中国文化符号与美国的亚洲化

Chinese Cultural Marks and the Asianization of America

本文旨在讨论族裔文化与文化符号的区别,以及文化符号与文化认同的区别。本文认为,族裔特征并不自然生成文化,生长在美国语境中的华裔认知中国文化的途径与在中国语境中认知中国文化的途径有很大不同。除了认知方式不同以外,华裔接受的中国文化还经过了在美国“本土化”的过程,加之在美国语境中的生活经历影响,美国华裔形成了独特的文化传统,其中传统中国文化主要的价值观念的缺失,使得华裔作品中的中国文化更多地起着象征中国文化的文化符号作用。事实上,在华裔文学作品中,传统中国文化的价值观常常被消解、被颠覆。文章指出,20世纪美国的多元文化运动使得美国通俗文化中有着丰富的“他者”文化符号。因此,有必要区分中国文化符号与具有中国传统价值观念内涵的中国文化,这对于讨论华裔的文化身份认同是十分关键的。不能简单地把华裔作家作品中的中国文化符号看作是华裔作家与中国文化认同。在全球化的今天,各种文化之间的相互影响,使得一种文化与另一种文化的相互影响成为必然。为此,本文同时指出20世纪的美国出现了文化双向同化现象,并指出这种现象与文化认同的区别。

This paper is a study of the cultural identity of Chinese American literature and of the relationship between ethnicity and culture. The author makes it clear that ethnicity does not generate its culture automatically, and that there is a difference in the cognitive means of acquiring Chinese culture between native Chinese and Chinese Americans. Besides, the Chinese culture as known by Chinese Americans has undergone a gradual adjustment to the Western envioronment. The lack of the traditional values of Chinese culture in the literary works by Chinese American authors makes Chinese culture appear more as cultural marks than as Chinese culture with all its traditional values. What is more, the values of traditional Chinese culture are more often than not deconstructed and subverted in their works. The author of the present study points out that it is an over-simplification to identify Chinese cultural marks with Chinese culture, for the reason that while American culture has exerted a great influence on Asian culture, it has also been influenced by Asian culture in almost all aspects, especially since the 1980s. Asia has influenced both popular and high culture in America. Today, not only Chinese Americans, but also mainstream Americans are using Chinese cultural marks. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between Chinese cultural marks and Chinese culture in its proper sense in the study of the cultural identity of Chinese Americans.