The representation of Chinese culture in The Wedding Banquet caused me to think about the strict Chinese culture and how it could have led to the formation of Chinatown. In the movie, we see how Wai-Tung’s parents want him to only marry an Asian woman and then the myriad of customs associated with a typical Chinese wedding. Alongside this is the idea of respect that comes from a tight-knit community, we saw the father’s former driver from the military,who now owns a restaurant, offer to host the son’s wedding banquet as a form of appreciation for the father. Seeing the close feeling of kinship between all the Asian characters reminded me of many times when I was in Jewish communities and it made me wonder about what caused such a big and well-known Chinese community to form.

 

In the film, we only see Simon and Wai-Tung’s home and the warehouse that Wei-Wei lives in. At different parts of the film we see 2 sides of Wai-Tung’s house, the “normal” New York side and the cultural Chinese side when Wai-Tung’s parents visit. The big differences between the two stood out to me and especially because the Chinatowns that sprung up all over the U.S. including the one in New York due to racism and legal barriers that prevented assimilation.

 

When Chinese immigrants first came to America seeking economic opportunities to either strike it rich during the gold rush or land a steady job helping to build the transcontinental railroad in the mid 1800’s, they set up many Chinese settlements, or the first Chinatowns, on the west coast. The Chinese immigrants accepted lower wages than their white counterparts and as the railroads were finished white workers were afraid that the Chinese immigrants were going to steal their jobs. This sparked anti-Chinese racism which resulted in violent attacks, murder, and arson. The goal was to drive the Chinese immigrants away and in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1885 white miners did just that. They killed 28 Chinese immigrants and burned down their homes and in order to escape the attacks many immigrants fled to the East coast. According to Beatrice Chen, it was in this way that “Chinatowns on the East Coast got their start.” (Goyette, Braden)

 

 

In the film at many different points we see Simon, or other white people, especially at the banquet, appear confused and amused by the myriad of customs that are followed. At the banquet, there was a clear divide between Simon and Wai-Tung’s white New York friends and the Asian friends and family that came to show respect for Wai-Tung’s father.

 

This separation reminded me of the Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882 that forcefully repressed and segregated Chinese immigrants by restricting immigration from China and by not allowing Chinese immigrants already in the country to become citizens. However, this wasn’t the end for Chinese-Americans. Even those born in America were made to carry identification with them all the time. Unsurprisingly these suppressive and racist policies drove Chinese immigrants to band together in order to stay safe.

 

 

 

In the States, you can buy Chinese food. In Beijing you can buy hamburger. It’s very close. Now I feel the world become a big family, like a really big family. You have many neighbors. Not like before, two countries are far away.          -Jet Li

 

 

 

 

 

In order for many Chinese people to follow their cultures and traditions in the early 1900’s “in the face of sanctioned U.S. government and individual hostility the Chinese of Chinatown formed their own associations and societies to protect their own interests. An underground economy allowed undocumented laborers to work illegally without leaving the few blocks they called home.” (New York Chinatown History) This self-reliant way of living led to the development of an internal political structure made up of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, or the CCBA, and several other organizations named tongs. These groups drafted their own constitutions and taxed all the New York Chinese and the various tongs fought throughout the early 1900’s creating a violent and bloody situation that caused both tourists and residents to be afraid of walking around Chinatown.

 

When the Chinese Exclusion Act was lifted in 1943 the Chinese and Chinatown underwent a massive re-imaging campaign. The campaign was headed by helped by the U.S. government in an attempt to create an image of the Chinese as happy families and model citizens. This was in response to WWII and the fear that anti-Chinese sentiments among Americans would jeopardize the alliance with China against Japan. During this time, there was a media-induced panic about “young white Americans falling into lives of crime. Fears became so pronounced that the FBI took notice. Director J. Edgar Hoover appeared in newsreels, exhorting American parents to provide moral guidance for their children.” (Goyette, Braden) This was a perfect opportunity for the rebranding of the Chinese and the media left out the juvenile delinquency in Chinatown in favor of portraying the Chinese family as the solution to this problem. In trying to make the Chinese seem like role models in many tourist brochures and Chinatown advertisements there were phrases like “come visit and see our model families, see our children who never get into trouble and love to study.” Which may be where many contemporary Chinese stereotypes come from.

 

 

 

Why can’t we have racism that’s ignorant but nice? You could have stereotypes that are positive about race. You could say, “Those Chinese people, they can fly!” “You know about the Puerto Ricans… they’re made of candy!”         -Louis C. K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the movie, we see some of these ideas when Wai-Tung doesn’t tell his parents he is married and gay when they continually try to find him an Asian girlfriend. He opts to put on a sham in which he marries one of his tenants to avoid telling his parents the truth. Upon Wai-Tung’s mother learning the truth she tells him not to tell his father and keeps it a secret. In the way that the film plays with Chinese traditions and misconceptions it highlights the idea of the perfect family that was so heavily pushed in the mid-to-late 1900’s.

