<p> This thesis highlights a method of representation that is critical of both images of Chinese powerlessness and images of Chinese power. In <i> Chan is Missing</i> and <i>The Princess of Nebraska</i>, two films by Chinese American director Wayne Wang, representations of Chineseness and Chinese identity are always determined through the discursive context in which they are enunciated. The films each employ the device of a missing subject, in order to show that its meaning does not refer to the subject itself but rather is determined through the context in which it is talked about. This creates different and often conflicting versions of the same subject, which can only be resolved by seeing that the subjects of Chineseness and Chinese identity are always a response to the contexts out of which they are discussed.</p>