Asian American Popular 6 - Christine`s History Pages
Transcription
Asian American Popular 6 - Christine`s History Pages
CHAPTER 6 Orientalism and Popular Culture, 1904-1930s |t The nents to exclude Asian immigration and the colonization ofthe Philippines coincide with the prominence of euilenics, d field of scientific racism ltredicated on that anong humans there exists nn innate racial hierarchy in whiclr whites, ly " Angl0-Sax]t1s," are 0n top. The politkal signifkance of eugenics tficati1n as4J for immigration exclusion and colotlial conquest, as well as for white vking-class social mobilit-v, is well docuruented in Chdpter )-5. What remqtns t be considered, however, is how suclt rctcist theories about Asians to0k on ,al. It is too simplistic to assume thLlt all wltites were predisposed to see mass Asians dangerously difJerent from themselves. A better altenlative is to ask llow the of Americans cqme to accept tltis perspective as a fact 0f nature. In the third oftlte twentieth century, institutiorts ofpopular culture did ntuch ofthe work propagatinlT racial understandings of Asians t0 Americ.ul consutlters. was no better extunple of tltk than the world's fair, which by the St. Louis in 1904 dttracted ntillions ofvisitors to its massive.lnd ostensibly authenttc displal of " backward" racittl groups. But it is imp1rtant to retnember that world's made possible by tlle rapid rise in urbanization, wage labor, and its attenfairs w time.In this context, even traditional cLthural tnediturts, such as newsdant le p4pers literary pttblicdrions. took on ntuch ntore sigtrificance and capital as they tu the rapidly expanditt:l popLtl.ttiotts it A rcrican cities. Atld the editors of such lirctiotts realizcd tlurt. n, tlrc)'do rtow thnt nnttipuldting racinlfears can sell 's. Anorher dimensiou ofpoptrlar culture to cortsicler is tlrc dawn ofthe,notion p industry. The novies, of course, w,uld bec]nrc tlrc ultixate showcase of tfu consumer ety, sellln:l everythinlt fron autornobiles to dishw.tshitlg detergent. Bttt Jilms " less tangtble produtts like beauty, lifenyles. and racial sensibilities. In this also ": ollywood popularized American orientulinn from the early days ofsilent libn. sense, f $ DO UMENTS in this chapter reveal how Asians were ponrayed in ways that were with the domination ofAsian immigrants in the United States. Yet equally here is the fact that Asian Americans too were culturc makers. whose writings O": a dli\n n'td D tLtd. ..ltu ( la04 la) l8l embodied the and possibilities of their experiences. Document I reveals writer Jack London' take on the "Yellow Peril" after serving as a war correspondent dudrrg the Russo-J War. The most dangerous outcome ofJapan's victory over Russia, London Sen Frcncisco Exturiirer readers. was that the JaDanese. whom he re" race. rvere now in a position to strenglhen their hand vis e vis the lerred to as a West by allyi with the much more numerous and thus rrore feared "Yellow" Chinese. Document 2 a photograph of the "living exhibition" of Filipinos at the St. Louis World's Fair l90zl. To many in attendance, the natives' scantily clad costutlles collfirmed their " .vagery." Document 3 is an excerpt frorr an oral history interview con ducted in 192 with a Filipino immigrant who discusses the interconnection between and his negative exDcricnces in thc United States. Document 4 is anti Filipino i an excerpl Wallace Irwin's Seetl of the Sun, a novel secking to warn Americans about the of Japanese immigration. The flnal our documents concentrate on various depjctions of the Chinese. Document 5 i a portrayal of Chinese merchant wives by the first American novelist of Chinese the Eurasian Sui Sin Far. Document 6 is a Chinese American student's list American beliefs about the Chinese. Document 7 is a movie studio proposal I the promotion-what in Hollywood was known as exploitationof The Paint Veil, a 1931 film set in China. Finally, in Document 8, anthropologist Harold R. analyzes the influence of lamous author Pearl S. Buck in shaping Chine\e in lhe American imaginalinn. the image of l. Writer Jack London Decries the New Yellow Peril, 1904 Here we immense resources of an Under a self ment. This down to dent and him. It would Comes of an; other home restlng on other side strange, level with his talking. They From Jack the Chinese. fbur hundred million of hiur. occuovins a vast Iand of resources-resources of a twentieth century age, of a machine age; and iron. which are the backbone of commercial civilization. He is worker. He is not dead to new ideas. new methods. new systems. management he can be made to do anything. Truly would he of himthe much heralded Yellow Peril were it not fbr his Dresent manase his sovernment. is set. crvstallized. It is what binds him as his fathers built. The governing class. entrenched by the prcceofcenturies and by the stamp it has put upon his mind, will neverfree the suicide of the governing class, and the goveming class knows it. the Japanese. On the streets of Antung, of Feng-Wang-Chang, or city, the fbllowing is a familiar scene: One is hurrying the dark of the unlighted streets when he comes upon a paper lantern ground. On one side squats a Chinese civilian on his hands, on the a Japanese soldier. One dips his fbrefinger in the dust and w tes characters. The other nods understanding. sweeps the dust slate and with his forefinger inscribes similar characters. They are speak to each other, but thev can write. Long ago one borowed "The Yellow Peril (190'1). in l-ondon. Rclokrirr 1rrl O/rrr trrdlr (New york: Macmillan, l9l 277 289: rcproduced in S. T. Joshi. ed.. Dotnnents of An(ri(.a prcjudik (Ne$ Yurk: Basic r999). 439 4.1,t. f82 Flai'l' Problu^ il Asiu Attttril:.tn Hkta\, the other'$ written language. and long befbre that. untold generations ago. they dilerged frdm a com[ron root. the ancient Mongol stock. Ther( have been changes. ditferentiations brought about by diverse conditions and infusions of other blood: but down at the bottom of their being, twisted into the tibres of t'henr, is a heritage in cornmon-a sameness in kind which time has not obliterateg. The infusion of other blood, Malay. perhaps. has made the Japanese a race of mpstery and power. a fighting race through all its history, a race which has always d(spised commerce and exalted fighting. To-d{y. equipped with the tlnest machines and systems of destruction the Caucasian mipd has devised, handling nrachines and systems with remarkable and deadly accuracy.ithis rejuvenescent Japancse race has embarked on a course of conquest. the goal 4t tvhich no rnan knows. The head men ofJapan are dreaming ambitiously. and the f,eople are dreaming blindly. a Napoleonic drearn. And to this dream the Japanese clings and will cling with bull-dog tenacity. The soldier shouting "Nippon. Banzai!" on the walls of Wiju. the widow at home in her paper house comtnirring suicide s(r that her only son, her sole support. may go to the front, are both expressing the unanimity of the dream. The llate disturbance in the Far East marked the clashing of the dreams, tbr the Slav. k)q. is dreaming greatly. Granting that the Japanese can hurl back the Slav and that [he two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race do not despoil him of his spoils, tl;e Japanese drelm takes on substantiality. Japan s population is no larger because ber people have continually plessed against the means of subsistence. But pobr. empty Korea fbr a breedin-s colony and Manchuria fbr a granary. and at -siven once the Japanese begins to increase by leaps and bounds. Eveh so, he would not of himself constitute a Brown Peril. He has not the time in whictl to grow and rellize the dream. He is only tbrty-five millions, and so fast does thejeconomic exploitation of the planet hurry on the planet's partition amongst the Weslern peoples that. betbre he could attain the stature requisite to menace. he would sdc the Western -eiants in possession of the very stutf of his dream. Thil nenace to the Western world lies, not in the little brown man, but in the fbur hu$dred millions of yellow nen should the little brown man undertake their manageinent, The Chinese is not dead to new ideas; he is an efficient worker; makes a good $oldier. and is wealthv in the essential materials of a machine age. Under a capable lmanagenrent he will go far. The Japanese is prepared and fit to undertake this managefnent. Not only has he proved himself an apt imitator of Westem material progresb, a sturdy worker, and a capable organizeq but he is far more tlt to manage the Chi+ese than are we. The baffling enigma ofthe Chinese character is no baffling enigmaito him. He understands as rve could never school ourselves nor hope to understhnd. Their mental processes ale largely the same. He thinks with the sarne thoughd-symbols as does the Chinese. and he thinks in the same peculiar grooves. He goef on wherc we are balked by the obstacles of incomprehension. He takes the turning which we cannot perceive, twists around the obstacle. and, prestol is out of sight i4 the ramitrcations of the Chinese mind $here we cannot follow. The Chinese has been called tl're type of permanence. and well he has melited it. dozilg as he has through the ages. And as truly was the Japanese the type of pernrarenfe up to a generation ago. when he suddenly awoke and startled the world with a fejuvenescence the like of which the world had never seen before. The ideas OtiuitLlli\ tntiLlPnluldt ()!Ltutt. of the'West transnlrtted powerful We hlve fbr the Asiatic unrfraicl to lion additi moclern. the "Yellow the nridst of t,ellow and . trik ing lv l9ttl-19)0s l8l the leaven \1,hich ouickened the JaDanese: rnd the ideas oI the West. lhc JJprnc.e mind into ideli Jrpunese. rnlrl uell rrulc the l(J\rn to quicken the Chine\e. Africa tirr the At'licander. and at no dist nt day we shall hear'Asia Four hundred nrillion indel'atigable workers (defi. intelligent. and .lrousecl and rejuvenescent. nranaged and guided by forty-live nilhuman bein-ss who are splendid fightin-s animals. scientitic and tute that nrenace to the Western \a'orld which has been well named il.'The possibiJity of race adventure has not passed away. We are in r own. The Slav is just girding himself up to begin. Why mly not the brou,n slart out on n adventurc as tremendous as our own and more succcss of such an adventure the Western ntind refuscs to connatule of life to bclieve itsclf u,eak. Thcrc is such a thing as a race we e-g:orsm as as creature egotisnr. and a very good thing it is. ln the fir'st place. the will not pernrit the rise ofthe ycllorv peril. lt is firnrly convjnced that Westcfn it will not it the vellow and the brown to wax stronq and menace jts peace and this idea \^,ith pe$istency. and delivers itselfof long argunents conrti)rt. It why this menacc will not be permitted to arise. Tcday. lhr more showing how votces are en in denying the yellow peril than in plophesying it. The Western worlcl is if not armed. against the possibility ol it. place. there is a ueakness inherent in the brown man which will ln the The ulti sider It is not bring his achievement destruction he nture to naught. From the West he has bonowecl all our material passed our ethical achievenrent by. Our engines of production and made his. What u as once solely ouls he nou' duplicates. rivllling oLlI r']rerchants n the conrmerce of the East. thrrshing the Russian on sea and Iand. A nrarvellous i or trul1. L'ut intitatin; us onll in thing' ntaterill. Things cannol be ilni and here the It field-gun or achievement conl. ts I : rhe) Inusl be lclt and lired. woren int() the 'piliturl \er) fabric,rf life. lails. no revollrtion of his nature to learn to calculate the range and fire a mrrch the goose-step. It was a mere matter of training. Our material the product of our intellect. It is knowledge. and knowledge. Iike geable. [t is not