Abstract: One salient feature of British Chinese literature has been the practice of narrating history, in which the writers weave the identity problem into the narration of “histories.” Through examining this obsession among British Chinese writers, this article argues that such writing not only unfolds the history that British Chinese writers have been mostly fascinated by, but also signals their perspectives of history and more importantly their politics of surviving in diaspora in Britain. The fact that most British Chinese are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the former British colonies stirs up the question of multiple diaspora, which together with the reality of the sub-ethnic cultural divergence within the British Chinese community makes the issue of identification even more complex. Therefore the narration of history attaches tremendous significance to the construct of identity for the marginalized British Chinese. By narrating histories, British Chinese writers stumble yet aim to find their way out of the dilemma of being “rootless.”

Key words: British Chinese literature, narrating history, identity, ethnic politics