 

 

 

When Chinese immigrants first came to New York they came amidst the Chinese Exclusion Act and rising anti-Chinese racism. Due to this Chinese immigrants were discriminated against by whites who did their best to prevent the Chinese immigrants from entering the “higher” careers in which they worked. They left the Chinese immigrants to the “lower” careers like the garment industry, the hand-laundry business, and restaurants. In addition to this, nobody wanted to sell or rent to the “dirty yellow people”, a racist slang term for many Asian peoples, except for some Italian immigrants. The refusal by whites to work with Chinese immigrants forced them to strengthen their relationships with each other and caused further concentration of Chinese populations

 

 

In the early 1900’s Chinatown had around 7000 Chinese immigrants with 40-150 women due the Chinese Exclusion Act disallowing the men’s families to come join them. And now, just a hundred years later, the population of New York’s Chinatown has over 150,000 people living there with over 570,000 Chinese immigrants living in New York City. It has become a massive tourist destination for the feeling of leaving the city and entering a place filled with cultural and traditional Chinese foods, massages, and other items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I visited New York’s Chinatown to refresh my memory for the paper, as always, I was amazed by the shifting feeling I get when I get off the train in Chinatown. It feels like I went somewhere completely different than the city I am used to due to many of the old shops selling Chinese paintings or offering acupuncture or massages. After arriving I walked around for a bit and then headed over to one of my favorite restaurants in Chinatown, Hop Kee, where I had my favorite crabs Cantonese style before resuming my touring. I always love seeing the old squat brick buildings which give off an older feel as many of them were originally tenement houses. The many shops always have passerby traffic flowing in and out of their doors giving the feeling of a thriving and vibrant community. While walking around, many Asian people approached me trying to sell me knock-off watches or bags but refused to answer any questions and would hurry away whenever they realized I wasn’t going to be buying the product they were selling. Due to this I was unfortunately unable to ask them any questions.

 

When that idea didn’t work, I went to one of the many fruit and vegetable stands that can be spotted all around Chinatown and met a man named Qing Liú, who has been selling fruits and vegetables for the past ten years to support his wife and 2 children. I asked him why he moved to Chinatown and his feeling about living in a crowded tourist attraction.

 

He told me that he emigrated from China 20 years ago and didn’t know English so he moved into Chinatown because it was one of the only places where he could work without speaking English. He worked in a grocery store restocking the merchandise for about 10 years while he learned English and saved up enough money to bring his wife over from China and to start his fruit and vegetable business. He said that even though he does not make a lot of money he is extremely happy in Chinatown as he is around many people who share the same culture, traditions, heritages, and experiences that he has gone through. He loves that the community celebrates many of the lesser-known Chinese holidays as well as having massive a celebration for Chinese New Year. He feels that the tourism in Chinatown is a good thing as it raises awareness of many cultural traditions and he hopes that it will decrease Chinese stereotypes if people come to Chinatown and experience it for themselves.

 

Next while walking around I saw an African American couple coming out of an acupuncture and massage place, I was slightly surprised because most of the tourists in Chinatown that I had seen were Caucasian or Asian. I stopped them and told them I was doing a report on Chinatown for my class and was wondering why they were going to that massage place instead of a place that looked a little nicer or was closer to their home.

 

They told me that they have been going to this place for years because the massages are cheap but very good. They told me that they come here twice a month on the second and the fourth Sunday of every month for a couple’s massage. I asked them what their thoughts on Chinatown are and if they have noticed any misconceptions that they held before coming here regularly. They told me they enjoy the bustling atmosphere as well as the traditional feel of the neighborhood. They also told me they go shopping for fruits and vegetables after their post massage meal before they go home because of how cheap the food is here.

 

I asked them what their favorite restaurant is but they told me they don’t have one and they try to eat at a different place each time to broaden their horizons. They told me that since they have been coming for massages they realized that they held a few misconceptions about the Chinese and Chinatown that they realized were wrong once they started spending time there. They had heard from several friends that the people on the streets selling merchandise will attack you if you refuse to buy what they sell. They had also heard that all Chinese people are Communists but after having political conversations with several Chinese residents they have come to learn that some are even more involved and knowledgeable then they are.

 

The last person I interviewed was an older Chinese man who said he has lived in Chinatown for 60 years and came to New York shortly after the Chinese Exclusion Act was lifted. He said it was tough to live in America as a Chinese man because despite the attempts by the government to adjust the image of the Chinese in the public’s eye it took time for their campaign to have an effect. He was discriminated against and fired and kicked out of places to live until he ended up in Chinatown thanks to a friend getting him a job as a chef in a restaurant.

 

He said that when he first got to America he would be beat up by racists who would tell him to “go back where you came from you yellow pig” among other horrible insults. However, he persevered alongside his wife and son that he came to America with and now his son is a doctor living on the Upper East Side. He is happy that the Chinese have a place all their own because after being treated the way he was by many white people he lost hope that the Chinese would ever be accepted. However, he is very proud of his son for proving him wrong and hopes that many of the white tourists will see that the Chinese aren’t any different from anybody else.

As a child growing up in San Francisco in the 1950s, I sometimes met insults when I ventured outside of Chinatown or my neighborhood. I have even been spat on and threatened with a knife. I could have let my anger fester until it became hate. However, I realized they were isolated incidents, and I simply got on with my life.      -Laurence Yep

 

Chinatown formed due to racism but now it seems that Chinatown also helps to prevent it. The many tourists who come to Chinatown can experience much of the Chinese culture from their food to many of the items they sell. What was once a dirty place filled with violence fearfully avoided by many people has now become a place they go to have a good time.  Chinatown has become a constant reminder that people are all the same and we shouldn’t discriminate against one another.

Sources

Chinatown.” NYCs Gilded Ages. N.p., n.d. Web.

“Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District — Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web.

Goyette, Braden. “How Racism Created America’s Chinatowns.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Nov. 2014. Web.

History.com Staff. “Chinese Exclusion Act.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web.

“New York Chinatown History.” New York. N.p., n.d. Web.