From European Chinese Literature to Overseas Chinese Literature

With China's opening to the outside world,the number of Chinese people in various European countries has been on the increase,and subsequently,the overseas Chinese community has undergone fundamental changes in its makeup,the majority of which are intellectuals,including professional writers as well as lovers of literature,thus having led to the rise of European Chinese literature.The European Chinese Writers Union was set up in Paris in March 1991.Nowadays European Chinese literature has entered a stage of maturity and stability with a bright prospect.The World Chinese Writers Union was established in 1992.In short,across the world today,where there are Chinese,there is Chinese literature.Chinese writers distributed in various places abroad share two points: one is their familiarity with the Chinese culture,and the other is the more or less gradual impact on them of the specific culture in which they live due to their long stay abroad.There is a mixture of Chinese Confucianism and western Christianity civilization in overseas Chinese writers,who are accustomed to taking a mixed view on life and the world.Overseas Chinese literature embodies two great significances: one is internal,i.e.in relation to the Chinese culture itself,and the other is external,that is,with respect to the whole world and the entire human culture.