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Bringing traditional chinese culture to life.

This issue of Education About Asia addresses the question, “What should we know about Asia?” Based on my experiences teaching courses on China and East Asia, traditional Chinese culture is one of the most important topics in understanding both past and present Asia. China has one of the world’s oldest civilizations. This poses many challenges to teachers who desire to make this rich and complex tradition accessible to their students. On both a temporal and spatial level, traditional China may seem far removed to Western students of the modern world. To bridge these gaps in time and space, and to make it more relevant to my students, I often connect its significance to contemporary society by highlighting the current appeal of learning about traditional Chinese culture in modern China. To demonstrate this process, this article examines examples from three cultural fields: Chinese philosophy, focusing on Confucius and his thought; Chinese history, with an illustration from the Shiji ; and Chinese literature, with a case study on plum blossom poems. Moreover, this article discusses how to develop course questions that are relevant to the students’ needs, as well as how to update teaching styles by incorporating multimedia sources, such as current news and films, in the classroom in order to appeal to students of the digital age. Furthermore, the examples and approaches outlined in this article are applicable to a wide variety of courses, including, but not limited to, Chinese literature, history, philosophy, or world history. It is hoped that this article may therefore encourage teachers across many disciplines to incorporate these techniques, as well as their own innovations, in their classrooms.

Confucius and His Thought

Confucian thought played an important role in shaping Chinese culture and identity. In order to make this complex philosophy more engaging, I utilize the “What Did Confucius Say?” articles from the Asia for Educators website, which is hosted by Columbia University.1 This reading material is concise and contains seven major sections grouped according to various topics, including primary sources and discussion questions. The first two sections cover the life and major ideas of Confucius, and provide the background and main features of the Analects of Confucius . For instance, the reading informs users that the Analects of Confucius is not a single work composed by Confucius (551–479 BCE) during his lifetime, but rather multiple writings compiled by Confucius’s disciples after his death. The Analects are also a useful starting point for students to encounter traditional Chinese culture due to the format of the text itself. Students frequently perceive that in many of these stories, Confucius engages in either a monologue or a conversation with his disciples or a ruler to articulate his ideas. Moreover, Confucius’s words are terse and concise, leaving room for various interpretations, thereby promoting a lively class discussion.

When designing class activities, I include some of the discussion questions from the reading material on the website into my own questions in order to unpack both the meaning of his sayings in their own cultural context, as well as their current appeal in contemporary society. These questions are well-designed for high school and undergraduate instructors. The first few questions come from the website and are always based on a primary source in order to ensure the students understand the text. I then follow up these general comprehension questions with my own questions in order to place Confucius’s sayings into a larger intellectual and social context by asking students to apply Confucian thought to modern and contemporary issues. To prepare for class discussion, I may ask students to read some passages together or invite individual students to take turns reading them aloud, followed by their interpretations of the text’s meaning and broader significance. For example, one primary source comes from “On Confucius as Teacher and Person,” which includes Confucius’s sayings on education. I assign students the following discussion questions:

Why is Confucius often called a great teacher? Please note several qualities of Confucius’s teaching philosophy as demonstrated by his sayings.
If Confucius were your teacher today, how would you evaluate his teaching approaches and methods? Would you want to attend his class? Why or why not? Students are then able to discuss these questions based on a close reading of the document itself. For instance, the students learn that Confucius broke away from the traditional education system of his time, which had been limited to teaching the sons of noble families. In contrast, he allegedly would teach anyone who was willing to learn. In addition, he taught students with different approaches according to their own situations and characters. As a teacher, he showed his eagerness to learn from other people and improve his knowledge and skills, stating that “Walking along with three people, my teacher is sure to be among them.”2

Another important Confucian thought is the concept of ren (humanity). In this section, I demonstrate that some of Confucius’s sayings possess universal value, and thus, everyone can relate Confucius’s primary beliefs regardless of their own personal knowledge and backgrounds. The discussion questions below are used to facilitate students’ understanding of this concept and allow them to compare it to other traditions:

Based on the reading section, what qualities does humanity include? Could you use some examples to illustrate Confucius’s ideas on humanity?
Humanity is a universal value in many philosophies and religions. Please discuss the similarities and differences between Confucians’ humanity and other traditions that you are familiar with, such as Christianity or Buddhism. Although Confucius’s beliefs, such as humanity, have many similarities with other philosophical and religious traditions, some of Confucius’s values, such as filial piety, are different from Western cultural traditions. Filial piety is the core of Confucian moral philosophy, but it may be difficult for students outside of the Chinese tradition to understand, thus instructors must explain it and similar concepts in detail. To this end, I provide the following discussion questions:
What are the major ideas of Confucius’s filial piety?
Why do Chinese rulers promote and advocate this concept?
If you were to apply filial piety to your family, what would happen? Do you think that filial piety applies to modern Western society? Why or why not?

To make these abstract concepts more concrete, I also ask students to offer specific examples to explain filial piety and its reciprocity. For instance, Confucius teaches that younger family members should respect their family elders, and in return, the elders have an obligation to take care of their younger family members. When explaining this, instructors should emphasize that this kind of relationship is hierarchical and that it was later advocated by rulers in different dynasties to legitimize their power by equating the ruler to the head of the family. When discussing filial piety, the instructor must also highlight its societal significance and philosophical ramifications. For instance, Confucian scholars maintained that if family members showed filial piety, then they would become peaceful and harmonious. Moreover, because society consists of many small families that make up the state, following this logic, a society that practices filial piety will naturally become well organized. Therefore, these scholars argued, a ruler should not rely on severe laws and regulations to govern his state; instead, a ruler should lead by exemplary deeds and moral values. Thus, students will learn that Confucian values such as filial piety affected all aspects of traditional Chinese culture, from the individual household to the governing state itself.

After students have grappled with the original texts and their historical significance, I then assign them Jeremy Page’s 2015 Wall Street Journal article “Why China Is Turning Back to Confucius”3 in order to further demonstrate the current appeal of Confucian thought on modern Chinese society. Page begins by describing a lecture on Chinese philosophy that many senior Chinese officials attended in order to further understand Confucian values and how to apply them in their daily lives. He then discusses the causes behind this revival of traditional Chinese culture (i.e., Confucianism), such as coping with domestic social problems, legitimating the Communist Party’s rule by arguing that it has inherited the Confucian tradition, and opposing Western influence. In addition, the article briefly traces the reception of Confucianism from the 1840s to the present and discusses many ways that contemporary Chinese society commemorates Confucius, such as establishing monuments, opening Confucian academies and training centers, and holding museum exhibitions and lectures.

In class, I first briefly discuss Confucius’s fluctuating status from the late Qing dynasty (1644–1911) to the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), when his thought was largely criticized and condemned. This provides a historical context behind the return that contemporary Chinese society is making toward the study and appreciation of Confucian ideology. It also enables students to understand how the traditional Confucian value of obeying a ruler’s orders is being utilized to keep the present government in power . As students discuss this article, many observe that the top Chinese leaders attend Confucian classics courses and workshops, and even tune in to national television broadcasts and lectures on Confucian thought during primetime. In addition, they discover that school textbooks include more materials that encompass traditional values, and parents send their children to learn Confucian rituals as part of their extracurricular activities. After discussing these newly developing trends in Chinese society today, students often conclude that the Chinese government wants to revive traditional Chinese culture rooted in Confucianism in order to promote the “China Dream” and build a harmonious society. Moreover, Chinese leaders want to gain wisdom from indigenous Chinese culture to help solve contemporary problems, such as government corruption and the decline of moral integrity, while simultaneously opposing strong Western political and cultural influence. However, I make sure that students also know that Confucianism is but one historical tradition that influences China’s political leaders. For example, legalism, which dates back to even before the establishment of China’s first empire, the Qin in 221 BCE, is equally influential on the policies of Chinese leaders in many ways. Historically and in contemporary times, it can sometimes have ominous results for elements of the Chinese population. Instructors interested in making sure their students have an understanding of legalism are advised to access the Columbia University Asia for Educators website.4

Record of the Grand Historian

Another important aspect of Chinese culture is Chinese history. The Shiji ( Record of the Grand Historian ), written from the late second century BCE to 86 BCE, is the foundational text of Chinese history and covers a broad historical spectrum from the mythical Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu (156–87 BCE) of the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE–8). The class is introduced to the Shiji through a survey of its content, time span, the motivations behind its compilation, and major subdivisions within the work. For instance, students learn that the government did not sponsor the Shiji , and so did not dictate its contents. Rather, it was Sima Tan (ca. 165–110 BCE) who initially conducted the Shiji project, but his son, Sima Qian (ca. 145–86 BCE), actually compiled this monumental masterpiece in order to fulfill his father’s posthumous will. Moreover, Sima Qian fell out of favor with Emperor Wu because he defended Li Ling (134–74 BCE), a Han dynasty general, who defected to the Xiongnu nomadic tribes to the north of China. Sima Qian was ultimately punished for this by undergoing the humiliation of castration. In addition to these family and personal reasons for compiling the Shiji , Sima Qian also sought to establish a lineage of great historical figures who would otherwise have been forgotten in history. These factors strongly influenced what type of historical figures Sima Qian selected for the Shiji , the ways in which he narrated their accounts, and the conclusions he reached about them, as well as the lessons they represented for society as a whole. In general, Sima Qian emphasized the moral value and social impact of historical figures rather than their social or political status.

In my class, I select some biographies to discuss, among which is “The Biographies of the Assassin-Retainers.”5 Here I use the biography of Jing Ke (d. 227 BCE) as an example of how I lead class discussion, integrate the Shiji through film, and highlight its appeal in a contemporary context for students.6 The Jing Ke story took place toward the end of the Warring States Period (475–221 BCE), when the state of Qin had already annexed several rival states and had set its target on the state of Yan in the north. Prince Dan of Yan (d. 226 BCE) consulted his officials about this important issue, and a senior official named Tian Guang (d. 227 BCE) suggested that the prince should hire Jing Ke to assassinate the King of Qin (259–210 BCE). In order to gain an audience with the King of Qin, Jing Ke requested three items: the map of Dukang (part of Yan’s territory), a poisonous dagger, and the head of General Fan (d. 227 BCE), a traitor to the state of Qin. After obtaining these items, Jing Ke was granted an audience with the king in the Qin court. Jing Ke concealed the dagger inside the map scroll and unrolled it to its end. Suddenly, he grabbed the dagger from the scroll and attempted to kidnap the king as a hostage, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, the king and his courtiers killed Jing Ke. After reading this story, students must first summarize the text’s plot, as well as the major characters and their personalities. To engage critically in understanding the historical narrative, students discuss the following questions:

Why is Jing Ke willing to accept Prince Dan of Yan’s order and carry out this assassination?
How do you understand Jing Ke’s complex personality and psychological state? • Jing Ke was a failed assassin, yet he is glorified in Sima Qian’s record. Please consider Sima Qian’s own situation to explain why Jing Ke is immortalized and praised.
In your opinion, is Jing Ke a hero? Why or why not? Students brainstorm different points and piece them together on the whiteboard to understand the history of the Warring States, the knight-errant culture, and the reception of the Jing Ke story. In addition, I explain the possible connection between Sima Qian’s choice of Jing Ke and his own life experiences.

To relate the Jing Ke story with contemporary Chinese society, I then show students parts of two film adaptations of the tale: Chen Kaige’s The Emperor and the Assassin and Zhang Yimou’s Hero , which are available through YouTube for a nominal fee. The former follows the standard historical narration fairly closely, while the latter changes the content substantially; however, students are still able to link the story with the film. In order to make this discussion more lively, students are required to complete a homework assignment on the following questions: How have the two films adapted the Jing Ke lore? What are their major changes? How do you evaluate these changes; are they successful or not? Through this exercise, students learn that the major plot of The Emperor and the Assassin is based on historical narration, with the exception of a new character— Lady Zhao—who is not found in any historical narrative. Students are to explain why this new role might have been created. Several factors shed light on this addition: since this is a three-hour-long, big-budget movie, the director may have been considering the box office results. More importantly, the purpose behind creating this role could have been to create a more complex and romantic plot. Even the director acknowledged in an interview that “Designing such a character like Lady Zhao cannot be said to have been done out of a lack of consideration for the plot. If I produced and shot a purely twoman story, it may not have had such a good effect.”7

Lady Zhao ultimately provides a link between the King of Qin and Jing Ke. When she is young, she admires Yingzheng’s (the King of Qin) courage and political ambition. However, when she later realizes that Yingzheng occupies the state of Zhao by slaughtering many innocent people, she turns to Jing Ke for help to stop such brutality. This additional character provides new possible interpretations of the motivations behind Jing Ke’s assassination attempt, which stems not only from his loyalty to Prince Dan, but also from his righteousness in desiring to remove a brutal ruler. This modern adaptation increases the significance of Jing Ke’s mission. In Zhang’s film Hero , students identify the major change of the assassin abandoning his mission to kill the king, where the assassin instead engages in a direct dialogue with the king in the Qin court. Through their conversation, the assassin comes to understand that the king wants to defeat all other kingdoms and unify China in order to bring peace to all people under heaven. Students then discuss their implications of this change. Often, students are critical towards this adaptation because it glorifies the King of Qin and conveys a problematic and debatable message to the audience that a ruler can adopt any method or make any sacrifice to achieve one’s goal, as long as one’s intention is good or meaningful.

These films demonstrate how contemporary approaches to narrating the story of Jing Ke continue to provide different interpretations of the story and its significance. The discussion about the Jing Ke lore has switched from focusing on the details of his assassination attempt to adapting his story to fit the contemporary needs of strengthening nationalism and Chinese identity. The promotion of a strong “nation-state” ideology by Chinese leaders has played an important role in shaping this reception. Contemporary society portrays him as a national hero, a strong man attempting to remove an evil and despotic ruler, and a knight-errant who embodies the traditional moral values of China in the face of Western influence during China’s rapid economic development, through which intellectuals can further probe China’s recent past and thus bring history to life.

