A Cross-cultural Study Of The Flower Drum Song By Chinese American Writer Chin Yang Lee

Chin Yang Lee’s novel The Flower Drum Song has been adapted and shown inBroadway twice by Rodgers and Hammerstein in1958and David Henry Hwang in2002. It isknow as the first Broadway show about Asian Americans. The novel itself was also abestseller of the New York Times in1957. The influence of the novel is profound and Chin YangLee is regarded as one of the early Chinese American writers who pioneered the ChineseAmerican literature.The Flower Drum Song tells a fascinating family story and gives a vivid portrayal ofimmigrants struggling with assimilation. As to reach a better understanding of the novel, thisthesis gives a cross-cultural reading of the plots in the novel. The analysis will be completedby six parts of discussion.In the first place, the thesis gives a brief introduction of the Chinese American literature.Chinese American literature has a history of more than one hundred years. It was onceignored or marginalized but is gradually stepping into the mainstream of American literature.The thesis tries to explain the three phases of the development of Chinese American literature.Then it introduces The Flower Drum Song and the author of this novel Chin Yang Lee.Undoubtedly, The Flower Drum Song is very successful and the writer Chin Yang Lee whowrites this charming and bittersweet tale of romance is considered as the first ChineseAmerican writer who has become popular in Broadway. Lee is regarded as one of the earlyChinese American writers who pioneered the Chinese American literature.The second chapter is an overview of the research method of this thesis. It gives aninterpretation of cross-cultural study and illustrates the comparative research and contextualanalysis. It also explains the significance of cross-cultural study of this novel. A completecross-culture is that on the basis of a fully understanding of a cultural customs and habitswhich are different from the original culture, individuals try to accept and adapt themselves tothe cultural differences. With the development of globalization, cross-culture is considered asone of the main trends in the modern society nowadays. Cross-culture researches arebecoming increasingly important.The third chapter is an analysis of the inheritance of Chinese traditional culture in thisnovel. It tells that Chinese immigrants to the United States brought many of their ideas andvalues with them. Some of these have continued to influence later generations, such as oldcustoms and Confucianism. Lee depicts a lot about Chinese traditional culture. The thesisfirstly introduces Lee’s vivid depiction of Chinese lifestyle in Chinatown and then deeplyanalyzes the influence of Confucianism on characters. It also shows the inheritance of thecultural wealth in Chinese language.In the forth chapter, the thesis tries to analyze the assimilating tendency in the novel bydiscussing three main characters’ changes of attitudes and actions. In the novel the adjustment about assimilation mainly happens to three characters: Wang Chi-yang, Wang Ta and WangTa’s best friend Chang Ling-yu. In The Flower Drum Song, the two generations showdifferent attitudes toward Chinese culture and American culture, which conveys ChineseAmericans’ strong desire of acceptation by main stream of American society. The depiction ofthese three characters illustrates that Chinese Americans are proceeding for assimilation atthat time and the assimilation is their way for salvation.Concerning the fifth chapter, the thesis analyzes the novel under the historical and socialcontext. It tries to find out the social reasons for the success of The Flower Drum Song. Theextraordinary success of the novel is not only attributed to the writer Lee who tells thisfascinating story but also the special social environment in America at that time. It introducesthe ethnic relation in1930s, which is influenced by the “melting pot” and the performance of“Chinese Exclusion Act”, which leads to the discrimination and isolation that Chineseimmigrants suffered at that time. It explains the desirability of assimilation for identityconstructionIn the final chapter, a conclusion is given to illustrate the main points of this thesis andpromote the significance of the study. Chinese Americans’ struggling for identity constructionand balance of different cultures offer a mirror for nowadays cultural coexistence.