Construction Of A Global Identity In The Tea Girl Of Hummingbird Lane

Lisa See is one of the most active and productive Chinese American writers in the United States and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird lane is released in 2017 with the protagonist,the daughter Haley,who is born out of wedlock in a high mountain minority in Yunnan province.In the novel,Haley is adopted by an American couple and grows up in America.Because Haley has a special background of international adoption as a descendant of Chinese ethnic minorities,so it is significant to do academic research on her identity construction.This thesis,based on the theory of cultural identity,discusses her cultural identity dilemmas and its construction of global hybrid cultural identity.The preface of thesis introduces Lisa See and her works,briefly describes the domestic and foreign scholars' researches on the author and her novels,clarifies the theoretical foundation,and introduces the framework of the thesis.The body consists of four chapters.Chapter one describes the construction of American cultural identity of Haley who is adopted by American couple and her relevant reflections on the identity.On the one hand,Haley has been living and growing up in the United States since she was a baby and has built a strong sense of American cultural identity.This is partly because she has perfectly established a familial ethic identity,and partly comes from the social identity theory that drives her to make a normal connection with the white community.On the other hand,it's far from enough to just construct American cultural identity,because Haley and other adopted children still are regarded as the alien by white-led American community,at the same time,Haley has an asymmetric information about China as American mainstream does.As a result,Haley has to think about her own Chinese cultural identity after constructing American cultural identity.Chapter Two analyzes that Haley has a high recognition of her Chinese cultural identity and explores the cultural identity further.This is because she has a strong interest in Chinese culture,and mostly because her adoptive parents consciously cultivate her Chinese identity.However,Haley is regarded as a foreigner and an outsider by both Chinese and herself,and because of her adoptive identity,she is not accepted by other Asians living in the United States.This unacceptable status makes Haley have to further explore the particularity of her cultural identity.Chapter Three explores the particularity of Akha cultural and Haley's reflections on the traditional culture.Double recognition of American and Chinese cultural identities doesn't get total rid of her identity concerns;in return,it has deepened her confusion about ethnic identity.The cultural identity of China,the grand nation,cannot embody the unique cultural connotation and characteristics of her mother nation,Akha minority.The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane mainly presents the unique astronomical calendar system,views on marriage and love and thoughts of children of the Akha,and the special tea culture,so only when Haley receives mother culture can she finish the complete journey of cultural identity.However,the modern education received by Haley gives birth to the modernity,which makes Haley hold a critical attitude towards the traditional culture.It means that Haley admits and respects the good merits of Ahka culture,but abandons and attacks these backward traditions.Chapter Four discusses that cultural hybridity serves as the solution to identity issues of Haley,which means the construction of global hybrid cultural identity.In the novel,neither the United States nor China nor the Chinese Akha ethnic group is a complete place where Haley's cultural identity exists,and her complete cultural identity lies in the inclusiveness and hybridity of various cultures,which creates a global citizen cultural identity.On the one hand,it is the solution to the cultural identity of the protagonist Haley,and on the other hand,it also reflects the novel's exploration and reflection on the cultural identity of the contemporary diaspora.Conclusion summarizes the previous discussions and restates the viewpoints of the thesis.The thesis focuses on Haley's success of solving concerns of American cultural identity,Chinese cultural identity and Chinese ethnic cultural identity and reveals the reality of her hybridity identity,presents the solution to her cultural identity issues,that is to construct a global identity.