An interesting part in the article “Everything But the Chickens” by Nicholas Klein and Andrew Zitcer is the idea presented about the reframing of Chinatown. Chinatown, as a seemingly “rambunctious” ethnic enclave, gains the status of some foreign tourist destination deserving of its own sightseeing trip. It seems that Chinatown is a part of New York City, but also apart from New York City. In the belief that Chinatown is counted as a part of New York City, it takes on this quality of “authenticity” for other New Yorkers as Chinatown still retains that feeling of lawlessness and inner city grime that the “Disneyfication” and gentrification efforts in the past twenty years have tried to wash away. On the other hand, the pageantry and hoopla that often accompanies visits to Chinatown – as witnessed by the gaudy tour buses with Japanese lanterns and all – seem to imply that Chinatown is more of an exotic locale meant for people to feel as if they’ve explored China for the price of a bus token.
If we go along with the first characterization of Chinatown, ironically, New Yorkers are ascribing an “authentic” New York vibe to an area that was created by immigrants for immigrants. All of the associations that are attached to Chinatown are mere projections from the natural born New Yorkers, or the Others as Klein and Zitcer call them. The second characterization, while more appropriate, is still an oversimplification of the Chinese lifestyle, that consumable culture that Americans crave. This is apparent in how “insiders,” the term for non-Chinese who ride the Chinatown bus, think they know secrets about Chinese culture that other non-Chinese could never know. They are happy with their “chicken stories” to tell their friends and have that be there understanding of an entire culture, much like people of today listening to Gangnam Style and thinking that they know Korean culture. As Susan Kang, a Korean pop music commentary leader said about the video, “It can’t be denied that there’s some ’look at those wacky Asians’ going on here,” which I think has happened with the Chinatown Bus.