wrapped up in the heredity of the new-born child. s to be acquired afterward. Not so with our soul stufT. which is the ution uhich goes back to the raw beginnin-qs ol the mce. Our soul to be pocketed by the first chance comer The Japanese cannot is sonreth product of an stutT is not a pocKet lt any thaD he can thrill to short Saxon words or we can thrill to Chinese hiero-rlyphic The leopald cannot change its spots. nol can the Japanese. nor can u e. We are by the agcs into what u'e are. and by no conscious inrvard eftblt can we n a day rethumb ourselves. Nol can the Japanese in a day. or a generatlon. hirnself in our image. Back ol ou,n -qreat race Adventurc. back of our rcbbelies by sea ancl land. our ILrsts and iolences and all ol the evil things we have done. there is a certain of conscience. a melancholy responsibility of life. a sympathy lrrteSnty. a and and warm human fccl. which is ouls. indubitablv ours. and which we cannot to the Oriental as we would teach logarithms or the trajectory ofprojcctiles. That have gloped for the way of right conduct and lgonized over the bu1 soul beto n\ r)ur spirilu l endou menr. Though we have rtrryeLl trftcrr;rnd lhr lrom ri voices of the seels have llways been raised, and we have harked bidding of conscience. The colossal fact of our histoly is that we have igion ofJesus Christ our religion. No matter how dark in er(n and deed. a history of spiritual struggle and endeavor. We are preeminently a which is another way of saying that wc arc a right-seeking race. do you think of the Japanese?" was asked an American won]iln at'ter she , the brck to nracle the ours has r eligious hadlivcdsornetimeinhpan.'Itseemstonlethattheyhavenosoul."washeranswel Thislmust not be taken lo nlean that the Japanese is without soul. But it serves to illustrhte the enormous ditference between their souls and this wonan's soul. There u,{s no feel. no speech no recognition. This Western soul did not dream that the Eastdrn soul existed. it was so difle|ent. so totally ditierent. . . The ieligion ofJapan is practically a worship ofthe State itsell. Patriotism is the expressi{n ol this worship. The Japanesc mind does not split hairs as to whether the Emperor]is Heavcn incarnate or the State incarnate. So far as the Japanese ar(] concerned. tfe Eruperor lives. is himself deity. The Ernperor is the object to live fbr and . to die fb{. The Japanese is not an individualist. He has deveioped national consciousness ins&ad of noral consciousness. He is not interested in his own nroral welfare except iri so f'ar as it is the wellare of the State. The honor of thc individual. per se, docs no! exist. Only exists the honor of the State. which is his honor. He does not look uptjn hinrself as a free agent. working out his own personal salvation. Spiritual agonizirig is unknown to him. He has a "sense of calm trust in fate. a quiet submission to the inevitable. a stoic colnposure in sight of danger or calanrity. a disdain of life and friendliness with death." He relates hinrselfto the State as. amongst bees. the worker ls related to the hive: himself nothing. the State e\erything: his reasons lirr the exaltation and sloritication of the State. nrost admired quality to-day of the Japanese is his patriotism. The Westem world i in r-hapsodies ovel it. unwittingly rneasuring the Japanese patriotism by its owr'l eptions of patriotism. "For God. my coul'rtly, and the Czarl" cries the Russi Datriot; but in the JaDanese mind there is no differentiation between the three. Enrperor is the Emperor. untl Grrrl rnd country as well. The prtliotism of is blind and unswerving loyalty to what is practically an absolutisnr. the J The can do no wrong. nor can the five ambitious gleat men who have his I the destiny of Japan. eat greal race adventure can go lar nor endure long which has no deeper tbun- nlJleriill :uccc\s. no higher prompting thiln ionque\t l'.)r (onquc\l's sake arid nrere race glorification. To go thr and to endure. it must haYe behind it ar ethical li mpu lse. a sincerely conceived righteousness. But it Inust be taken into considerat(on that the above postulute is itself a product of Western racc-egotism. urged by our']belief in our owr righteousness and fbstered by a faith in ourselves which ma1' bd as erroneous as are most fond race tancies. So be it. The world is whirling faster'{o day than ever betbre. [t has gained impetus. Affai$ rush to conc]usion. The Flr East is the point of contact of the adventuring Western people xs well as of the Aslatic. We shall not have to wait lbr our children's time nor oLrr children s childrdn. We shrll ourselves see and largely determine the advcnllrre of thc Yellow and thd Brou n. '''1' 1r'1,'t't J ' D.'l " t "t"" "t "'"'t ls5 2. Dance of the Igorrotes, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, I904 Igorrote village cr,position r thc LoLlisiirna Purchlse Exposition. lit. Loui\. lt)0-+. This was one ol the populrr lir ing erhibition\ of rh!. racc\" ol nankind. 3. Filipino Immigrant Condemns Representation of Group, circa 1924 I was born in a tuwn called Candul. jn the provincc ofllocos Sur. Philippine lslands. the United States occupied the Philippines. the first thing she did was to establi$h public English schools in all pans of the archipelago. So. when I was at an ageSrf schooling I attencled thc public school. ln my high school years high school. lociited at the capiial of ny province. In my I attended the year gracluated in the Seminaly High School. a school of the 1 I senior high s at Manila. Then t linished rny nvo vears college ur[k in the Evangelical ol the sane Evangelical church. Union In all oi fiy schooling in the Philippines I attendcd different Ischools] and I have rnin-sled with ditl'crent peoples. In my sophonorc and.junior years il high school. I (x)k charge of a small congreg{tion. Th t wolk gl\.e nte il chance to leel the joy of seri ice to my people: a$ akened me to the greatest needs of my peuple f.()rr :. p. 17ll rll Su.t.]",1.. t- ouisiuna ttnl th Fait: \'ol a (\\ofld Progre\s Publi\hrDg Mis\ourl Histofie.rl Soeier! F|o|1'|0'ie]lkIl\4j].l7h|'irC|lIu|1l'\lils1l}R']l1:Ill!(].1|\-li||'Hi\lI)|i| riLnttto|{.hint\tul.|d|a^|d\1ll.\i\tJu. (\r\h\illr:Socirl Sfiercc Instilutc. Fisk Llni\crsil\. 19.161. ll7 119. ll6-l:17. (b.: Sl- Loui\- 190-+). colne to lfi honre t and the life. The clesire fbr firrther training and more eclucatiorr ca[sed nte to is great country. thc United States. heard of Anerica irom the llrst American nrissionaries that cante to nlv Then in my early school in the grammar grades I studied Geography Ie of Amelica. In my high school coursc I studiccl the history, -covernthe institutions of America. The nissionaries have been telling us of rhe y, and grandeur of the country. Thcn in our text-books in schools we nlenl, al riches, b saw prct of the big buildings. beautiful strects and parks. big tactories. gfeat nten. elc In short. we have knou,n thc best of America. We have heard much of a land ofthe brave aDd the tiee. land ()fopportunity. and we pictured her asa of "Paradise." The results of the American adlninistration in the PhiliDplnes us the grcatress ofAnrerica. and we typified all thc American people in the U led States as like those ntissi(x]aries and teachcrs rvho are working with of love amon-c my people. the anr in this country now. I am absorbing the best of the AmelicLur lift so that I will go back to ny people I will show and teach all of these goocl qrrirlities in that way my people will always adore and respect the Anrerican people of the living good example that they shou' lo the othcr peoples. indecd a greal disappointment to me and it breaks nry heart to lhink that nrJny the good Americans who have been in my countr-y have n'risrepresentcd nty le to their ou n pcople. I have seen exhibitions in the nruseurns and in the wir of the banks and big stores of the prirnitive utensils. furniturc. implernents. backward and ignorant Filipinos. Sorne books are full of pictures of the etc.. ot and their prinritive s'ays of Iiving-peoplc rvho only nunrber about naked one of the q'hole poDulatiotr. Even the nrissionar ies thenrselves. in theil and in their articles published in the papefs. talk of the dark side of the Filioi lite. Thlough all of these. the American people in this country formed their' that the FiliDino are nothins but backwald. uncivilized. u'ild and naked opl people Il so. the noble wofks of Spanish civilization thilt havc influenced my people tor and a hall centulies and the progress done by the Anrerican administrations discredited. Have not these European and Western civi!izations done have g good to my people l May any foreigner who comes to mv country please best of my people and thus tell so to anybody wherever they ma)' be. Thls rs note one of race prejudice-ol m isu nderstanding of other people. ica is beine looked uoon bv all thc countries of the world as their leader. Ameri has a wicle dool of opporrunity for leadership training. not only among people but to the othel peoples as uell. Hundreds and thousands of rny felhel -men come to this country with nre and only onc purpose and that is to low tor leadership in her schools. coileges and universities. Only the young be women then come to this country. l. also. came lo Califotnia lbr the same Hawaii. Australia. Mexico. ot otlrer countries could not give rne such opties as I am now enjoyin-e here. Calitbrnia is the lirst plilce thdl I stopped at Ori. tdlisn and Pop lfiCubut". 1904-1931b I87 I climates, such that I don't feel so much different than of the of my have their own ways of thinking and of doing things. Some one an instinctive racial and national pride and each nationality conedor along certain lines. Too much self-esteem and national pride with other peoples because there is then the sense of superiority the good qualities in other races. Such prejudice spirit in a cerght cause it not to be able to know the psychology, philosophy of nati()nality l-e and the of the ones considered inferior I find ot that misuvlercauses . The average American reads the daily papers about the side of an individual. then he draws a conciusion that all of the Orientals le. I met the other day an American woman whose uncle has like that. among the rrihes in the Philippines. This uncle sent her pictures of the asked me if the Filipinos are all headhunters. It is indeed dangerous we all have ooinions about a certain nation bv induction. to go back to my country as soon as I will be prepared for a the schools of America. I will send mv children to this countrv for selvrce . ue have allol the schooling we wanr in the Philippines. but ls a gleat advantage of being in the schools of this great educational laod. The that there herself I am now ing along until I fin y but surely realizing my ambition in this country. I am now my university work and I hope I could be in the school year after my course. the high expectation of seeing the people and their conditions before I came over. The cities, towns, people, and everything pictules us in the Philippines as the best place with all comforts and enjoyment of lit'e. Iook upon America as a heaven on eaflh. Anyway, I am enjoying gh I found it different from what I expected, because I am lookmy life here, to associafe with. ing for the best I fail to life as I ha 4, Anti-Japanese Monologue in Wallace Irwin's Seed of the Sun, 1926 "Killed any J who seated hi "Don't me?-throu 'Anie as he fbund thought he this week, Artie?" he sang out, addressing a plump young man beside Zudie with a second helping of everything on the bill. on 'em!" he growled, reddening with rage. "I'm through-get I'm playing Hindus now, and getting a day's work out of'em, too." a gang of Japs walk out on him last week," explained Dunc as soon to occupy the vacant chair at Anna's side. "He got so sore that I going ro declare war right away." "ls there danger'1" asked Anna. scared at the thought. Dunc and belligerent friend Artie grinned at the thought. ''ot Sce(i r,/rr.'Sr,l (New York: Amo Press, 19713), l4.f-1,15. 