The Chinese diaspora’s ‘imaginary’ homeland in the novels by four Chinese-American and Chinese-Indonesian writers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies on Chinese diaspora and their connections with their homeland have focused on various perspectives, such as historical, socio-cultural, and economic, however, rarely discussed through literary works. This study aims to elaborate on the representations of the Chinese diaspora’s homeland in novels by two Chinese-American authors, Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, and two Chinese-Indonesian authors, Marga T. and Mira W. By employing Salman Rushdie’s memory-based imaginary homeland and Benedict Anderson’s creation-based imagined communities, the authors of this essay discuss the Chinese-American and Chinese-Indonesian people’s views of their homeland in their present contexts in their respective countries. The Chinese-American novels present their imaginary homeland through the utilization of fragmented legends and distorted myths. On the other hand, the Chinese-Indonesian novels present their imagined homeland by foregrounding the image of modernity through the exposure of wealthy families’ lifestyles and the picture of Western-oriented education and religious affiliations. The different experiences demonstrate that the notion of ‘homeland’ needs to be widened and pluralized to be able to embrace the heterogeneity of the diaspora.