Preserving Heritage in Diaspora: Contributions of the US Chinatowns in Sustaining Traditional Chinese Culture and Language

ABSTRACT This paper explores how US Chinatowns preserve Chinese culture, language and identity by maintaining an intergenerational transfer system and tourism. It fills a post‐pandemic diaspora research gap with a mixed‐methodology design (surveys, n = 100; interviews, n = 15; visual analysis, ethnographic observation in San Francisco, New York and Chicago). Quantitative analysis reveals that formal organizational membership is the strongest predictor of cultural maintenance ( p < 0.001), suggesting that institutional structures are more vital than casual engagement. This paper presents the argument that sustainable cultural preservation must rely on the local community‐based and intergenerational participation as opposed to outside tourism, and it includes the suggestion to the policymakers and cultural heritage planning in the multicultural urban settings.