“We Found Ourselves” – Music and Identity among the Chinese American Diaspora in Miami

Chinese American communities have been part of the United States since the 19th century. Currently, their high rate of immigration has made Chinese Americans one of the country’s fastest growing communities. However, in Miami, only 0.3% of the population are Chinese Americans. In this local setting, in the words of Su Zheng, music serves as an important “signifier that produces complex cultural meanings.”1 Because traditional music forms one of the most significant aspects of music in China, it is critical to explore the extent to which Chinese American musical culture has developed and changed. This paper discusses the function of Chinese music influences, Chinese and Chinese Americans in their new diasporic setting, and how music reflects individual or group identities. This paper explores one type of Chinese American communities in Miami, centering on the Chinese Baptist Church. In this example, the present study attempts to show how music, among Chinese Americans in Miami, involves the preservation and enactment of cultural traditions in daily life, religion, and festivals, through which diasporic communities maintain their sense of identity and place. The music of Chinese Americans in Miami has established its own hybrid tradition that is unique to its own local and national roots, helping to shape the contemporary local diaspora. This paper fills a gap in the study of the Chinese American experience, both in Miami in particular and the United States in general. Through different research methods, I found that the Chinese American musical community is an exceptionally complex diasporic world that, in many respects, markedly contrasts with established Chinese settlements in the United States. This complexity is a product of both the unique cultural environment of Miami and the individual experiences of Chinese American immigrants and their music-making.