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Chinatown Offers Us a Lesson

Ellen D. Wu

in The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority

This chapter examines how a a national panic over a perceived escalation in youth criminality surfaced in the early 1940s, which was triggered by the social transformations of wartime. For Chinese in ... More

This chapter examines how a a national panic over a perceived escalation in youth criminality surfaced in the early 1940s, which was triggered by the social transformations of wartime. For Chinese in the United States, the issue of juvenile delinquency became an important means through which to stipulate their race and citizenship imperatives after World War II. Chinatown leaders adopted a bifurcated strategy that reflected the ongoing tension between sameness and difference under racial liberalism. In one direction, community managers argued that juvenile delinquency was as much a problem for the Chinese as for other Americans. They stressed their right to state resources to stamp out youth crime as equal and deserving members of the polity.Less

Detention Camps

James C. Mohr

in Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown

The Board of Health housed refugees from the Chinatown fire in large detention camps, where racial and ethnic dissension forced residential segregation.

Aftermath

James C. Mohr

in Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown

In a remarkable coincidence, Hawaii gained formal territorial status on the same day the plague crisis ended. The US appointed a claims commission to oversee reparations, but the process produced ... More

In a remarkable coincidence, Hawaii gained formal territorial status on the same day the plague crisis ended. The US appointed a claims commission to oversee reparations, but the process produced three years of bickering and ended up granting victims of the fire policy less than half of what they said they lost. All of the principal actors in the dramatic events surrounding the Chinatown fire resumed their separate lives, and this chapter contains short sketches of what happened to them. The book concludes with observations about the place of this incident in the larger history of public health and the ways in which authorities deal with epidemics.Less

Quarantine

James C. Mohr

in Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown

On December 13, the Board of Health imposed a quarantine around the Chinatown district of Honolulu along with a mandatory clean-up inside it. This brought hardship to those confined and evoked ... More

On December 13, the Board of Health imposed a quarantine around the Chinatown district of Honolulu along with a mandatory clean-up inside it. This brought hardship to those confined and evoked protest from the Chinese consul Yang Wei Pin and vice-consul Gu Kim Fui and from the Japanese consul Saito Miki. Mandatory cremation of plague victims further alienated Chinese and Hawaiian residents.Less

Chilecito and Spanishtown

Edward Dallam Melillo

in Strangers On Familiar Soil: Rediscovering the Chile-California Connection

This chapter focuses on the communities known as Chilecito (Little Chile) and Spanishtown formed by Latin American immigrants in the nineteenth century. These sites were once focal points of the ... More

This chapter focuses on the communities known as Chilecito (Little Chile) and Spanishtown formed by Latin American immigrants in the nineteenth century. These sites were once focal points of the extensive Chilean presence in Northern California. During the summer of 1849, Little Chile became crucible of interethnic conflict when a Yankee mob known as the Hounds ransacked the neighborhood, robbing, raping, and killing many of its residents. The attack exemplified nativist aggression and presaged the violent reception that Chileans encountered in California's mining regions, Chilecito and neighboring Chinatown also became the heart of San Francisco's sex-work district, forecasting later trends in the city's sexual geography.Less

The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Nonprofit and For-Profit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community

Min Zhou

in Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs

Informal social settings outside of school are as important as formal educational settings for children's learning and achievement. In the United States, informal settings are often organized by ... More

Informal social settings outside of school are as important as formal educational settings for children's learning and achievement. In the United States, informal settings are often organized by ethnicity and socioeconomic status in order to mediate the processes of individual learning, which consequently leads to intergroup differences in educational outcomes. This chapter examines how a particular type of informal social setting is created and structured by the ethnic community in order to generate resources for school success. By looking specifically into the non-profit and for-profit institutions serving young children and youth in Los Angeles' Chinese immigrant community, the chapter describes an ethnic system of supplementary education that not only offers tangible support but also reinforces cultural norms in pushing immigrant children to succeed in school. It is shown that the kind of informal social setting to which Chinese immigrant children are exposed is not necessarily intrinsic to a specific culture, but results from a national-origin group's migration selectivity, the strength of a pre-existing ethnic community, and the host society's reception. National-origin groups that constitute a significant middle class with valuable resources (i.e. education, job skills, and financial assets), upon arrival in the United States, have a leg-up in the race to move ahead in their new homeland, while others lacking group resources trail behind. Educators and policymakers should be careful not to attribute school success or failure merely to culture or to structure, but to the culture—structure interaction.Less

