Conclusion

So how meaningful is it to talk of Asian masculinities? It is clear from the chapters in this volume that, in the cases of China and Japan (and their diasporas), shared histories and cultures have provided men in both countries with a pool of gendered constructs that, for better or worse, have shaped their sense of self, and made a man into a man. This can be seen in the use of Chinese characters. While their meaning and the associated concepts sometimes change when transmitted to Japan, in the case of wen and wu or bun and bu, language not only mirrors the world but also actively helps people to construct it. Recent studies of linguistic behaviour suggest that we should be wary of simple classifications, and that while gender plays a part so does age and the life-stage of the speaker (Sturtz 2002).