Self And The Other: China And America’s Image Of Contemporary American Chinese Immigrant Novels

In a broad sense, American Chinese literature includes not only Chinese literature in America, but alsoEnglish literature written by Chinese American. So do three great writer groups form, which is Taiwanesewriters group in America, China mainland new immigrant writers group and Chinese American writersgroup. Researching China and America’s image in the immigrant novels of three writer groups mainlybased on the following two aspects. The first is the academic basis that three writer groups begin tocompare. The comparability depends on the homology, similarity, heterogeneity and variability of writersand works. The second is current research status and existing problems. Due to disciplines subdivision,American Chinese literature and American Chinese English literature belong to different subjects, whichrarely are put together for comparing research. Current imagologie studies mostly focus on the image ofChina, of course, also have a small amount of America’s image study, but lack comparison and summary ofChina’s image and America’s image. So the research about image of China and the United States in theimmigration novel helps fill in gaps. The study of China’s image helps participate in current frontier subjectin the academic circles. In the end, it has practical significance on the literary culture communicationexploring immigration problems and Sino-US political relations from literary and cultural aspect.In the research methods, imagologie of comparative literature and thematology are given priority to,supplemented by Lacan’s mirror theory，the theory of post-colonialism, Freudian psychoanalysis andtheory，feminism and so on. Under the perspective of comparative literature, through the research aboutheterogeneous civilization and cultural context of immigration novels, I analyze various image features,construction process and reasons for the formation of image of China and the United States. This papertries to find characteristics of Chinese American writer with dual cultural background talking China and theUnited States.Main innovations are embodied in the following two aspects:(1) Adopting Chinese Americanliterature in a broad sense, put three writer groups together into the research scope，research the image ofChina and the United States at the same time, comb the image flowing deformation of China and US andanalyze reason.(2) Literary aesthetic/cultural study. Through image comparison of China and the United States of the immigration novels written by three writer groups, dig the deep cultural connotation.The following is respectively overview about image of China and the United States in the three writergroups’ novels. First is Taiwanese writers’ duckweed elegy. In the fifties and sixties of the20th, the risingTaiwanese writers in America mainly are Bai Xianyong, Yu Lihua, Chen Ruoxi, Shi Shuqing, Cong Su andso on. Their immigration stories have a common characteristic, showing sad mind of the wanderingChinese. The characters in the novels exiled themselves from Taiwan to the United States, just likeduckweed swinging in the ocean of the United States, and can’t strike root. Therefore, they were named as“rootless generation”, including vagrant, marginal man, shaky ones, free Chinese immigrants with cangueand other Chinese immigrant image. They have identity anxiety and were marginalized in the United States,so they were often homesick for China. Americans rarely appears in the novel. If there are Americans in thenovels, most Americans are often negative images. Transracial marriages often end in failure, whichindicates defeat in the fusion between China and the United States. Overall, China is a poor and backwardagricultural country, while the United States is a powerful modern industrial country. China is a spiritualhome, but America is the survival land. Distant China becomes poetic because of Chinese wanderer’imagination, while the United States is a cultural desert for immigration.Because of cultural identity crisis, there would be such a binary image of China and the United States.Although they embraced the United States dreams, they couldn’t quickly adapt to the local culture andsuccessfully integrate themselves into the United States. So they feel disappointed, lonely, confused, etc.And the United States’ image presents gray tones in their description. Cultural identity crisis is associatedwith writer’s origin. These writers were exiled to Taiwan from Chinese mainland at an early age andbanished themselves again when they are adults. These experiences make them full of grief to the oldcountry, and feel strange for the United States. Vagrant image reflects self. America’s immigration policyand national policy influenced American society attitude to immigrants, also influenced the immigrants’opinion to the United States, and the image formation of China and the United States.Secondly is about the image in the new immigrant writers from the Chinese mainland. New immigrantwriters, such as Zha Jianying, Yan Geling, Zhou Li, Cao Guilin, wrote down series of immigrant novelsabout America’s experience from1980s to1990s. In addition to inheritting the former bitternessdescription adrift in the foreign country, new immigrant writers also open up a new field and shape new