Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China - Paperback

by Xiaomei Chen (Author), Dai Jinhua (Foreword by)

This revised and expanded edition of the first comprehensive study of Occidentalism in post-Mao China includes a new preface, foreword, and chapter on Chinese diaspora writings in the Chinese language. Presenting an original model of comparative literary and cultural studies, Xiaomei Chen goes beyond Edward Said's construction in Orientalism of crosscultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism. Instead, she argues that the appropriation of Western discourse-what she calls 'Occidentalism'-can actually have a politically and ideologically liberating effect on contemporary non-Western culture.

Author Biography

Xiaomei Chen is associate professor of Chinese and comparative literature at The Ohio State University. She is the author of Acting the Right Part: Political Theater and Popular Drama in Contemporary China (2002) and editor of Reading the Right Texts: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama with a Critical Introduction (2003).