2。 Literature Review

      Since the book The Bone settle’s Daughter was published, it has received large amounts of honors and praises。 “Tan’s recently published novel The Bone settle’s Daughter is the best one of all her works。 The insight of the painful and complicated feelings between mother and daughter, as well as the subtle and embarrassed relationship between man and woman almost surpasses the former book Joy Luck Club。 ”(Edwards, 5) Alice Walker says, “Amy Tan shows us China, Chinese American women and their families, and the mystery of the mother-daughter bound in ways that we have not experienced before。” (Zhang 11)   

There have been many precedents about the study on ethnic Chinese’s attitudes to Chinese culture and on the book The Bone setter’s Daughter。 Lots of researchers lay emphasis on the vision of cross-culture or the building of self-image of the ethnic Chinese。 For example, Zhuang Enping pointed out that in the novel, Ruth could get down to make a thorough inquiry to her mother’ s history, to insight Chinese traditional culture and to decode the information that her mother told her in a positive attitude。 Her behavior revealed a right mental state that the multiculturalist ought to have。(Zhang 97)   

     Many other scholars studied this novel from the angles like feminism, post-colonialism, mysterious east or the building of exile’s identity。 Zou Jianjun, for instance, depicted this novel in the title of Eastern Image。 He pointed out that the mysterious eastern images like fortune-telling, spirit speak are the truly reflection of Chinese daily life(Zou 26)。 Hu Yafei interpreted from the spirit of ecological criticism。 She deemed that the suffering of these mothers and daughters are owing to their plights of spiritual ecology(Hu 32)。 

     However, these studies didn’t pay much attention to the work itself。 In this paper, I would analyze most ethnic Chinese’s attitudes towards Chinese culture on the basis of this novel tightly, from the aspects of the cultural context, cultural identity, values, adaptation and assimilation。

3。 The Collision between the First Generation and the Second Generation

3。1 Cultural identity

     According to Stuart Hall, the definition of cultural identity is a mutual culture and a true ego of a collectivity。 The Cultural Identity is dynamic, and is always in the producing but never completed process(Hall 12)。 文献综述

Nowadays, more and more Chinese make their choices to emigrant to America, to pursue a comparatively more high-quality life that they want。 Nevertheless, after residing abroad, they found their plight more difficult, for the reason that their appearances like yellow skin, black hair and their gaunt body structure were not acceptable by most American。 Therefore, the majority of them had the wish to be integrated into American social contact, to be a true American。 So they tried their best to cater to local people, to learn the American main culture painstakingly。 Instead, they chose to spurn Chinese traditional culture, because in their minds it was Chinese culture that impeded them from being accepted by American。 However, the minority of these ethnic Chinese were coerced to flee away from their hometown on account of the crisis of the domestic warfare and heavy tallage。 When they succeeded in living abroad, they found that life is not much easier than stay at home。 The deep solicitude of the kinsfolk alive or dead from their hometown, the barriers of language, the peculiar gaze from the local environment all can make them intranquil about their lives。 Therefore, they still regard themselves as Chinese in the ways of natural instincts and life habits in their sub-consciousness。 For example, in the novel The Bone settle’ s daughter, Lu Ling is habituated to save the waste paper for other usages。 This is the traditional Chinese thought of frugalness。