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Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China
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. Xiaomei Chen offers an insightful account of the unremittingly favorable depiction of Western culture and its negative characterization of Chinese culture in post-Mao China since 1978. She examines the cultural and political interrelationship between the East and West from a vantage point more complex than that accommodated by most current theories of Western imperialism and colonialism.
Going beyond Edward Said's construction in Orientalism of cross-cultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism, Chen 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. She maintains that simplistic allegations of Orientalism frequently found in current critical discourses seriously underestimate the complexities of intercultural and multicultural relationships.
Using China as the focus of her analysis, Chen examines a variety of cultural media, from Shakespearean drama, to modernist poetry, to contemporary Chinese television and popular fiction. She thus places sinology in the general context of Western theoretical discourses, such as Eurocentrism, postcolonialism, nationalism, modernism, feminism, and literary hermeneutics, showing that it has a vital role to play in the study of Orient and Occident and their now unavoidable symbiotic relationship.
Occidentalism presents a new model of comparative literary and cultural studies that reenvisions cross-cultural appropriation. It will be indispensable to future discussions of Orientalism, Occidentalism, and postcolonialism, as well as subaltern studies, Asian studies, comparative literature, cultural studies, and non-Western drama.
Going beyond Edward Said's construction in Orientalism of cross-cultural appropriations as a defining facet of Western imperialism, Chen 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. She maintains that simplistic allegations of Orientalism frequently found in current critical discourses seriously underestimate the complexities of intercultural and multicultural relationships.
Using China as the focus of her analysis, Chen examines a variety of cultural media, from Shakespearean drama, to modernist poetry, to contemporary Chinese television and popular fiction. She thus places sinology in the general context of Western theoretical discourses, such as Eurocentrism, postcolonialism, nationalism, modernism, feminism, and literary hermeneutics, showing that it has a vital role to play in the study of Orient and Occident and their now unavoidable symbiotic relationship.
Occidentalism presents a new model of comparative literary and cultural studies that reenvisions cross-cultural appropriation. It will be indispensable to future discussions of Orientalism, Occidentalism, and postcolonialism, as well as subaltern studies, Asian studies, comparative literature, cultural studies, and non-Western drama.
- GenresChina
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Xiaomei Chen
20 books4 followersProfessor Xiaomei Chen loves to teach Chinese films that she grew up with in the People’s Republic of China. Her Chinese 101 is a popular course covering classics from the silent film era to the twentieth-first century. Her research areas include modern Chinese literature and culture, performance studies, and visual cultural studies, which can be examined through the critical analysis of films.
Her publications include Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-discourse in Post-Mao China (Oxford, 1995, second and expanded edition, 2002), Acting the Right Part: Political Theater and Popular Culture in Contemporary China (Haiwaii UP, 2002), and other edited and co-edited volumes on visual culture, East-West comparative performance studies, and Chinese drama in English translation.
Professor Chen received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University.
(from http://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profi...)
Her publications include Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-discourse in Post-Mao China (Oxford, 1995, second and expanded edition, 2002), Acting the Right Part: Political Theater and Popular Culture in Contemporary China (Haiwaii UP, 2002), and other edited and co-edited volumes on visual culture, East-West comparative performance studies, and Chinese drama in English translation.
Professor Chen received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University.
(from http://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profi...)
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July 7, 2026
An interesting response to Said's Orientalism (among many) in a Chinese-centered way. Chen's book was clearly written and well argued. Separating the Orient and the Occident is essentially impossible; they have been in cross-cultural dialogue for so long. There is some real nuance to Chen's argument and I appreciated that.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review