Poems on Things and Objects

Along with Chinese philosophy and history, literature also plays an important role in Chinese culture, particularly poetry, which was the dominant literary subgenre throughout premodern Chinese history. This section provides a creative approach not only on how to teach classical Chinese poems, but also on integrating them within a type of traditional art—blow painting. By exploring this topic, students develop a solid understanding of Chinese poetry, learn the cultural meaning of the plum blossom, and express their own appreciation for Chinese poetry. 8

The plum blossom is famous, along with the orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, as one of “The Four Gentlemen” in China. Furthermore, it is considered one of “The Three Friends in Winter,” together with pine trees and bamboo. However, plum trees are not common in the US, nor do they carry a significant cultural value, so the topic naturally stimulates student interest. Before we approach the topic of the plum blossom, my students have already studied other Chinese poems, so I briefly review some basic features of Chinese poetry, particularly the Chinese quatrain, which is often made up of four lines with five or seven characters in each line, and regulated verse, which is often made up of eight lines, and each line includes either five or seven characters. These two types of poetry were popular in the Tang dynasty (608–907), known as the golden age of Chinese poetry.9 Next, students gather information on the cultural meaning of the plum blossom and answer the following questions: How and when do Chinese people discuss plum blossoms? What does the plum blossom mean in Chinese society? What interesting facts do you know about the plum blossom? What can you learn from the symbolic meanings of plum blossoms? Students find appropriate information online and in the library about plum blossom culture and outline their primary ideas on the topic. Through class discussion, students also discover that the plum blossom has profound cultural connotations in China. The plum blossom symbolizes courage and strength because the fragrance of plum blossoms comes out of bitterness and coldness. The plum blossom also represents endurance and perseverance because plum blossoms flower in winter while most other plants do not survive. Furthermore, the plum blossom also embodies purity and lofty ideals, possibly because they bloom in winter, often covered with snow. To explore this motif, I incorporate several poems on plum blossoms in the lesson. Here are two examples from Shao Yong (1011–1077) and Wang Anshi (1021–1086):

A Leisure Walk by Shao Yong Once upon a time, we walk leisurely for two or three miles On the way, we see four or five misty villages Six or seven temples and Eight, nine or ten branches of plum blossom10

This poem is easy to understand but demonstrates the major characteristics of Song (960–1279) poetry, which focuses on the details of daily life. The poet’s focus gradually shifts from distant scenery to a closer look at his surroundings. At the beginning, the poet is far away, so he cannot see things clearly. When he moves closer, he sees the pavilions and houses. Looking even closer, he notices plum blossoms. The language in this poem is simple and clear without any descriptive words, but students still identify the poet’s cheerful mood and recognize that this is a pleasant experience. This is typical in Shao’s poems; as modern scholar Xiaoshan Yang states, “Shao Yong was always keen on distinguishing himself as a man of true joy and leisure from those who could only ‘steal leisure’ for a fleeting moment.”11 After discussing the content of the poem, I highlight the word “misty” in the first couplet, which, rather than denoting smoke caused by fire, instead is used to depict the remote villages. Because one cannot see the villages clearly in the distance, it seems like they are surrounded by mist. Another possibility is that many families had been cooking, hence smoke from their chimneys could be obscuring the poet’s vision and creating this phenomenon.

The second poem that I use on this topic is a five-character quatrain:

Plum Blossoms by Wang Anshi In the nook of a wall a few plum sprays, In solitude blossom on the bleak winter days, From the distance, I see they cannot be snow, For a stealthy breath of perfume hither flows.12

In this quatrain, the poet encourages his readers to make use of their senses such as sight and smell. This poem does not focus on the appearance of the plum blossoms, but rather on their character and spirit. Students often note that these plum blossoms appear in the corner of a wall during winter, which is unlikely to draw the attention of many people, revealing the unique character of the poet. In addition, without much nutrients, they still manage to blossom, demonstrating their hardiness. Furthermore, the last couplet forms a reverse causality: the third line tells the reader the result of noticing that the things in the distance are not snow; the fourth line informs the readers why the poet believes this is so: they are fragrant and cannot be snow. Thus, without describing the color of the plum blossoms themselves, the reader knows that they are either a white variety or are covered by snow, so they seem like snow when one looks at them far away. In terms of language, this poem does not employ overly ornate syntax. Yet through this simple and tranquil language, the poet conveys the spirit of plum blossoms: strong endurance and vibrant life. They are not afraid of cold weather, an analogy for people who do not fear power or authority. This allows the class to understand that the subtext of Chinese poetry often has political implications. Based on students’ discussions, I further explain a possible hidden reading: this poem may also allude to the poet’s own frustrated situation, when his political reform efforts faced resistance and gradually lost the Emperor Shenzong’s (1048–1085) support. However, through such adversity, like the plum blossom in winter, he was determined not to yield.

To make this topic even more lively, I integrate blow painting into the section on plum blossom poetry. The instructor should finish a complete blow painting before class so that students can see what the final product looks like. A simple blow painting requires some basic items, such as paper plates, calligraphy brushes, ink, red paint, and water. Ideally, one should use xuan paper made of different fibers, such as blue sandalwood, rice straw, and mulberry, which is specially designed for painting and calligraphy. However, it is difficult to obtain in the US, so I use paper plates instead. The procedure is simple: first, one puts drops of ink in the middle of the paper plate, blowing the drops slowly and patiently in different directions as the first several blows shape the main stem of the tree. Then, blow a little harder, so the stem becomes thicker. Once the main stem is shaped, one can blow the ink quickly in various directions, which become different branches. One may use a straw to do the blowing to expedite the whole process. After the basic painting is completed, one may use a brush to dip into the red ink and put the petals or flowers around the branches and twigs. This combination of poetry appreciation and blow painting demonstration enables students to understand Chinese culture more vividly and concretely.

Many colleges and universities have some type of traditional Chinese culture courses, whether they be premodern Chinese literature, history, philosophy, or other China-related courses. This article offers personal insight and unique methods of diversifying approaches to teaching Chinese culture effectively. It investigates avenues for bringing traditional Chinese culture to life by demonstrating how to integrate multimedia (such as recent news and films), as well as fine arts (such as blow painting of plum blossoms) into a culture class. These examples and approaches, including discussion questions, are used to explore the current appeal of traditional Chinese culture, which continues to shape Chinese identity and character. In addition, these practices include useful materials for designing extracurricular activities in Chinese clubs, film presentations, or guest lectures. A combination of Chinese culture, multimedia, and hands-on experience in the classroom has proven to increase students’ interest and motivation, as well as broaden their horizons with regards to Chinese civilization and society.

Acknowledgements :

This article is made possible by Valparaiso University’s Research Expense Grant and the East Asian Studies Library Travel Grant of the University of Chicago. I also appreciate useful comments from two anonymous reviewers, EAA Editor Dr. Lucien Ellington, Dr. David Chai, Amanda S. Robb, and James Churchill.

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Literary Identity/Cultural Identity: Being Chinese in the Contemporary World

Essay by Arif Dirlik [ * ]

MCLC Resource Center Publication (Copyright September 2013)

World Map displaying density map of Chinese literature origins

Source: wikipedia.org

Recent work on the mapping of Chinese literatures offers telling testimonial to the demographic and power reconfigurations at work in a changing world situation, their conceptual and political challenges, and their impact on national and ethnic self-identification. I have in mind such works as: Global Chinese Literature: Critical Essays , edited by Jing Tsu and David Der-wei Wang (2010); a special issue of the Asian American periodical, Amerasia , “Towards a Third Literature: Chinese Writing in the Americas,” edited by Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Russell Leong, and Ning Wang (2012); Shu-mei Shih’s (2007) Visuality and Identity: Sinophone Articulations Across the Pacific ; a volume Shih co-edited with Chien-hsin Tsai and Brian Bernards (2013) with evidently canonical aspirations, Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader ; and finally a special issue of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS), “Asian American Studies in Asia” (2012). These works do not necessarily reject the modern convention that presupposes mutual constitution of nation and literature, but they are informed by a sense of “cultural complexity,” in Ulf Hannerz’s (1992) term, that calls for recognition of cultural spaces beyond and within the nation that subvert the integrity of national cultural identity, including the identity of literature. Their differences over these issues are as revealing as the goals they have in common.

My interest here is cultural dimension of these works and its implications for the field of literature and beyond. The identity of literature presented in these works is a national and ethnic-cultural identity—namely, what constitutes Chinese literature. The IACS special issue extends the question of identity to other Asians as well. The question leads ultimately to issues of the identities of authors and readers (which receives surprisingly little attention), the locations they hail from, cultural affinities, and, above all, language. Of particular interest is what these mappings of literature have to say about issues of space and place, which in turn reveal assumptions about history and structure in the making and understanding of cultural identity.

These works and the mappings they offer are products of a new sense of the transnationalization of Chinese populations and cultural practices. Designations such as global, Sinophone, “third space,” and “between nations and across the ocean” represent alternative conceptualizations of “Chinese” spaces that accommodate transnationalization. As with other populations subjected to the forces of globalization, however, this Chinese transnationality brings in its wake a compelling sense of difference—most important, differences of place, cultural practice, including language, and multiplicity of social differences as well. As a consequence, the reconstruction of “Chinese” spaces appears at one and the same time as their deconstruction. To make matters more complicated, the disposition of difference is subject to struggles over hegemony instigated by the reconfiguration of global power relations. What distinguishes these competing mappings, ultimately, is not the spatial scope implied by their terminology or differences over the cultural dynamics of “Chineseness,” on which they mostly agree, but their stance over issues of hegemony. In the end, what is thrown into question is the very idea of “Chineseness” as it is appropriated for conflicting ideological and cultural orientations. [ 1 ]

Book cover for Global Chinese Literature

We choose the title “global Chinese literature” for this volume in full awareness of its various settings, temporalities, omissions, and contradictions. Our aim is to make explicit the conceptual, historical, linguistic, and geographical tensions that occasion the emergence of Sinophone literature ( huayu yuxi wenxue ). In our view, the point of departure is best staged at the gathering of consensus as well as dissensus among multiple disciplinary perspectives, each born from a different academic context and its created audience.

In a similar vein, Hu-DeHart and Leong (2012: iv) qualify their proposal for a “literature of the Americas” with the stipulation that “by the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries . . . Chinese outside of China had become cosmopolitan and globalized on different levels, with their attendant literary and cultural identities taking on diverse forms, including ‘multicultural’ and ‘pluralistic’ forms in liberal democracies, or in postcolonial forms in the nations of Central and Latin America.” By bringing together in the volume “diverse writings, written in English, Spanish, or Chinese,” the editors hope to “open a window into Sino-American and Latin American relations, and, perhaps most importantly, document the independent intellectual and political positions the Chinese outside of China have taken and continue to take, in the global arena” (xiv). In their contribution to this same volume, Wen Jin and Liu Daxian (2012: 45) write with astute irony that, “in the ongoing search for the proper terminology for Chinese diasporic and transnational writings, ‘Chinese Writing in the Americas’ appears to have surfaced as a good solution, a solution that refuses the very logic of finding solutions.” “Chinese writing in the Americas,” the authors continue, “groups certain writings provisionally, while avoiding the imposition upon them of a certain ‘essence’” (45).

Place-difference appears most prominently and persistently in Shu-mei Shih’s various writings as a fundamental defining feature of her particular version of the Sinophone. She writes in her contribution to Global Chinese Literature that “the Sinophone is a place-based, everyday practice and experience, and thus it is a historical formation that constantly undergoes transformation to reflect local needs and conditions” (Shih 2010a: 39). In a more recent essay, published in Sinophone Studies , Shih offers further elaboration:

Sinophone studies allows us to rethink the relationship between roots and routes by considering the conceptions of roots as place-based rather than ancestral or routes as a more mobile conception of home-ness rather than wandering and homelessness. To decouple home-ness and origin is to recognize the imperative of living as a political subject within a particular geopolitical place in a specific time with deep local commitments. (Shih 2013: 38)

Indeed, the essays in Sinophone Studies are notable for their questioning of homogenized notions of “Chineseness.” [ 2 ] Similarly, in their choice of case studies, the editors draw on literary production in diverse locations across the Pacific, with subject matter ranging from issues of national and regional to women’s, ethnic, and indigenous literatures, including the literature of “colonized” minority groups within the PRC. As with the theoretical essays, most of these case studies display the influence of questions associated with postcolonial criticism. Indeed, the Sinophone appears here as little more than the application of the postcolonial to Chinese literature—and not necessarily to literature in the Chinese language either.

At its broadest, the new space of Chineseness is global, as is indicated in the title of the volume edited by Tsu and Wang. Global in this usage needs to be understood metaphorically. Its importance lies not in its reference to the globe as a whole, but to the removal of preconceived boundaries that delimit the space of analysis. The space they have in mind is unrestricted in its inclusiveness. As they say of their understanding of “Sinophone writing,” nationality does not determine the geographical parameters of Sinophone writing.

Geographical location, moreover, is no more fixed than the place of origin. To use what Edward Soja once said about the study of urban geography, the space of urban geography, the space of diaspora may be more instructively thought of as a malleable space, created by new social relations, rather than as a geometric, inert “container” that does not come under the influence of such relations. Thus looking at Sinophone writing as an interaction between the production of literatures and moving agents, one might subject the narrative of customary disciplinary divides and national literary histories to similar shifts. More important than the coinage of new terms is the creation of new dialogues among the fields of area studies, Asian American studies, and ethnic studies. (Tsu/Wang 2010: 3).

The essays in this collection are conceptual in orientation, mostly exploring problems presented by the idea of the Sinophone from a variety of spatial and disciplinary perspectives. With the conspicuous exception of Shih, the editors and most contributors to the volume use Sinophone in a denotative sense, referring to Chinese language speech and writing. The contributions by Shih and Sau-ling Wong are the only ones to address the question of place directly, although the issue of locatedness appears in most of the essays. Wong’s contribution is particularly significant because she long has stressed the importance of place in Asian American literature against its erasure in diasporic and transnational orientations. A rare scholar in her use of Chinese-language literature in Chinese American literary studies, she raises in this essay a question crucial to the notion of place that revealingly receives little attention in the discussion of place and language in these volumes—namely, the implications for place-consciousness of excessive emphasis on the global and the Sinophone. She writes,

This essay examines Sinophone literature outside China in the context of China’s preoccupation with quanqiu . As an Asian Americanist who has been teaching and researching both Anglophone Chinese American literature and Sinophone Chinese American literature since the 1980s, I am curious about the implications of shifting nomenclature for Chinese American literary studies, especially the transition from shijie huawen wenxue to shijie huaren wenxue , which I translate as “world literature in Chinese” and “world literature by Chinese” respectively. . . . I note the uneasy coexistence, under a shared “global” rubric, of nuanced, heterogeneity-respecting criticism from China and essentialist discourse that seeks to level differences in the name of a triumphalist “Chineseness.” (Wong 2010: 49-50)

I will return below to further discussion of the distinctions Wong offers, and their implications for questions of place and hegemony.

Hu-DeHart and Leong offer a similarly unbounded and malleable space, although their idea of “third literature” (or more broadly, “third space”) is indeed delimited by “academic context and its created audience.” “Third space” is intended to overcome the opposition between native (meaning US-born) and immigrant (or diasporic) in Asian American writing. [ 3 ] They believe that “forming a third space for Chinese literature of the Americas would address . . . concerns around limiting experience and its telling to the works of native-born speakers, while excluding new immigrant writers, for example, or blindly viewing immigrant writing in the Americas as ‘diasporic,’ deriving its meaning solely from an original ancestral Asian homeland” (Hu-DeHart/Leong 2012: ix). The volume seeks to achieve this goal in two ways. One set of essays address the work of Ha Jin, a distinguished immigrant writer writing in English “who most saliently captures the complications of identity, literature, language and politics facing a Chinese American immigrant writer today.” [ 4 ] The other set seeks to offset the monopolization of “America” for the US by discussions of Spanish American fiction, including, interestingly, translation into both English and Chinese of a short martial arts story by Siu Kam Wen originally written in Spanish. Other essays in the volume extend the discussions across the Pacific with contributions by specialists in Asian American studies from Taiwan and the PRC. Particularly noteworthy is a discussion of the Yi minority scholar-poet Aku Wuwu from the PRC and his interactions with native American writers, made possible, interestingly, by the distinguished anthropologist Stevan Harrell from the University of Washington.

