孤独与困惑——劳思源对早期美国南部华人的生命写作

Isolated Life and Identity Dilemma:John Jung’s Writing of Early Chinese Americans’ Life in American South

相对于美国东西海岸的华裔群体,早期美国南部的华人生活境况通常鲜为人知。相关的历史记载和个人叙事也比较少。劳思源出生于美国南部佐治亚州梅肯市。他将个人经历融入其家庭回忆录——《南方的炒饭:在南方腹地的中国洗衣店生活》(2005)和华人移民生命史——《棉花地的筷子:密西西比河三角洲的中国杂货店》(2008)两部著作,书写了早期美国南部华人的移民生活。本文主要关注书中对19世纪末、20世纪初美国南部华人生活境况和身份困扰的描写:夹在种族隔离的黑人群体和主流南方白人之间,他们的身份微妙而复杂。此外,远离美国东西海岸的华人大社区,他们无法建立家庭和社区联系,过着几乎"与世隔绝"的生活。因此,对于他们来说,维持并传承他们的中国族裔和文化身份异常困难,这在美国出生的华裔二代身上体现尤为明显。

Compared to the life of bicoastal Chinese Americans,Chinese Americans’life in American South are much less-known,with much fewer social historical and first-hand accounts.John Jung,born and raised in Macon,Georgia,offers us insightful narratives of Chinese Americans’life in the South through the publication of two books:a family memoir titled Southern Fried Rice:Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South(2005)and a biographical social history titled Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton:Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers(2008).The paper focuses primarily on Jung’s writing of Chinese Americans’isolated life and identity dilemma in the segregated South in the late 19 th and early 20 th century:living among the segregated blacks and the dominant white southerners,their identity was complicated and ambiguous.Besides,being far away from familial and communal contacts,they were also isolated from the big Chinese communities in the bicoastal areas of America.It was hence extremely difficult for them to keep and develop their ethnic and cultural identity,especially among their American-born children.