Introduction

This introductory chapter establishes the conceptual and historical foundations for a transnational study of the representation of Chinese women in Chinese Australian writing. Opening with the global controversy surrounding Disney’s live-action Mulan, it foregrounds a central and urgent question: who has the authority to define the Chinese woman? The debate reveals how images of Chinese femininity are never neutral, but are shaped by competing cultural, political, and ideological forces across national borders. The chapter traces the historical construction of femininity and feminism in China, from Confucian doctrines such as the “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” to Maoist gender egalitarianism and post-1980s refeminisation. It then situates these shifting paradigms within broader discussions of diasporic Chineseness, drawing on key debates that challenge essentialist notions of cultural identity. By engaging transnational feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and diaspora theory, the chapter argues that “Chineseness” and “womanhood” are not fixed categories but open signifiers continually renegotiated across time and space. A critical examination of Western Orientalist representations further illuminates the “double colonisation” experienced by Chinese women, who are subject to both racialised and gendered forms of marginalisation. Against this backdrop, the chapter positions Chinese Australian writing as a particularly revealing site for examining how femininity, feminism, race, and diaspora intersect. By mapping the literary landscape—across both English- and Chinese-language texts—it outlines the book’s three thematic movements: sexuality and power, mother–daughter relationships, and male representations of women. Ultimately, this chapter argues that the Chinese woman is neither a stable cultural symbol nor a singular political subject. Rather, she emerges as a dynamic figure shaped by historical inheritance, migratory displacement, and narrative reinvention. Through the lens of Chinese Australian literature, the book seeks to uncover the complex, contested, and evolving meanings of being—and becoming—a Chinese woman in a transnational world.