The Jade Peony Taking Root In A Foreign Country: A Post-colonial Analysis Of The Jade Peony

Post-colonialism rises in1970s with the aim of eliminating colonialism andchallenging Western hegemony and imperialism. It mainly concerns theoreticalresearches on culture, which holds that only if race discrimination, class oppressionand gender discrimination are eradicated, can cultural hegemony be eliminated andcultural hybridity be achieved.Based on post-colonial theories, this thesis analyzes The Jade Peony, the firstnovel written by Wayson Choy, a Chinese Canadian writer, from three aspects: race,class and gender. This novel describes the living conditions of Chinese immigrants inCanada, how they struggle perseveringly and try their best to become part of themainstream culture, which reflects the historical process where ethnic groupsgradually win equality in Canada and how cultural hybridity comes into being.This thesis is divided into three chapters. With the example of Sek-Lung, thefirst chapter analyzes how Chinese seek and reconstruct their cultural identities inCanada. Early Chinese immigrants suffer from severe racial discrimination inCanada. Consequently, identity becomes one of the most confusing problems forthem. Sek-Lung, once lost when faced with the collision of Chinese culture andCanadian culture, finally constructs his cultural identity: he is neither a Chinese nor aCanadian, but a Chinese Canadian.The second chapter discusses how Chinese Canadians in the novel suffer fromclass oppression and how they struggle to win equality. Early Chinese immigrants,who come to Canada with the gold dream, are oppressed cruelly. After WWⅡ, thesituation is slightly better. The Chinese immigrants and their descendants break theconstraint of class with great effort and make improvements gradually.Chapter Three studies women images in the novel. They represent Chinesewomen in Canadian society. Being a member of the old generation, Poh-poh is an advocator of Chinese patriarchy; Stepmother is the one who is oppressed and wantsto fight for her rights; belonging to the young generation, Jook-Liang is a resister ofChinese patriarchy. The three women are victimized by Chinese patriarchal systemsin the family and oppressed by the mainstream Canadian culture in society.Jook-Liang, the representative of the young generation of women, finally starts tostrive for her equality.This thesis concludes that only when race discrimination, class oppression andgender discrimination are completely eliminated, can Chinese culture become part ofCanadian culture and Chinese Canadians become part of Canadian society and thejade peony, a symbol of Chinese traditional culture, really take root in Canada.