Subversion And Reconstruction--a New Historical Study Of China Men

China Men (1980) is the second masterpiece of Maxine Hong Kingston, one of the most prestigious Chinese American writers. Under the great fame of her first memoir The Woman Warrior (1976), China Men received wide recognition and compliment among the American academic circle the moment it was published. It has won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the American Book Award, which are very influential awards to writers. The Woman Warrior tells the stories of the female in her family, while her second memoir, China Men, is a saga of Kingston’s family history and pays tribute to her male ancestors who are the early Chinese immigrants in America. It depicts the hardships Chinese men have encountered, the mental struggle they have endured, and the journey they have gone through as sojourners, laborers, and finally legal citizens of the United States.As is well known, the early Chinese immigrants are the co-creators of the American history, having made enormous contributions to the establishment of America. However, their experiences and sufferings have been rarely recorded or unjustly dealt with in American history, literary works and other cultural media. Kingston’s China Men is undoubtedly a work that helps to correct such misunderstanding and modify this awkward situation. Kingston reconstructs the authentic Chinese American history by interweaving myths, histories, fantasies and memories, and gives voice to her ancestors who are obliterated from the official history. Kingston regards her family history as part of the American history, and commends the great contributions her forefathers have made in American history. Approaching from Stephen Greenblatt’s Cultural Poetics, especially his notion of "History and histories", this thesis tries to explore how Kingston subverts the so-called official history and reconstructs the authentic Chinese American history.There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter one is an introduction, in which I present the general purpose of this thesis, Maxine Hong Kingston’s life experience, her literary career, literature review about the study of China Men abroad and in China, the structure and significance of the thesis.Chapter two is about the theoretical basis of this thesis, so it introduces New Historicism and its development during history, Stephen Greenbaltt’s Cultural Poetics, especially his notion of "History and histories".Chapter three concentrates on how Maxine Hong Kingston subverts the so-called official history in her work China Men. Photographs and laws are believed to be vey faithful to the facts and truth and they are a reflection of official history; however, Kingston breaks the rule and presents a different picture to us. She tells us a completely different story about how the white society tried to obliterate the great contributions Chinese Americans made during the construction of America and the unfair laws that prohibited Chinese from entering America.Chapter four is concerned with the reconstruction of the authentic history in Maxine Hong Kingston’s China Men. By eulogizing her forefathers’contribution to America, telling her father’s experiences in America and her brother’s enrollment in the U.S army at Vietnam War, Kingston reconstructs the authentic Chinese American history for us. The history that is neglected by the official is the real one that needs to be remembered by the descendants of Chinese Americans.The last chapter gives the whole thesis a conclusion, and summarizes the profound meaning Kingston implied in the work from the perspective of New Historicism, especially from Stephen Greenblatt’s theory. On the one hand, Maxine Hong Kingston attempts to present the sufferings Chinese Americans endured in the hostile America, the inhumane treatment they received and the great contributions they made to America; on the other hand, she appeals equality, communication and peace, and reminds the descendants of Chinese Americans to know the value of their ethnic history. Only in this way can the young generations establish their full identity as Chinese Americans in the multicultural American society.