ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to move beyond the fundamental issue of emasculation, seeks to articulate a masculinist discourse developed by Chinese American male writers in contradistinction to a patriarchal discourse. Although the cultural impact of controlling images may vary in degree, Dr. Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, and Shang-Chi are all symptomatic of how Chinese men in America have been constructed by non-Asians while Bruce Lee is an example of how a Chinese American man has constructed himself in the context of popular media representations. Some contemporary Asian American artists resent and resist their exclusion from American cultural production and prefer to work outside the mass media industry. Such self-removal, however, perpetuates the cycle of exclusion and ultimately may reinforce the social hierarchy between white America and Asian America. The idea of a democratic manhood is appealing because it represents a shift in the way men think about themselves in terms of power relations.
