Representation Of Chinese Folk Beliefs And Folk Stories By Amy Tan

This thesis takes the six novels by Amy Tan as the major objects of study by using the methodology of Imagology.The author of this thesis has a close reading of the novels and carefully compares,analyzes and synthesizes the traditional Chinese folk stories and folk beliefs retained in Amy Tan’s memory,which aims to figure out how Tan represents Chinese cultural phenomenon in the ways of adapting Chinese elements retained in her memory,and to probe into the traditional Chinese culture reflected in her works.Meanwhile,this thesis is also expected to enrich the study of Chinese American literature to some extent.Imagology aims to study why a nation describes a foreign nation in a certain way and what factors influence the formation of the image of a nation by all the people.Nowadays,Imagology research lays more emphasis on the interactivity between the self and the other,on the writers,on the intrinsic study of the texts,and on the general study.Moreover,the image is the mixture of emotions and thoughts,so the vitality of image is contained in the image itself of its affective factors and writers’ originality;that is the research emphasis of Imagology.This thesis holds that Amy Tan unconsciously constructs her cultural identity in her writing process and represents the traditional Chinese folk culture retained in her memory in the forms of folk beliefs and folk stories.She describes the Mid-autumn Festival with the ancient traditional rituals of making sacrifice to the moon,and Tan highlights the filial piety of the Confucian thought by using the storypattern of Chinese smart wives.In the representation of Chinese folk beliefs,this thesis judges that Tan holds a neutral attitude toward Chinese folk beliefs,despite the absurd ghost stories that she describes.She has actually manifested the Chinese philosophy of “matter-energy”.Therefore,this thesis comes to the conclusion that the American-born Chinese writers have retained a great sum of traditional Chinese folk culture in their memories through the unconscious writing,especially in the forms of folk beliefs and folk stories.Though they have presented many outdated customs and outmoded conventions of the old China,those excellent traditional Chinese cultures retained are worth researching by the contemporary scholars.Studying the Chinese American literature from the perspective of Chinese folk culture,on one hand,it reinforces the inheritance of the local culture;on the other hand,it helps to correct the twisted Chinese culture and images.