§16§This book is concerned with the ethnic experience of Chinese secondary school children living in Northern Ireland. The author analyses two sub-groups of Chinese children: those with parents coming from Hong Kong and those with parents coming from Mainland China. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these apparently 'Chinese' children feel about their ethnic identity. By drawing upon Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, and a cultural studies' approach to ethnicity and identity in general, the author examines the characteristics of cultural specificity and heterogeneity.§Methodologically, the author has chosen an ethnographic approach. Prominence is given to the definitions, perspectives and voices of the children themselves by conducting open-ended, indepth and informal interviews and by doing so on an extended basis. The whole process continued for two and half years. Close attention was paid to the children's immediate circumstances, their parental occupations and their ge §16§neral social and cultural conditions. §04§Contents: Literature Review - Theoretical Framework - Searching for a Methodology - The Mainland Chinese School Children: Practice of Relation-Building - The Hong Kong Chinese School Children: The Construction of Cultural Alienation - Narratives of the Mainland Chinese Parents - Narratives of the Hong Kong Chinese Parents - Discussion and Conclusion - A Critical Reflection on the Research Process. §02§The Author: Feng-Bing grew up in China. She obtained her first degree in English language and literature from Luoyang Foreign Languages University, did her post-graduate studies in American studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University and received her doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland. She has many years of cross-cultural teaching experience at many universities in China, the Netherlands, Singapore and Northern Ireland. Currently, she is lecturing at the School of International Studies of Zhejiang University, People's Republic of China. Her publications include translated academic book and journal articles.
