What is the stereotype of China and Chinese people in Western literature? Dr. James I. McDougall, Associate Professor of American Studies from the Centre for International Studies of Shantou University, gave a lecture on “Representations of China in U.S. Literary Culture” to a UIC audience on 24 September.
Dr. James I. McDougall speaks of how U.S. literary culture sees China
Dr. James I. McDougall said that The Travels of Marco Polo ignited Europeans’ ardent curiosity about China in the earliest years of Western voyagers’ attempts. This Venetian merchant described China as a land of advancement and richness.
By the time maritime trade routes were established during the Middle Ages, commercial activities grew tremendously such as imports of china and tea. Such material culture symbolised delicacy and elegance, followed by the birth of Sinophilia and Sinophobia.
Among the Sinophobic people, the English writer Daniel Defoe depicted Chinese as arrogant and foolish slaves of the government in his famous novel Robinson Crusoe.
Chinese people became evil in American literature after a huge number of Chinese flocked to the U.S. and irritated the nativists in the 19th century. A typical example is Fu Manchu, a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by Sax Rohmer.
However, the image of Chinese people in Westerners’ eyes has been improving with enhancing communication between China and Western countries and wide spread of Chinese literature since modern times.
“I talk to my mom through Skype very week. She is full of interest in China and Chinese,” Dr. James I. McDougall said amusingly.
The lecture appeals to a full room of audience
At the end of the lecture, Solveig Beckel, Foreign Intern from the Centre of Foreign Languages and Culture at UIC, said most Americans nowadays think China has strong economic power, and Chinese people are diligent, quite and polite. She hopes Americans will get to know real Chinese people by increasing literary communication between China and the U.S.
Initiating the 2013-2014 DHSS (Division of Humanities and Social Sciences) Lecture Series, this lecture was co-organised by UIC’s Student Career Development Section of Four-Point Education Coordination Office, DHSS and Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou.
Photographer: Wei Xiao
Editor: Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
