Studying ‘roots tourism’ provides insights regarding various relationships between diasporic people and their ancestral countries. The goal of this study was to classify second‐generation Chinese American roots tourists based on the meanings of visiting China and a sense of belonging to China. Through the interpretive analysis of 34 interviewees, five categories emerged. The findings indicated various meanings of visit, although, overall, ties to the ancestral land seemed ceasing. Roots tourism, a temporal, infrequent visit, may not foster strong ties to an ancestral land. Yet, the study also revealed that the ancestral land still signifies as a special destination for diasporic people. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.