188 Prchletjls in A\i.1n h)t,ti1ltt Hijtot\ "My lady." said Artie. after a mouthtul of chile con carne. "thc war is on right now I don't mean machine guns and battleships and iin Kelleys. The hardthinking, old gentlemen running the Japanese Govcrnnent don't want sort rhat any more ol'rouph stufi. They'll never run:rnruck the $ir) rhe Kai.er Jid bleed and to deat h u ith a fool militr4 prograrn. All t his ncu spaper talk is mcrely a barrage to keep our minds off *hat Japan is really putting over." was an olhcer in our Siberian job," interjected Dunc. . what are the)' putting over?" asked Anna, seeing here another aspect ol Crlilbrnir rrce prejudice. the war. The conquest of the world by agriculture. conmerce. immigratl()n. treaties. coLrnterftit labels. soft words. hard balgains and the JaDanese genius tbi teamwork. To accommodate their little expedition into Siberia I saw thenl build s that looked big enough to put up hall the irnpelial arrny. What fbr'l To send in hoeps and fight it out l Not on your liftl Pletty soon the Japanese troops will fadelaway and those contbrtuble barracks will be full of farmers. tradesmen and Shan-tung ull orcl agrin. The)'re thc greatest reul.eslrle men in the world. took Shrn-rung thl the goud of hunranity. rnd thel re keeping it lbr the good of I don t hlarnc rhcrn. Tf I qere r Jrp I'd do the \anre. There'\ \lunding room in Japan. and the race is suffbcating." 5. Writer Sui Seen [Sin] Far Reveals Private Lives of Chinese Merchant Wives, 1897 lntl old-fashioneJ node of life. she carries our minds almost as ancient as the earth we live on. She is a bit of olden Oriental alnidst our modern Western lights and shades: and though her years be t'ew. she is a relic of artiquity. Even the dress she wears is cut in a fashion designed ce ago, and is the same today as when the first nonfabulous Empress of her lrusband to buy her r neu r.lres. -ofatunic.apairottr'ou\ersandu China divided irt. all of finest silk and embroidered in many colors. A Chinese woman In a e age invented the divided skirt. so it is not a "New Woman" invention. Chinese woman in America differs from all others who come to live their in that she seeks not oul companionship. makes no attempt to know us lives our ways and heeds not oul customs. She lives among uii. but is as iso adopts lated if she and the few Chinese relations who may happen to Iive near were the with quaint nr:rnners back to beings in the world. only tng. you wish to becone acquainted with her. if you wish to glean sonre of a type of which very linle is known. you must seek her out. She will with your advances and welcone you with demure politeness. but you t lbr all eternity and she rvould not come to you. s broken the ice. vou find that her lormer reserve was due to her trainthat she is not nearly so shy as report makes her. You also llnd. despite the Fronr: Seen if know be might 59 6-1: Judl Y Fr.. The Chinc\e \lbnrrr in Anrcrica. aar./ of Sunshine 6. no. I (Jan art lli97): in Ltnbt,tokl \i,ic!s: . Dol:Ilnt' ktr\ Hiskr'\ ()l Clline\c Wo t(t1 i Sd,l Ft?,r( lr.r. ed.(Bcrkelet: Lrni\er\it\ of Calililrnir Pre\s. l99q). l5il-161. Otkjjktli! t n|,1P,,t'rL tjtlrtR. lgtl4 l9Jt)r popular idea and i narrowly. not prove lack She was she played playfellows, nlother put rnemories of were telught she uscd to Until an Amef lcan 189 the Chinese are a phlegnatic people. that she is brimful of feelings and has sensibilitics as acute as a child's. That she is content to livc to the society of one nan and perhaps a couple of t'emales, does t inrapin.rti n:hut nrclely thlt she is ign[n1n1 nj 1n1 other lite. in Chinl. probably in ClnloD or ncar that city. When a Iittle gifl. ecock. Guessing Pennies and Blind Man's Buff with childish and girls: and grunclfather rnd uncles kept hel awake. when her to bed. by tclling her stories of hobgoblirrs and ghosts. Antongst her are little oacodas befbre $hich she and her brcthers and sister burn incensc. and ln image of a coddess called "Mother." to whom Itill her liltle knees ached. twelve years old. she enjoyed almosl as nruch healthful liberty as ild: but in China it is not deenred proper tirr girls beyond that age to have boy pla Then she ballads. She father and a sweetheart. and virtues of lo seu and enrhroidcr. lrr dp I o[1 (ooling und rine simple taught that whilst with thenr. her Ilrst duty uas obedience to her : and after marriage. to her husband and his parents. She never hacl u,ith girl tiiends would plss the hours in desclibing the beauties husbands. these restraints, her ycars slipped away happily until tin]e came li)r lrer to American bride-lirr the Chinese woman who comes to America generally as a bride. having been sent tbr bv some Chinamen who has been some years ln States or in Canada and has prospered in business. Shc has seen her future husband. she has never perhaps ventured outside her ive village: yet upon being apprised that for'good and valuablc ln spite considerati or the expectant bridegroom. like Isaac ol old when courting Rebecca. of his sets about breast and presents of silver and presents of gold to the prrents or guardians must leave horne and fiiends ancl natire land. she cheerfullv ng fbl hcl journey. She nray shed a lew tea|s upon her mother's itiously hu-s her' little sisters: but on the \\,hole. she is pleased. and fiiends usually regard her with enr'1'. None but a well-to-do ld afford to send fbr a bride itcr'oss the sea. The chief reason. howgirl who goes to A|rerica docs not become subject to hef husband's a gill marries in China. In that stlan-se land shc is obligcd to live 's parents and obey them as a daughter: and unless she is ofyielding Her Chinarnun ever. ls that mother. as with her disposition. unhapplness. his mother's Chinese wo richer nation of silk Chinese uonr onll by The wealthy peop being a big irl fronr the g tire mother-in-la$, of extraordinary good nature. the result is otien there is a disagreement. it is the duty of the husband and son to take and the wit'e is nracle to acknowledgc herself in the wrong. The who conres to An)erica is tirvored also in that she can dress in ln China her oldinary attire u'ould consist of cotton. or a combicotton. plainly nrade. The richly etnbroiderctl dresses which the who come to An]erica ale allowed to blinc with them iue in China of rank and position. comes from a respectlble middle class Chinese tanrily. Aristocratic or would nol give a drrughter k) a man living in exile; and Wah Ling, man to keep a wife in Anrerica. teels hinrsclf too big to takc a ng classes. He wishes his tl iends to think th l he marries well: il' I90 P^.1)ltrts itt he $ere t knows I \\,aDts a Ch cases ale Thc her' |Tltnd can bamboo pnv te clothing. tavolite kind. She at least After mean condition hc nright be ridiculed. The Chinrman ol'natural selection; though in lris youlh he has a srveetheart. when he he sends acquai causlug a proper chat wi N A nlinltl Hin,jr| choose llirl of na ln AsL1tl til a stranger. it is deerled altogether wlong for girls 'in society' lo havc nren I but verv pulr-gi s cho()se their associates as they please u/itltolrt l. Now irnd then a povefly stt icken or outcitsl ntaid \a. ins the hea ef it brave enou-eh to rnln'ry her in spitc of what his u'orid rnay say: but such Verl' feu'Chinamen arc intredlrced to thejr wives until atier ntafiage. ine\e \r'omiln irr Arncrir.r lnc: -lenerrrlll in the ufr'tirrrs ap tr)cnl\ (,f 's dwellin-c. He looks well alter hcr comfbrt and provides all her little ish. Her apr ments rre tlrnished in Anrerican style: but many Chinese decolate the tablcs irDd !\'alls. and on the sides ol the roonr are hung long ls coreled u ith papcr ol silk on u,hich are painted Chinese good luck In ir cur'laincd alcove of an inncr roonr can be discerned ln incensc vaselablel. a kncclirrg stool. rl pair of candlesticks-my Iady- from-Ch ina's . She rvill sho\\'\,ou all her prctt,v olramentr. hel jcrvelry and fine nevel invile;'ou near her plivatc chapel. There she burns incense to her and prays thiit o son mry be born to her. that her husbancl may be that she rnav lile to tlie in China-the countrv which heaven krves. ldom goes oul. and does not receive r isikr|s until she has been a rvife lirr yeitrs. Even then. il she has no child. she is supposed to hide herself. ild has been born to her. her wall of rescrve is lowered a little. and it is cousins and friencls of her husband to drop in occlsionallv and have '-the t'rmily. ' visit one nnother: tnd rvhen thev arc met together. a clatteling ol-tongues one would almost think thcy were Anrerican wonten Thev laugh at the rnost commonDlace fcmark and scleam at the smallest exanrine one anothe['s dresses and hair. talk about theil husbands. their tlille: brbies. ir fbod: squabble ovef little nlatters and make up again; they dine on bo\! ls rice. nrinced chicken. bamboo shoots and a dessert of candiecl truits. merrymaking over. thel' bid good-b1 by clasping their own hands. shakin,r thern and dorvn and in(erlacing their fingels-instead of shaking hands with ancl then the wonren there is oDe an tf holdi ctuse does thorl is necessar'1'to prss a room occupied by n1en. lhey do so very dernurely. open fans beti)re that sicle of the face-not becluse they are so shy. but beis the cusk)m ol their country. ough she does not read nor go out to see the sights. the Chinese wonlan allow time to hang heu'1,on her hrnds in America. There are nany little in her nrind. and she gives exprcssion to them in beautiful thncy-work. todi tltions of insccts. flowers and birds ost clextelouslv wrought flonr siik This is not useless. llonr her poi|rt 01 \'iew. fbr it crn be used as presents relations. 1-or the ornln'rentation of caps firr her husband and littlc sul. auo al on hel own applrcl. and nrak Ioves f'lou,ers. natLrrll or artificial: and if not supplied with the firrner. herself !:reat quantities of lhe Illtter and weius them on huil lnd breast. bcstows considerilble pains on thc plaiting ol her hair; and alier it is donc at the back ol her held. she aclorns it with flowers and larse fantastic Dins. OtitDLLtli\n dttd l\1.)tlnt Cttliut:. lt)tU lt))t)\ l9l er tresses are sfrining. black lmd abLrrLlanl. and if dressed lrecorlin-lly woLrld he tractive: bul th{ nranner in u'hich she plaster\ them back tllnr hel tb|eherd would oil thc prettiesf face. While thcre]are some trlrll- pleasant to behold. with their little soli laces. oval es. small rouid rnouths alld raven haif. the ordin!lr), C'hinesc woman does not 'ike ln observ{r as krvclv. Shc is. howcver. alwlys oclcl nd interestinc. Necdless to shc is vain- Vanit) is al|tost ils much paft ol'it womlln s natufe ils f'ay a mln s: but tfie Chinese wonran's vlr]it)/ is not thlt ol-tn Ameficarr wonran.'fhe dinary Amcririan dresses tor the cye\ ol lrel iiends and cnerries-purticularly e latter-and ldeliYe s srnrll plcasure tlont her pfeltiest thints unlcss they are en by others. lA Chinese wonran puints ilnd powders. dresses and bcjcwels her- lf tbl hel own]pleasurc: puts rings on her tln-cels and bracelcts on her arms-ancl relllly hidcs herself fiom the gaze ol strrngels. Il'she has Golclen Lily Ieet Chinese srnall lftet) she is proudly conscious ol it: but should shc bccorne a$afc hat a slran-cef ili tryi|g to obtain a glimpse ol then]. they quickly clisappea| under Fer skirt. ] She is dee$ly interestcd in all rratte|s ol dress: and. il an Antericitn *orrritrr .t, .. crLlls on her'. uill pr'lirely erulrinc the visitor's clothing. with nrany an cxpression ol-adnriration. She will even acknowlcdgc the Arrelican dfess prettier than hcl owr. but you cdLlld not pclsuacle her lo adopt il. SIrc is iDterested in aJl you nray tell hcr about Amcr]ica iu]d Arnelicln\: she has a certain