The study of Chinese literature began with the reform and opening up in the 1980s. From the initial research on Taiwanese and Hong Kong literature to later research on overseas Chinese literature, and then to research on world Chinese literature, the perspective and field of Chinese literature research have been continuously expanding and deepening. However, for a long time, the ideas and methods of studying Chinese literature have remained single and lagging, mostly divided into different regional sections, and developed along the ideas and frameworks of homeland/foreign land, East/West, and dispersion/conversion. New immigrant literature is a new growth point for world Chinese literature, representing new directions in the development of world Chinese literature. Research on new immigrant literature requires new ideas and methods.
Compared with previous studies on Chinese literature, the innovation and expansion of this article are mainly reflected in the following three aspects. Firstly, using the heterogeneity theory of Hillis Miller and others, this article proposes to focus on the characteristics of new immigrant literature and study the new qualities of new immigrant literature in terms of subject composition, writing objects, aesthetic emotions, and discourse style. Secondly, using Bourdieu's field theory, it proposes to incorporate new immigrant literature into fields such as overseas Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese literature, and the literature of the host country, exploring how it participates in the construction of different literary fields and its interconnection and mutual influence with others in the field. Thirdly, this kind of “heterogeneity” and “co-construction” research breaks through the single cultural and discrete thinking in previous Chinese literature research, avoids the fragmented nature of regional or case studies, and thus expands the research space of world Chinese literature.
Using heterogeneity and co-construction as methods, this article comes up with some innovative ideas and viewpoints on the study of new immigrant literature. After entering the 21st century, the literary landscape of new immigrant writers has expanded to the greatest extent possible in various dimensions such as East and West, history and reality, time and space, etc. The heterogeneity characteristics are mainly manifested in the expansion of subject areas, the excavation of ideological connotations, and multi-dimensional artistic exploration. New immigrant literature is the literary existence within the co-constructed perspectives of overseas Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese literature, and the literature of the host country, and intervenes in the construction of different literary fields uniquely. The non-Chinese writing of Chinese American writers from the perspective of co-construction is the unique existence of new immigrant literature. New immigrant literature not only focuses on the home country in geographical space but also constructs literary hometowns with tradition and region as spiritual symbols. From the perspective of co-construction of literature in the country of residence, as minority literature, new immigrant Chinese literature has an independent path and way of production, dissemination, and acceptance, and forms the literary lineage of the country of residence together with other types of literature in the country of residence. As a way of thinking and methodology, heterogeneity and co-construction are a combination of micro and macro, a combination of difference and identity, and an effective path and method for expanding research on new immigrant literature and even world Chinese literature.