1) What impact did the 1906 earthquake make on both the physical and cultural feel of Chinatown? (How were the living spaces impacted? How did the feel of the community change now that it was no longer a men's society in terms of sights, sounds, demographics? Who were invited in to increase revenue?).
The 1906 earthquake would mark a breakpoint in the architecture and family-structure of Chinatown. Though it killed hundreds or thousands of denizens of Chinatown, it would enable the mass migration of thousands more Chinese. Because all the city documents were destroyed, no one could tell how many children a particular Chinese-American had in China - thus, “paper sons” were born, where the “right” to go to America could be bought “on paper” (though you would have to memorize long 200+page documents to pass a stringent interrogation on Angel Island or elsewhere, so that immigration officers could be convinced you are actually this alleged son). Because most of old Chinatown was destroyed as well, there was the possibility of reconstructing it anew. While, the city of SF originally wanted to move Chinatown to Hunter’s Point (in which case, that area would probably not be the cheap area right now), the Chinese merchants (who paid the most tax dollars) were able to convince them to turn new Chinatown into a tourism destination - a Coney Island version of the Orient with fake pagoda’s and everything that fits the stereotype. White architects were invited to create these Westernized view for tourism. Tourists (white people) would then be invited into Chinatown, and a good profit could be gained from them for offering them a tour to see exactly what they want to see - underground opium dens, unsavory characters of stereotype, and then, let’s end it at a fancy restaurant where it’s safe to eat.
2) What are some reasons why some residents and the surrounding community support as well as go against the tourism industry entering Chinatown? (How was Chinatown viewed from the inside and from the outside? What were the positive and negative outcomes of the introduction of tourism?)
From the outside, Chinatown was viewed as an opium-den place filled with unsavory characters. From the inside, it was home and would become home to thousands of Chinese and their children. The positive outcome might be the Chinese businesses that this industry would help fund. The negative outcomes, of course, would be the (necessary evil of) propagation of a already negative stereotype.
3) What is the experience of the second generation Chinese in Chinatown? (Conflicts, goals, identity, mentalities).
Second generation Chinese would often become banana’s, i.e., yellow on the outside, white on the inside. White people would perceive them as Chinese and even try speaking pidgin English or make fun of them in culturally-inappropriate ways. However, they are often over-educated and speak perfect English — and are essentially American, though they don’t look like the white phenotype that our founding fathers envisioned for the country.
Incidentally, I’m somewhat torn on the directive to rename Phelan Drive to Frida Kahlo Drive because Phelan was racist (cough). I love Frida, but the reasoning for doing this is a bit stilted. It’s curious that Tataki emphasized that even Ben Franklin and Jefferson(?) and others all believed in this vision of America being a white uniformed race. Was Phelan just trying to uphold the wishes of the founding fathers? Certainly, he doesn’t have the status of Ben Franklin to make it “okay” to be racist because he also contributed a bunch of things. Does that make it okay for Ben Franklin to be racist?
Okay, so back to 2nd generation Chinese… They would often try to make it “out” of Chinatown through education. However, in the 1930s or so, there may be limited opportunities beyond. Chinese MIT engineers would find themselves jobless; in stark contrast to the current case. The idealism behind the founding of this country would certainly be imprinted in them, but the means to fully ratify would be denied them simply by virtue of the way they look.
And, the most ironic thing is that… this is still an issue. Affirmative action now makes it harder for Chinese students to get into competitive universities.
I wonder about the different numbers between urban and general “diaspora”, i.e., suburban without connections afforded by large extended families. My disconnected parents would be from that camp, immigrating to the US knowing basically only my mother’s cousin. In suburban Chinese schools on Saturdays, we learned very little about Chinese history. It wasn’t until I was a pre-teen and watched movies like the Last Emperor and Crouching Tiger, that I even knew there was really a five thousand year legacy. “Diaspora” Chinese like me would grow up in America with all the racial discrimination, but without the assurances that “we are a superior people”. Prior, though my parents would often talk about “the grand old days” of Chinese empires - in the same breath - they would denounce the “old country” as a bunch of thieving government officials, relatives who just wanted your money, etc. And speak of how lucky we were to be here… barely able to afford living here. (Also, I really wish my family had a shop or something - they keep floating from job to job - and what’s worse, they have “fear mentality” and try to inflict their drifter jobs to their kids, such as loan agent or car sales.)
Comments
Post a Comment