Rethinking “Feminine” and “Feminist” in the Chinese Diaspora

This concluding chapter returns to the central question that animates the book: what does it mean to be “feminine” or “feminist” in the context of Chinese Australian writing? Revisiting the theoretical, historical, and literary terrain mapped in the preceding chapters, it reconsiders the contested meanings of femininity and feminism across transnational, diasporic, and postcolonial frameworks. Rather than seeking definitive answers, the chapter interrogates the instability of these terms as they travel across languages, cultures, and political histories. Engaging debates over the translation of “feminism” in contemporary China—particularly the tension between nüquan zhuyi (women’s rights-ism) and nüxing zhuyi (female-ism)—the chapter demonstrates how feminism in Chinese contexts cannot be disentangled from nationalism, socialism, imperialism, and global capitalism. Drawing on transnational and third-world feminist theories, it argues that feminism must be understood as locally negotiated within global systems of power, rather than as a universal doctrine. Chinese diasporic women, positioned at the intersection of patriarchy and racialisation, experience what has been termed “double colonisation,” navigating both gendered and racial hierarchies in Australia and beyond. The chapter synthesises the book’s analyses of sexuality, mother–daughter relationships, and male representations of women, showing how Chinese Australian writers resist, appropriate, and reconfigure stereotypes—from the submissive “China doll” to the hypervisible “Chinese exotic.” Through diverse genres and voices, these writers challenge essentialised notions of Chineseness, Australianness, and womanhood, demonstrating that gender identity is dynamic, relational, and context-bound. Ultimately, this conclusion argues that the binary opposition between “feminine” and “feminist” is itself inadequate. Chinese Australian women’s writing reveals that femininity and feminism are not mutually exclusive categories but overlapping, evolving practices shaped by lived experience. Beyond stereotype and label, these narratives illuminate the multiplicity of ways women negotiate agency, belonging, and self-definition in a transnational world.