Abstract:The inheritance of Huayu in overseas context is a field that has attracted much academic attention and yielded numerous research findings in recent years. This paper reviews the Huayu inheritance studies with a purpose to generalize the focal research topics and suggest directions for future research in this area. The previous studies on Huayu inheritance can be categorized into four research strands, namely, learners in the inheritance, promoters of inheritance, factors influencing inheritance and the inheritance paths. An analysis of the relevant literature reveals that the research on inheritance of Huayu in overseas context is characterized by ever-expanding research areas, more diversified perspectives, region-specific research topics, increasingly in-depth theoretical explorations, and imbalanced research endeavors in inheritance paths, subjects and contributing factors. In light of the findings in previous research, future studies on this area can place more emphasis on the theorization of overseas Huayu inheritance, the language life of overseas Huayu, the construction of family-based language inheritance system, the cataloguing and utilization of overseas Huayu resources as well as the institutionalization and implementation of “Heritage Chinese Language Proficiency Test”.