The marginal literatures have now the chance to be re-interpreted in the post-colonial context. The Navitism of Taiwan Literature aims at changing the fate of being in the margin of Chinese Literature, but it inevitably marginalizes those writers who live in Taiwan but come from Malaysia. From a post-colonial perspective, this thesis attempts to investigate the cultural identity constructions of three Malaysian-Chinese writers in Taiwan, namely Li Yong-ping, Zhang Gui-xing and Huang Jin-shu, who are seldom noticed by native Taiwan critics. This thesis discusses the major works of the three writers, most of which are short stories and novels, within the context of the post-colonial Malaya (Malaysia) as well as the contemporary Taiwan....[ Read more ]

The marginal literatures have now the chance to be re-interpreted in the post-colonial context. The Navitism of Taiwan Literature aims at changing the fate of being in the margin of Chinese Literature, but it inevitably marginalizes those writers who live in Taiwan but come from Malaysia. From a post-colonial perspective, this thesis attempts to investigate the cultural identity constructions of three Malaysian-Chinese writers in Taiwan, namely Li Yong-ping, Zhang Gui-xing and Huang Jin-shu, who are seldom noticed by native Taiwan critics. This thesis discusses the major works of the three writers, most of which are short stories and novels, within the context of the post-colonial Malaya (Malaysia) as well as the contemporary Taiwan.

Chapter One applies the theories of diaspora and cultural identity demonstrating the dilemma, which the three writers encounter in Taiwan, between "where one comes from" and "where one lives". Chapter Two focuses on Li Yong-ping's La-zi Woman and The Stories of Ji-ling. Due to his strong affection for the Chinese characters, Li Yong-ping tries to purify his Chinese language and makes up a literal homeland. Chapter Three analyzes Zhang Gui-xing's four works, i.e. Subduing the Tiger, Sons and Daughters of Ke Shan, The Song of Siren and A Naughty Family. As a sincere storyteller, Zhang Gui-xing keeps on telling and re-constructing the stories, legends, and even myths of his homeland - Malaysia. Chapter Four discusses both the research papers and fiction written by Huang Jin-shu. He has an ambition to rewrite the Malaysian-Chinese literature and the history of Malaysian-Chinese literature. Chapter Five concludes the practices of the cultural identitification of the three writers. Li Yong-ping attempts to be real Chinese; Zhang Gui-xing accepts the identity of being the Malaysian-Chinese; Huang Jin-shu emphasizes the hibridity of the Malaysian-Chinese. From viewing their identification practices, we could demonstrate that the identity is a matter of "becoming" as well as "being" and it has no fixed origins. Being in the margin could be both the origins of the identity crisis and the favorable turn to survive.