationship with the space.

Home for immigrants is usually more than one place. The shifts between the nearby home and the distant home are pronounced in all three cases, when comparing their homes in Belgium in China. However,

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the two different homes are not entirely separate, in fact they influence each other. Their past home gave them an idea of what home should be like, and in Ms. D's case, the previous home is also the future home.

Having two homes has not prevented them from devoting time to both.

The shift in the women’s homes over a geographical distance reveals their life trajectories .

The second research question was analyzed on the basis of the first question. The homing process was observed through the case studies. As predicted, the homing process took place not only within the domestic space but also in the extra domestic space. People negotiate the notion of home with whoever lives with them. This negotiation helps to formulate the notion of home and at the same time helps define "the other". The process involves establishing relationships with both the space or group regarded as home and that which is regarded as "the other". People make groups and define home by finding things in common (family, hobbies, religion, origin,etc.). Chinese people recognize those they regard as ”one of us” through the concept of Guanxi. Equally, they define "the other" by identifying those who differ from them. For Chinese people, the process of forming groups is closely related to the concept of home and also to social structure. The case studies provide examples of how Chinese people define the groups they are a part of and how these groups work.

The groups are flexible, and people fit themselves into one or the other according to the context. The groups are not just for solidarity but define people’s relationships with the rest of society, and thus their connection with the space around them.

The case studies revealed a number of ways in which homing can be achieved, some of which are related to the objects which symbolize their notion of home (such as calligraphy or kitchenware), and some of which were related to the activities that help establish relationships (such as talking in Chinese, touring, or other elements of the daily routine). The method of homing was altered according to the different characteristics of the groups and spaces.

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Furthermore, the case studies also revealed the special role women play in the homing process. The women in the organizations were able to create homes not only in their domestic spaces but also in public spaces.

The gender segregation in the organizations suggested that traditional ways of thinking regarding women's roles were still prominent. However, the results of the case studies were not all negative. The traditional roles taken on by the women gave them the chance to participate more in the organizations than the men. It was good to see that some of the organizations were largely female-dominated.

In summary, this research provided some examples of the homing process and analyzed the possible factors involved in this process. It showed how Chinese women manage the distance between the real home and the aspired home in both private and public spaces. However, these case studies were simply a starting point and can not generate a comprehensive mechanism by which to analyze the process of homing.

The homing process is complicated, and stretches across different domains. I hope that this research will not just be seen as a study of homing but will also be considered as an example of research that explores the relationship between space and society as a basis for future study in this area.

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