Book cover for Towards a Third Literature

And yet “Chinese writing in the Americas” conveys a strong impression of the “uneasy coexistence” in Sau-ling Wong’s diagnosis “of nuanced, heterogeneity-respecting criticism from China and essentialist discourse that seeks to level differences in the name of a triumphalist “Chineseness.” This is not just due to intangible factors such as the tone of the contributions and the apparent privileging of the “Chinese” and the diasporic in most of the contributions. As in the case of all these studies, the volume brings together scholars from the US, Taiwan, and the PRC. The main difference may lie in the assignment of the rather privileged theoretical introduction to a PRC scholar, Wang Ning, and the insistent intrusion of “Chineseness” in his analysis that does not deny Chinese Americans their “Americanness” but seeks to draw them closer to the PRC not just as a matter of ancestry but in service to its global aspirations. Wang’s discussion eschews distinctions between native and immigrant or diasporic that justify the formulation of a “third literature,” but includes both in the designation Asian American. The discussion suggests that if the immigrant may be assimilated to the native, the procedure also allows for a reverse assimilation of the native to the immigrant. It is difficult to tell which group he is referring to when he writes that, “Chinese who live outside of China are struggling for their lives in this global age in which their identity has undergone a sort of splitting: on the one hand, these writers have both Chinese blood and faces; on the other hand, they cannot speak, read, or write Chinese for the most part” (Wang 2012: xv-xvi). The latter part of the statement surely is more applicable to “native” Asian Americans than to writers such as Ha Jin who write in English by choice, or because they cannot publish their works in the PRC. Wang, moreover, speaks not just of identity formation under globalization but of the necessity of the “(re)construction of Chinese identities in a global age,” which aptly captures what may in fact be the processes at work. The reference to “Chinese blood and faces” is an instance of what Sau-ling Wong (2010: 56) has described as “genocentrism,” which is a more technical way of referring to the racialization of Chinese and other populations in the course of their globalization.” Despite their cultural distance from their origins, therefore, Chinese American writers in Wang Ning’s (2012: xvii) formulation represent “a sub-stream of both Chinese literature and American literature.” Addressing his remarks as much to an imaginary PRC as to an English-language readership, Wang writes that,

international Chinese literature studies will become, like its counterpart in English, a sub-discipline within the context of comparative and world literature. In this way, we will appreciate all the more the great efforts made by Chinese American writers who have helped promote Chinese culture and literature worldwide, pushing it closer and closer to the mainstream of world literature. (xxi)

The issue of hegemony appears throughout Global Chinese Literature but most prominently in the introduction and the contributions by Jing Tsu, Shu-mei Shih, and Sau-ling Wong. It is also the subject of the concluding commentary on the volume by Eric Hayot in an extended discussion of “Chineseness,” with reference to the tendency of some PRC scholars to claim “real” Chineseness for mainlanders while denying it to Chinese outside of the PRC. His anecdotal introduction to the problem recalls “an otherwise lovely dinner earlier this year” where “I listened to a senior scholar of Chinese literature tell the rest of the table that Shu-mei Shih’s recent arguments about the Sinophone should be considered in light of the fact that Shih grew up mostly in South Korea and Taiwan, and therefore she wasn’t ‘really’ Chinese” (Hayot 2010: 219). The senior scholar’s attitude is a widespread one, not just among scholars but the Mainland population in general, directed not only at Chinese minority populations overseas, but to Chinese from other “Chinese” majority societies such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It no doubt derives some legitimation, we may add, from a global tendency to identify China and Chinese with the Han mainland as a matter of everyday language and official discourse. [ 5 ]

Questions of authenticity aside, the scholar’s remarks about Shih are not to be dismissed offhand unless we are prepared to claim that there is no connection between ideas and ideologies and the location and experience of their authors. If Shih’s version of the Sinophone is not to be attributed with addlebrained reductionism to her South Korean and Taiwanese origins, it is difficult to imagine that her formulation of the Sinophone could be authored by a mainlander, scholar or otherwise. The relationship of Chinese Overseas to the PRC is the central question raised in her particular version of the Sinophone. The relationship she posits is not complimentary to the PRC. The question of hegemony she raises, moreover, is likely appreciated most directly by Chinese Overseas, which accounts for the widespread attention to place-differences in all the works discussed here, as well as the enthusiastic reception given to her work, which has benefited from “a new diasporic politics” that has arisen out of “strong objection to the dominance of mainland nationalism” (Tsu 2010: 110).

In his contribution to Global Chinese Literature , Tee Kim Tong offers a critical survey of the different senses of the term Sinophone as it has been used in literary studies since the 1980s. The term has acquired currency over the last decade, not just among literary scholars but also among historians of minority populations in the PRC as well as those seeking a more inclusive term that would transcend in scope the term “Chinese” that is not only identified with a national unit but also foregrounds the Han ethnic majority. [ 6 ] In an intervention calling for a “new Sinology,” Geremie Barmé published in 2005 an essay by that title that called for “robust engagement with contemporary China” and indeed with the Sinophone

world in all of its complexity, be it local, regional or global. It affirms a conversation and intermingling that also emphasizes strong scholastic underpinnings in both the classical and modern Chinese language and studies, at the same time as encouraging an ecumenical attitude in relation to a rich variety of approaches and disciplines, whether they be mainly empirical or more theoretically inflected. In seeking to emphasize innovation within Sinology by recourse to the word ‘new’, it is nonetheless evident that I continue to affirm the distinctiveness of Sinology as a mode of intellectual inquiry.

He stresses later in the essay that “implicit in the inquiry of ‘New Sinology’ then is an abiding respect for written and spoken forms of Chinese as these have evolved over the centuries.” [ 7 ]

Barmé’s emphasis on “sinology” may not be shared by all, but it is the same “denotative” and inclusive sense in which the term appears in most usages, including by the editors of Global Chinese Literature . The reconstruction of China in global, transnational, and, importantly, translocal spaces has been motivated by deconstructive goals: to “de-nationalize” and “de-sinicize” Chinese language literature (Tsu 2010: 110). In linguistic studies, this has appeared in the deconstruction of “Chinese” or Sinophone into idiolects or, in Victor Mair’s (1991) term, “topolects.” “Sinophone” is taken by most of its advocates as a better term to express this simultaneous commonality and difference than the term “Chinese,” which is closely identified by both Chinese and non-Chinese with the Han nationality, with alleged attributes so persistent that they are barely distinguishable, if at all, from racial characteristics.

The distinguishing feature of Shih’s use of “Sinophone” in this discursive field is the exclusion of PRC literary products from the Sinophone. Her deployment of the term was inspired initially by her colleague and collaborator Francoise Lionnet’s (2009) interventions in debates on French and Francophone that were entangled in issues of nationalism, colonialism, and diversity in the identity of literature. Shih (2007) has pursued advocacy of her version of Sinophone with missionary zeal since the publication of Visuality and Identity: Sinophone Articulations Across the Pacific , where she first broached it. Over the last half decade, she has added new dimensions to the scope of the Sinophone to accommodate the alternative uses of the term referred to above. But despite criticism of her exclusion of PRC literary work from the Sinophone, she has held fast to her position. [ 8 ] As she puts it in her most recent publication, “I coin the term Sinophone to designate Sinitic-language cultures and communities outside China as well as those ethnic communities within China, where Sinitic languages are either forcefully imposed or willingly adopted. The Sinophone, like the history of other nonmetropolitan peoples who speak metropolitan and/or colonial languages, has a colonial history” (Shih 2013: 30).

Still, how these theoretical issues are deployed does have consequences. I will return to the issue of diaspora by way of conclusion, as it does present a central question in the reconstruction of Chinese identities and societies. I also happen to think that while controversial in the Chinese self-image, there is much to be gained from the application of the paradigm of colonialism to Chinese nationalism—both to the Han as settler colonialists within or without China, or to the colonized minorities within.

One question that needs some comment here is that of “places,” which appears prominently in Shih’s version of the Sinophone, and which bears directly on the question of new hegemonies in the reconstruction of Chinese cultural identities. [ 10 ] For all her stress on places, Shih strikes me as being quite oblivious to the implications of the Sinophone for places. The question here involves the multiplicity of languages in local literary production, which is raised in the works discussed above, most insistently in the essay by Sau-ling Wong as well as the volume edited by Leong and Hu-DeHart, but also by Tee Kim Tong. Shih is no doubt correct when she observes a tendency to the marginalization of Chinese language writing in Asian American literature. But the stress on a Sinophone that is oblivious to the multiplicity of languages is equally problematic when it comes to issues of place. [ 11 ]

If place as concept is to be more than a cliché, the construction of place (or place-making) calls for closer theoretical attention to the interaction of different language communities within the same ethnicity, as well as the relationship of the languages of any one ethnic group to those of others (say, Asian Americans in general, not to speak of the larger environment in which they live). It is indeed the case that an exclusive emphasis on Anglophone Chinese literature in the past has marginalized the Sinophone. A place-based Sinophone needs to be comprehended (and theorized) in terms of its articulation to the multiplicity of its linguistic environment in different locations, and not just to an abstract “Sino-sphere.” [ 12 ] The latter, contrary to the author’s stated intentions, ends up diasporizing Chinese places in a linguistic reification of “Chineseness.” If there is anything to be said for the “affective affinity” that scholars such as Shan Te-hsing have spoken of with reference to “Chineseness” across spaces, through the medium of language or other cultural commonalities, it is the case also between different ethnicities brought together in places. It is, to say the least, challenged by transnationalization in the fragmentation of places: the deployment of “affective affinity” in the construction of transnational ethnicity is at odds with the inter-ethnic “affective affinity” crucial to place-making, with potentially divisive consequences. [ 13 ]

Similarly, as both Tsu and Tee point out in the discussions cited above, the relationship between Chinese Overseas and China is not a relationship between a nation and its nationals abroad, but a translocal relationship between places, both in terms of social and cultural traffic and in terms of language. The deconstructive implications of these relationships are quite significant: places are important not only among Chinese overseas but in the constitution of China itself. The idiolects and topolects linguists speak of, similarly, are fundamental features of the Sinophone conceived inclusively. To separate “China” out and exclude it from the sphere of the Sinophone not only undermines a defining characteristic of diasporic Chinese populations, but also leaves unfinished the job both of deconstruction and reconstruction. [ 14 ] There may be much to be learned in this respect from the application of the metaphor of place to PRC literary production, as Franco Moretti did, for example, with the European novel (Moretti 1998). The question is very much worth pondering.

The issue of hegemony, as a broader issue in US-Asia relations, is also the subject of the IACS volume about which I have said little so far. While not strictly about Chinese literature, in the breadth of its coverage this volume further underlines the struggles over hegemony in literary studies in scholarship and more broadly the organization of scholarship on Asians that places issues of Chinese literary studies in a broader spatial and geopolitical perspective. Not the least important aspect of the collection are the questions it raises concerning the hegemonic implications of methodological choice. Wang Ning and other PRC scholars are not alone in staking claims to Asian American studies. The reconstruction of Chinese identities Wang alludes to is suffused with the ethos of PRC cultural aspirations to globality. It is not therefore just a nationalist fantasy; it is as much a reality of changes triggered by the most recent round of globalization as it is about the designation of an imaginary “third space” to accommodate the social and cultural pressures of diaspora. The “third space,” moreover, is not just metaphorical. It derives its plausibility and force ultimately from materially grounded exchanges that range from the economic to the academic. The essays gathered in this special issue were garnered from conferences on Asian American studies in Taiwan and the PRC. Asian American writers have benefited from the Chinese-language publication of their works in Taiwan and the PRC. And, perhaps most intriguingly for a community oriented academic discipline, Asian American studies are in the process of deterritorialization and “Asianization” with the establishment of “Asian American studies in Asia.” The “roots” that the Asian American movement claimed in its origins to force recognition of the citizenship that had been denied to them because of their “Asiatic” differences have, maybe not so surprisingly, turned under pressure of these changes into “routes” back to “Asia.” [ 15 ]

This redirection of Asian American studies is indeed the purpose of the special issue of IACS, “Asian American Studies in Asia,” which proposes to “re-orient Asian American studies through Asia as a geo-historical nexus and interactive plurality” (Chih-ming Wang 2012: 165). While not explicitly concerned with issues of space and place, there is nevertheless an implied space informing the contributions that is captured in the title of the editor’s introduction: “between nations and across the ocean.” The nations in question are Japan, Korea, and Taiwan in their relationship to the US across the Pacific, more or less the “Pacific Rim” in its early formulations in the 1970s and 1980s, minus Canada and the Philippines.

The volume is more interesting for what it says about transformations in intellectual and academic relationships across the Pacific than about Asian American studies here and there, however one might take those locations. It is unfortunate that rather than discuss the political and cultural forces that shape Asian American studies in different locations in “Asia,” [ 16 ] as the volume’s title promises, the contributions in the volume for the most part use Asian American studies in its birthplace as an excuse for criticism of US imperialism, hegemony, and orientalism. Indeed, in one of the contributions, US Cold War imperialism and hegemony serve as an excuse for including in “Asian American Studies” an analysis of a book primarily on intra-Asian migration in Taiwan that stretches Asian American studies beyond recognition, which the editor seems to acknowledge, somewhat obliquely, as “differing from the normative subject of Asian American studies” but therefore challenging and problematizing “such normative categories as ‘Asian American’ and ‘modernity.’” [ 17 ] This reader cannot but wonder if it is the conceptualization of Asian American studies that justified the inclusion of such a piece in the volume, or the inclusion for whatever reason that drives the conceptualization. [ 18 ] In either case, the inclusion may say something about forces shaping Asian American studies in “Asia,” in this case Taiwan.

Several of the contributors to the volume are products of Asian American studies programs in the US, and no doubt are quite aware that Asian American studies and its orientations to “Asia” have been the subject of much criticism and debate in its unfolding as a discipline. What constitutes Asia, who is to be included in that category, how to reconcile Asian differences in the formation of an Asian American movement or scholarly undertaking in an environment in which they were brought together are fundamental questions that Asian Americans have had to struggle with, and still do, now within the context of changing relationships between the US and “Asian” societies. Orientalism, too, has been a problem, especially with the first generation of Asian American scholars who were neither scholars of Asia nor had any direct experience with the region they made into a marker of their identity by virtue of ancestral origin. If Asian American scholars such as Sau-ling Wong and King-kok Cheung struck some as “over bearing” in their “Asian” overseas visits over issues of race and ethnicity, as one contributor avers, it may indeed be due to their unawareness of struggles over such issues in Taiwan or Japan (Nakamura 2012). Or it may be due, for better or worse, to the unequaled salience of those issues in US politics and culture. None of this, however, justifies the invocation of Gayatri Spivak as an alibi in support of the allegation that Asian Americans are unaware of or oblivious to the “vastness,” “complexity,” “heterogeneity” or “interactive plurality” of “Asia,” when the statements attributed to her are about the exploitation of Asians in US multiculturalisms and model minority myths, no doubt with the complicity of some Asians. It may be noteworthy that both Gayatri Spivak and Lisa Yoneyama, who provides the concluding warning not just against US hegemony but Asian American complicity in neoliberalism, are American scholars of “Asian” origins, though I am not sure whether they carry US passports or green cards (Yoneyama 2012). At any rate, even perfunctory perusal of a periodical like Amerasia Journal should provide ready evidence that much of this criticism rests on selected evidence and reductionist generalization.

