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Abstract

Kerry Young's recent novel Pao dramatizes a Chinese Jamaican experience against the backdrop of 20th-century Jamaican history. My article considers the novel, and especially its protagonist, Yang Pao, alongside theories and critiques of creolization and creole nationalism in Jamaica. I argue that, while Pao's own political beliefs perpetuate the ideal of a creole Jamaica in which different cultural groups can peacefully coexist, Young complicates this point of view, relying on the novel's women characters to represent a darker side of the postcolonial experience that specifically touches the black Jamaican majority.

Keywords: Chinese, Creolization, Jamaica, Kerry Young, Pao