Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders is a tremendous work which details—with considerable intimacy and reflection—the lives of both Yunnanese Chinese in Burma as well as those who later migrated from Burma to Thailand, Taiwan, and Mainland China. Its nuanced attention to the historical relationship between the Kuomintang, civilian traders, the Shan insurgencies, and the Burmese government is compelling, especially since the information deals with firsthand accounts. Although the author could very easily bog the reader down with acronyms, dates, and events in military or political history, the priority placed on the subjects' lives allows the reader to assimilate the context inductively rather than with a preemptive road map of sorts.

-- Jane M. Ferguson * Pacific Affairs Journal *

If you enjoy a good gossip, nicely told and full of human interest, Beyond Borders will be of interest. For those with an interest in migration and human mobility, the volume provides a number of personal insights.

-- Robert H. Taylor * Asian Affairs *

Rather than focusing on social structures and globalization processes, Chang explicitly concentrates on individuals and biographies.... [W]e can certainly claim that a person-centered approach shakes up anthropological categories just as the lives of these individuals shake up political categories.

-- Jack David Eller * Anthropology Review Database *

The strength of this book is the space the author gives to personal narratives. In this refreshing ethnography, Chang demonstrates how the vivid descriptions of life trajectories and intimate relationships of ordinary people, supported by clear explanations on the chaotic historical political circumstances in which they are grounded, can be more revealing than reconstituted realities inspired by scarce documentation available to foreign observers.... Besides the fascinating stories that nourish this account of a largely ignored Chinese diaspora, and the rigorous historical approach to their contemporary situation, this book is also a real pleasure to read.

-- Caroline Grillot * Southeast Asian Studies *

Undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from this text. Chang shows how ethnographers build rapport with informants, let them speak for themselves, and preserve the 'thicknesses' of their stories using first-person narratives.... this book is an eye-opening addition to the literature on borderland diasporas in Southeast Asia.

-- Hiu Ling Chan * International Migration Review *

Wen-Chin Chang's Beyond Borders: Stories of Yunnanese Chinese Migrants of Burma provides a rich personal history of Yunnanese Chinese migrants in South-East and East Asia.... The significance of the book is in having recorded the voices of the voiceless. It successfully avoids analysing case studies through the lens of ethnicity theories.... All in all, this individual-centred ethnography, backed by its narrative power, provides a rich comprehension of people’s lives across borders.

-- Tadayuki Kubo * International Journal of Asian Studi