The question of nation and nationalism in chinese postcolonialism

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of postcolonial theory in China on the question of the nation from historical and genealogical perspectives. China first encountered Jameson’s third-world national allegory and Edward Said’s Orientalism, which were quickly assimilated into the framework of the China/West dichotomy. Then Homi Bhabha’s ideas of national identity and cultural hybridity were utilized in studying Chinese ethnic minorities and identity construction. From the earlier views of postcolonialism as cultural resistance to cultural production now, Chinese postcolonial studies have acquired new energy for growth.