An Exploration Into Early Chinese American Literature In The Social Context: From 1785 To The 1960s

Chinese emigrants and their descendants in America were located in the conflicts of Eastern and Western cultures. The merging and conflicts of the two cultures are reflected in their literary works. As a product of the world migration phenomenon, and under the global trend of multiculturalism, Chinese American literature has received far more attention from literary circles since the 1990s.Chinese Americans have a unique cultural background and historical experiences that distinguished them from other American ethnic minorities. As Asian American literary scholar Elaine H. Kim points out, Chinese American writings function as a social statement and historical documents which reach beyond the realms of literary merit and artistic values.In this paper, literary study is carried out with discussion of the chronological social historical background, with the intention of investigating how the literary devices reflect the varied experiences of the Chinese in America and their cultural perspectives in different sub-eras from the late eighteenth century to the 1960s. Chapter 1 concentrates on early Chinese migration and its background in both China and America. Chapter 2 covers works written during the exclusion era by Americanised Chinese of the higher social strata. Chapter 3 is a discussion of the transitional works of Chinese American writers after World War II when the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed and a new immigration act introduced in 1965 effectively removed racial bias from America's immigration laws.