Put bluntly, the criticisms directed at Asian American studies and scholars in these contributions come down to one fundamental issue: their Americanness. “Asianizing” (“re-orienting”) Asian American studies is the stated goal of the volume, which implies re-viewing it through the lens of “Asia as method,” an idea floated by the Japanese scholar Takeuchi Yoshimi in 1960 that has found an enthusiastic proponent in Chen Kuan-hsing in recent years. Chen provides the concluding essay to the volume, and “Asia as method” is cited repeatedly by the contributors as a means of overcoming US methodological hegemony. [ 19 ] It is not clear from the analyses, however, if “Asia” provides a method or simply a perspective. Perspectives from Asia are important to be sure, but it is a mystery to me how “Asia as method” may claim responsibility for the criticism of hegemony or orientalism. Indeed, there is some irony to the use of the term itself in light of the protests in the volume against the reification of Asia by Asian Americans, among others. The notable exception is the discussion by Tee Kim Tong who delves in some depth to the analytical consequences of reading from Malaysian and Taiwanese perspectives.

To appreciate the significance of the mappings proposed in these works, it is necessary to view the questions they raise in historical perspective. The perspective I take up in this discussion is that of Chinese Americans. One reason for my choice is some familiarity with the unfolding of Asian American studies, having served for nearly two decades on the editorial board of the premier publication in the field, Amerasia Journal . But there is another reason as well, in my opinion a more important one. A product of the 1960s movements in the US for ethnic self-assertion and demands for full citizenship both politically and within universities, the apparent tilt toward Asia in Asian American studies presently offers revealing insights into changes in the topography of Chinese and other Asian populations as well as their intellectual and affective orientations. The IACS special issue on “Asian American Studies in Asia” offers eloquent evidence that Asian American Studies is no longer just American but also Asian; as the issue editor puts it, the goal of the special issue is “reorienting Asian American studies through Asia as a geo-historical nexus and interactive plurality” (Chih-ming Wang 2012: 165).

Less obvious but no less significant, the authors and editors of the works I focus on here are all residents of the US. I am not sure in some cases how these scholars identify themselves. Changes in the US in recent years have led to another identity term, “America-based Chinese.” [ 20 ] The terms “Asian American” or “Chinese American” were all along blurred around the edges. Ambiguities about belonging were not eliminated when postcolonial studies endowed with positive valence the term “hybridity” which long had suggested an undesirable product inferior to its progenitors. The shift from “neither fully Chinese nor fully American” to “both American and Chinese” is quite significant but anxiety-ridden nevertheless. More immediately here, it is less certain than ever “where anyone is from.” However they may self-identify, the fact that US scholars of Asian origin are engaged in the construction of alternative Chinese spaces suggests a reinvention of self and history that is an unmistakable sign of a significant shift in identity-making.

While the mappings offered in these works may claim some novelty, the questions they grapple with have been around for some time. As I noted above, the works included in Sinophone Studies as theoretical alibi were all published in the 1990s. These works represented theoretical efforts to address issues of “Chineseness” within the context of globalization, which itself emerged as a problem during that decade. The theorization, moreover, was increasingly infused with the language of postcolonial criticism, which also acquired currency during this same period. In the case of Eastern Asian societies, the turn to globalization as a political and ideological concern was heralded from the late 1970s by the ascendancy of the Asia Pacific idea, already perceived by its promoters as a regional foundation for a globalizing world. The ultimate product of these developments would be the rise of the People’s Republic of China from the late 1990s, once the 1989 Tiananmen crisis had been weathered, and a decisive turn had been taken by the Deng Xiaoping leadership toward incorporation in a globalizing capitalist world economy. The rise of China, which has brought in its wake a new discourse of “the rise of Asia,” has been the immediate source of the new ferment over cultural identity among Chinese populations in particular but also more generally among Eastern “Asian” populations. As Tsu and Wang (2010: 5-6) put it, “as China continues to reestablish itself as a world power in the twenty-first century, the centripetal pull of its economic presence creates a renewed cultural gravitation.”

Mainland China is not just the physical origin and source of the roughly 50 million Chinese people who have settled elsewhere around the globe during roughly five centuries of overseas migration. It has also been their cultural center of gravity. But a revolutionary China that largely shut out the outside world for three decades after 1949 was only a remote and abstract cultural presence that did not permit easy cultural affiliation, especially for those who disagreed with its politics. PRC culture did not enter to any significant extent into the construction of cultural affinities in societies that the Chinese settlers had made their homes.

The postrevolutionary opening of the PRC, and its subsequent emergence as a global economic and political power, has triggered dramatic changes in the cultural self-identification of Chinese populations around the world. This is quite evident in the case of Chinese-Americans. When a self-consciously political and cultural Chinese-American literature appeared in the 1960s, its goal was to assert a Chinese presence in American literature. As part of a broader Asian-American movement informed by the ethnic liberation movements of the 1960s, this literature sought to overcome racist marginalization or exclusion by reaffirming Chinese “roots” as a source of pride rather than embarrassment. But its orientation was to carve out a social and cultural space in the society of arrival. The literary output that mattered was written in English. Few of the writers of this generation had access to the Chinese language, and literature written in Chinese by Chinese-Americans was ignored by all but a handful of scholars and cultural activists.

The last half century has witnessed a significant reorientation in the literary aspirations of Chinese Americans. There are, I think, two major reasons for this shift. One reason is change in demographic composition. Cultural activists of the 1960s were for the most part descendants of immigrants who had resided in the US for several generations and who had been insulated from their origins first by restrictive immigration laws and subsequently by the self-isolation of the PRC (60% of all the Chinese in the US as of 1960 were from a single county—Taishan—in Guangdong) (Hsu 2000). An important change in US immigration law in 1965 opened the way to a renewed influx of Chinese immigrants that would rapidly transform the ratio of foreign-born to native-born Chinese. During the decade of the 1960s, the Chinese population in the US doubled, mainly due to new immigration. This would become the pattern for subsequent decades. It drew additional impetus from the intensification of economic activity across the Pacific with the result that, as part of a surge in the Asian American population as a whole, foreign-born immigrants had by 1980 already come to outnumber US-born Chinese. Initially, most of the new immigration was from Taiwan, with fewer numbers from Hong Kong and other Chinese populations in Southeast Asia. With the reopening of the PRC after 1978, they were joined by immigrants from the PRC (including Hong Kong) who now constitute the largest share of Chinese immigrants. The number of Chinese Americans has increased over the last fifty years from nearly 240,000 in 1960 to somewhere around 3,350,000 in 2010. During the last decade, 700,000 immigrants from the PRC (including Hong Kong) were issued green cards. The demographic shift has transformed not only the composition of Chinese America but its cultural and linguistic profile as well. It has also reconnected descendants of US-born Chinese with other Chinese populations, most importantly with that of the PRC.

Secondly, the increase in PRC wealth and power has given unprecedented credibility to its claims to be not just the physical but also the cultural source of Chinese everywhere. Already in the 1960s, a new generation of Chinese radicalized by the movements of that decade had called for a shift in Chinese allegiance from the Republic to the People’s Republic of China. While the PRC’s turn to incorporation in capitalism after 1978 disappointed some among these radicals, the disappointment was more than compensated for by the increased visibility of the PRC, the new opportunities it offered to Chinese populations in the development of “the motherland,” and active efforts to court the Chinese overseas in the promotion of “Chinese” culture. If changes in demographic composition encouraged renewal of ties to the Chinese Mainland, the Mainland in turn has been more than willing to cultivate those ties in an effort to re-make Chinese populations into diasporic extensions of a new global Chinese nationalism. [ 21 ]

“China’s rise,” so-called, has empowered the globalization of claims to Chineseness, as well as interest in things Chinese. It is not to impugn these authors’ scholarship to suggest that under whatever sign, China scholarship like Chinese cultural production in general is very much in demand. New brandings that respond to changes at work in China and Asia are necessary for reorganizing academic work in teaching and research, as well as to market proliferating publication in these fields. Not the least important, a theoretical discourse that can claim “interdisciplinary” and “transnational” credentials is more marketable than a nation-based one at a time when these terms have become slogans of change in educational work and institutions. The reverse may also be the case: that comparative and interdisciplinary work has opened up new questions in the study of China and other Chinese societies. [ 22 ]

Re-configurations of economic and cultural power in eastern Asia as well as across the Pacific have created new pressures on the identities and self-identifications of Chinese populations globally. The PRC’s expanding gravitational field intensifies both pressures to re-sinicization and the urge to difference. Shifts in power across the Pacific have also emboldened calls for “Asianization”—not just from within but also among populations of Asian origins elsewhere. It is important to remember that most of the authors of the works discussed above are what Nakamura describes as “US based Asian” or “US-based Asian American” scholars—in other words, what has been described in postcolonial studies as “diasporics.” The question of place that appeared in the 1990s simultaneously with accumulating evidence of diasporic transnationalism has become more important even as places have become more fragile with the pull of global multiculturalism. [ 23 ]

In spite of their stands on the valorization of diasporas, Shih and Leong and Hu-Dehart in their arguments take diasporas as extensions of the national interests and cultures of origin. On these grounds, the one seeks to repudiate the term while the others try to accommodate it by articulating place to diasporas. In my understanding of postcolonial usage of the term, “disaporas”—whatever the merits of that reductionist term—are realms of fluidity and uncertainty. Stuart Hall, one of the progenitors of this usage, attributed to “the diaspora experience . . . the process of unsettling, recombination, hybridization, and ‘cut-and-mix’—in short, the process of cultural diaspora-ization (to coin an ugly term) which it implies” (Hall 1996: 447). The metaphor of “third space” as diasporic space has been popularized in postcolonial criticism (see Rutherford 1990). It is the space of dialogical encounters, oppositions and hybridizations, of people and spaces, including places. It is the space where essentialized notions of self and other are overcome. The hybridization of place is foremost in the minds of the contributors to “Towards a Third Literature: Chinese Writing in the Americas.” It is what Shih overlooks when she writes that “the Sinophone is a place-based, everyday practice and experience, and thus it is a historical formation that constantly undergoes transformation to reflect local needs and conditions” (Tsu/Wang 2010: 39). “Local needs and conditions” are significant to be sure, but so are translocal and diasporic pressures, to which the last three decades in the US bear eloquent witness. [ 24 ]

It is the fluidity of identity that makes diasporas into sites of struggle among their constituents in the places of origin, places of arrival, and the people in diaspora themselves. [ 25 ] To historicize our own present, the works discussed here are articulations of just such a struggle. It is to create out of the fluidities of the present new identities and identifications that suit interests and visions in conflict.

The other important aspect is the struggle over history. Shih is correct to point to places as the locations of history (see Dirlik 2002). On the other hand, place-based histories and identities are already recognized, even if they are rather misleadingly identified with national entities rather than with translocal social and linguistic relationships: Chinese literature, Taiwan literature, Hong Kong literature, Malaysian Chinese literature, Chinese American literature, etc. If there is any point to the Sinophone (or to any of the other alternatives discussed above) as a criterion for mapping literature and culture, it is to call for a spatiality that enables dialogue between different, place-based, histories in the creation of a new cosmopolitan space of “Chineseness.” While they all insist on the recognition of place-based differences, neither Shih nor the other authors discussed above delve very far into the implications for place-based histories and identities of the relationships they propose across spaces, structured by assumptions of linguistic or more broadly cultural affinity.

The contradictory relationship between place and space appears at one and the same time as a contradiction between history and structure: between the localizing demands of history and the deterritorialized pull of forces generated by economic, political, social and cultural transnationality. To take the case of Asian Americans, the Asian American Movement and Asian American Studies were born in struggles to establish history in the place of arrival. That history has been challenged as a source of identity by transnationalization and translocalization, which draw attention to the force of relations across spaces in the structuring of new identities. In the Sinophone dialogue they promote, these works are themselves part of the transformation they seek to comprehend. While they question the confinement of cultural identity by the nation-state, moreover, they open the door to a new kind of global trans-nationalism that is very much in keeping with cultural tendencies in contemporary global modernity. Whether or not a new history can be created out of “global relations” remains to be seen. Anthony Smith, the distinguished historian of nationalism known for his emphasis on the ethnic historical roots of nationalism, quipped somewhere that globalization has no history. Is a new history in the offing, arising out of Sinophone interactions across borders, including the borders of the PRC? Too early to say.

What needs guarding against, given the reality of cultural difference among “Chinese” populations, is the slippage of cultural commonality into “Chinese blood and faces” as the point of departure—what Sau-ling Wong describes as “genocentrism.” That would make for bad but also perilous history. It is a peril of our times to which none is immune. Perhaps a conglomeration of histories would serve better than the search for a single history in avoiding such an eventuality.

Arif Dirlik Independent Scholar, Eugene, Oregon

[ * ] I am grateful for their readings and comments to Ya-chung Chuang, Ruth Hung, Nick Kaldis, Sheldon Lu, Victor Mair, and Jing Tsu. They bear no responsibility for the views I offer. I have also presented versions of this essay at the Tenth Anniversary Conference of the Taiwan Studies Program at the National Normal University in Taiwan, as well as seminars at the Ch’eng-kung University Taiwan Studies Program and The Institute of Literature and Philosophy of the Academia Sinica. The enthusiastic response of the participants in these seminars was much appreciated.

[ 1 ] The questions presented by the terms “China” and “Chinese” are legion; these terms are used in a multiplicity of senses to refer to a country and a nation-state, its citizens, to the majority Han population—both as a cultural entity and a racial group— with easy slippage from one sense to another. These questions are discussed at length in the theoretical essays included in Sinophone Studies and Shu-mei Shih’s contribution to Global Chinese Literature . I have discussed the problems of the term “China/Chinese,” as well as its Chinese counterparts, Zhongguo , Hua , Xia , HuaXia , etc. See Dirlik 2011: 157-96, esp. 173-196. While the English (and various European) terms are particularly reductionist, none of the other terms escapes reductionism and partiality. This may be one reason for the enthusiastic reception of Sinophone by many, although that term, too, is subject to many of the same qualifications, as it is little more than a Latinized equivalent of “Chino-phone,” and is restrictive both in its linguistic basis and its methodological traditionalism. The term, Zhongguo, while an ancient term going back to the Zhou dynasty, is a modern term in its use as the name of a nation-state. For a recent work affirming the use of the term for the state since the Song dynasty, see, Ge 2011. For Hua and Xia , see, Ren Jifang 1998: 35-40. (I am grateful to Victor Mair for bringing this article to my attention.) In 1900, in an essay discussed in my book cited above, the seminal thinker Liang Qichao wrote that while Zhongguo was not really the name of the country, it might well become that as everyone used it already. I have a similar feeling about “Chinese.”

[ 2 ] Shih acknowledges that the influential authors of these essays, gathered here as “fellow travelers of Sinophone studies,” “had expressed ideas and sentiments akin to what are now more critically and historically envisioned as Sinophone studies” (Shih/Tsai/Bernards 2013: ix).

[ 3 ] The Taiwanese scholar of Asian American studies, Shan Te-hsing, apparently used the term “third space” nearly a decade earlier in a work published in Chinese with reference to “the scholar-subject dangle[d] between two centers and their peripheries.” See Tong 2012: 286.

[ 4 ] Hu-DeHart/Russell 2012: xi. Ha Jin himself seems to identify more closely with other writers who have experienced exile from Joseph Conrad to Milan Kundera than with any particular ethnic or national group (Cheung 2012: 2-3). Ha Jin is also included in Sinophone Studies without any explanation of why a writer in English belongs in a volume ostensibly about “Sinophone” writing. See Ha Jin 2013: 121.