Affirming Cosmopolitanism? Chineseness and the Chinese Museum of Queensland

Tseen Khoo

in China Abroad: Travels, Subjects, Spaces

In this context of renewed, often parochial, assertions of Australian identity, examining racialized heritage sites allows the interrogation of the limits of the contemporary appreciation of ... More

In this context of renewed, often parochial, assertions of Australian identity, examining racialized heritage sites allows the interrogation of the limits of the contemporary appreciation of “cosmopolitanism” and “diversity.” To this end, this chapter focuses on the phenomenon of internal tourism and the ways in which Australian Chinatowns present themselves to internal and external tourists, as well as their local communities. Taking into account Michael Keith's argument for a focus on the dynamics of the city, the chapter discusses the establishment of the Chinese Museum of Queensland alongside the geocultural context of Chinatown in Fortitude Valley. After presenting an overview of Australia's historical (dis)engagement with Chinese migration, the chapter outlines the socio-political setting of Brisbane and Fortitude Valley and the idea of “Chinatowns,” before concentrating on the development of the museum and the motivations of its initial steering committee as a case-study in affirming Chineseness.Less

Transnational Celebrations in Changing Political Climates

Chiou-Ling Yeh

in Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown

In 1951, San Francisco's Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association staged a Chinese New Year celebration to “support the anti-communism policy of the U.S. government.” The parade's celebratory ... More

In 1951, San Francisco's Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association staged a Chinese New Year celebration to “support the anti-communism policy of the U.S. government.” The parade's celebratory spirit was dampened not only by a firecracker ban, but also by a holiday-goods shortage, the result of an embargo against China that went into effect after it entered the Korean War in 1950. Political upheaval in China was one factor that affected Chinese American attitudes toward ethnic celebration, but there were also other factors as well, including the acculturation of Chinese Americans and the relationship between China and the United States. Ethnic leaders considered the Chinese New Year Festival as an important occasion to voice Chinese American patriotism and to rescue troubled Chinatown businesses. Yet this time, these leaders did not simply sell the exotic characteristics of the ethnic celebration, but also situated it in Cold War rhetoric and policy. The ethnic celebration was also a way for Chinese Americans to bond among themselves, to connect with their family members and relatives in China, and to attract tourists into Chinatown.Less

“In the Traditions of China and in the Freedom of America”: The Making of the Chinese New Year Festival

Chiou-Ling Yeh

in Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown

On the evening of February 15, 1953, the Chinese New Year parade's Grand Marshal, Corporal Joe Wong, a veteran who had been blinded in Korea, and two enlisted female Air Force officers, Jessie Lee ... More

On the evening of February 15, 1953, the Chinese New Year parade's Grand Marshal, Corporal Joe Wong, a veteran who had been blinded in Korea, and two enlisted female Air Force officers, Jessie Lee and Anna Tome, led the first modern Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco's Chinatown. This chapter recounts how ethnic leaders exoticized the Chinese New Year Festival to generate political and economic resources for their own profit. Rooted in Cold War rhetoric, the modern celebration strove to be compatible with American containment policy, manifesting ethnic cultural expression and anti-communist convictions. Accordingly, festival organizers showcased war veterans and a beauty queen alongside the ethnic culture's exotic elements on the parade route. Such a strategy was intended to demonstrate Chinese American patriotism and to lure tourists into Chinatown. However, an emphasis on the exotic elements of the festival reinforced the notion that Chinese Americans were ethnic others. A 1956 grand jury subpoena that accused many Chinese Americans of illegal immigration compelled the ethnic community to adopt a model minority image.Less

