Negotiating identity in the diasporic space: transnational Chinese cinema and Chinese Americans

Abstract

Within the field of Asian American studies, there has been an abundance of research on the cinematic representation of Chinese Americans in association with identity. While one type of study primarily focuses on the Orientalist discourse and racial politics in the Hollywood films, another approach highlights the production and distribution of Asian American independent media. Taking the representation of Chinese American families in transnational Chinese cinema as a point of departure, this article adopts a narrative analysis approach to illustrate the re-articulation of Chinese cultural identity. Following the premise that experience is pertaining to the construction of the identity of Chinese immigrants, four kinds of experiences are categorized – historical, educational, family and immigration. Representative characters are chosen as reference points from four films: Pushing Hands (Ang Lee 1992), The Guasha Treatment (Zheng Xiaolong 2001), Saving Face (Alice Wu 2004) and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Wayne Wang 2007). The disaporic subjects demonstrate how Chinese cultural identity has been shaped by various experiences.