Throughout the play, Ching Chong Chinaman, Lauren Yee cements the idea of a Chinese American family that has completely assimilated into the American culture. The family consists of names that are unorthodox when it comes to Chinese names, proving that the family has established themselves as more American than Chinese. The family struggles to communicate with Jinqiang, the Chinaman, in the Chinese dialect since they have no idea how to properly speak Chinese, showing how they have completely detached themselves from their Chinese culture and identity.
It all starts at the beginning of the play when we are introduced to the family and its members as they are getting ready to take a picture for a Christmas card. The father Ed, the mother Grace, the son Upton, and the daughter Desdemona are irregular when it comes to Chinese names. Yee’s usage of these names provides a sense of the family’s establishment and assimilation into American culture, and how they are far from being a Chinese-American family and more so just an American family. This is only one of many issues that the family faces at the start of the play.
Yee then goes on to show the struggles of communication between the family and Jinqiang. Desdemona says, “This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to
even communicate with him?”, to which Ed replies, ” If he doesn’t know English and we don’t know Chinese, as long as he’s in America, that’s his fault, not ours.” The family struggles to adequately speak with the “Chinaman” and Ed continues to call him “Ching Chong” simply because he cannot pronounce the name properly. After some time, Grace uncomfortably orders Chinese food for the family and unknowingly thanks them in Japanese, with the misconception that “doomo arigato” means “thank you” in Chinese. Yee jokes about the sense of the family struggling to communicate in their native tongue, showing how much they have truly assimilated into the American culture, completely neglecting their Chinese culture.
Through the play, Yee ridicules the way people live their lives today with no perception of their own identity. The Wongs represent just that, a family that is so misguided by their misconceptions of their identities, as just Americans, that they make “uncalled for” remarks towards the Chinaman, Jinqiang. Yee uses the attendance of the “Chinaman” to not only joke with but dissolve stereotypes about Chinese Americans. Yee leads viewers to question their personal and cultural identity and the search for or dismissal of that identity. This play illustrates people who are restrained or mistaken in their pursuit of self-awareness and self-fulfillment, inevitably leading them to the realization that they need to be able to recognize and accept who and what they really are.
The first 2 paragraphs are quite repetitive but I would have loved if you delved more into the quote ” If he doesn’t know English and we don’t know Chinese, as long as he’s in America, that’s his fault, not ours.” and expanded that to the wider immigrant experience and the attitude we have towards them. It’s not our fault they can’t speak english but is it also their fault that they had to flee from their country?
I agree with your highlighting of that particular scene in which Grace orders Chinese takeout. In many ways, I found it interesting how you mentioned the humor aspect of Yee’s writing and the intentional misrepresentation of Asian-Americans. I feel like in that particular scene there was also the prevalence of irony which tied a lot into the message Yee was trying to portray.