本文旨在反省過去海外華人宗教團體在多元文化環境中的研究議題。早期海外或東南亞的華人研究，旨在關心華人的認同與同化議題；近來雖漸出現關於在地化的討論，但仍然複製了過去將華人文化與在地文化對立的思考邏輯。本研究試圖以符號關聯的角度出發，來理解過去這類從文化要素來思考的討論，指出過去無論是華人認同維持、亦或是在地化的討論，實都涉及了研究者自身對於符號關聯的特定認識。本文試圖以泰國一貫道為例，指出泰國一貫道菁英及華人傳道者，雖與在中國、臺灣相同，具共同的「中華意識形態」，然對代表「中華文化」的符號能指有其不同的認識；另一方面，泰國一貫道信者對於「中華文化」符號的認識及再創造，接受、抗拒、甚或是發展出完全無關的符號關聯。信者所處的多樣脈絡與符號的多功能性，不同的符號認識過程跳脫了華人相對於在地的二元思考，提供我們理解華人宗教於多元文化環境中的不同視野。

This article aims at reflecting the issue of the overseas Chinese religious groups in the multi-cultural environments, particularly in Southeast Asia. Early studies on the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia focus on the issues of the Chinese identity or the assimilation. Recent studies have begun to pay attention to the issue of the localization or the local cultures, but are still under the logic of the dichotomy between the Chinese culture and the local cultures. Instead of analyzing with the view of the columnar cultural elements, this study applies semiotics to analyze those discussions on cultures, and indicates that no matter discussion on the maintenance of the Chinese identity or the localization, all are related to the specific semiotic process of the researchers themselves. Taking Yiguan Dao in Thailand for example, this article indicates that, although the Yiguan Dao elites or the Chinese missionaries in Thailand have the same 'Chinese ideology' as Yiguan Dao members in China or Taiwan, they have different signifiers for the 'Chinese culture'. On the other hand, the Yiguan Dao Thai members have different semiotic process toward those signifiers of the 'Chinese culture'. Because of the multiple contexts of Yiguan Dao members or the multi-functionality of the symbols, Yiguan Dao Thai members appropriate, resist, or even have creative meanings of those symbols that are not necessarily related with the Chinese ideology. Those multiple semiotic process are different from the logic of the dichotomy between the Chinese culture and the local cultures, and those process help us to expand new horizons to understand the Chinese religions in the multi-cultural environments.