Construction Of Gender Identity In Chinese American Literature

Chinese American literature is a response by Chinese American writers to the disadvantaged situation in which they find themselves due to their Chinese descent. Racial discrimination by mainstream American society against Chinese Americans has often adopted a gender-based form. The gendered representation to Chinese Americans by mainstream American society leads to the alienation of Chinese American culture, and in the long run would forever exclude it from American society and history. Through a study of works by Chinese American writers such as Jade Snow Wong, Louis Chu, Maxine Hong Kingston, Frank Chin and Amy Tan, this paper investigates how Chinese American writers have used the English literary text to resist the history, knowledge and collective memory of the mainstream society. It examines how they have taken advantage of the influential power of literature to energetically eradicate the racial stereotype that mainstream American society has imposed upon Chinese Americans, and further to construct the subjectivity of Chinese Americans.The paper starts by looking at turning points in the development of Chinese American literature and the process by which it gradually attracted the attention of mainstream American academia. Through discussing the definition of Chinese American literature given by academia, the paper establishes its object of research. It goes further to trace the origins of Chinese American literature under different historical circumstances, and investigates the significance of Chinese American literary anthologies in establishing Chinese American literature, and in creating and exemplifying the Chinese American literary tradition. It also puts forward its research perspectives and methodologies on the basis of an overview of studies on Chinese American literature by Chinese and overseas scholars.Chinese Americans'cultural identity has always been a contentious issue within the world of Chinese American literature. On the basis of a theoretical investigation of cultural...