LAUSR

The archaeology of the nineteenth-century Chinese diaspora is a well-developed archaeological subfield, but research on Chinese migrants’ homelands is lacking. Survey of a qiaoxiang (home village) in China's Pearl River Delta provides the first archaeological evidence from a home village of Chinese migrants. Transnational comparative analysis with collections recovered from Chinese diaspora settlements reveals stark differences in the use of China-produced goods between qiaoxiang and Chinese settlements abroad. Qiaoxiang residents primarily used locally produced ceramics, while residents of Chinese diaspora settlements consumed ceramics produced in Gaobei and Jingdezhen, major pottery centers located in northeast Guangdong Province and Jiangxi Province, hundreds of kilometers to the north. Additionally, qiaoxiang residents were engaged in global networks of consumption, using British refined earthenwares and other products produced in Europe and the United States. These findings challenge the common assumption made in diaspora research that artifacts produced in migrants’ homelands are evidence of tradition, while those produced in migrants’ adopted countries are evidence of culture change. Instead, the results of qiaoxiang archaeology indicate the significance of nonstate actors, especially import-export companies, in shaping the material worlds of both homeland and diaspora communities. (Spanish abstract available as Supplemental Text 1.) 故乡考古:中国移民考古中的侨乡与非国家行为体。十九世纪初期的中国移民社群考古已是考古学内发展成熟的一个课题。但是, 关于中国移民故乡的研究仍然有所欠缺。通过对中国珠江三角洲的一个侨乡村落进行考古调查, 我们首次揭示了关于侨乡移民的考古学材料。结果显示, 侨乡与海外华人社群在使用中国制造的商品方面有明显的不同之处, 侨乡居民主要使用本地生产的陶瓷制品, 而海外移民社群则主要使用来自高陂镇和江西景德镇的器物, 这些生产商位于广东东北部的大埔县和江西省。同时, 侨乡居民也是当时国际消费网络的参与者, 他们使用英国制造的精致陶器以及其他欧美制造品。这些新发现挑战了以往关于移民社群研究的假设, 即移民故乡所生产的器物代表传统, 而移民国所生产的器物则代表文化转变。侨乡考古的结果说明了非国家行为体 (特别是进出口公司) 对侨乡与海外移民社群物质世界的重要塑造作用。