adnrilation tbl the wlys ol the filleigler: birt {tothing citn chunge her revcrence ior the rnanncrr and custon)s of ner own counlf!. ''Why do I'Jou do that in such a $ ay l ' she is askcd. lnd her answer is. "Oh. bccuuse that is C+inese way.' ''Do it like this." she is tolcl. She shakes her head srnilingly: "No. thrt not Chi- I Dese wav." ] As a motller. she resenrbles any orher young nother-.1 trifle nrorc chilclish. perhaps. than {oung American matt.t)ns. but.iust as devoted. When thc baby seerns well. she is all sniles and Chinese baby-tulk: when he is ill. ol she lancies so. she rveeps copioufly and cannot be cornfi)rtcd. She dressctl hinr in Chincse dress. shaves his heail and strings amulets on his neck. wrists and tnkles. She is vell slrpcrstitious with lcgard to her chilcl. ancl should yor.r happen to know the date and hour of his birth. she begs with tears thirt you will not tell. tilr sl'rould some knorv. he or shc rnay cast r horoscope rvhich u oulcl makc the lnemy child s lite un{brtunate. Do not inlagine for an instant thrt she is dLrll ol- conrprehension ancl unable to distinguish liipndly visitors trrrm those who nterely call to amuse themselve\ al her expense. I harie seen a little Chinese wonran delibcrately turn her back on persons so i-tnorant il! to whispe[ rbout her ancl exchrnge knowing snriles in her presence. lojul. however. to tlrose she believes to he her rerl friends. and is al*'ays seeking to pldase them bv some little k)ken ol-allection. More codstant than sentinrental is the Chinese uoman. She hrs a trLre affection tbr hel hr.rsbirirdl no othcr nlln shafes rny ol'her personirl thoughts. She kNes him becluse she {as bcen given to hinr to bc his u,ifc. No cluestion of"uonran s ights" perplexes he|. She takes no responsibility upon herself and uishcs none. She has oeltect conflience in her nran. She is very 192 Prol)1.n6 it1Asian Aneti fi History in the hope of returning some day to China. She feels none of the bitshe would not be a to die among strangers. daughter the Flowery Land were she content the Chinese women in America are brides. Some were born here: others Not secondary wives, the first consorts of their husbands being left in China, ate and there are a few elderly women who were married long before leaving home. The . however. are bridesl or as the Chinese call young manied females, "New W She terness exile-she was glad to come to this country-but Sociology Graduate Student Rose Hum Lee Lists American Beliefs About the Chinese, 1927 The delicacies of the Chinese are rats and snakes. The say yes fbr no and vice vetsa. . . They Chop they , soup with chopsticks. and chow mein are their national dishes and that besides these dishes nothing but rica. men wear skirts and women pants. never gets drunk. is properly a Chinaman and that the word "Chinee" is singular for The are a nation of laundrymen yet have a highly developed civiliza- tion. All are cunning and crafty- All are honest and absolutely trustwo(hy. The The AII The never lose their tempers. nited States is the friend and protector of China. nese look alike. have no nerves and can sleep anywhere. . . . have no souls because they are not Christians. never say what they mean and abhor straight lines. The The inese invented pretty nearly everything that was ever invented. all hate water and never bathe. are a mysterious and inscrutable race and that they do everything backwards. _Social Attiludes Toward Chinese in the Uniled States. Expressed in Periodical Hum Lee. from 1919 to 1941:' in Suardle.\ o Orr MinJ\: Ant.ticdn 1 "18.: of ChiM and lndiI by pp. I l7 I 18. Copyright O 1958. 1980 by Harold Isaacs Reprinted by permission. Orienlalism an.1 Papular Culture, 19a1-1930s 7. t9) GM Studios Strategizes Advertisement fot The Painted Veil, 1934 (Advertising and Displays) background of "The Painted Veil," there is an excellent oppor- to the ity to tie with stores featuring Chinese merchandise. And there is a preof influence merchandise on the market. A cooperative page to the f items should be discussed with the advertisine manaser of We are not unmindful of the difficulties encountered in "putting cooperative page but we sincerely believe that a "Chinese Page" oarticularlv so should vou find it convenient to exhibit the Chisomewhere in your theatre . . . perhaps a Chinese Bazaar display be used as an advance plug for "The Painted Veil." Consider me possl Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese Jewelry S Chinese Chinese Chinese and Laces Tables and Lanterns and incense novelties Chinese Chinese collar" tashions (as worn by GARBO) China-ware Chinese Proposal Contest Chin€se The flowery was perhaps manner novelties of "Marriage English.'' that ''Thc Painred rn, pp.2l ?.1. and the customary parable parlance of the educated Chinese exemplified in "The Son Daughter." In "The Painted Veil" this is employed intermittently. This might be the basis for a Chinese " contest, whereby the "proposals" are presented in "Chinesesame to 25 words. A sample "proposal" could be submitted so might better understand the requirements, tiom Howurd Dietz, A.lr,enirinB Appnach, Ba\ Ofrte Anal\'tis: Etploitatiut, S\nop28. Copyrighr O Warner Bros. Used $,ith permrssron. 194 Problctns in Asian Auletinn History Tieup Tea and may be made with a tea merchant fbr a theatre display of attractive casks with the original Orient shipping stamps, this, in conjunction with of tea and tea wafers on your mezzanine floor For such a display and to exhibit their wares, the tea and wafer dealers should take a cooDera- matted the tive ad announcing this feature. Tea Cup also suggests a Chinese-costumed tea cup reader . . . one who tbreby "reading" the tea leaves. This may be used as a mezzanine or in advance of your opening. The tea tells the foyer Ballyhoo Where street ballyhoo is desired we would suggest the characteristic jinrikisha. Where available one may be built . . . a wicker chair, mounted on light weight wheels, th a bamboo shaft for the coolie-costumed attendant. In the 'riksha may "Chinese" girl in costume, carrying a Chinese parasol, the top of be an which read. "GARBO in 'The Painted Veil' . . . Loew's State." Fireworks Demonstration opening night, a Chinese fireworks demonstration would make an excellent attraction, granting you have the permission of local authorities. Do not use explosive . . . anything that will create a loud report. Your demonstration by Chinese-costumed gids. . . using sparklers, red fire, etc. Paper Novelty There white ln red peculiar type of red paper used by the Chinese. It is colored on one side and *G the other As a novelty feature have a Chinaman write the name A R B O" characters. This may be made into a cut and imprinted in black on the as per: a Ot;e nltsm and Pcpula' Ctrlture. 1904-193A5 loerc I95 rs Stste 'tAs k a Chi n aman " Steamship leaturing sailings to the Orient should be contacted for co- operanon, "shots" which were actually made in China appear in "The Painted Veil." agencies, affiliated with Oriental steamship lines, may also DC Keye Luke Keye Luke, a Veil," is an Los Angeles corded a high-class art A photo of The GARBO Loew's State art which Chinese who oonravs the role of a ohvsician in "The Painted of note. His pen rnd ink sketches have appeared repeatedly in the . He has drawn a beautiful "head" of GARBO. which was aclayout in the L.A. Times. In metropolitan cities where unusual used, your dramatic aditor will welcome the Keye Luke sketches. at his easel, together with the GARBO sketch, are both available. may also be used for "Coloring Contest" pulposes. Incidentally, Los Angeles, recently featured a mezzanine exhibit of Luke unusual attention. Chinese Due to the government Courtesy Wafner that "The Painted Veil" was made with the cooperation ofthe Chinese because of the presence in its cast of the artist Keye Luke, and the Reprinted with permi\sion. 196 Chinese Cfrbo. Soo Yong, be sure to contact your Chinese newspapers, should you be locatedlin a metropolitan city. 1 Buddhas i As an adr,lance theatre display. feature incense-burning Buddhas rhroughout your house, wi{h a "head" of GARBO and poster copy. reading, "An Event . . . GARBO in Thc P;linted Verl'start,. Suntla).'' Chinese Display l,obby "The Pairitetl Veil" and its Chinese angles plesent possibilities for a colorful lobby display. Jou may give thought to Chinese lantcrns. pagoda-topped box ofhces, bamboo, idols. dragon characters and coolie hat designs. Also, a Chinese Fhinese gong ma| be sounded at intervals. 8. Harold R. Isaacs Addresses the Historical Significance of Pearl Buck's Portrayal of the Chinese, 1958 Of all Sinophiles who have tried to depict and interpret the Chinese fbr Amenhas done so with more effect than Pearl Buck. No single book about had a greater imDact than her famous novel. Tlte Gootl Eert h. lt can almost China for a whole genelation of Anericans she "crealed" the Chinese, in the be said same that Dickens "created" tbr so many of us the people who lived in the Victorian England. The extent of her influence is illustrated in our own s lums panel the fact that 69 individuals spontaneously mentioned Pearl Buck as a maior source their own impressions of the Chinese and these were almost uniformly of a wonderfully attractive people. Buck happened "quite accidentally" to be born in the United States while mother was homc recuDeratins tiom an illness. She was caried back to when she was three months old and lived there most of her next fortv vears. in a missionary conrpound she has written these illuminating lines: Of her cans. m), children" rvere the small lblk of the servants quarters and the bors and we had *onderful hours of play. . . . I remenber going to bed at night with satisfaction because the da)'had been so packed \rith pleasurable play. . . . a few dolls. but nel She both abandoned the missionary claims and creed. seeking her satisfaction in and public life in a more encompassing emotional attachment. ln her uirh Chinere. in prnicularand in general, and indeed, with the whole world for the ull the pe,rple in it. Peurl Buck has tried to bc warmly. competently. and pu undemundingl). mrternal. There is more thrn this. to be \ure. in the From R. l.aJ...S,/i/r(r,.,aruut.Unt,! righr O 958. lo\(l hr HrrulJ hll.,. Repr;nrcJ :.1,,,rtt, l'lntn\L',4Chnnri,l It in.I55-158.Cop)h\ I)e||llrsr,'n. Ori w tdli\m atld Papultlt 0. ttot. 1904 lgjAs 197 it is the thread that links her to the whole pattern of relationships. Her si most successful book, I/re Good Eorth, a novel about a Chinese peasant and wife and their struggle against adversity, against the cr.ueltics of men and the of nature. rpperred in lgJL lt had rn inslunr and immenre popular According to its publishers, the John Day Company, its many editions and tings ran up to an eventual total of more than 2,000.000 copies. In 1937, ir as a remarkably powertil and successful film that was seen over the ensuing according to its makers, by sone 23.000,000 Americans and by an estimated 000.000 other people Jll over the $ orld. Book and film together, The Good Earth almost singlehandedly replaced the fantasy i of China and the Chinese held by most Americans with a somewhat more realistic cture of what China was like and a new, more intimate, and more appealing of the Chinese themselves. Indeed, Tlrc Cood Earth acconrplished providing faces for the faceless mass. the great feat panslists-a journalist who later in his lift spent several years in Onc of the Buck influence this way: books she tten, but American-Ch My f-lrsl with 400 with mede peop This seemed read or to ings for w in the uni asplratlon. to Asia came through Pearl Buck. China was a place on thc map to me. people who wore inverted dishpans lor hats. rode rickshas and ate dce This much I got in high school. Then I read llte Gt>od Earth. Peatl Buck ont ofthe Chinese for me. . . . have been