The Rewriting and Spreading of Chinese Culture in Chinese-American Literature— Taking Kingston's The Woman Warrior as an Example

Xue Yuhui; Cheng Jia; Wei Lan

Vol-8,Issue-5,September - October 2023

Author: Xue Yuhui, Cheng Jia, Wei Lan

Keywords: The Woman Warrior; rewrite; Chinese culture

Abstract: Maxine Hong Kingston is an American novelist of Chinese descent. Her masterpiece The Woman Warrior (1976) has attracted the attention of many critics, and there are a lot of relevant researches. There are various research directions, including cultural conflict, narrative perspective, feminism and archetypal interpretation. However, there are few studies on the rewriting of the two historical stories of Hua Mulan and Ts’ ai Yen in the works. Starting from two historical stories, this article will study the adaptation and meaning of the novel by the method of intensive reading and analysis of the text. In the rewriting of Mulan's story, the protagonist who grew up under the background of dual culture and life imagined a female image who pursued freedom, equality and realized her own value, which is the rewritten image of Mulan. The rewriting of Ts' ai Yen's story is used to show the dilemma experienced by the protagonist and the final solution of the problem. In rewriting the stories of historical figures, the work shows the struggle and exploration of Chinese Americans who try to establish their cultural identity between Chinese and American dual cultures.

Article Info: Received: 07 Sep 2023; Received in revised form: 12 Oct 2023; Accepted: 20 Oct 2023; Available online: 28 Oct 2023

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.85.33