By being persona non grata in both countries, Jian-Wa need have loyalty to neither, and he, as Aihwa Ong might say, becomes a "flexible citizen- [3] able to negotiate transnational culture in a way a rooted, law-abiding, character with a legal visa or green card may not.
Within the Chinese diaspora, the unpopularity of many of the People's Republic's domestic policies does not negate deep-seated suspicion of American immigration policies, cultural imperialism, neo-colonial economic programs, militarism and chauvinistic international political positions. A master of East and West and demonized by both cultures, Jian-Wa represents a position many Chinese felt themselves in after 1989. As Hong Kong prepared to return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the end of martial law in Taiwan made its political future less certain in the mid-1980s, and anti-Chinese sentiments in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world continued to take their toll, the heroism of a Chinese fugitive without a country could be appreciated by all those Chinese who felt "forever foreign- [4] inside of America because of racism or outside of the United States because of the legacy of colonialism.
Although on the right side of the law as a police officer, Sammo Law (Sammo Hung) of Martial Law (CBS, 1998-2000) [5] remains on the margins of American society as a "guest worker- temporarily on loan from the Shanghai police department to the LAPD. Unlike Vanishing Son that presents a renewed suspicion of the People's Republic of China and the Red Menace after 1989, Martial Law features a Hong Kong action star, after the 1997 change of sovereignty, who seamlessly plays a representative of the PRC government without any mention of its political system. Battling transnational gangsters like Lee Hei (Tzi Ma) and the "One,"" leader of the post-colonial Scorpio gang with a British-accented leader (Tim Curry/Christopher Neame) and ties to Shanghai, Sammo Law leaves Chinese politics behind.