[ 5 ] We may also recall that until the 1970s, in the eyes of foreigners, including many scholars, the Guomindang represented the “real” China against Red usurpers.

[ 6 ] Tee 2010: 77-99. For discussions with reference to minorities in the PRC, see Crossley/Siu/ Sutton 2006.

[ 7 ] See Barmé 2010. “New Sinology” has been translated into Chinese as HouHanxue , literally “post-Sinology.” While the linking of “Sinophone” to Sinology may be problematic, Barmé’s intervention offers an important reminder of the importance of language as the defining feature of the term. After all, the “Sino” in both terms is nothing but a Latinized version of “Chino,” and there is little semantic difference between “Sina” and “China.” What makes “Sinophone” useful as a term, as distinct from “Chinese,” is its de-linking of a “Sino-sphere” from the name of a national entity, especially these days when “China” and “Chinese” are commonly equated with the People’s Republic of China. By convention, if not semantically, the term demands accounting for other “Chinese” societies, not by excluding the PRC but by calling attention to other Chinese-language (or more broadly “Sinitic”) literary and cultural production.

[ 8 ] Notable follow-ups are Shih 2010a; 2010b; 2011; and 2013. For the critique, see Sheldon H. Lu 2012: 21-24.

[ 9 ] It seems important to recall here this seminal term Fredric Jameson (1981: 52-53) offered in his discussion of the ideology of literary texts in in The Political Unconscious .

[ 10 ] Issues of place and space, too, acquired increased visibility from the 1980s, in conjunction with processes of globalization. For examples pertinent to the discussion here, see Prazniak/Dirlik 2001 and Dissanayake/Wilson 1996.

[ 11 ] On one occasion where this issue is raised, it is to argue for the “Americanness” of Sinophone language and culture, without further attention to the implications of a transnationalized Sinophone for places. See Shih 2013: 714-715.

[ 12 ] An eloquent example, given its colonial context, is Chen Shu-jung 2011. I am grateful to Dr. Chen for sharing this publication with me.

[ 13 ] See Dirlik 1996. For “affective affinity,” see Chih-ming Wang 2007.

[ 14 ] Hence Tee (2010: 81), for example, insists on further qualification of the Sinophone: “as Chinese [in its localized idiolects and topolects] is the mother tongue and not an ex-colonizer’s language, the diasporic Chinese writers should be termed specifically Sinophone Chinese American, Sinophone Chinese Malaysian, etc.” This, of course, still leaves out the Anglophone, Hispanophone, Francophone Chinese writers, one of whom is the recipient of the two Nobel prizes that have been given to Chinese writers, creating major problems of identity for the PRC. See the discussion (pre-Mo Yan) by Julia Lovell 2010. A similar though not equally severe crisis was created for the Turkish government by the granting of the Nobel Prize to Orhan Pamuk, for his views on the ethnic cleansing of Armenians early in the twentieth century.

[ 15 ] Roots: An Asian American Reader (Tachiki et al. 1971) was the title of the first reader for courses in the new field. The juxtaposition of “roots” and “routes” we owe to James Clifford (1997).

[ 16 ] Three essays in the volume (Hihara 2012; Kun Jong Lee 2012; and Tee 2012) survey the development of Asian American studies in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, respectively. As surveys, these discussions do not go into analytical depth. The essay by Lee is revealing in suggesting that Korean scholars all along have viewed Korean American literature in whatever language as extensions of Korean literature. Most interesting is Tee’s perspective on the entanglement in hegemonic relations of the differential reception given to Asian American studies in Taiwan as compared to Malaysian Sinophone or Anglophone literatures.

[ 17 ] Chih-ming Wang 2012: 168. Wang’s accommodation of this expansion of the scope of Asian American studies is curious because of his recognition of the importance of place in shaping that field. He wrote, with reference to “the huaren market” in Taiwan in literature, film and music that, “taken out of its local history, ‘Asian American’ becomes a desirable and accessible identity in Asia” (Chih-ming Wang 2007: 141). This statement may be as applicable to intellectual production as it is to the production of popular cultural commodities.

[ 18 ] The contribution in question is Amie Elizabeth Parry 2012.

[ 19 ] Kuan-hsing Chen 2012. Chen (2010) is also the author of a book of that title, Asia as Method-Toward Deimperialization .

[ 20 ] Indeed, a new terminology has appeared that once again turns Asian Americans into sojourners, which was one of the targets of Asian Americans in their struggle for citizenship. Two of the authors in the IACS special issue refer to “US-based Asian scholars” (Kun Jong Lee 2012: 282) and “US-based Asian American Scholars” (Nakamura 2012: 251). I encountered the term “US-based” recently in a circular from the Center for Asia Pacific Studies at the university of Oregon dated 2013/08/20, “In Honor of the 80th Anniversary, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is Raising Funds for New Chinese Art Acquisition.” We may recall here by way of contrast that one of the founding scholars of Japanese American studies who was also responsible for coining the term “Asian American,” Yuji Ichioka (2000: 43-45), adamantly resisted appropriation of Japanese American studies for Japanese history, insisting that Asian American history was part of American history.”

[ 21 ] See, for example, Andrea Louie 2004. An important organizational product of these changes was the founding in 1992 of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO), of which Wang Gungwu and Ling-ch’i Wang played leading parts. The society included Chinese from all parts of the world as well as non-Chinese scholars. Another example of the gathering of “Chinese” from different societies (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong) at this time was the 1993 conference in Taipei out of which issued a volume edited by Pang-yuan Chi and David D. W. Wang, Chinese Literature in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000). The Preface describes the excitement of the occasion, and while the editors clearly recognize the heterogeneity of Chinese literature, they display little qualm about references to Chinese literature or culture as a unifying characteristic (Chi 2000: 14). Interestingly, among social scientists, such “inter-Chinese” meetings got under way shortly after the PRC’s opening after 1978.

[ 22 ] I am grateful to Nick Kaldis for drawing my attention to the relevance of the market in comparative studies.

[ 23 ] Most of the theoretical works included in Sinophone Studies , written in the 1990s by prominent scholars, are devoted to refutation of the reification of “Chineseness,” with colorful titles such as “Can One Say No to Chineseness” (Ien Ang). The most colorful title, not included in Sinophone Studies, was Allen Chun’s, “Fuck Chineseness: On the Ambiguity of Ethnicity as Culture as Identity,” boundary 2, 23.2 (Summer 1996): 111-138.

[ 24 ] This was already apparent in the 1990s. For an extended discussion on that period, see, Dirlik 2010. I argued in that essay that distinction between native and newcomer does not enable easy prediction of commitment to place of arrival, as new comers sometimes display stronger commitment than “natives.” On the other hand, the complications should be obvious. A recent case is the campaign of John Liu for the mayor of New York City. Liu is of the so-called “one-and-a-half” generation of Taiwan origin. And he obviously has strong commitments to place. On the other hand, his campaign got into trouble over issues of illegal fund-raising on the part of his managers, one of them a newcomer from the PRC and involved with a Beijing association through her father, the other another PRC newcomer charged with involvement in the illegal activities of the Fujian Association. As “Asian Americans,” they had drawn strong hope and support from the “Asian American” communities across the country.. A concise discussion of his career and the scandal is offered in the Wikipedia article under his name.

[ 25 ] Further discussion is available in Dirlik 2004. For a general discussion, see Gabriel Sheffer 2006.

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Metamorphosis of China’s Identity Essay

Introduction.

China is faced by a great challenge of trying to maintain its national culture in the strong wave of globalization. It was inevitable to shun away this new ideology because it was perceived as a bridge of development between the West and China. However, the Chinese are bent on preserving their traditional culture.

Every time there is a mention of globalization in relation to culture, the worst is portrayed because globalization is often described to erode cultures. Regardless of the fact that traditional Confucianism was swept away in China, neo-Confucianism’s significance is evident in its humanistic spirit. The confucianists’ aim is to foresee the general wellbeing of every human being, and this has been a very strong characteristic feature of the Chinese identity.

Gender and how it shapes Chinese identity

The sex ratio at birth in China is the highest in the world according to the United Nation’s Population Prospects 2010 revision (Golley & Tyers, 2012). This sex ratio has resulted in a great gender imbalance that has resulted in what Amartya Sen termed as “missing women”. Reference to the current fertility policy of one-child in China, it was postulated that the imbalance would escalate.

This imbalance has implications on the realms of social, economic and political events in the country. However, as it has been later discussed, concerted efforts of the government have changed the course of the postulated outcomes.

The continuum of gender imbalance in China has resulted in a reduced labor force growth. The slowed growth in labor force sheds light on “Lewis turning point” and beyond this point there is perceived to be a slow progression in the transition from rural to urban. This subsequently places constraint on future growth. The Chinese nonetheless have a higher preference for sons rather than girls and this can be traced back to the patrilineal system of Han Chinese (Li, 2007).

As a result of the bias towards the boy-child, there are unequal opportunities and rights for the girl-child in education and subsequently in employment. This is augmented by Wang Xia’s: head of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, statement, “the bias against females in economic, social and cultural fields is still the root cause of the current gender imbalance” (Golley & Tyers, 2012).

The high preference for the boy-child has given rise to sex selective abortion, a fact that is well acknowledged by the Chinese government as stated by Wang Xia, “the authorities will crack down further on illegal prenatal gender tests and selective abortions, which are believed to be the primary causes of the gender imbalance” (Golley & Tyers, 2012). The Chinese have a very low regard for the girl-child and women; hence, the reason why policies such as 1.5 child policy was introduced, which equates a girl-child to half.

The gender imbalance is believed to pose a great challenge on the social lives of the People Republic of China (PRC) as crime, mercenary marriage, prostitution and abduction of women set in. According to Edlund, Li, Yi & Zhang (2010), an escalation of 0.01 in sex ration led to a 3% rise in property and violent crimes. The realization that a higher preference for the boy-child is associated with high costs has led to counteractive measures meant to redress gender imbalance in China.

China has been labelled as an epitome of gender inequality. Women lack a stable position in employment as more than half of the formal jobs are given to men. Women on the other hand are overwhelmed by domestic chores of taking care of the family, housework and cooking (Fincher, 2013).

In the case of looming unemployment crisis, there have been campaigns urging women to return home and create room for men to take up employment because of the apparent traditional gender roles. The common belief is that women should stay at home while the men are take part in the public affairs.

In China, it becomes very difficult for a woman who has left her career for any reason to get rehired later on. According to Fincher (2013), from the New York Times, one woman had a child at 33 and had to take a leave from her career as an art director. After taking care of her baby for some years, she decided to go back to her career but unfortunately she did not manage to find a job and this is evident in her reiteration statement, “I am very worried about my future because it is so difficult for a woman my age to find work” (Fincher, 2013).

The propaganda of leftover women is stigmatizing to women at the age of 27, who are still aiming to excel in their careers. As a result of all these gender issues, women are opting to forego their dreams of becoming educated and instead are opting for marriage.

The role of gender in defining Chinese cultural identity has also been discussed by Chang through the peacock dance. The Dai peacock dance has transited since the 1950s to 2006, and in its transformations, various elements of change have been embodied in its choreography and practice. The female body is used to decipher these transformations.

In synonymous to use of old cultural practices and ethnic minority identities to promote Chinese national identity, the female dancing body is an emblem of “racial ideas, gender issues and nationalism” (Chang, 2008). The reason why the female dancing body is used is because of the associated transition that has been realized in solving feminine related issues as discussed above. The most interesting feature of Chinese identity as described by Chang is its unique ability to survive regardless of Cultural Revolution.

Globalization and Chinese identity

When China endorsed the implementation of the adoption law in 1991, globalization became a reality since exchange of people, information and resources could take place between countries. Globalization has led to a change in practically every dimension of the Chinese identity. Initially, a communist society, now with its commitment to globalization, China has become a capitalist nation.

As a result of globalization, China is now an industrialized country and market-oriented. Globalization is associated with westernization, which is Americanization, and infringement of western values on other cultures. Globalization, which promotes adoption, heightens identity crisis of the Chinese as adopted children yearn to trace back their heritage in a foreign land (Fischler, n. d.).

Globalization has been a heated topic in Beijing for the past years, focusing on its relationship with culture. Chinese scholars were very much concerned about the myth around globalization because of the attachment placed to their local cultures.

It is however interesting to realize that in China, globalization took a different effect. As a result of globalization, global capital expansion has been realized and this has led to the development of a new kind of international division of labor. China has greatly benefited from economic globalization because it is a hub for production (Ning, 2007).

Chinese literature has been continually progressing towards globalization. Western cultural trends and academic thoughts have invaded China and gradually eroded China’s long history of nationalism. As a result of the strong wave of globalization, Chinese scholars paid little attention to using globalization to their own advantage, by making the Chinese known to the outside world.

As if embracing western culture and systems was not enough, globalization continued to take a toll on Chinese culture as Confucius temples became destroyed and some of the positive elements of Confucianism were thrown away (Ning, 2007). Regardless of the erosion of the Chinese culture due to globalization, China is one of the countries that has greatly benefited economically due to globalization.

Despite the fact that Confucianism was greatly criticized as an impediment to attainment of development in modern China, it has recently gained access into the people’s lives. Both individuals and the Chinese government are bent on reviving Confucianism but from a different angle.

Confucius will be symbolic of traditional Chinese language and culture but short of the Confucianist doctrines. The current cultural situation of Chinese is pseudo-Chinese because theoretical discourses are not original. They are either borrowed or mere translations from the West. Even though there are attempts to revive Confucianism, it can only thrive if incorporated into the current contemporary society (Liu, 2004).

It is worth noting that in today’s government policy of promoting a harmonious society, Confucianism is being revived. Confucianism is held dear to all Chinese; hence, the reason why modern Chinese scholars are making attempts to reconstruct it and promote it in an acceptable form throughout the world.

This is actually working because Chinese has recently become a very popular language and it is assumed that in time, it will be second to English (Ning, 2007). There have been similarities depicted from Neo-Confucianism and postmodernism in China in that in both, the totalitarian discourse of modernity has been deconstructed to provide the Chinese with an alternative modern form compatible with Chinese characteristics.

As a result of the global economy, some Chinese have been forced to immigrate to other countries such as Canada. The shift in cultural values and beliefs has led to the liberalism, enabling the Chinese to voluntarily immigrate to other countries. Even while outside of China, maintenance of a Chinese identity is deemed important. Three institutions are largely involved in the maintenance of Chinese identity and these are “social and business networks, Chinese-language education systems and Chinese-language media” (Tamang, 2008).

As a result of this, new cultural images of the Chinese ethnic and cultural identities have been borne. The images related to Chinese culture are spread over the country and abroad in the world wide web. As a result of differences in socio-economic and educational backgrounds, some of the Chinese immigrants do not access these Chinese images hence this is shown to give rise to a new global economic hierarchy among immigrant groups (Tamang, 2008).

Chinese-language electronic media products have recently gained access to the global market and this has further redefined the Chinese identity in the culture of the immigrant Chinese. This is attributed to the fact that the some of the images broadcasted pose a certain difficulty for the Chinese immigrants who are trying to comprehend what relates to Chinese culture and what does not. One could now identify three evident versions in the world wide web of what could be called Chinese.