Constructing A “Model Minority”Identity: The Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Beauty Pageant

Chiou-Ling Yeh

in Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown

In 1958, seventeen contestants from California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Connecticut came to San Francisco to compete for the first national “Miss Chinatown U.S.A.” beauty ... More

In 1958, seventeen contestants from California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Connecticut came to San Francisco to compete for the first national “Miss Chinatown U.S.A.” beauty pageant, held at the Great China Theatre in Chinatown. Ethnic beauty pageants such as Miss Chinatown U.S.A. were the highlight of the contemporary Chinese New Year Festival. Contestants had to participate in various festival events: in addition to competition night, they had to attend a coronation party, a fashion show, and ride on a parade float. Another requirement was to appear in the events sponsored by their family associations. These activities turned contestants into ethnic celebrities. By redefining womanhood, ethnic leaders rearticulated their ideal Chinese American: women and men who were equipped with certain cultural traits such as middle-class gender ideals, higher education, and work ethics that promoted economic success. Moreover, they observed Confucian ideas such as filial piety and gender hierarchy. Through this model minority identity, ethnic leaders attempted to transform Chinese Americans into ethnic minorities and integrate them into mainstream America.Less

Heated Debate on the Ethnic Beauty Pageant

Chiou-Ling Yeh

in Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown

This chapter examines the extent to which participants have transformed the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. beauty pageant in San Francisco since the late 1960s. While many contestants achieved their personal ... More

This chapter examines the extent to which participants have transformed the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. beauty pageant in San Francisco since the late 1960s. While many contestants achieved their personal agendas through the competition, their entries were also manipulated and exploited by ethnic leaders and community and family members in order to fulfill various purposes. In 1958, community leaders created an ideal Chinese American femininity through the national ethnic beauty pageant. Many contestants entered the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. beauty pageant to pursue personal interests, which either overlapped or conflicted with the interests of other Chinese Americans who held a stake in the event. The pageant produced the “model minority” image, which conformed to mainstream gender norms, consumption values, and work ethics, as well as Confucian hierarchy and obedience. This served to negotiate the Chinese American racialized and gendered position, to maintain male patriarchal control, and to attract tourists to Chinatown. Moreover, ethnic and feminist movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s motivated liberals, radicals, and feminists to see the pageant as a battleground for ethnic pride and gender equality.Less

Hybridity in Culture, Memory, and Politics

Chiou-Ling Yeh

in Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown

The 1977 Chinese New Year Festival featured a Qing dynasty wedding procession. This cultural representation sparked a debate centered on the definition of Chinese American culture, as well as on who ... More

The 1977 Chinese New Year Festival featured a Qing dynasty wedding procession. This cultural representation sparked a debate centered on the definition of Chinese American culture, as well as on who could determine what constituted that culture. This chapter focuses on the constellation of complex meanings behind various memories and narratives selected by Chinese Americans to express their identities. It explores several competing cultural productions that strove for authority in ethnic-identity formation. The rise of ethnic consciousness loosened the Chinese Chamber of Commerce's singular hold on the celebration and resulted in the growth of social service and political organizations. Beginning in 1975, the Chinese Culture Center began to host an alternative Chinese New Year celebration, the Spring Festival. Moreover, the changes in U.S. foreign policy not only compelled parade organizers to alter their transnational politics, but also transformed Chinatown's internal political dynamics.Less

Rooted Cosmopolitans: The Cultural Creativity of the Second Generation

Fred Rosenbaum

in Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area

Even after the Gold Rush had become a distant memory, the ethnic diversity, physical beauty, and venturesome spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area continued to set it apart. In the late nineteenth ... More

