Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Abstract In recent years, studies of Taiwanese aboriginal literature have been given attentions due to the trend of localization in literature. Japanese scholars are the pioneers who are interested in and study Taiwanese aboriginal literature. They spend lots of efforts on studying Yami tribe much more than on other aborigines in Taiwan. The Yami did not have written language. They orally passed their culture on generation by generation. Therefore, they have abundant literature of oral tradition. Siyapenjipengaya, a Yami, worried that the Yami culture would be lost because of the assimilation to the Han nationality. He, therefore, recorded the culture features in literation. Yami is one of the Austronesian tribes, and they are the only aborigine who live near coasts in Taiwan. Their culture is much different from the other aborigines in Taiwan, and they are the only aborigine who do not have the tradition of headhunting and wine making. This study focused on the features of tribalism and cultural heritages in the works of Siyapenjipengaya. The works displaying tribalism were classified as the origins of the tribe, the spirits in traditional stories, life stories, and Anito¡¦s stories. The works displaying cultural heritages were classified as the knowledge of seas and oceans, cultural heritages, and Yami songs. By studying the folk stories and songs in the works of Siyapenjipengaya, the purpose of this study was to comprehend the custom and tradition of Yami culture.

This thesis represents an investigation into the strategies used by postsocialist Chinese male subjects to articulate their subjecthood and desires. The introduction explains the choice for using a phenomenological methodological approach in addressing the issue and also lays out the simultaneous goal of this thesis to inaugurate a move away from political allegorical interpretations as the standard for reading contemporary Chinese literature. The body chapters look at two different contemporary Chinese works to help illuminate the arrival of the Chinese subject. Using Wang Xiaobo's novella "Sentiments Like Water" and the anonymously penned online novel Beijing Story as case studies, this thesis investigates the ways alternative epistemologies and uses of history can undo pathological understandings of queerness and create new identities for Chinese subjects. The thesis concludes with thinking about the direction of the queer and Chinese studies fields and offers future points of investigation.