an experience shared by nany. In the hours that it took to it transformed the blurred subhurnans into particular human be a great and moving sympathy was evoked by a momentary shaling experiences of mating. parenthood. suffering, devotion, weakness, Chinese girl in the story. O-lan, bride, mother. and grandmother, g. dogged. \lrong. ueak. rnd \omelimes .innine. are certainly the and the mrn, first such indi iduals in all literature about China u'ith whom literallv millions of Amencans This achi Buck did not, Chinese in People, which goncentrate on wnte about of his struggle envy and lif-e because Buck was universally doing for most the book was a The times cidentally complished by principal victi iible to identily warmly. was something new in American writing about China. Pearl one thing, write about Chinese jn reliition to foreigners, but about on to one another. Nor. like Lin Yutans in My County and Mt joyed its own much smaller vogue in this same period, did she charn of Chinese ways and wisdom. Pearl Buck chose instead to iowliest of all Chinese, the peasant, and to deal with the harshness or existence. Some Chinese critics comolained ol this. ofien out of suggesting that the book was no adequate picture of Chinese they nor their prototypes appeared in its pages. But what Pearl after was to humanize the Chinese peasant and to cast him in the role ol the man rooted in the soil. and this she succeeded in of her large audience. For some of her missionary readers, indeed, t too earthy, but this had no adverse effect on its popularity. ready with a welcome for The Good Eqrtlt. It appeared coinJaDan's attacks on China. ln a wav that never could have been acor propaganda, it humanized the peopie who became Japan's . The film based on the book appeared when Japan s piecemeal 198 Pnbl0,6 in A\tun At110- aD Hktor| broadened into a tull-scale war and American sympathy for the Chia poverlul national emotion. Allhough it did not deal with the il Sa\e the qurlitl ol indirrduul recognition tu the liFure of the heroic t or peasant-soldier who ot'fered battle to the Japanese against such in the years just before Pearl Harbor. This film, indeed. set the molds tbr of imitative sequels that fbllowed during the war years. dramatizing lf and China's stand. One of tlrese was a tilminc of one of Miss Buck's books. Drz.gon JeerL In all of then. however. Dorothy Jones observes. of the Chinese Deasant in general follows that dramatized in Lhe ii hardworkins. \trong. prrre\efine. lnd able io uith\trnd lhe adversities. kind toward children. resDectful toward elders. nll in all an Iand] warmly lovable character." impressions left on the minds of our panelists. re-evoked after the pasly twenty years. suggest that they retained liom Pearl Buck not the of any individual Chinese. but a broad notion ol what Chinese in general . By creating the filst Chinese individuals capable of irnplessing themAmerican minds. Pearl Buck in etTect created a new stereotype- Nobody the evil and wickedness and cruelty also portrlyed in her book; what letained was an ina-ee of the Noble Chinese Peasant, solid. wonderful. admirable. no accident that the reader of Pearl Buck's novels about China acquifes an of the Chinese in general which is sharper and more memorable than an, charactel she has creitted. For Pearl Buck herself. when asked directly, generalizes. and it is interesting to note that. so often charged herself with ity. the Chinese vinue she values above all else is unsentimentality: attacks nese nao war ltse Chinese great a long the war own I ''the Gootl mosl adm The sage ol were selves remem they indiv a The ot the I think of thc Chinese. I fhink of a kind ol Derson I likc. He is not Doetic. but el, rerlistic. prlclical rather rhan artistic. Thc Chinese artist is ne!er an artisl tbr sake. Art is always u nleans or a philosophy \\ ith the Chinese. Chin{ could not prols a Matisse or a Gaugin. certainly not il Picasso. Thcre are no Chinese cubists. The is a loyal Iather and friend. BLrt this has its IiInits. He is not funtastically byal. loyalty $ill come to an cnd if occasion denlands it. He is conmon-sensible about rything. .. . The Chinese cirn be terribly cruel. He never loves an animal. He will 'er die of lorc. He is not egocentric. He is renrote irom the maudlin in everything. He mrn of priDciple. but not to the point of t-olll. lbr his goal is larger than llny oDe nciDle or nnv one situation. I see lhese as t_ealures ol the basic chrracter of the Chi the basis of irll the chlracters I have created. the varietv occurins as I discover ons and combinations of so m:rny dift'erent kinds. There is some mixture of some all of these qualities in every Chinese I have ever kno$n. Arnericans seem to lne to rnorc in indivjdual personaliiies than Chinese do. I fcel 0 greater unifbrmity them. Their corners are nruch nore smoothed off than ours have been. I don t ' if uncler a Co munist-controlled societ)' the Chinesc is beconling a diff'erent of man. I find it difficult 10 think so. I continue to think of the Chinese $ho sees g rscin\r the hcckground of elernit). . . are that even now. for those who read and are influenced by the books Buck. it is the image of the Chinese peasant that she created that rises to of their nrinds whenever thev fiink of the Chinese people marshaled the demanding leadershiD of the Communist zealots. ari,:ntdlisnt ttnd PtpLtldr t{ ESSA atlt k, t9aq t9l0! 199 Y IJl the firs t . historian Robcrt R)i dell. professor at Monrana State University. ipino exhibit al the St. Louis World's Fair. at€uin-s that its b.cakdown into differenl ogical "types.' including Visayans. Mor.os, Negritos. and Igorots, eftbodied thc ican colonial policy of giving privileges ro rhose Filipino groups wnom tney to be the most civilized and civilizable. The second essay moves the analvsis of ientalism fiom World's Fairs to the Hollywood screen. Hcre historian Karcn Janis g. Assistant Profcssor tt Arizona State Universitv. cxanlines the complex racial i of silent film star Anna May Wong. The argument rcveals Orientalisrl describes the to be l u seful that can both benefit and iimir Asian Americans. Filipino Village at the 1904 World's Fair ROBERT RYDELL The Louisi Deparhnent (ompfehe n\i exhibiting nearly as poss enthusiastic ing Frederic World's Colu tbr their plans had becone Bureau of resign. His exposition as profession. but Purchase Exposition featured the most extensive Anthropology any world's fair The directors expressed their intent to establish "a anthropological exhibition, constituting a Congress of Races, and y the barbarous and semi-barbarous peoples of the world. as in their ordinary and native environments_" These plans received from leading anthropologists around the courtfy, includPutnam. former head of the Department ofAnthropology at the bian Exposition, who tendered the directors his "hear.ty approval" To head the department. the directors turned to W J McGee, who of the nation's preeminent anthropologists during his tenure at the Ethnology betbre charges of financial inegulariry tbrced him to was blemished. but by no means denrolished. He regarded the opportunity not only to maintain his stature in the anthropology fashion the national identity out of his own well-developed theory of racial organized the substance of his theory about progress into two Progress," delivered at the Washingtol Academy of and "National Glowth and National Character," one in a series of lectures on onarl expansion sponsored by the National Geographic Society. In "The Trend f Hulan Progress," McGee developed a broad oyerview ofhuman hrstory. the existence of a "trend of vital development fuonl low toward the high, from toward brightness. from idleness gloveling toward intellectual " The driving fbrces behind this upwad movement, he explained, "-the gradual increase in the cranial capacity of different were ' " Iaces-ancl on" the regular increase of manual dexterity along racial Iines. The , he believed. was self-evident: "It is a matter of common observation that the man can a/o more and belter than the vellow. the vellow man McGee : "The Trend of Human 1899 From Rubcrt R t876 19t6.C All the Wo d s a Fait: Visians of Enpire dt Atn?ie,t Intenatnnut E.\posititrl/s, O l9li.l Univer,,ity ofChicrgo Press. Used \rirh pefnission. 200 morc nd b+tter than the red or black." As a consequence of cheirizrtion and cephalization. lhe "advance of culture" proceeded along lines of racial achielentent: Classedf in terms of blood. thc peoplcs ol the world nuy be groupecl in several nces: classed]in ternrs o1 \'hat the) do rather thrn whul lhe] nrerely urc. ihcy lre convenien(ly groupe4i in (he tbur cultlrrc gfadcs of saragerl,. bitrbiLrisnr. civilizalion- rnd cnlichlenment- This cilivision of humanity into racially based cultural gradcs did not signif,v a static uniltrse firr McGee. Far t'ronr it. He saw the turn ol'lhe century s il time when 'perfected mln is olel-spreoding thc world." By "perltcted man" he simply nleant "thd two higher culture-grades-especially the Caucasian race. and (during recent declrdes) the budded enlightennrent of Britain and lull-blown enlighlenment o1-Amelicir." Caucasians. he argued. $erc usherin-r in a new era in world history when "huJnan culture is becoming unitred. not only through dillirsion but through the extinction 01'the lo\\"er grades as their representatives rise into higher grades." The net etlect of this process $as 'that the races ol'thc continents ale gladually uniting in]lightel blend. and the burden of hunranity is already in large measure the White M{n's burden-for. r'ierving the human world as it is. white and strong are synonym0usterms.... Whef McGee arrived in Srint Louis in August 1901. he made it clerr that he would fa$hion the exhibits in his charge into an exemplur]] of his theory of racial plogrcss. ]"The ain of the Department of Anthropology at the World's Fair." McGee stated. '{ill be to represcnt hurran ptogress from the clalk prime to the highcst en.''The lightenmfnt. lion savagery to cir,ic organization, ti-om cgoism to altluism. rlethod."]he added. "will be to usc living peoples in their accustonred rvocations as our greatlobject lesson." u,ith prrticular emphasis on "lndian school work. Americit's beit cflblt luele\rle Ihc lo\\er rircc\. ... By $penin-u day. . . . McGee had converted the western portion of the exposition -gro$nds into a field research stltion lbl the study ol nonwhite "typcs.'Groups of pygrr.lies lrom Africa. "Patagonian giants" trlm Argentina. Ainu aboti,gines liorn Jafan. and Kwakiutl Inclians from Vrncouvet Island. as well as groups ol' Native dmcricans gathered around proninent lndian chiefs inclucling Geronimo. Chiel'J$seph. and Quanah Parker. q,ere formecl into living ethnological exhibits. They rple suppiemented by an adjoining United States governmcnl exhibit of nearly rfne thousancl Filipinos and by separate ethnological concessions along the Pike. McGce assembled the nonwbites directly under his charge in&) a ''logical anangelnrena of living "types'' stretched out bet$'een tlle Indian School Building tnd thelPhilippines display. .. . Thb Philippine Reservation. according to Willianr P Wilson, chairm;rn of the 'an ('xprrsition United jstates governnlent s Philippine Exposition Boiud. constituted within ]an exposition: the -gre{test exhibiti(}n of the most marlelous Exptrsition in the hisiory of rhe world.'With nearly twelve hundred Filipinos living in villa-tes on the tbrly-seven-acre site set aside tirr the dispiay. the exhibit clirnaxed the efforts of earlfer expositiorl promoters to establish. under [ederal government auspices, a )arge-:]cale exhibit of the peoplc and resources of the Philippine Islands. But the size of the exhibit at Saint Louis ti!'exceeded the wildest dreanls of the dircctors of pre{ious fairs. lt rvas also unique in havin-s the lull support of the