Even after the Gold Rush had become a distant memory, the ethnic diversity, physical beauty, and venturesome spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area continued to set it apart. In the late nineteenth century an almost Mediterranean ethos prevailed. Theaters, restaurants, and bars were more numerous per capita than they were back East—and morals looser. In converted lofts around Montgomery Street, a bohemian subculture took root, not merely tolerated, but in some ways imitated throughout the city. Even nearby Chinatown was no longer as forbidding as it had been a generation earlier. The arts flourished as young people in particular sought to express the exuberance they felt. Jews were highly visible as patrons of the arts and impresarios, as consumers of culture and critics. Jewish cultural creativity was often rooted in revolt against the older generation's Victorian mores. Once unleashed from the constraints of bourgeois convention, many of the homegrown artists displayed quirky and irreverent behavior. Gertrude Stein, who made a cult out of non-conformity, is the best known.Less

Technology and (Chinese) Ethnicity

Darrell William Davis

in Cinema at the City's Edge

This chapter reflects on the themes of technology and Chinese ethnicity using two animated films by Oshii Mamoru: Ghost in the Shell (1995) and sequel Innocence (2004). In these animations, a ... More

This chapter reflects on the themes of technology and Chinese ethnicity using two animated films by Oshii Mamoru: Ghost in the Shell (1995) and sequel Innocence (2004). In these animations, a post-photographic world is dress rehearsal for ethnic transmutations. Ethnicity, like gender, body, and space itself, is exchangeable, fundamentally refigured in new media forms. Chinatown feels familiar in these animated environments, yet it pushes toward defamiliarized, alien, life-like zones of informational identity. Prompted by Oshii's animation, this chapter rethinks ethnicity as remediated or produced through technology, rather than reproduced from profilmic origins.Less

Chinatown

David Kipen

in San Francisco in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City by the Bay

The quarter of old Canton, transplanted and transformed, neither quite oriental nor wholly occidental, San Francisco's Chinatown yields to the ways of the West while continuing to venerate a native ... More

The quarter of old Canton, transplanted and transformed, neither quite oriental nor wholly occidental, San Francisco's Chinatown yields to the ways of the West while continuing to venerate a native civilization as ancient as the Pyramids. Grant Avenue, its main thoroughfare, leads northward from Bush Street through a veritable city-within-a-city—alien in appearance to all the rest of San Francisco—hemmed within boundaries kept by tacit agreement with municipal authorities for almost a century. Chinatown enjoys a measure of civil autonomy unique among San Francisco's foreign sections. Though police protection, public education, and public health are directed by municipal authorities, local affairs are controlled largely by the powerful Chinese Six Companies. Labor relations, family regulation, traditional customs, and commercial activities are the province of this unusual body.Less

Before Pearl Harbor

Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry

in We’ll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II

This chapter examines war films made in Hollywood prior to the U.S.'s entry into World War 2. It suggests the film studios balanced anti-Nazism, the pro-intervention positions of Hollywood ... More

This chapter examines war films made in Hollywood prior to the U.S.'s entry into World War 2. It suggests the film studios balanced anti-Nazism, the pro-intervention positions of Hollywood executives, and Americans' more isolationist stance. It argues that most of the pre-war films had prepared viewers to consider Nazi Germany as a threat to America and about America's potential role in the war. These films include Shadows over Shanghai and Mr. Wong in Chinatown.Less

Bret Harte, Urban Spectatorship, and the Bohemian West

in Bohemia in America, 1858-1920

This chapter explores how “Bohemia” figured in the early writings and careers of Bret Harte, who wrote under the pseudonym “The Bohemian” in a regular column from 1859 to 1863, and other Golden Era ... More

This chapter explores how “Bohemia” figured in the early writings and careers of Bret Harte, who wrote under the pseudonym “The Bohemian” in a regular column from 1859 to 1863, and other Golden Era authors such as Mark Twain, dubbed the “Sage-Brush Bohemian.” Harte, San Francisco's first self-declared Bohemian, approached San Franciscan life through the discursive framework of the proverbial Bohemian and Bourgeois conflicts between libertinism and self-denial, culture and society. In his columns, Harte ironized and critiqued the city's emerging commodity culture, questioned bourgeois divisions between the “separate spheres,” and expressed a fascination with such ethnic enclaves (and alternatives to the city's dominant ethos) as Chinatown and the Mexican Quarter. This chapter documents Harte's early life and looks at factors that contributed to his Bohemianism.Less