The Chineseness Constructed in Leehom Wang's "Chinked-Out" Music: Hybridized Texts and Meanings of Chinese Hip-Hop.

This study attempts to examine the popular music as hybridity in the process of transnational cultural flow in globalization. By textual analysis of the American-born Taiwanese singer Leehom Wang's latest two albums, "Shangri-La" and "Heroes of Earth", which he labels as "chinked-out" music, and the related media reports, this study aims at uncovering the meanings underlying the music, focusing on the construction and reconstruction of the "Chineseness" in Wang's Chinese hip-hop. It examines how the hip-hop music style has been transformed into a new one with strong Chinese roots. Through the analysis of the lyrics, particularly the rap part, the music video of two theme songs, and the media coverage about Wang and his two albums, it has been found that through incorporating the traditional and ethnic Chinese cultural elements, this music style has eliminated the original negative meaning attached to "chink", and constructed a more positive image of China and Chinese culture as well as the Chinese identity of the singer himself. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]