The Semiotics of China Narratives in the Con/texts of Kingston and Tan

Abstract

How ‘Chinese’ is The Woman Warrior?' Sau-ling Cynthia Wong asks in her essay “Kingston's Handling of Traditional Chinese Sources” (27). The native-ness of ethnic American literature is a complex issue that deserves serious consideration and intelligent discussion. I have noticed that to date it is not the nativeness of our ethnic narratives that has escaped critical attention but the narrative reconfiguration of nativeness in literary representation. That is to say, the whole issue of nativeness in literary texts requires careful examination in the context of cultural differences and in relation to subject positions. In this essay, I explore the theoretical implications of that “native” issue by inquiring into the semiotics of “China experiences” in terms of “China narratives” within the contexts of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and China Men and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife.