Beyond Orientalism: Cross-Cultural Perspective On Justin Hill's Works On China

Contemporary English writer Justin Hill is famous in Western literary world for his works on China. A Bend in the Yellow River, the Drink and Dream Teahouse and Passing Under Heaven were critically acclaimed and highly awarded. These three books contain different subject matters and styles which effectively show the author's views on cross-cultural communication. They demonstrate Hill's gradual shifts from one-sided to overall observation, from superficial to deep cognition and from traditional Orientalism prejudices and cliches to transcending Orientalism in thoughts and contents. Hill's shifts establish a dynamic process of cross-cultural communication which is worth researching. However, there are no translations or studies on Hill so far in China. After having translated Passing under Heaven into Chinese, the author decided to choose Hill as her doctoral research target. It is sure that this research will benefit studies on cross culture, especially exchanges between Chinese and English cultures.The significance, features and logic framework of the research on Hill's texts are introduced in Chapter One, then, the thesis turns to Chapter Two which is about the literary background for Hill's works. China has always been the evergreen topic in English literature. Literary works on China in English are too numerous to be listed individually. There exist Daniel Defoe's and Sax Rohmer's disparaging novels, James Hilton's Utopian imagination and self-orientalised stories by overseas Chinese writers. Writing of this sort portrays China as a hell or paradise and has contributed towards subsequent prejudices of China and her people. Even those who have never been to China could write on China at will. With this kind of writing on China prevailing in the West as literary context, we could see Hill's painstaking efforts to try to represent a real China, though at the very beginning, he could not shake off the deeprooted literary prejudice.Chapter Three analyzes Hill's travelogue A Bend in the Yellow River which is a book with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he tries to represent a real China; on the other hand, the perspective of the book is superficial and full of prejudice deriving from Orientalism. Hill surveyed Chinese society with Western superiority and values to emphasize backwardness, poverty and ignorance in Chinese small towns. Hill's prejudices and misreading caused by culture shock and Orientalism brought him confusion as well as reflection. But as a foreigner, he can not easily blend into Chinese society or penetrate into Chinese culture due to his limited horizon, difference in heterogeneous cultures and Orientalism discourse.Chapter Four deals with Hill's second book The Drink and Dream Teahouse. With this novel Hill made his name as a writer and won two literary prizes. The novelist immerses himself into the reality of Chinese life. He incisively observes the reforming society and ordinary people's psychology in the face of this turbulent reform. The novel describes cultural and ideological discordance between China and the Western world through rich characterization and details. Hill criticizes the vanishing of traditional Chinese culture with various forms of cultural confrontations, as he focuses more intently on the importance of traditional Chinese culture as a spiritual support for an interest-hungry society. In comparison with his previous book, Hill accepts China more objectively with less influence from Orientalism in this novel.Chapter Five probes into the cultural compatibility in Passing under Heaven in which Hill makes full use of a Tang Dynasty Poet--Yu Xuanji's poems to make up her life story. Hill pursues the elegance and grace of Chinese classical culture by way of rewriting Yu Xuanji's story. The novel is a beautiful dialogue between Hill and the poet, historically and contemporarily. It is a sonata between Hill's brilliant English language and the poet's emotional verse. The essence of Chinese culture and the liberal spirit in Western culture echo splendidly with one another. The novel challenges Orientalism discourse, embodies Hill's insight into Chinese classical poems and Daoism and shows Hill's rupture from Orientalism discourse, and clearance of confinement from previous writings on China.The dissertation expounds Hill's Chinese trilogy with post colonial theory and cross-cultural perspective. It finds out the continuous clue in Hill's three books. The books work together to demonstrate Hill's psychological journey of Chinese culture: repulsion, acceptance, understanding and intoxication. The attitudes and strategy show the process of going beyond Orientalism and culture integrity and at the same time predict the necessary tendency of mutual reference, assimilation and compatibility among heterogeneous cultures. Methodically, the dissertation combines macro culture analysis with micro text close reading. In order to achieve solid interpretation, the author had an interview with Hill himself while translating his novel Passing under Heaven. ( see the appendix)...