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Self-Representations of Diasporic Chinese Self-Narratives in English ! ! ! ! The Unsettled Hearts in the West: Self-Representations of Diasporic Chinese Self-Narratives in English, 1980s–1990s by Fang XIA M.A. (Central China Normal University) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania June 2017 ! ! This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Signed ..................................................... Date ................................................. This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth). Signed ..................................................... Date ................................................. ! ! Acknowledgements My heartfelt gratitude goes first of all to my supervisors, Dr Mitchell Rolls and Dr Jayde Lin Roberts. I thank Mitchell for his superb supervision throughout the whole process. His scholarly nurturance and enduring patience navigated my doctoral studies. His genius intellectual support and constant encouragement made this thesis possible. His generous offer of care and concern made my research life in Australia the most unforgettable, pleasant, and rewarding experience of my life. His intellectual integrity and patience in careful reading of the manuscript of various versions made this thesis. I thank Jayde for her expertise, advice, and consistent encouragement. Her suggestions inspired me and her understanding supported me in the stressful moments. Without their wholehearted support and confidence I would not have been able to accomplish my project. I am grateful to my friend Chris Jones, who generously offered proofreading for the whole thesis. I also thank Denise Jones for her support and Dr Steven Phipps for his offer of proofreading. In addition, I thank Professor Gao Yihong from Beijing University, and Professor Wu Zongjie from Zhejiang University for referring me to Mitchell. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Yu Haiqing, who encouraged me and offered references, to Dr Xu Daozhi and Ma Gaoming for helping me find references, to Dr Yi Wang for sharing information, and to Dr Terry Moore, Dr Carol Pybus, Dr Katsuhiko Suganuma, Dr Kaz Ross, and Dr Taufiq Tanasaldy for their encouragement and suggestions. I am grateful to the School of Humanities, the Graduate Research Office, and the University of Tasmania for offering financial support and facilities for my project. I would like to thank all the administrative staff in the School of Humanities for their assistance. ! i! ! My greatest, happiest debts are to my family. My husband Guo Pengcheng gives me unconditional support. My son Guo Zixia supports me with his love and understanding, independence and self-cultivation, and active and healthy attitude towards life, which allows me to concentrate on my studies. My two sisters’ families also offer unconditional support. I also thank my family-in-law for their understanding. I dedicate this thesis to my father, Xia Xiangcheng, and my mother, Shi Minyuan, who give me all they have: financial support, intellectual assistance, and spiritual encouragement. ! ii! ! Prefatory Notes Chinese names The Pinyin transliteration system is used to assist with Chinese names and sentences. Names of well-known Chinese figures in history spelt in Wade-Giles are unchanged when they appear in quotations, but they are spelt in Pinyin in the text. For example, Ssu-ma Chien in quotation is spelt as Sima Qian in Pinyin in the main text. In respect to Chinese immigrant authors’ names, some authors adopt the Western custom of placing the family name last, for example, Nien Cheng. Some authors reserve the Chinese custom of placing the family name first, for example, Liang Heng. In this thesis Chinese authors’ names are kept unchanged in accordance with how the name appears in the texts. Acronyms CPC Communist Party of China PRC People’s Republic of China Categories of texts 1. Chinese intellectuals’ texts Texts written by those Chinese who had completed their education before the foundation of the People’s Republic of China and worked as professionals such as teachers, scholars, writers, engineers, and so on when the Cultural Revolution started in 1966. 2. ‘Educated youths’ texts Texts written by those Chinese who belong to the Cultural Revolution generation and spent some time in the countryside as ‘educated youths’ during the decade of the Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976. Chinese literary !iii! ! critics consider them as a group for their texts focus on their experiences in the countryside. 3. The Cultural Revolution generation’s texts Texts written by those Chinese who were born around the foundation of the People’s Republic of China and who spent their adolescent years during the Cultural Revolution. 4. The ‘literature of the wounded’ A body of English-language literature by Chinese who migrated to the West during the 1980s and published in the West during the 1980s and 1990s. Western literary critics categorise them as a particular subgenre of autobiography, labelling this body of work the ‘literature of the wounded.’ 5. ‘Scar literature’ A body of Chinese-language literature appearing in China in the years following the Cultural Revolution that describes the experiences of being victimised during the Cultural Revolution. ! iv! ! Table of Contents Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................i Prefatory Notes ...................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ................................................................................................................................. vii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter One Autobiography in the West and China .............................................................................. 23 Western autobiography: development and conventions .................................................... 25 Chinese autobiography: development and conventions ..................................................... 33 History of Chinese autobiography ................................................................................. 33 Chunqiu-style and the Chinese self ............................................................................... 36 Traditions of Chinese autobiographical expression after suffering ............................... 43 Chapter Two Chinese intellectuals’ self-narratives in the West ............................................................. 52 A brief view of A Single Tear and Life and Death in Shanghai ........................................ 53 Chinese intellectuals and the ‘thought reform’ campaign of the PRC .............................. 55 Chinese intellectuals and ancient Shi people ................................................................. 56 The ‘thought reform’ campaign of the PRC .................................................................. 60 Ningkun Wu: an uneasy combination of Hamlet and Du Fu ............................................. 64 Nien Cheng: a personal testimony to the CPC’s ‘thought reform’ .................................... 78 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 89 Chapter Three A generation growing up during the Cultural Revolution ............................................... 91 Living early lives in the PRC ............................................................................................. 92 Children of the new China ............................................................................................. 92 From Red Guards to educated youths ........................................................................... 96 Immigrants of the Reform era ..................................................................................... 102 Becoming a ‘thinking generation’ of the PRC ................................................................ 104 Chapter Four The Cultural Revolution generation’s texts: unified selves of heroes/heroines ............ 109 Mapping the innate self before the Cultural Revolution .................................................. 112 Performing the self in the Red Guard movement ............................................................ 119 Attaining the self in the time of the rustication movement .............................................. 131 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 136 Chapter Five The Cultural Revolution generation’s texts: victimised selves of narrators ................ 139 Narrating ‘Scar’ after the Cultural Revolution ................................................................ 140 Narrating victimised selves in the West .......................................................................... 147 Promising students squandered ................................................................................... 147
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