lecleral governmeht at the outset. Ari.,lnli\jn ,utJ Ptl)ltlnr (ltlutrt. t901-19J]s 20l The director]s hopes fbr government participation in the planned Philippine of the i$lands. According to the World's Fair Bulletirr, Tuli believed that the itjwould havc a 'nroral etlect" on the peoplc of the isitnds and rhar ipino partici$ation would be a very great influence in completing pacification in bringing filipinos to inprove their cordition." Presidcnt Thcodore Roosevelt Secretary of fVar Eliiru Root suppoflcd Taii's positioD and encouragcd his et'lorts ve an exhibit as possible of the products arrd resources. organrze "as actures, art. ethnology. educlrtion. government of the Philippines Islands. and habits and of the Filipino people." Responsibility fol the success of the undeltaking centcred on William Powell Taft's ee to direct the Philippine Exposition Board. At the time of had a national and intemational reputrtion as the ibuncler and selection, of the lnhia Commercial Museum-an institution that wedded science the interests ot'American business expansion overseas. . . . One of Wilslon's f)rst steps as head of the Philippine Exposition Board was to nme nd that his associate at the Commerci{l MuseLrm, Gust.ryo Niederlein. be inted directdr of exhibits for the board. Likc Wilson. Niederlein was a naturalist scientist deloted to the advance of Westem ilrperialisnr. . . . In late 190? Niederlein and Wilson put their scientilic and business talents to in the Phifippines. With the cooperation of several prominent Filipinos and 'ous Unitep States colonial oflicials-including Clarence R. Edwa|ds. chief f the Bureau o{ Insular At'tairs, Albert E. Jenks. tbrmer ethnologist at the Bureau f American Etljnology and head of the War Departn'renr's Ethnological Survey of Philippine I$lands, Daniel Folkrnar. anthropologist and lieutenant-governor rn 'ge of the Philippine civil service, and Pedro A. Paterno. president ol the Philiporoceeded to arranse material fbr the colonial exhibit at the tslana ase Expo.ilion. Simulllne.,u.l5. in ucc.,r'Jrrn,c $ith lhc congre.act cstablishment of the Exoosition Boaril. Wilson and Niederlein s tbr a pelmanent conrmercill museum in Manila ancl fol a preexpos that would show Filipinos the exhibits that $ould be sent to Lou is. museum, intended primarily to provicle Anrerican business interests d ta about the econorric possibilities of the islands. opened in closed in Mav when it became aDDarent that the exhibits wonld bruary 1903 needed to the display tbr Saint Louis. The preliminary exposition never the same reason. Yet the motives behind the Manila exposition and seum I the Dlans tbr the exhibit at Saint Louis and revealed the ove.all to institutionalize American colonial rule. to brinc to the of the g impelling pouel ol nrodern cirilizutiorr. rs Niederlein termed il. to show thd Filipinos how America would aid the devclopment of the islands I der elopecl fnd increr'ing industries." To emphasize to Filipinos the lon-c road they would have to travel befbre hieving the c{pacity for self-rule. the shorFlived museun included a division of rnology illust|ating "tdbal and racial exhibits in every detail" and "showin-g the : of culture fnd growth of civilization" on the islands. This ethnological f'eature only reapp{ared in the exhibit at Saint Louis. but dominated the Philippine 202 /../ l),1lt, r/\ Reservati the Ncrr' pur-lloscs Edmund cilDle cl ir ..1sr,r,r .lrrl.rinr,, Hlt,j,l to such an cxtenl that McCee. lLs eIIlv as November 1903. intbrmed r/i /irlc\ th;rt thc disphl, fion the isllncls would be 'to all intcnts and lo-uicrl in character." When the experiencecl midrvay olganizer Felder. ioinecl the board irs an cxcculire ofllcer in March 190.1. it bethat the Exposition Boartl would drlu. upon the decade-iong tradition as well as upon lcceived scientific wisclonr sn shing whal anlounted to a l'ederally sanctioncd ethnologictl villase of the reservation. the prinrary direction ol gorernmcnt appointed scientists. the reservathe r alue ol' the islancls to Amelica s comrnercial growth and created ly r,aliclirted inrpression ol Filipinos as lacially inteliol and incapable selt-detcrrn ination in the r'rcaf lirtufe. No exhibit at anv exoclsition better : impcrill asnirations ot jts sponsols. As David R. Francis observed at dedication of the nrillion-dollar exhibil in mid-June. the displav fi'orr incs alone justified lhe r'xpense and Iabor that wenl i|to tlte enti[e flir. to finish he believecl it wrs the 'orcrshitdonins tcatufe" of the exoosii\ nr)t(jd. nr(rrco\cr. lhrl Iircl)-riDc rrut ol u hun(lfed lrirsoerr \i\rlcd ol mid$a clhnological concessions rQute to on the si U tion irlli a scl of nati fulfllled the ot'1i the'Phili Fron r tion. F the The ading imperial rnessage ol thc rcscrvation rvas inescapable and apparcnl Tro[1 l1ronrent visilors set lbot on the forestcd acreage set side ti)f the disDlay. -covcrcd Bridge oi Spain. the ntain entlance to thc reseryittion. conveycd Thc vlsll0rs o irn imrncnse \\hr Departurent exhibit in the W lled City-a leplicu of on uoLrnd MLlnilll-where lairgoers could relive the recent nilitary the I bv the Unired States. lrl the Wrlled City. the Philippine Exposition Board engineefed the circuplan of the leserlati()n into a serics of three cultural spheres depicting the lar cir ilizirj,r inllucnce Lrl'thc Spunish pasi. the current ethnological state ol the islands, and thclbeneficent rcsuits that Filipinos and Arnericans llike could expect fiom dre United lakeovef. At thc center of the reservrtion the board establishcd a "tvoical" Mrinila plrza. sunounded b], ti)ur large Spanish-st),le buildin-gs. These strucsting of an upper-class resiclence. a govcroment building. an eclucatit>nrl ancl a reproduction o1'the comncrcial museum in Manila. renrindcd visitors of the panish legacy on thc isl nds rnd at lhe srnre time laid out the attributes of ion-social and political order. cducation. and colnmerce-that the tederal c ivil consideled cssen(ial to thc iirtufe rvcll-being of the islands. ti(!rn lllc (cr)lrll pllz:r uclc l.eries ol clhnrllogicill rillrrgcs. olien adjacent to exhibit buiJdings depicting the weallh ol natural tesources on the The villa-ees porhayecl a vtriety of Filipino "types. including Visayrns, "the high B nroreintelligcntclassofnati\es."i\4oros.'flelce fbllowers of Mohammed." 'nronke_v- -like' Negritos. and 'picturesclnc" Igorols. In the thid ''savages." sphele. at the tirrthcst outreach ol the reservation and concentrated behind and Negrito villages. thc boirrd located encarnpnents of Philippire Scouts - -collaborationist police fbrces enlisted by the Americnn military and in supplessing the ongoing insunection in the islands a-qrinst the United . The tlnction of thesc units at the lair exteDded bevond oolicine the reseruatioD. one oficial -suide k) the reservalion expllined. the Constabulary and Scouts .'extremes xtaposed to the lgolots ancl Negritos b bring out the of the social in the ishnds." NLrnrbering nearly ser en huntln-'d. or or er hlll the total number cu the t)ri dli t n of Filipinos the "result ol reservauon. cor'ttilined pine tdbes." declared that only about is alnost enti The ir not\!l Moros-the reselVation. the f()Inrer. by any Prt:lltu ()!huri. 1t)t)1 l93t)s 20j the rcservation. these paranilitary lbrces were intcnded to illustrate ican rule" and to suggest lhe possibility for cultural advrnce un- der America' cL'loniul This Ll udntini.tlltion ,rf thc i.lirnds. ily \\:rs ll:o the srthject ('l ilrl clhnol,)gi.rl muieurn \iltllte(l on the rected by AIbert Jenks. this institution. "rvith cloisters like a convent." bits devorcd to "rn interpretation of the habits and life of the Philipks concentrated en the lgorots. Moros. Bagobos. and Negritos and were "true salagcs. Jenks. horvever. stressed thilt they lepresent -seventh of the entirc population of the Ar.-hipelago. and their cultule ly of their own development." ive nunrerical insignificance in the islnnds and at the fair were 38 Bagobos. -ll Negritos. ll{ Igorots. and 100 -there hibits of the "wild tribes" became the nrost popular displays on the In rhe .tlr't of thc firir. the Igorol rnJ Ncgrito rilluger. c.peciall5 ght the fancy of fairgoers ancl ol the nation to a de-urce unsurpassed at anv fair since the summcr of 1893 when Fatina had danced chy on the Midway at the World s Columbian Exposition. The the hootchy perceived icity of Igorot lit'e doubtless accounted tbr part ol their appeal and madc some rgoers long fbr a less conrplicatcd way of living than that repreuments to industrialization contained in the White Citv nalaces. sented by the e impctus to see the Igorot exhibit stelllmed less from preindusBut the i trirl lungings lrorn u po\\erlirl nrirture ot rr hite .uplcr[rci\l se\ui]l slcrcol\'pes and voyeuri thc lgorots nd Negritos into pr'onlinence more rapiclly than Nothing the that eruptcd in June. shonly atier the opening oi the exhibit. o\'er whal one termed "their dusky birthday robes.' With a presidential carnpaign under way ancl with anti-inrperialists irr the Derrocr-ntic piuty oD the verge ol includ ing a plank in lhe party's plattbrm stating that the Filipinos rvcre "inherently unf'tt to be mcnbers of the Anrerican body politic." thc Roose\clt rdnrinistration bccame concelned that local press reports emphasizing the abscnce ol clothing on these Filne tlre governnrent's eflinls rt the lirir to show the possibilities ipinos would lbl prrgress ori the islands. On f3 June Tafi *ircd Edwulds to ar,oid "anv possible impression tha(the Philippine Corernmcnt is seeking kr nrake pronrinent thc savageness and of the wild tfibes either lirr show pulposes or to deprcciate the popular of the general cililization of the islands." ln a fi)llow-up tclegram. Tafi suggested 'that short tlunks rvould bc enough lirr the mcn. but thut lbr the there ought to be shins or cherrises of son]e sort." Tiift also oldered: Negrito 'Answer what you have done immediately. The President u ished to know." Edwards lost no tine in Nabling his lesponse. telling Taft that the Negritos 'wee until fecently dressed up like plantation niggerlsl. whom they diminutively represcDt. recenlly. . . discardcd these clothes and put on their nrtive loin cloth." Further[the] men the secrelilr)' of \\,ar. signs had been put up showing the lo$, mofc. number of ''wi cl tribes" relative 1() the overall population of the Philippines. The adnlinistration however. remained unsatisfied. The tbllowing day Tati's private secrelary Edrvards: "President still think\ that u here thc Isorot has a mere G string that it be well to add a short trunk to cor,er the butbcks and fi'onl." Tati. moleovef. I Eclwiucls 10 obtain a written stltement lron the Board of Lady an adjunct to the -general dilectorship of the exposition. assuring 204 l.ri'f I',irltdrr{ ir ,4ll.i,, ,4rr!f[,],r Hirr,,,1' the xdmi istlirtion th t the lppeilrancr. ol'the l-eorots nnd Negritos was unobjecthc meantt nte Edu'lrcls ordeled Niederlein to have Tfuman K. Hunt. tionable. lirrmel li tenant-go\emor of thc Lapanto-Bontoc pro\iiice and tnanaser of the Igorot vi age. put brcechclouts on tlre lgorots und "allou no child to go nlked." 