immigrants image. For example, Zha Jianying described the character of bogus foreign devil. Yan Gelingshaped the self-respect and self-strength Chinese female students image. Zhou Li, Cao Guilin and XueHaixiang wrote numerous Chinese businessman images. New immigrants are no longer obsessing over theold grief, homesick feelings, and so on. For them, survival firstly, then taking root, maintaining ethnicindependence, even indifference to ethnic integration. Comparing with the previous Chinese literature, thenovels reflecting the interracial relationship became increasing during this period, where Americansincrease and their images are often neutral or positive, which reflects further strengthening ethnicintegration. At that moment, China was in the “Cultural Revolution”. Prosperous, democratic and civilizedAmerica successfully set a good platform for the new immigrants.There are some reasons for the change of the image of China and the United States from Taiwaneseliterature. On the one hand, because of the change of era environment, such as the friendly exchangesbetween China and the United States, America’s national policy and more tolerant immigration policyalleviat racial discrimination degree, and most Americans are friendly to Chinese immigrants, all of theseaffected the writer to shape the image of China and the United States. On the other hand, new immigrantwriters from mainland had not the experience that Taiwan’s writers were exiled at their early years, but theyexperienced the “Cultural Revolution”, and looked for American dream at the instigation of the reform andopening up. They must meet cultural conflicts, but far less strenuous than Taiwan’s writer’s culturalconflict. As the watcher, some writers are fanatical for America, such as Zhou Li; More writers, such asZha Jianying, Yan Geling, have goodwill attitude to America.Thirdly is about identity of Chinese American writers who are Huang Yuxue, Amy Tan, Maxine HongKingston, Ren Bilian and so on. Their novels reflect the intergenerational conflict problem of Chineseliving in the United States between first generation and their descendants, and the growth theme of ChineseAmerican. Most of the first generation Chinese of intergenerational conflict was industrious and good,sticking to traditional Chinese culture, such as feudal superstition and concept of son preference. ChineseAmericans were in the cracks of Chinese and American cultures, but they would give priority to Americanculture. Their conflicts with their parents were mostly cultural conflict. The growth of Chinese Americansis the process of Americanization, eventually they become typical Americans. In their perspective, Chinahere either closed the modern society, whose economy is backward, wars frequently, life destitute. Although China has a long history and splendid culture, feudal ideas shackled people and patriarchyideology oppressed women. Or China was communism, where Communist party is non-humanitarian anddictatorship persecuted the rich. Although the United States has racial discrimination problems, she doesn’thave hunger and war, she is prosperous.The reasons that different image from Chinese writers have two aspects. On the one hand, it isassociated with the identity of Chinese American writer. Although they were Chinese in blood, they hadbecome American in cultural identity. Even Some writers have a tendency to demonize China. On the otherhand, due to the information disorders between China and the United States, the real China was not knownby the United States. China, which was described according to hearsay by Chinese American writer, wasbound to different from real China. In general, Chinese American writers wrote imagination of China, butagreed with the reality of the United States.Above three great writers groups have some common subjects, also have their preferential subject.The variation of the different motif showed different era theme, and produced the similar and differentimage of China and the United States. The image of China and the United States has his constancy andvariability. The social collective imagination was the reason of constant image. However, change’s reasonsare various, such as general environment of the time, the writer’s identity, writing language, readers’horizon of expectation and aesthetic taste, etc.New immigrant literature from mainland inherited and developed Taiwanese literature in America.Taiwan’s writers continued writing new works in a broader view, diverse subject, which showed a new eratheme and new aesthetic style. The two writers groups gradually become a group of American Chineseliterature writers group in the new century, paralleling with Chinese American English writers group. Nowtheir novels have very big difference, you can imagine, even though immigrant writers settled in the UnitedStates many years still write in Chinese, whose novels would be closed to Chinese American Englishnovels. Because a long period American culture environment affect their creative thinking, Chinese writinghas the trace of American culture, which become a product of cultural confluence between China and theUnited States. In short, America is not heaven, and China is not hell. The heaven or hell of the exotic image is artimagination of writers, which is desire and fear dream of Chinese immigrants or Chinese Americans.