Exploring collective identity and community connections: An interpersonal analysis of online visitor reviews at the Overseas Chinese Museum (2012–2023)

Abstract

The Overseas Chinese Museum in Xiamen, Fujian, is a cultural historical museum in China that promotes heritage tourism and strengthens the community connection among the overseas Chinese diaspora, international and local visitors. The museum has become a platform for interpreting the immigration experience of overseas Chinese communities around the world. In this study, we examine visitors’ feedback to the Overseas Chinese Museum through a linguistic analysis of their reviews. The visitors’ reviews, 207 English-language online reviews, were collected from various travel forums between 2012 and 2023, totaling 11,584 words. We divided the data evenly into two distinct time periods, Stage I (2012–2017) and Stage II (2018–2023) and used statistical corpus log-likelihood analysis to quantify and understand if there were significant linguistic differences over time. Some of the key differences emerging from the linguistic analysis were related to conjunctions, e.g., also, while, after, and so, evaluative language and how identity was construed through language. Findings adopting an appraisal analysis suggested an increase in visitor satisfaction, possibly due to enhanced exhibits and changes in visitor expectations. The findings from analysing the reviews also showed that visitors shared similar values, developed a social bond with overseas Chinese, and engaged with this cultural historical community. The study contributes to a wider discussion on language in digital communication and cultural heritage. In addition, the visitors’ feedback and preferences could be used to improve communication and promotional strategies that ultimately increase the number of visitors to the museum.