's cfli)ns at overnight civili/ation ptovoked l)1uch nliflh. brought Thc an ou llom anthropolog ists. and generated a grcat deal of publicity tbr the exSairrt LoLris Po.rt D i'pat(l1 carried a ca(oon showing Tati crrrying a POSIt|On. parr ot ts. in hot pursujt of an I-solot clad onlv in a G-strin-s. The editol of the sanle dispatched a lettcr lo the "Deplftment of Exp)oit tion" at the decllring: "Tu put pants on Ithe lsorots and Negritos] woulcl change a very int ng ethnok)gical exhibit which shocks no one inlo a sugscstive sideshorv." irate Frederick Starr secondcd thcse thoughts in a nrenro toWilson: ''The ntilic valuc of the display is unquestionably grert. Such value woLrld bc cornpl v lost bv dressing these people in a wa), unlike that to which they are ac'' Starr also added thtt clothing nright rctually kill the Igorot and Negrito given the heal of the Saint Louis sunrmcr. By rlid-July the Boald of Lldy villag concunecl in the necd fbr maintuirring the apparent genuineness of the M exhibi and the Rooscvelt adnrinistration abandrrner.J itr pllnr to cornpel the [gorots itos to wear bright-colorcd silk trouscrs. and N ticatin-s lhesc villagers as "silliiges." however. lefi the administration oliginul pr',rblenr. Il tirirgtrers percejved the villagers rs Lrtterly backwarcl with of progress. tlle displil)'s would rctually bLrttress the racist argunrents and used rnti-inrperiuli\ts to oppose annexatiol'r of thc islands. But the Philipprnc Board had alreacly circunrvcnted this dilemma bl driving an ethnological Exposi wedge the lgorots and Negritos. The Negritos. according to various officilll descri ions ol their village. wele 'extretnely lo$ in intellect." and "it is believed will cventualll- beconre extinct. ' Trr rcintbrce this idea. one of the Negritos that :d Missing Link. The lgorots. on the other hand. wcre judged capable of ing. Sci!'rti\t\. lrceolding to ln ,rtticial souvenir guicle. 'have declared that proper training the) are susceptible of a high stage of developmelt. and. unwith American Inclian. w ill ilccept rather than dety the atlvance of American civilike ." Igorot wonlen. one Amelican olticial hastcncd to point out. "are the most -sorters" in the world. The possibilit) tor uplifi was highlighted when experr t visited the reservation and a nrissionan schoolteacher led her class of Roose lcorot in a chorus ol "Ml Counny Tis olThe e." The Glolte-Detnoorrt recorded the 's satistaction. "lt is $onderlul. Rooselelt declalecl. "Such advitncentent and rn short a limel ' ln concccling that the Igorots nright be capable ofcultural adv{nce however. the go\ernment did not suggest that thev uele capable of achier inr with Cauclsians. Rather. lhe schools in operation on the reselvation sugthat the Dlrce oi the l!:or'ots and other nrembers of the 'wild tribes" in the ernpile would closelv resemble the place mapped out fi)r Native Amencns bllcLs in fie Llnitcd Strte\. the exception ofthe Ne-uritos. $'ho $'e|e placed on the road to extiDction by nt ethnologists. the Philippine Exposition Board crouded other "grades' pinos into the wiLgon ol progress-to borrow McGee's mctaphor-without tins them to ride horseback. As several nrentbers ol the Scouls and Constabany attempt to cross the tirrward limits of the racial hierarchy Ori.ntdlistn nnd l'ott!l,1t Cul!1 e. 1901 l93r)s 205 in contirming riders down the road to utopia $ould neet with serious conse of the Scouts and Constabulary who ilccepted the invitation of schoolteachers from Saint I-ouis to accornDanv them on tours and of the city were taunted as "niggers." When taunts lailed to several United States Marines, with the tctive cooperation of s police force, known as the Jef'ferson Guards ancl cortposed whites. took matters into their own hands. As couples walked a contingent of Marines and guafds-the latter had been "heavily loaded with lead" in lieu of revolvcrs threatened to worrren and kicked their Filipino escorts to the ground. When the to their camp, an even larger group of Marines arrived on the ed to show the Filipinos that the lynch law was not limited to They charged the Filipinos, shooting revolvers into the air and on boys! Let's clean the Gu-Gus offthe earth!" Edwards deplored "in view of the fact that there are none of the negro blood in the lary." But the outburst of violence against the "highest grade" on the reseryation underscored the success of the exhibit the impression that Filipinos were savages at worst and "little bLown men" best. lmposed on quences. young white of the fairgrou halt the pro the expositio largely of around the issued sli arrest the whi Sr u uts sc9ne southern b shoutlng, the racial cl Scouts or of Filipinos On the ion of PhJlippine Day at the fair. held to commemorate the sunender of Manila. a great step in the difftLsion of freedom over the globe," a local paper summaflzed overall meaning of the reseryation; "For the sake of the Filipinos and for the credit o our own country we retained control of the Philippines, with the dctheir people into the nearest approach to actual independence termlna on Io which they have with salety to themselves.'As the reservation made clear, that "nearest h to actual independence" enttriled instructing Filipinos in the ethnological tations operating to hamper their progress-limitations that in turn mandated that ipinos be willing workers and consuners in the burgeoning overseas market established by American commercial interests. "The Filipinos themselves from their St. Louis experience that they werc not rcady fbr seJfgovernment," Portlartd Oreeonian reported on the eve of the l-ewis and Clark n. which also would include an e.rhibit ol Filipinos. Americans. Ccntcnnial the added, "who talked with lthe Filipinosl and studied the t besmen vcs of anv inoression that the natives could take care of them disabused selves" The conceded that "[t]here are intelligent Filipinos. But fhe majonty are vely helpless. They are children. . . . Burdened with a problem would be hooelesslv Iost." Two homes missionaries who visited of govemment, the exhibit si larly commended the government ofllcials in charge for "a grand aflair-wisely anned, well adjusted to enable Americans to see the several tribes in their various stages of development and to note tl're crpabilities and possibilities of the race." re{er\ttion. the} conlinued. hJ\ \trenplhened our conlidence in government's general policj, respecting the Philippines and their the wisdom of hopeful outlook fbr the Filipinos under American jurisdiction." moreover, promised to do everything in their power to advertise exhibit as traveled around the countrv on the National Hone Mission lecture It fbr the ,{ell, lor* Rrsl to sum up: "There plobably was never such colonial gathered in the worid." l\'oh]Jlils iti A\ittn A rtinut lliltrtr The Racialized Image of Anna May Wong KARFN JANIS LEUNC into the mirror. then looks intently at the nragazine on he| dressing room thoroughbred American GIRL-a skin as white rs nlilk! You can have pronrises. t'eaturing a f'ull-length tigule of the "Typical" g woman on the rnargin. Her gaze drawn back to her own rcflection. Anna at her "brown" arnl and. directing hcf attention a-sain to the mirror. attenlpts lo out her Oriental lines." Finallv shc relches lbr a bottle ol lotion. 's Miik-White Magic." She again gazes in the mirror. imitating the "Mal "Typicol erican girl" pictures on the lotion's label. An ni.r is not destined to transtbrn hersell. In this screenplay scena o of Paramou 's Rr|tI Mrrfrs ( 1925). Annabelle WLr-refelred to ir't the scenario as 'Anna" hemes to aid the cad she !oves in his olot to blacknrailthc heroine into does this out of her desire to be white. She hopes that the trcacherous narnage. Le Sagc turn will desire her because of her "u hileness." But this is not b be. Alier she has iailed hinr. hc is furiuus. "You yellow fool! Do you know Le Sage to me? [t means prison-tbr iitel" Anna hysterically indicates that what this flee together. His response. as written in the scenario. is to litcraliy thcy himself and out of the pictue. "Youl I hope I rnay never sce your l1ing her stupid. -eyed lace again-you damned Chink l ' Thus Anna May Wong exited earlier fl lms. one of The Ie of Annabe lle Wu appears to have been written with Anna May Wong in of a handtul of Asian actresses in Hollywood. the sinriiarity of Wong's mind. Wu s was more than coincidental. [Journalist] Zelda Crosby's l9l9 syn name opsis ol Lord Chumlel'.' the initial title of the Paramount f-eature, mertioned no 'acter. no Annabelle Wu. By the time 'Lord Chunrley" was filrred as Forn' Astan Wirls si years Iater. however. Annabelle Wu had beconre the pivotal character. her white as central a tension in the story as the romancc between the heroine desire t The scenario of Bennrn Millhauser's screenplay mrkes stunningly clear and '\ pelcepri()n ol a "typicrl" A.irn woman. In lhe scene uhere Annrbelle the ir note explains her characler: Anna table. "For it !" the Amer'lcan To in end to characlerize Anna as il girl \Nho \\'ould gi\'c her last drop of blood to be a"rvhitc gir'1. She loves lo think ol hersellas looking thoroughly Anlericnn. lh is. \ c n)u.l ntale iefluttt tlt.rt lll her dre.- r rrc.'lirt'e.. clc.I rnLl hcr lreiLl-drc\\. everythjng intimate and personrl about her be done jn Anlericon frshion. Her inve rcactions are {7^rllr'.r Oriental. oriental" reactions. according to the screenplay. included wanting to be "white and acting in a conniving and duplicitous nlatter. No lnatter how nruch she Anna will always remain innately "oriental.' effects ofracial prejudice were painiully obvious in the tilm roles ofAnna and are likewise evident in a survey of her career. In her "private" life May These ized lnagc ofAnnr Nl.r) \\'ong h] K.rren Jiris Leong frorrt Zr( Cli,r(/ Mr \liqtt!: t'ltt\li r r. I'eu S. B & ntl A|"tu l a\' ll'org in th( Alnt t it'o,t ln :<inltiatt. Copyisht O 2001 Rcprinrcd br_ pcrnrissiorr of th!' nu(h('r itnd Uni\er\il] of C.tlilixnia Press. 0ti.ntiti\,lt1 ,l Prtrlnt Qthurt. IejJ-1gJt)\ 2O7 Wong would publicly ancl persistently be cast as a wonlan as her lllm tu,o cultures. between traditi0n and nrodernitv. Wong s crreet rng bet\\ by her racial hcrittge and oppetrance. and her celebrity bte.lly was on ner te vely unique status ils ao irctress of Chincse descent. Magazine g fbcuscd on her culturuLI conflicts. which she lieely discussed. u'ith clpitalizecl on what set Wong visibly apaft f'rom other Hollyrepresenlau profited in some q'lvs frorTr this stmte-sy: she clearly suflered hoptlirls w11ys. in aspects ol'he| story resonate with the stories of numefous except that hcrs was uniquely much nrore public. In order Chinese recolrnized i Anerican socicty. Wong had to perpetuate or at least participate of the Chinese. For herself and the Chinese Americans rnobility a|ld public visibility powerfully Iimited the ity. socl ll ilities ()1' of her cilreer. Wong's roles would undergo slight but signilicant Over the Americl that s. and Wong's own. changing relationship with China. Lrnd Chinese Atneticans in United Stales scriety roles. Although Won-e's carly roles tlom l9 | 9 as an exties and were relatively ninot. her presencc onscreen uctoI as a character of Chincse lar her to the late I the audience in accepting the tjctive 'authenticity' of the imaglocale. Yet Wong herself was rtot firreign. but Anlerican. often tbrei Sam Sing Wong rnd his wile Lee Gon Toy Wong, both Anna May's 'e-born Calitbrnians ofChinese descent. They owned and operated med 1o be Street in Los Angeles. in which they also resided with their lu. Anna May. James. Mary, Frank. Roger. and another daughter. chl ilt a yourg age. Anna May. the second eldest. was born in presumably . Be-cinning n l9l9. while still a high schu)ler. she began working lIS an extra several silent lms. She was a t'eatured player ir the Technicolor-produced 7iri1 the Seu tn I . but there fler continued to plal, minot or supporting roles in a fi lrn s. ol' contract in Hollywood. Worlg set sail fbr Europe in 1927 after Unable to ion companv chose her to star in two films. Atler these films. German roles in three British productittns. Wong enjoyed great popong received duling this tinre. and also sta[ed in a Viennese operetta and a tn . ln 1930. Wong retLtrned to the United States and signed a threestage p conlracl with Paramount Studios. Betbre beginning any filnl projects. London role in the Broadway version of the same play. A Ci'lle g repnsed cut short with news that hel mother had been killed in an auto Chatk, This returned immediately to Los Angeles to be with her tamily arrd in two nrediocre thrilleI pictures: these did little to enhance her nl casl tack ol opportunities. W0ng again set off li)r Europe where she . Due t<r theatre circuit. Abro{d. Wong starred in Iiglr'841, C/rlr on the JLrr,r He*l. Altcr lho\e filmr Prntmount .igned her to appelr in in Chovv, flcantly ln 1934. return to ai ag in Ieturned to America. That same year her tather decided in China. taking the four youngest children with hinr. Soon after y auditioned in 1935 fbr a lole in MGM's The Gootl Ettrth. she "to return to China' to visit her family. At the end of 1936, ten An1trfut I 208 i\tniot l't oltILtlt5 months slgned er. Wong returned once morc to the United Statcs. where she agair was a multi-picture contract with ParirmoLrnt PictLrres. the late l9-lOs Wong's changing roles bcgan to retlect Americans' chang- ing dent. career it t /1skltl Ll istot of China. Paramount Studios now cooperated rvith the Chinese consul in tilms set in China. A series of three films ttaturing Wong as an indepenChinese Anrerican woman rcsulted, Bv 1939. however. wons's film declined. Simultaneously. her activisrn on behalf of China increased. 