The first is related to Communism alongside its political ideology of socialism, in particular the loyalty to this regime and the feel of belonging to it. Secondly, Chinese identity is associated with being a part of Han ethnicity (Tamang, 2008). Thirdly is that the Chinese identity is closely knitted with Confucianism, a prominent feature of Chinese culture.

Culture and Chinese cultural identity

The elderly in one of the parks in Wuhan, Hubei Province gather together to greet the day through song and dance. The elderly are worried about the modernity that has imposed on the Chinese traditional values. The elderly think that the young Chinese people have abandoned their culture and the fact that schools and teachers do not talk about tradition makes it worse.

The young people prefer to visit the gym instead of giving patronage to the elderly in the continuum of traditional values (McGivering, 2005). Even though the culture of the modern world is changing, it is possible to have a unique Chinese identity that embraces the new without throwing away the old.

The culture in China is very imperative in defining the prevailing Chinese identity. This is especially the case with reference to Chinese nationalism. Chinese culture has been an integral element of globalization, development and progress. At no one time has the Chinese culture been abandoned, instead it has undergone a paradigm shift from traditional culture to modern culture. This is seen in the bulldozing of traditional houses to make way for modern blocks.

However, cultural preservation has been at the frontline as some individuals make attempts to stop destruction of traditional representations of old culture. The old houses are associated with a sense of belonging as individuals attempt to familiarize and associate themselves with the practices of the olden days. That is why individuals are willing to buy old-style houses as a way of preserving the Chinese identity.

In spite of globalization and changing world, cultural heritage is greatly valued among the Chinese. This is important for the economic domain in China because the strong cultural background makes China a tourist center. Cultural festivals are also held as a way of acknowledging and promoting cultural identity. In the recent years, as a result of contradictory in elements defining national culture, there has been a transformation towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006).

There have been various traditional rituals that have been conducted in memorial services in reverence to “Confucius and Yan and Huang, both of whom were legendary Chinese founders” (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006). Visits to Buddha’s finger bones are permitted through sacred tours.

More attention is accorded to traditional holidays which include: Lantern Festival, Moon Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Chinese New Year. Various individuals have been at the frontline in the transitions towards Confucianism such that houses are built while incorporating the Confucius style.

Regardless of the fact that there has been a distortion of the national culture, it persists to be displayed as coherent especially in the national TV system. This presentation of cultural uniformity tends to hide the eminent regional variety within China. For instance, besides having 55 ethnic minorities, there are diverse local cultures in Han only.

Every Chinese individual possesses a regional identity due to variation in cultural values. Each region has its own unique “language, heritage sites, famous persons, regional customs, native crops, landscape and cuisine” (Mei & Zhenzhi, 2006). The Chinese culture is labelled as unique and captivating because of richness and diversity in its regional cultures.

Unfortunately, the rich and diverse cultural aspect of China is not shown on China’s television. The Chinese government is against the use of vernacular on local screen, but some ethnic minorities have the liberty to host TV programmes in their local dialects. The inconsistency and show of favour for some local dialect has led to contestation over dialect programming.

The legal structure in China was a triggering precipitating factor in adoption of Chinese daughters by U. S. families. The one-child policy led to the abandonment of female babies to orphanages since they were of insignificant value to the Chinese society. The Chinese identifies the male child to be the successor and bearer of the family name. The girl-child on the other hand is regarded as a misfortune. This cultural practice embedded in the legal framework takes a toll on the social and economic progress on China.

Not everything has been lost due to modernism. Something to smile about is the improved relationships between man and wife in a marriage. Initially, the main reason for marriage was to get an heir in the form of a son and that was it.

Nowadays things are different as the fact that few individuals recognize the essence of a daughter in the same light as a son is a good sign. The preference for a son has had a negative implication on the country because the government spends millions of dollars in attempts to shift the preferences (Branigan, 2011).

According to this discussion, it is obvious that the Chinese identity has been greatly attacked and forced to undergo metamorphosis. Changes have been realized right from the one-child policy, which interferes with the moral and social values of the Chinese people, to the destruction of cultural values due to globalization.

The woman has been sidelined and seen as unimportant. When a woman becomes empowered to the extent of securing a very decent and well-paying job, she is perceived as a threat to the man and this evidently shows the chauvinistic position of the Chinese society. Various cultural aspects strongly stand out that define the Chinese identity and these are communism, Han ethnicity and Confucianism.

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IvyPanda. (2022, December 2). Metamorphosis of China’s Identity. https://ivypanda.com/essays/chinas-identity/

"Metamorphosis of China’s Identity." IvyPanda , 2 Dec. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/chinas-identity/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Metamorphosis of China’s Identity'. 2 December.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Metamorphosis of China’s Identity." December 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/chinas-identity/.

1. IvyPanda . "Metamorphosis of China’s Identity." December 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/chinas-identity/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Metamorphosis of China’s Identity." December 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/chinas-identity/.

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Home > JOURNAL > Vol. 32 (2017) > Iss. 2

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Cultural identity of contemporary chinese people.

Zuo Bin , School of Psychology, Research Center for Social Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China Wen Fangfang , School of Psychology, Research Center for Social Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China

cultural identity; self awareness; cultural identity of Chinese people; the Chinese socialist core values; cultural identity integration

Document Type

Cultural identity is a cultural consensus and recognition, including three levels, i.e., cultural forms identity, cultural norms identity, and cultural values identity. Chinese cultural identity is at the core of the Chinese nationality, and the cultural-psychological foundation of the Great Rejuvenation of Chinese nation. The essence of cultural identity is value identification. Main theories on cultural identity include theories adopting individual development perspective in developmental psychology, social identity theory in social psychology, cultural adaptation perspective in cross-cultural psychology, and ideological perspective in political psychology. Contemporary Chinese cultural identity has distinct characteristics reflecting the zeitgeist, which is characterized by intergroup differentiation and pluralism, a revival of traditional Chinese culture, a heightened identification with socialist core values, accompanied by modernity and global awareness. From a social psychology perspective, improving Chinese people's self awareness, adhering to the socialist core values, promoting bicultural identity integration, and highlighting "the Chinese" role are all viable paths for healthy development of contemporary Chinese culture.

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Recommended Citation

Bin, Zuo and Fangfang, Wen (2017) "Cultural Identity of Contemporary Chinese People," Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version) : Vol. 32 : Iss. 2 , Article 8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16418/j.issn.1000-3045.2017.02.008 Available at: https://bulletinofcas.researchcommons.org/journal/vol32/iss2/8

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Unit 2 Overview: The Influence of Language and Culture on Identity

8 min read • january 3, 2023

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Introduction to Unit 2 Overview: The Influence of Language and Culture on Identity

In AP Chinese Unit 2, we will be exploring the relationship between language and culture and how they shape and influence personal identity. We will delve into the complexities of self-expression and self-identification within the Chinese language and culture, examining topics such as personal pronouns , religion , education , and social norms . Additionally, we will discuss the role of government surveillance and censorship in shaping the online identity of Chinese citizens and the impact of these factors on freedom of expression . Overall, this unit aims to provide a deeper understanding of the ways in which Chinese language and culture intersect and shape people’s sense of self and place in the world.

Unit 2 Essential Questions

STUDY TIP: Use the following essential questions to guide your review of this entire unit. Keep in mind, these are not meant to be practice essay questions. Each question was written to help you summarize the key concept.

This unit focuses on exploring identities, both personal and public, and how Chinese language and culture affects and influences them. As you work through this unit, think about these questions:

How does one’s identity evolve over time? (一个人的自我身份认知随着时间如何改变？)

How does language shape our cultural identity? (语言是如何塑造我们的文化认同？)

How does technology influence the development of personal and public identity? (科学技术是如何影响到个人和地区的成长？)

Past Free-Response Questions from Unit 2: The Influence of Language and Culture on Identity

Note: Many free-response questions draw from information and vocabulary from multiple units and don’t fit neatly into one unit only. You will likely see them in other unit overviews as well.

Presentational Writing: Story Narration

2010 Presentational Writing: Story Narration - Preparing dinner for friends

Interpersonal Writing: Email Response

2021 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - Studying of Chinese after high school

2019 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - Plans after graduating high school

2017 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - International student orientation

2015 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - U.S. exchange student in China

2013 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - School lunch/cafeteria

2011 Interpersonal Writing: Email Response - Coming up with an oral presentation topic

Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation

2018 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Attending a birthday party for an elderly neighbor

2017 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Applying for a study abroad program in Beijing, China

2016 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Speaking with taxi driver in Beijing on the way to the Forbidden City

2015 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Chinese club’s annual field trip

2011 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Organizing/volunteering at Chinese cultural week

2009 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Your experience studying Chinese

2008 Interpersonal Speaking: Conversation - Part-time job waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant

Presentational Speaking: Cultural Presentation

2021 Presentational Speaking: Cultural Presentation - Chinese culture (Chinese characters, Chinese martial arts, Chinese painting, etc.)

2013 Presentational Speaking: Cultural Presentation - Chinese regional cuisine (Sichuan, Shanghai, Cantonese, etc.)

2007 Presentational Speaking: Cultural Presentation - Chinese social custom (giving/receiving gifts, meeting someone for the first time, being a guest in someone’s home, etc.)

2.1 Personal and Public Identities in China

Personal identity in China is restricted, especially for LGBTQ+ and non-binary individuals

The official Communist Party in China is atheist, but five religions are recognized: Buddhism , Catholicism , Daoism , Protestantism , and Islam . Chinese folk religion and atheism are also common.

Education is highly valued in China and the government requires all children to receive at least nine years of education . Literacy rates in China are high, especially in Beijing and Shanghai.

The Chinese economy is the second largest in the world and working overtime is common, especially in the tech industry

Annual leave in China is based on years of employment, and holidays are required to be paid days off

The Chinese family structure is typically a nuclear family , but there are also extended families and single parent families

The Chinese government controls the media and censors certain information and topics

Chinese culture values hierarchy , respect for elders , and saving face

Chinese food is diverse and includes many regional cuisines , and rice is a staple food

The Chinese language has a complex writing system with characters representing ideas or concepts, and a tonal system with four tones

The Chinese calendar is based on the lunar cycle and is used to determine holidays and festivals. Festivals and celebrations in China include traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival , as well as Western holidays that have been adopted in China.

Personal identity in China is influenced by cultural and societal expectations, including gender roles and expectations for education and career success.

Chinese culture places a strong emphasis on working hard and being productive, with a common 996 working hour system in some industries and limited paid leave for employees.

Chinese society is hierarchical and respect for authority and elders is important, with a focus on maintaining social harmony .

Chinese culture values family and interdependence , with a tradition of filial piety and extended family living together or nearby.

Social media and internet use is prevalent in China, although the government censors certain content and platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter are blocked.

2.2 Beauty and Aesthetics in Chinese Architecture and Literature

Chinese culture associates beauty with balance, harmony, and the natural world

In Chinese architecture, beauty is reflected in the use of symmetry and the incorporation of natural elements such as gardens and water features

In Chinese literature, beauty is associated with inner qualities like kindness, intelligence, and moral character

Chinese architecture has a long history and a distinct aesthetic characterized by symmetry and the incorporation of natural elements

Chinese architecture is influenced by a range of styles and influences, including traditional Chinese, Buddhist, and Western styles

Some famous examples of Chinese architecture include the Great Wall of China , the Forbidden City , and the Temple of Heaven

In Chinese literature, beauty is often conveyed through the use of vivid and descriptive language, as well as through the depiction of inner qualities in characters

Some famous examples of Chinese literature include the works of Confucius and the poems of Li Bai

The works of Confucius , a Chinese philosopher and educator, are an important part of Chinese literature and are known for their emphasis on moral principles and character development

The poems of Li Bai , a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty , are known for their use of vivid and descriptive language, as well as their themes of nature, love, and the passage of time

Chinese literature also includes a wide range of other genres, including novels, plays, and essays, that explore a variety of themes and subjects.

2.3 Chinese Dining Customs and Chinese Cuisine

Food culture is an important part of Chinese culture, and food plays a central role in daily life and social interactions

Chinese cuisine is known for its diverse flavors and ingredients, and an emphasis on balance and harmony

Rice, noodles, and wheat-based products are staples in the Chinese diet, and a variety of vegetables and meats are used in cooking

Eating out is popular in China and there is a wide range of restaurants and street food vendors

Dining in China is often a social activity and people often share dishes and eat family-style

There is also a range of international cuisines available in China due to the country's multicultural and cosmopolitan nature

Food is an important part of Chinese celebrations and festivals, with special dishes often prepared for these occasions

There are several dining etiquette taboos in China including starting to eat before everyone has been served, making noise while eating, and leaving food on the plate

It is also considered rude to stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice, as this is reminiscent of incense sticks used in funeral rituals

Tea is an important part of Chinese food culture and is often served with meals or as a standalone refreshment

There are many different types of tea in China, including green tea , black tea , oolong tea , and herbal tea , each with its own unique flavor and health benefits

In some parts of China, it is customary to offer a small gift or token of appreciation when visiting someone's home for a meal

In some parts of China, it is also customary to bring food or other gifts when visiting someone who is sick or in need of support

Chinese food culture includes a wide range of food-related customs and traditions, such as the use of food as a symbol of good fortune or as a way to honor ancestors.

2.4 Internet and Healthcare in China

In China, there is a system called the Resident Identity Card which includes personal information and a chip that can be scanned

The government is implementing a Social Credit System which gives and takes away points from citizens based on their actions and can restrict certain actions, such as travel, if a person's points are too low

There is significant internet censorship in China, with the government monitoring and restricting online activity that goes against the government and blocking certain websites and social media platforms

The government censors information online using the Great Firewall of China , keyword filters, content monitoring, and arrests and detainments

There is limited freedom of the press in China, with controversial events and discussions often censored

The Chinese government also censors information in traditional media, such as television and newspapers

The government has implemented a campaign against " fake news " which is used to justify censorship and crackdowns on independent journalists and news outlets

The Chinese government also engages in propaganda efforts to shape public opinion and promote its own narrative.

The Chinese government has a history of suppressing political dissent and cracking down on activists and human rights defenders

The government has been criticized for its treatment of ethnic minorities, particularly the Uighur population in Xinjiang province

The government has also been criticized for its handling of public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic , and for its lack of transparency and accountability

The Chinese government has a long history of suppressing freedom of religion and has been criticized for its treatment of religious minorities, such as Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners

The government has implemented a number of measures to control and monitor the media, including licensing requirements, censorship , and propaganda campaigns

Key Terms to Review ( 66 )

996 working hour system

Annual leave

Balance and Harmony

Catholicism

Chinese folk religion

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Chinese Identity Essay

Author: arsalan
Posted on: 2 Sep 2019
Paper Type: Free Essay
Subject: English
Wordcount: 1378 words
Published: 2nd Sep 2019

According to the scholarly article, Chinese identity is unique and distinct to other cultures all over that the world. The community history and culture is major because of being geographically aligned to one specific place. China today geographically stretches from Korea in the north all the way to Burma in the south. It is prudent to acknowledge the fact that such a territory comes with internal variations. China incorporates the entire empire in eighteen century, and every expansion drew in variations of customs, land, language, and culture. According to studies, regional aspect of identity is term as a complicating factor in agreement of the whole china identity (Thompson, 2015).

