Ambivalent heritage: the im/possibility of museumifying the Overseas Chinese in South China

The past two decades have witnessed an 'Overseas Chinese museum fever' across China. By commemorating heroic figures and treasuring contributions of the Overseas Chinese to the motherland, the state-led museum representation of the Overseas Chinese has played an important role in promoting a 'transnational nationalism' among the domestic and international audiences. Using 'ambivalent heritage' as a framing device and through a case study of the Chen Cihong Residence, this paper discusses an under-researched aspect of museumifying the Overseas Chinese, that is, issues that are unsettled and difficult to stage. By foregrounding the conflicting interpretations and uses of the Residence as an ancestral house, a museum and a tourist spot, it raises important questions regarding the dis/continuities of national, local and individual identities in heritagizing transnational Chinese mobilities. Additionally, it calls for a diasporic perspective in the study of cultural heritage and informs the development of new insight in heritage preservation