Representations of familial intimacy across the Taiwan Strait: The reinvention of homeness among Taiwanese wives in documentaries

Abstract

This article investigates the cinematic representation of Taiwanese businesspeople’s (taishang 台商) family relations in China, and the concomitant transformation of homeness. The emergence of Taiwanese enterprises in China began in the late 1980s, and the attendant migration has resulted in the separation of families and a change in women’s roles as their husbands travel between Taiwan and China. This article sheds light on how documentary film portrays cross-Strait migration, as seen through the lens of taishang wives. Two documentary films – Chang’e’s Monthly Visit (嫦娥月事, 2003) and A Wife’s Stage (太太的舞台, 2003) – respectively produced by Taiwanese and PRC filmmakers are discussed to demonstrate the transformation of women’s roles within the domestic sphere and the reinvention of homeness. Homeness is used as a trope of representational politics on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and as a site of cultural production impacted by migration. This article argues that in Taiwanese documentary filmmaking, home is associated with the split family structure through the portrayal of wives as subordinated victims, whereas PRC filmmakers present China as an ideal and harmonious homeland.