A Study Of Transnationalism In Chinese American Literature

As an important subfield of American literature,Chinese American Literature has made remarkable achievements since its birth in the 1860s.Though many critics have pointed out that the main purpose of Chinese American literature is to make a voice and to fight for equal rights for Chinese Americans to integrate into the mainstream society,all Chinese American writers,without exception,have shown dynamic exchanges and interactions between China and America in their works.Thus,taking transnationalism as its theoretical framework,this dissertation studies Chinese American literature texts under the context of globalization as well as specific social conditions of China and America.Transnationalism focuses on the process of establishing multiple social relations by immigrants across borders,and pays attentions to the simultaneous participation and dual identification of immigrants towards their country of origin and their country of settlement.The perspective of transnationalism can shed new light on Chinese American literature research,and to dispute the traditional binary research paradigm on the studies of Chinese American literature.This dissertation focuses on the following issues:what is the meaning of"homeland" in Chinese American literature in the context of globalization and increased cross-Pacific interaction?How did Chinese American writers demonstrate transnational interactions between China and America through writing "homeland"?What is the difference between the first generation Chinese Americans and America born Chinese in light of transnationalism?What is the relationship between Chinese American identity and Chinese culture in the context of transnationalism?This dissertation consists of four chapters.Chapter one discusses "sojourner mentality" in early Chinese American literature works and analyzes its causes.Due to the American legal restriction and the influences of Chinese traditional culture,most of the early Chinese American literature works exhibit the typical "sojourner mentality" such as "return home in glory","falling leaves settle on their roots" of the early immigrants.Island:Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island shows the anger,grief and homesickness of those Chinese labors who were detained in Angel Island Immigration Station.Yung Wing,the author of My Life in China and America,who has been partly Americanized,yet still shows sojourner mentality.According to his autobiography and life experience,Yung Wing failed to integrate his Chinese attributes with American attributes,and therefore he didn’t incorporate dual identification to both China and America.Wang Chi-yang,the protagonist in C.Y.Lee’s Flower Drum Song,created his own Chinese space and refused to be assimilated.Although these works reveal the "sojourner mentality" of the early Chinese American immigrants,it is not the unique feature of early Chinese immigrants,and it is indeed the outcome of American social context and the status quo of Chinese immigrants’ living reality.Chapter two analyzes the changing meaning of "home" in the background of globalization and the transnationalism of the first generation immigrants.The cross-Pacific interactions between China and the United States provide an opportunity for Chinese Americans to build transnational families and transnational identity.The first generation Chinese immigrants to America established and maintained transnational and multiple families between the United States and China.Chinese American writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston notes the trauma caused by this transnational family to women and the changing concept of home among Chinese American population.In Chinese American literature,home is no longer a concept based on physical location,but an imagined community.The establishment and maintenance of transnational families and frequent interactions between the two countries have brought deep social changes to China,and have also promoted the changes of traditional Chinese culture,social structure and female status.At the state level,Chinese Americans actively participate in China’s political activities and contribute to China’s development.Chinese American writers such as Zhang Ling and Shi-Kuo Chang displays the cross-Pacific interaction,the deep involvement of overseas Chinese in China’s politics,as well as the simultaneous growth of nationalism and transnationalism among overseas Chinese in their works.Chapter three mainly examines the transnational identification of America born Chinese(ABC),the difference between the first generation Chinese Americans and ABCs on transnationalism.The writings of first generation immigrates in Chinese American literature generally focus on their transnational practices,while the writings of second generation immigrants concentrate on their transnational cultural and emotional identification to China.By narrating the intergenerational conflict and integration,Joy Luck Club shows the transnational identification of ABCs to China and Chinese culture;by writing ghost,China Men demonstrates the intentional and unintentional natural identification of ABCs to China and Chinese culture.In addition,this chapter also discusses the transnational writings of first generation and second generation Chinese American writers,which are represented by Lin Yutang and Iris Chang.As an immigrant writer of nativism,Lin Yutang makes use of writing to eliminate the misunderstanding of the West about China,and at the same time he actively strive for the Western world to support China.Different from the first generation immigrant writers,the second-generation Chinese American writers such as Iris Chang focus on the status quo of Chinese Americans and appeal for the equal treatment.Due to their ethnicity,these writers develop transnational identification to China and try to make voices for China in international arena.Chapter four explores the identity of ABCs.It mainly examines the important role of Chinese culture in the identity construction of ABCs in Donald Duk,Gunga Din Highway and Mona in the Promised Land.The second generation Chinese Americans grow up under the influence of both Chinese and American cultures,and they inevitably have to construct their identity between two cultures.Because of racial discrimination,they have to turn to their Chinese cultural attributes to seek power and resources.The influence of China’s domestic political events also cross the borders and influence their identity construction.In this process,these ABCs gradually realize that their cultural identification is not "either this or that",but "both this and that".The protagonists in these three novels construct their own identities in different ways:Donald Duk grows from abandoning his dream of being fully Americanized to fully accepting his Chinese heritage;Ulysses Kwan begins as a fully Americanized boy,but later becomes a Chinese culture defender;by flexibly using her own cultural capital,Mona constructs her own flexible citizenship under the multiculturalism in the 1960s.These works show the mobility of identity construction,and reflects the Chinese American writers’ concern on the role of Chinese culture in Chinese Americans’identity construction.The relationship between Chinese Americans,China and Chinese culture has been a long-term concern of the academic community.Chinese American literature has been commonly interpreted as the writing of "Americanness" of Chinese Americans by American academia and the writing of Chinese american’ loyalty to China by Chinese academia,but Chinese Americans can not be simply categorized as either American or Chinese due to the inherent racial and Chinese cultural attributes.Thanks to the social changes and interactions between the two countries,Chinese Americans are able to cross the boundaries of single nation-state cultural identification and to develop double or multiple identifications to Chinese and American culture.In this sense,Chinese American literature is not only about the Americanness of China Americans,but also about the transnationalism that transcends borders,which is exactly the significant characteristic of immigrants and Chinese American communities in today’s globalization era.