Learning across borders – Chinese migrant literature and intercultural Chinese language education

Abstract

Chinese migrants have been a rich source of influential international literature, represented by key works such as Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu in 1961 and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan in 1989. Cultural differences and conflicts, stereotypes and other complex issues regarding the diasporic lives of the Chinese sojourners are revealed vividly in those stories. In the intercultural language teaching of Chinese in USA, Australia and Europe, a central and pressing task is to improve students' intercultural sensitivities and develop the capability to communicate efficiently with China and Chinese people. In light of critical literary studies that treat literature as a kind of ‘cultural artefact’ and recent analysis of Hay and Wang which advocates ‘migratory’ literature as a ‘third place’ for intercultural communication, this paper takes a step further. It does so by expanding the spectrum into Chinese norms, stereotypes and some core values that are significant in intercultural communication with Chinese and explores interdisciplinary approaches to linking studies of Chinese migrant literature and the intercultural education of Chinese at university level.