Writing and Choreographing: The Double Dilemma of Chinese Immigrant Women

This thesis focuses on the double dilemma of Chinese immigrant women. From reflecting on my own experience to interviewing nine Chinese immigrant women to sharing embodied knowledge in dance, this paper is an inquiry into the question, What does it mean to be a Chinese immigrant woman in the USA? Through my writing and choreographic practice, my research explores how place, identity, and choreography are closely and mutually interactive. I analyze the dilemmas in two spaces: \u27gender ideology in China\u27 and \u27Chinese immigrant women in the United States.\u27 From the Mao era to modernizing markets in post-Mao China, from the Chinese Exclusion Act to COVID-19 to Asian Hate, the investigations that I examine in this paper uncover the complexity and contradictions of Chinese women\u27s living circumstances. Reexamining the past is a reflective journey, bringing us to the discussion of how history defines Chinese women and Chinese immigrant women. Tracing back to the past is an extraordinary opportunity to inquire and question whether historical patterns have changed. Incorporating individual voices into my writing and choreographing aims to acknowledge and identify oppression towards Chinese women. My research has been driven and mainly inspired by the dance piece Red choreographed by Chinese dance artist Wen Hui, Kinesthetic City: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces written by SanSan Kwan, Women and China’s Revolutions written by historian Gail Hershatter, and several readings by bell hooks