It is worth noting that China has undergone considerable changes in the past century, especially since the fall of the imperial order in 1911. As varying understandings of the country’s past and future are interpreted to meet China’s present needs, discussions regarding identity are expected to be thorough, complex and shifting. China’s governing elites profoundly, though selectively, documented the people’s history. It is critical that the Chinese are conscious of the images of their country that are spread by local media or films and fiction.

History plays a major role in China today because it describes the past of the Chinese culture. According to studies, China has a five-thousand year past that dated back to an estimated time, 2600BC supported by the archaeological record. China people value their past a lot and that is why there are historical centers where past events are kept for other generation to learn what China looks like years back. Pre-modern Chinese history points out negotiations of power leading to identity construction of imperial China.

Furthermore, China has a unique culture that is passed from generation to generation. Even the most radical proponents of the Chinese culture are themselves deeply rooted in the tradition. Moreover, Chinese identity is rooted in shared traditions that are perceived in shifts interpretations and principles. Chinese philosophers, political and social beliefs were most visible in Confucianism among elite power. During the imperial era of Chinese history, social and political beliefs among the Chinese elite were primarily shaped by the ideas of Confucius. However, the ideas of Confucianism among both the common people and elite changed considerably over time. The influence and dominance of Confucianism over the history, identity and social structure of the Chinese cannot be overstated. It is the bedrock of traditional Chinese culture.

It is worth noting that the foundations of Chinese identity are variable. The Chinese cultural identity is characterized by utmost diversity and richness. Indeed, several articles have tried to figure out Chinese identity, but the real identity of Chinese people is never fixed. The past, place, and tradition provide multiple ideas that can be used to address the needs of the time. It is critical to acknowledge the fact that Chinese identity is rooted in the community culture and traditions that are passed from generation to generation through Confucianism.

Ritual and life cycle

The study of ritual rites of a group of people helps the researcher to understand the way certain society behaves. Almost every society has different ritual ways to commemorate, regulates and demarcates various stages of life. Through studying rites in the life cycle, one is able to achieve a more profound understanding of a given society. China, have deep-rooted ritual rites that are effective right from the childhood all the way to adulthood. For instances, China community has certain measures to be followed before marriage is commemorated. Hence, married couples are mandated to go to the temple to seek the power of goddess to give the ability to have children.

Additionally, the Chinese families prefer the male child in the family than the female because he will be carrying the families name in the future. In fact, many hospitals today prefer not revealing the identity of the fetus because the female unborn child is likely to be aborted. However, there are some people who have deviated from that belief, but the general population still hold on to the community rituals life cycle (Dean, 2014). Furthermore, the newly born babies were given jewelry by the grandparents to keep evil away from harming the child.

Most Chinese children are enrolled in kindergarten at a young age. This is primarily because a majority of Chinese mothers work fulltime. Most of these children join the primary school at about six years and subsequently go through the education system for at least nine years. Upon a child earning admission to a university, family and friends congratulate his/her parents, showering them with presents such as money in a red packet. In return, the parents host their family and friends to a great banquet. Such banquets may even go on for several days, especially if the family is well connected.

Just like in many other societies across the world, marriage is one of the most valued events among the Chinese. Marriage ceremonies in China entail a variety of rituals. Most traditional rituals in present-day Chinese society are actually retained in marriage. Some rituals and practices with regards to marriage in the Chinese culture have changed over the years. For example, traditional China required that the bride is in tears when she left her parents’ home. However, this particular practice is hardly followed in contemporary Chinese society.

According to research, Chinese community had guan ceremony which allows the respected members of the community to perform rituals that allowing passage from childhood to adulthood. Important events like marriage and funeral were dealt with according to set traditions and any mistakes were seen as a taboo to those involved. While some traditional rites and rituals have been passed down from the traditional Chinese society to contemporary China, others such as guan ceremonies are rarely practiced and have thus faded away from daily lives of most Chinese people. Most of the Chinese in society still practice rituals in the present day. However, few have embraced the western way of life.

Family and marriage

Chinese society according to the articles still values a lot the importance of family and marriage. Chinese society perceives family as an imperative social unit because they depend on families for basic needs. Chinese believe that the family is responsible for raising children, caring for the old, sick and the needy one in the society.

The family structure of the Chinese people consists of multi-generational families that are believed to be composed of five generations staying together under the same compound. Scholars have found that extended families live in one commonplace for security reasons. Even today, extended families stay together has persisted over the years with the urban population taking the nuclear form of family.

However, Chinese family traditions are facing reduction factors regarding family size due to several factors. Family income affects the size of the family size implying that the lowest income earning family will consist of 3.3 people while families earning substantial income will statistically consist of 2.52 persons. In imperial China, marriages could be terminated as a result of reasons such as theft, chronic illness, barrenness, jealous, wanton conduct or even neglect of the husband’s parents. However, only men had the power to initiate divorce proceedings.

Men generally avoided termination due to strong cultural norms and negative social pressures. In both traditional Chinese society and contemporary China, divorce and remarriages are associated with high costs for the relevant parties. Just like in many other societies around the world, globalization has had a considerable impact on modern Chinese society. More changes in the Chinese family systems are anticipated as a result of China’s market reforms and increased participation in the global capitalist system.

It is worth noting that love and romance are a necessary but insufficient precondition for a long-lived relationship in China. For example, research suggests that fairy tales are a major idea for American young adults. However, the same cannot be said for the Chinese young people. Marriage, on the other hand, is a crucial factor in Chinese society whereby, the woman is taken to the man family after the bride price is paid to her parents (Hareven, 2018).

According to Chinese traditions, it is not a must that the couple romance of date to get married, arranged marriages were made and the two stay in a marriage without any problem. By the age of 30, most of the Chinese women are required to have to get married while the male counterpart could even marry past that age. However, marriage could end up breaking up due to some factors such as chronic illness of the spouse, jealousy and sometimes fading of romantic love other reasonable factors.

Gender and sexuality

According to research, gender plays a major role influencing how the Chinese society organized itself in the past and the present day. Sexuality and gender influence various aspect of life in Chinese histories such as work, family role, political participation, and education. Moreover, sexuality converged more on a specific aspect of life which includes experiences and organization around gender. Pre-modern Chinese histories rely on Confucianism for principles that will regulate everyone in the society (Zang, 2015). The principles of sexuality and gender accord how men and women were supposed to behave in the society. Men were accorded much respect than women who were to be submissive to their male counterpart.

Confucianism emphasized on family and lineage. Therefore, in traditional China, sexuality was a priority in order to enhance procreation of a new generation. As a result of the communist revolution in 1949, many aspects of social life such as sexual relations in the Chinese society were rearranged. As in other societies around the world, the sexuality picture in China is characterized by complexity especially with regards to issues such as homosexuality, and sex and economy.

During the pre-modern history, Chinese elite embraced Confucianism as the main principle to regulate the people. Everybody was expected to know and behave according to their level in the Chinese society. This was not only aimed at promoting harmony among the people but also establishing a hierarchical order. It is unfortunate that women were at the bottom with regards to their position in the society, and were thus expected to be submissive. Confucianism established a family system where men were dominant over women. The idea of inferiority of women served as the code for women’s traditional Chinese society.

The cornerstone of the family system was that the primary purpose of sexuality and marriage was for procreation. Ensuring future generations was thus a critical aspect. Love and pleasure were thus less important than procreation. Males in pre-modern Chinese society were allowed to have more than one woman in throughout his entire life. The society permits the man to marry another wife as long as he is comfortable to be responsible. However the woman was never to involve in infidelity activities, in fact, a woman should be loyal to only one man according to Confucian laws. The Chinese traditions even permit the woman to take her life in the event of rape to keep her virtue as a woman of integrity.

Sexuality aspect in pre-modern Chinese society was majorly purposed for procreation and making sure that next generation is brought in. Also, it is important to note that sexuality as a factor, did not allow women to work in an environment where men work. It is the responsibility of the woman to do domestic jobs and be a good wife to her husband and leave men task to men. According to studies, there was a time the government retrieves to go and do domestic chores and to create more vacancies for men.

Contested ground, Community, and neighborhood

Community needs governorship and leadership to develop politically and socially, hence pre-modern Chinese is no different. After the Maoist era, the local and the state representative become competing for the available resource in the land of China. Local leaders advocated resist of the state rule on the basis that the government is set to demoralize the society through imposing of state policies such as birth control (Yunling, 2016). According to studies, during the pre-modern era, informal social networks work wonders in resisting state rules. In fact, the introduction of tax policies initiated more strategies plans to resist the government.

Moreover, policies open up solidarity accumulation spaces both in a rural community and the local government. Villagers were set to defend their interest after provision of public services and goods deteriorated. The community fears that the government lead by corrupt people will soon exploit them and that is what they did not want hence resisted. As a result of the fall of the pre-1978 commune structure, distribution of infrastructure in the rural community has been altered. It is critical that the village community is not treated as an autonomous entity protected against state domination.

The Chinese authoritarian system has been credited with controlling the Chinese society to discourage and prevent alienation and social and political crisis. Many state intervention programmes have resulted from the need for political stability and effective governance. Significant Changes in urban neighborhoods have been realized as a result of the increased competition for community space. Such competition leads to disputes and mobilization against government policies. As a result of the increased urban transformation, differentiation of organizational infrastructures has been achieved. Also, there has been the rapid growth of locally based collective actions for community space.

The role of state power in the creation of civic spaces cannot be overstated. However, varying aspects of the community and society as a whole must be viewed as due to relevant interventions and strategic institutional choices by the government. The state is striving to validate and revalidate its authority and influence in both rural community and urban neighborhoods.

This is achieved through enhanced village democracy and implementing proper rural welfare programmes. In summary, it is vital to acknowledge the fact that Chinese people are one of a kind with a unique identity regarding culture, past, and place. Chinese tradition in pre-modern days plays an important role in shaping present-day China. Up-to-date, Chinese identity is still unique because Chinese traditions are still practiced in most of the country. There are a lot of other societies that still hold on to their heritage, but China is one of a kind.

Thompson, E. P. (2015). Customs in common: Studies in traditional popular culture . New Press.

Hareven, T. K. (2018). Families, history and social change: Life course and cross-cultural perspectives . Routledge.

Zang, X. (Ed.). (2015). Understanding Chinese Society . Routledge.

Dean, K. (2014). Taoist ritual and popular cults of Southeast China . Princeton University Press.

Yunling, Z. (2016). China and its neighbourhood: transformation, challenges and grand strategy. International Affairs , 92 (4), 835-848.

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Bridging Worlds: the American-Born Chinese Tale of Identity and Harmony

This essay about delves into the nuanced narrative of American-born Chinese individuals, intricately weaving a tale of dual identity and cultural fusion within the diverse landscape of American life. It explores the delicate dance between ancestral traditions and the vibrant pulse of modernity, emphasizing the linguistic palette of childhood and the pivotal role of education in navigating conflicting expectations. The text sheds light on the unique experience of American-born Chinese professionals, who balance conformity with the preservation of cultural heritage in the corporate realm. Culinary traditions emerge as a sensory thread connecting past and present, inviting others to share in the rich tapestry of cultural heritage. The narrative explores the complexities of identity, grappling with stereotyping and the perpetual question of origin. Family, an unwavering pillar, becomes a conduit to a heritage transcending borders. Celebrations, from Lunar New Year to weddings, serve as bridges connecting the diaspora to the intricate tapestry of Chinese culture. Despite the jubilant moments, the essay highlights the ongoing struggle to balance tradition and modernity in the diverse mosaic of American life. PapersOwl showcases more free essays that are examples of American Born Chinese.

How it works

Within the kaleidoscope of American life, the narrative of the American-born Chinese unfolds as a captivating masterpiece, intricately woven with threads of dual identity and cultural fusion. It’s a story that defies conventions, painting a complex tableau of navigating between heritage and assimilation, tradition, and the dynamic pulse of modernity.

The journey of those born to Chinese roots on the fertile soil of America is a nuanced exploration of selfhood. Growing up as an American-born Chinese is more than a mere journey; it’s an artistic odyssey, a delicate dance where the whispers of ancestral traditions entwine gracefully with the vibrant rhythms of contemporary America.

Childhood in this distinct narrative is a linguistic palette, a manifestation of diversity. At home, the melodious cadence of Mandarin or Cantonese provides a backdrop to familial tales adorned with ancient wisdom. Beyond the threshold, English assumes the spotlight, transforming playgrounds into dynamic arenas where laughter resonates in an array of tongues. This linguistic agility isn’t just a skill; it’s a bridge seamlessly connecting the rootedness of the past with the unfolding chapters of the present.

Education, a pivotal chapter in the American-born Chinese story, becomes a vessel navigating familial aspirations and dreams of progress. From the bustling streets of Chinatown to the venerable halls of esteemed institutions, the pursuit of knowledge symbolizes a bridge linking the aspirational chords of the American Dream with the cultural harmony found in Confucian reverence for learning.

Yet, the academic odyssey isn’t without its trials. American-born Chinese students find themselves at the crossroads, juggling parental expectations rooted in Confucian tradition and the individualistic ethos pervasive in Western educational realms. This internal balancing act isn’t just a challenge; it’s an alchemical process, forging resilience and adaptability.

Stepping into the professional arena, American-born Chinese individuals bear the weight of dual expectations. The corporate landscape demands conformity, yet the echoes of cultural heritage remind them to stand out proudly. Success, often epitomized by the coveted corner office, transcends personal accolades; it becomes a testament to their adeptness at preserving identity while navigating mainstream currents.

Culinary traditions, in this unique experience, serve as a delectable thread weaving through time. The enticing aroma of dim sum, the sizzle of stir-fried noodles, and the comforting warmth of congee become not just sustenance but vessels carrying the rich tapestry of cultural heritage. Shared meals transform into a sensory journey, inviting others to partake in an experience that transcends linguistic boundaries.

In the celebration of cultural richness, American-born Chinese individuals grapple with the currents of stereotyping and otherness. The persistent question of “Where are you really from?” becomes a poignant refrain, a reminder that, despite deep roots in American soil, they are perceived as perpetual outsiders. This dichotomy becomes a catalyst, shaping an identity that is authentically American and unapologetically Chinese.

Family stands as an unwavering pillar in this narrative. Intergenerational bonds are fortified through stories passed down like cherished artifacts. The elders, with their sagacity and weathered hands, become living conduits of history, linking the American-born Chinese to a heritage that transcends geographical borders and spans epochs.

In celebrations like Lunar New Year and traditional weddings, the American-born Chinese unearth more than rituals; they discover bridges connecting the diaspora to the intricate tapestry of Chinese culture. Yet, even in these jubilant moments, the echoes of a hyphenated identity persist. Balancing red envelopes and lion dances with the realities of being American-born, they navigate the delicate waltz between honoring tradition and embracing the heartbeat of modernity.

In the grand mosaic of American diversity, the American-born Chinese craft a narrative that is uniquely theirs – a story of resilience, adaptability, and an enduring quest for harmonious balance between the two worlds they proudly call home.

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Chinese Culture

Words: 3024

The Chinese Culture Essay

There are many characteristics that comprise the Chinese culture that contribute to its uniqueness. Their many customs influence their religion, language, food, art, science, technology, and celebration (Zimmerman, 2017). Those of the Chinese culture are typically one of five possible religions; this includes Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and/or Protestantism (Zimmerman 2017). China has the world’s largest Buddhist population and their religion is the country’s largest institutionalized religion (Albert, 2018). However, 21% of Chinese still practice folk religions, which blend Buddhism and Daoism (Albert, 2018). The Chinese and their government are most tolerant of Buddhism, and as a result, its number of constituents continues to grow while new temples are built, old ones are restored (Albert, 2018). This tolerance is seen because Buddhism has increased philanthropic activity throughout the country and improved the overall well-being of those in need (Albert, 2018).

