Images Of The Chinese In China Boy

Seen from the perspective of cultural conflicts, this thesis explores the ChineseAmericans’ different attitudes towards the Chinese culture and the American culturein China Boy and analyzes images of the Chinese in China Boy by employing thestudy about the Chinese culture and the analysis of characteristics of the Chinesepeople. In face of cultural conflicts and cultural assimilations, the Chinese immigrantsin China Boy search for their cultural identities in America. Utilizing Stuart Hall’sinterpretation about cultural identity and Homi K. Bhabha’s conception of hybridity,this thesis further discusses the Chinese immigrants’ cultural identities in America.China Boy concentrates on the protagonist Kai Ting who suffers violence in theAmerican society, and depicts a weak little boy who grows up to be a masculine andconfident male. On the one hand, Kai grows up to be a masculine Chinese Americanmale and successfully constructs his American identity by means of practicing boxingand wrestling. On the other hand, Kai integrates into the multicultural communitysuccessfully and inherits the traditional Chinese culture. Food, as a cultural marker,reveals the ethnic formation. Kai’s capacity of having various foods in Y.M.C.A.marks that he has constructed himself a hybrid cultural identity and set his position inAmerica. The characters in China Boy inherit the traditional Chinese culture. Kai’smother and Uncle Shim are believers in the religion of good citizenship andConfucius culture. They respect the Chinese traditions, and are gentle and pacific likeother Chinese people. They preserve memories of the ancestral land and spirits of thetraditional Chinese culture though living in America. However, they do not adapt tothe environment as it evolves, which results in their failures in constructing theircultural identities in America. On the contrary, Kai’s father discards the traditionalChinese culture and totally assimilates into the white-dominated society. Because ofthe American racial discrimination, Kai’s father doesn’t obtain acceptance from the white class, and he loses his manhood and his Chinese cultural identity in face of thewhite class.This thesis comes to the conclusion that the Chinese Americans should havepositive attitudes towards their ancestral culture and the new culture. And the way tosolve cultural conflict is to retain one’s original cultural identity and meanwhileexplore the new American cultural identity, and to embrace a hybrid identity andbecome an international citizen.