Although Buddhism’s popularity has increased in China, Tibetan Buddhists continue to endure religious persecutions (Albert, 2018). The Tibetan Buddhists often face the harshest of punishments because they often challenge the inequalities between Tibetans and Han Chinese (Albert, 2018). Despite Buddhism’s influence amongst the Chinese, Christianity continues to grow and inspires roughly 5% of the population in China (Albert, 2018). Despite Christianity’s growth, religious persecutions on Chinese Christians are on the rise (Albert, 2018). In addition to Christianity, Islam has also impacted Chinese culture and currently boasts ten Muslim ethnic groups, the largest of these being the Hui (closely related to the Han people) and Uighurs (Turks from the Xinjiang region) (Albert, 2018). Even though there are many religious groups throughout China, some have been banned, such as the Church of Almighty God and Falun Gong (Albert, 2018). The government believes that these groups endanger society by promoting political upheaval and violence. Hence, it is important to be knowledgeable of one’s religion and cultural background in order to make the necessary religious/cultural accommodations and allow patients to practice their rituals as desired.

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There are several languages spoken by the Chinese culture including Mandarin, Wu, Yue/Cantonese, Xiang, Min, Hakka, and Gain (Zimmerman, 2017). The Old Chinese language first originated from the Sino-Tibetan language and developed during the 11th century (Collum, 2016). Although it was mostly spoken by only scholars and other wealthy citizens, as many as 5 subsets formed (Collum, 2016). Following this period, the Middle Chinese language began to develop throughout the 7th and 10th centuries (Collum, 2016). Rebus writing, and polysemy also soon spread during this era and helped to produce the contemporary language (Collum, 2016). Today, the Mandarin dialect is spoken by 71.5 percent of the population, followed by Wu of 8.5 percent of the population, Yue/Cantonese of 5 percent, Xiang of 4.8 percent, Min of 4.1 percent, Hakka of 3.7 percent and Gan of 2.4 percent of the population (Zimmerman, 2017).

Not only knowing the patient’s language, but also the dialect is crucial in ensuring cultural competence. Until the creation of the People’s Republic of China in the 1940s, most Chinese throughout the different provinces continued to speak in their local dialect (Collum, 2016). As a result, the use of an interpreter or interpreter phone is necessary when a language-barrier exists between the nurse and patient. It is inappropriate to rely on a family member or friend to translate due to violations of patient privacy and/or the inability of the family member/friend to understand particular medical terminology. In other instances, the family member/friend may on translate messages that he/she believes to be important or that he/she agrees with causing many issues. Therefore, discovering the patient’s primary spoken language and providing an interpreter is essential in facilitating communication between the nurse, patient and other medical providers.

In addition to acknowledging a patient’s religion and language, understanding their food preferences are also important. Unfortunately, much of what we know about Chinese cuisine was not shared with the rest of the world until the 1960s/70s when China began to increase its transparency (Rodgers, 2018). The main style of cooking for Chinese food is stir-fried dishes, with the use of peanuts, sesame paste and ginger, while a major food source is rice, which they include in almost all of their meals (Zimmerman, 2017). Although many Americans are familiar with ‘Chinese food’ and believe to know what it encompasses, dishes such as sweet and sour chicken or fried rice are only a small portion of Chinese cuisine (Rodgers, 2018).

Many of the Chinese dishes that we have grown familiar with derive from the Chinese immigrants that came to California from the province of Guangdong (Rodgers, 2018). Nevertheless, according to Dan Gentile, there are multiple red flags we must avoid before indulging in ‘authentic’ Chinese cuisine (Gentile, 2016). Sweet and sour sauce tastes sugary, along with soy sauce being the mainstay of a dish, are two indicators of low-end and unhealthy Chinese food (Gentile, 2016). Soy sauce contains a high content of sodium and can be detrimental to one’s health with every day use. Cooking with ingredients such as soy sauce can lead to excess use and effect one’s health such as cause hypertension. This implication is important to take note of when assessing patients and their dietary intake. Gentile also notes that when deciding on a Chinese restaurant to visit, always avoid those that advertise meals such as egg foo young, mu shu pork, crab rangoon, the infamous fortune cookie, and American desserts (Gentile, 2016). In addition to these troubling signs, the use of the term potstickers, stereotypical Asian font welcoming you through the front door, and pictures of dragons throughout the restaurant are all false advertisements of authentic food from China (Gentile, 2016).

These particular customs are imperative to be knowledgeable of. Considering their typical diet is high in carbohydrates, sugars and salt, we must be mindful of the implications and the effects to one’s health. Although it may or may not be possible to make permanent changes because of one’s culture and beliefs, the use of education in a nonjudgmental and caring manner is crucial and can truly make a difference in one’s future choices. For example, one may not be willing to remove a food item from their diet entirely, however, can be willing to reduce the consumption. Even a reduction in unhealthy choices can make a positive change to one’s overall health and longevity.

Chinese cuisine first began to popularize amongst Americans in San Francisco, California during the 1950s (Rodgers, 2018). In fact, due to the inexpensive meals that were offered, many of the Beatniks soon became fans of Chinese foods after frequenting restaurants throughout Chinatown (Rodgers, 2018). However, the Chinese fusion foods that soon developed differed from authentic Chinese cooking because of available food sources and taste preferences (Rodgers, 2018). American-Chinese foods are usually less spicy than the way in which the Chinese are accustomed to enjoying their meals (Rodgers, 2018). For example, broccoli will rarely be seen in authentic Chinese cuisine, but because this vegetable is grown in the United States, it eventually was added into many Chinese dishes (Rodgers, 2018). Also, authentic Chinese dishes that contain chicken will only feature the ‘dark meat,’ however, since many Americans prefer the ‘white meat,’ this is often seen instead (Rodgers, 2018). On the other hand, there are quirks in Chinese dining, such as chopsticks, that some have thought were Americanized, but in fact not the case. Thus, knowing the typical diet of one’s culture is not only important in understanding their lifestyle, health and dietary choices, but also to ensure we can provide the necessary accommodations during a hospital stay.

Another main aspect of Chinese culture is the use of art (Zimmerman, 2017). Many of the sculptures and paintings created by the Chinese depict spiritual figures of Buddhism (Zimmerman, 2017). Chinese art uses symbolism to convey the artist’s motive and will often display the impact that nature has on people (Kellaway, 2014). This may be why artists will ‘rotate’ their works into and out of the public eye so that we are given a gentle reminder on how art affects us all (Kellaway, 2014). Recently, Contemporary Chinese art experienced a boom due to more focus on a traditional Chinese form, but it has begun to plateau (Kellaway, 2014). As a result, there was a time when Chinese and Western art did not interact with each other. Europeans imported many goods from China between the 13th and 17th centuries, but none of them being works of art. Not until the arrival of the Jesuits in the 17th century did we begin to see a western influence on Chinese art (Kellaway, 2014).

Nevertheless, Chinese and western art continued to diverge from one another in that while western artists used wood or canvas, Chinese artists used silk or paper (Kellaway, 2014). Also, western artists would depict science or technological advancements in their works, while the Chinese would focus on the humanities and poetry (Kellaway, 2014). Hence, these differing styles call into focus the freedom that Chinese artists enjoyed and explored for centuries before the West began to experiment (Kellaway, 2014). Even though the Chinese were considered more-free in their art forms, they also did not stray from their strict culture and would recycle similar pieces (Kellaway, 2014).

Although artistic works were and continue to be an important part of the Chinese culture, conservation of the aforementioned is highly debated. Many believe in editing pieces of artwork to make them look refurbished and new, while others prefer to embellish their age and give the works a more tarnished and aged affect (Kellaway, 2014). At the same time, we should avoid generalizations when examining Chinese art because of the nation’s size and differing opinions on political and social issues. On the other spectrum of art and culture, martial arts are a common practice in China where the techniques mimic animal movements (Zimmerman, 2017). Similarly, to most popularized aspects of Chinese culture, those that do not try to inject a western spin on this art form will find that it is very interesting and fulfilling. Thus, many Kung Fu Masters will hesitate to take students under their tutelage because they solely want to educate those that not only want to learn but foresee a future in or with martial arts (Li, 2015). As a result, there are a variety of schools that one can attend, whether it be to become a Master or simply learn the basics to quench their interest (Li, 2015).

In addition to traditional Chinese artworks of paintings, drawings, and martial arts, Chinese music dates-back to the early ruling dynasties (Moore, 2009). During the Shang-dynasty, bronze bells and drums were used in the practice of rituals, while other complex instruments during the Zhou-dynasty showed an understanding of acoustics and physics (Moore, 2009). Other musical instruments, such as a flute-like instrument called xun, and gugin, continue to be an integral part of Chinese culture (Zimmerman, 2017). The Zhou scholars also created the first classification system for musical instruments so that it would coincide with astrological assumptions and ideas (Moore, 2009). Thankfully, the Yuefu (imperial music bureau) was formed during the Han-dynasty and with the help of the Zhou system, were able to collect and preserve the many forms of music that were lost during the Qin-dynasty (Moore, 2009). Therefore, Chinese artwork, the martial arts, and the use of instrumentation can be a nonpharmacological method in which one chooses to relax and destress in a hospital setting. Incorporating features of one’s culture into the delivery of care is essential in providing culturally competent and congruent care. Encouraging patients to perform rituals in which they enjoy and that are part of their culture allow the facilitation of a trusting and open nurse-patient relationship.

A huge aspect integrated into the Chinese culture is Chinese Medicine, and Complementary Alternative Medicine. Traditional therapy, known as Western Medicine, is a system that involves a multitude of healthcare professionals such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists, therapists, etc. (Feleke, 2016). It incorporates the use of pharmacological therapy such as drugs, radiation, chemotherapy, etc. to treat and/or cure illness (Feleke, 2016). On the other hand, Chinese Medicine, or Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM), involves the use of nonpharmacological methods such as diet therapy, herbal remedies, acupuncture, massage, exercise, meditation, etc. (Feleke, 2016). The Chinese use the complementary therapies as a way to treat any imbalance of the human body (Feleke, 2016). Any imbalance disrupts their homeostasis and causes a disruption in one or more of the five essential elements of the human body (Feleke, 2016).

These five essential elements include wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (Feleke, 2016). The five elements of the body are aspects of qi, which is their life force energy (Feleke, 2016). This energy field flows within the body and maintains a unique balance within the body (Feleke, 2016). If any of the elements become unbalanced, hence, in the presence of illness, there is a disruption in the flow of qi causing a health problem to occur (Feleke, 2016). In this event, alternative therapies such as CAM are used. The use of alternative therapies aims at restoring qi’s flow, restoring balance within the body, and allows the body the ability to heal itself (Feleke, 2016). Acknowledging the use of Chinese Medicine, it uttermost important in our encounter with patients. We must ensure we assess a patient(s) use of complementary medicine and complementary modalities to better understand one’s culture. CAM can include various therapies such as Acupuncture, diet therapy, Moxibustion, herbal remedies, cupping, massage, exercise, meditation and thus, must be made known (Feleke, 2016).

Acupuncture is a modality that involves injecting small needles into various parts throughout the body called meridians (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). The meridians, or acupoints are channels of the body where qi, an energy, flows to allow the body to restore harmony (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Tui na, is a Chinese massage that uses specific techniques to balance one’s qi (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Techniques such as deep-tissue massage, joint manipulation, vibration and pinching are used to treat injuries, improve circulation, increase flexibility and reduce scar tissue (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Herbal Therapy is also used as a form of alternative medicine and a natural remedy to cure certain diseases and illnesses. The remedies used include plants, minerals, fungi, and animal and insect parts, rather than the use of drugs as seen with Western Medicine (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Moxibustion is also used as a form of heat therapy to stimulate the flow of qi in the body (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Dried herbs known as moxa are burned near the surface of the skin to allow qi to flow freely (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Cupping is also a popular Chinese Therapy used as heat therapy to stimulate the flow of qi (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). The heated cups are suctioned to the skin at meridian points and help to restore balance (The Healing Modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2017). Hence, the Chinese modalities aim at restoring qi in belief to restore health and remove illness. Those of a different culture may be bias and assume that these modalities act as a placebo and do not actually work, however, those of the Chinese culture passionately believe in qi, energy fields and Yin and Yang (opposites attracting).

As a future nurse, it is very important to assess the use of alternative modalities and respect the patient’s beliefs of complementary medicine. It is also important to take note of the herbal remedies used because many different herbs can interact with pharmacological therapy and cause adverse reactions. Therefore, assessing the use of Chinese Medicine and Complementary Alternative Methods (CAM) is crucial. After the nurses assesses the use of complementary modalities, the nurse should inquire about the results and effects of the alternative medicine used. It would be important to assess the patient’s response to the alternative modality and understand the benefit of the modality or herbal remedy used. If the nurse was unaware of a specific modality used, the nurse should respectfully explain that he/she is not knowledgeable of the particular modality and ask for guidance. It would also be significant to research any modalities that the nurse is unknowledgeable of. While researching the alternative healing modality, the nurse could inquire about its uses, benefit, harms, and healing implications. He/she would also have to research its interactions with any medications or other potential treatments. Thus, Chinese Medicine and Complementary Alternative Medicine is a huge part of the Chinese culture and must be better understood to facilitate culturally competent and congruent care.

As future nurses, it is our duty to promote wellness, good health and positive outcomes. One way in which those of the Chinese culture believe to promote wellness is through the practice of Tai Chi. “Tai Chi is often described as ‘meditation in motion,’ but it might well be called ‘medication in motion” (“The Health Benefits of Tai Chi,” 2015). Tai Chi involves slow, mindful movements that integrate the mind, body and soul (Heid, 2017). The practice of Tai Chi integrates ancient Chinese Medicine, philosophy, and martial arts to improve one’s overall health (Heid, 2017). It is a low-impact, slow-motion exercise that uses animal and art movements (“The Health Benefits of Tai Chi,” 2015). Through the performed movements, the focus of attention is on breathing deeply and bodily sensations (“The Health Benefits of Tai Chi,” 2015). The bodily sensations derive from Qi and Yin and Yang (“The Health Benefits of Tai Chi,” 2015). Qi, the flowing energy force is promoted, and Yin and Yang, opposing elements of the universe are kept in harmony to promote balance and equilibrium within all the body’s systems (“The Health Benefits of Tai Chi,” 2015). Tai Chi has been extensively researched and shows to improve overall health ranging from improvements in blood pressure to improvements in cognitive function (Heid, 2017).

The many research studies performed revealed a decrease in the rates of depression, insomnia, illness and inflammation with those who practice Tai Chi (Heid, 2017). Tai Chi has a soothing and calming influence on the body because of its effect on the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) (Heid, 2017). The Sympathetic Nervous System activates when the body is under stress, leading to an increased heart rate, respirations and blood pressure (Heid, 2017). Similar to the effects of aerobic exercise, Tai Chi decreases Sympathetic activity allowing better function of the heart and lungs (Heid, 2017).

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