1938, and continuing through the end of thlr war she devotcd her effots ng and fundraising tbr China's war of resistance. l94l to the end of the war. Anna May Wong stdmed in two films about ed some stage plays. and made several United Service Organization China, (uso) to retire remi-olficially from filml by 1943. In the She 'eemed Wong appeared in a ftw films and hosted a short-lived and early 1950s. later I mystery theater series on television. She wrs on the r,erge of yet snother career when she was signed to a role in Rodger's and Hammerstein s musictl transtll Sorrc in l96l . Before the production about Chinese American assimgenerational conflict in San Francisco commenced. however. Won-q at ilation in her sleep at the home of her youngest brother. the age f fifty-six died yct not a part. . . ": Anna May Wong's Cultural Conflict ay Wong was tnore successful in crossing national bqders than she was in through those ba|Tiers to her career posed by race and gender. Her publibreaki '' litc, so necessary to Inaintaining a star personality. only contirmed cized expectations on the part ol producers (and possibly even audiences) and ers Wong could convincingly portray. A selective personal history comof the ol Anna May Wong as an actress occupying a unique niche. marketing ed the Wong s romantic lite extended her "existence alrcady lajd out ln focus on g's l93l staffing tehicle. Duughrer oJ the Drugon. lbcused on the tiLns." Anna romancc. The daughter of the evil Fu Manchu (portrayed by s actor Warner Oland). Wong's character firlls in love with a young Englishl'eelings are rcciprocated. and he professes his love tbr her in the 111m. The man. her charrcter's response in the film. 'But does that change the colol of artlcle my5 ? . . . Does that make nry straight black hair turn to yellow curls and my black blue?" The interviewer. Audrey Rivers. added. "lwong] might have been eyes talki of her own tragedy." Rivers noted the irony of Wong's "inabilily" to be kissed on fl because of her race. "even though she has become so Westernized that she is a stranger to her own race. She thinks in terms of penthouses and speednow not in tenrs of bamboo huts and ox-carts. She reveals in the tieedom of the ing r woman-in clothes. in habits. in speech." ln another interview that same yeiu. ong recalled visiting with "some Chinese tiiends . . and their wives did "Nothing but gossip about their babies, their neighbors and their housework. "l like tbr me.." declared Anna Mly. could not live such narrow lit'e." Wong's reflection of maried honte life was cast as reiection of Chinese culture. magazines rellected the nature of Hollywood's fascination with Anna Mily By the 1920s. magazines marketed at movie fans constituted a particularly of illicit Oticntdlist)tnndPrfukr(:ult ra. 11t)t)-lt))0\ 2O9 tbr peryetuating personalities. Interviews rnd aflicles "reed" pcrsonal of the star's ostensibly "private" life. indivitlualizin-q his identity. P(blicists provided stories intended to fulfill the audience mems perceiled to focus on and identify with thc "star-." focusirg on u,hat the individupl uniquc and what kepr her ordinary, The actor's "individual" ghts rnd leelings only entered thc public sphere as they were channeled glt the strl sl|,rcm rnd rubjecred to irs requircrnentr. So while these rnrguzines cles conslitute]the majority of what is known about Wong. their contcnt also rhitperl hr the necds (,l the intlusrry rrsell. Asr successful movie actress and the only Chinese American woman thus. Wong'ii hybrid identity lbfnred the basis of her unique star personaliry. May Wons affirmed and challenged preconceived notions of Asian dil- in her pu|lic stagings. Si-qnitlcantly. the few feature articles about Won-q these narratives. Wong s conflict of cultures and her attempt reconcile her and Chinese backgrounds were central to her picture oped in movie n'ragazines. This polarization manitested itself in discussions [ofl Wong-s romantic life. Although numerous ervlewers appeared that Wong maintained an aura of mysrery and distance, speak fieely about marriage. dating. and the conUicr she ttlr cultures Wong suppolted uhire pririlege -non-uhirenes. fcsulreJ in stories ering-and rlinfbrced racial separation. The conspicuous absence of publicized . a topiclthrt inmediately connoted a private life. con\titLtted the core of s puhlic Melodramatic articles portrayed her as continually divided terribly loncfy. According to IFan magazine writer Audreyl Rivers. Wong exto her lh4t '.no American man will marry me. . . . I have becon'te too Atnerito InarTy one milarly rep0t privilegecl fidence. exc I'11 losc my own race. What is there for me?" [Journalist Helen] Carlisle Wong's conjectures about her marital stiltus. heiehtening her as confidante and Wong's "oriental ' status. '[n a burst of ngly rare among her people, she said to me one day: 'l don't rnarry. Whom could I marry i Not a man of your race. for he :lrnung hi\ people rnd I rnon;t mine. ' The public scourse of Anna May Won-s's private life thus was constructed dillerences between the cultures of the West and the opposing. "enancipated" status as an Americanized rvonran prevented g's Elst. with a Chinese man. Hcr nrlrginali,/ed stitus il\ a Chinese from l re . Iegally prevented her from marrying a European American. This '' which "seemingly has no solution," fastened itself to Wong's e. ' Yct. wonders, what true romance-and romance should go hand n hancl with come to this girl who is a part, yet not a part l . . . She was a iittle Orien enclosed by the Occident, a society in which she longed to -sirl" y panrclpar but could not. tne of Wong's cultural conflict set up a divergence of identity for Wong ine reader On the one hand. the reader might partly identify with g s story to to fit in. be popular. and to Iive her own independent lit'e. On (,ther hrtld. y few readers could identify with rhe objcct of Wong's the generic 2\) conflict+er Chinese aDcestfy. Movie rnagazines consciouslv appealed to nridrlle class and fvhite adolescent wonren. irtternpting to irf'luence opinions and attitudes. and to ln4rfket advertisers' beauty ploducts. Ronrance aDd marriage pcrsistently presenled thenrselves in most movie mrgt/ine leiltmes. Anna May Wbng s publicized prilate Iife reflected some Anelicans' tirscination rvith oriental cxoticism. and the stfreotypical "all Antericrn '_eirl's desires of (hetcroscxual) love. ronrancc. and maffrllge. ln Benuty an Amen nationali Tragic Real Love Story of Anna May Wong." subtitled "Orient l llecl to Choosc Bct*ccn Heritage of R ce and Her Perfbrmance tbr Hurhlnrl.'tlre qtrc:tion ol \\h)Wongl,irlt,'clroo'eheltrecutlt,.e:rtt'.j ncver prcsenled itself. Conllict betwecn Asian ancl Amcrican cultules to be inevitrble. Race was perceivcd to be the cssential and cletining 's identity. As one caption read. "Anna May Wong finds it diflicult to keep /rcr ul Chinesc .sell scp:trate frorn her ncsternizcd personllity.' At le in this narrative is the possibilitl' of cultural inleraction beyoncl lacial and cultural diflerences. Accordins to thei'e irte[\,iews. assirnilation is nol lc. . . . Wong represerted r test cirse in which the person who enters iDto rnolhel . cultural. and lacial nrilieu is subsequently rejected by both cultures. resultlllg in Datholoeical internal conflict and alienation. One article escalated fionr a specifi+ stofy of why Wong does not marry to r general discussion ol uhf indifactor of yicluals nol attenpt lo n)ix uith dillerent -rroups. r cautionaf) tale -gainst s to transcend onc's own "tr ibal" atiiliation. The dlamatization of ditlcr leled the narratives ilgainst rnodemity ilnd urban ltnctions magnilierl exaggerated cliflelences of race thilt Wong errcted onscreen. Yet little Wong revealed regarding her o\r n thoughts on mardage suggests perspective. Anna May Wone enjoyed the nrobility that her career irnd wealth supportcd. Althou_{h unmarried. Won-l: did not lack fi)r corr p ot social activities. ruoving lcross the intellectuals and sophisticltes ()1' panl Eu fopc cosnropolitan New York with grace and apparent ease. Her Iower-cirse eltce thfough and racial hcritage not$ ithstanding. Wong gained access to thesc social ol-hel appearance and hel status. nray h 'e chosen to play up to her racial tliflerence 1() quiet specLrlatior on rvhy did not appear interested in nrarria-ee. At one point. she and her good fiiend. or Philip Ahn. were rumored to be engagecl. Rcpresenting these tw, Aslan actors as romantically attached reflected an inrportant aspect of Dublicitv. Heterosexual romance served as a fnnctional and fictional to meet the expectations and needs of a segment of the moviegoing public. star's romancc in private lite therefore was a necessiu'y aspect of his or her pu ic pcrsonalit),. Attributing her never having been photogrlphed on a date to lrnti-n'riscegenation larv enhanced her heteroscxual identity whether with ir ctrlrl prxctice or rlot. based i ically. Wong cotltl openly reltr ltl racial barricrs t{) explain her l ck oi ii publi ed) lon)anlic life. The narrative of "Success." of "Celebrity. thus was circles I raciai with a conspicuously by intrtlsion of social realitl'-r{cial division Wong's discussions of race sLlggest that the existence of tacial ban iers to {n inter in fact nray havc been more publicly ilccepted than a public ronrance -Asian nan. Conrad Doerr. who rented an apartnlent ffom Wong in the Oricnttiistn dnd Pol lnr(.uh re. 191)1-tg30s 2ll 1940s, recalled "Her one big love was a Caucasian . . . it wns imperative that lomance remaln clandestine. He was naried." Working withi!r the parameters ol public expectations. Wong could explain hcr sln status along tacial or gender lines and disclose nothing more. Statin-e her reI to discuss lher own views cin marriage. Won,r] admitted that shc wasn't sure lhe "rt work witfr her, fbr she wants. above all things, to travel widely. . . . As a :lor girl she hiis one consolation. 'l do so enjoy my independence !"' Te lli ngly, thc article wrifer could not lully believe she enjoyed her independence, calling "one consolalion." are many events that a new in the publicized life of Anna May Wong. Examining two spe not enter into the discourse of her public image is instructive as a public personality and what remains private. Wong's attempts in 1946 were documented by a tele,sram addressed to gossip actor Hedda Hopper. Desiring to relocate. Wong had sold ist and Hopper. Upon looking at homes fbr sale. Wong soon fbund that home to other homes because racial restrictions had becn wrinen could not in the housing contracts. In desperation, she tried to contact Hopper by telere. Failing to feach Hopper at home or the otfice, Wong resorted to a telegrarn. Sorry coLrld no[ re{ch you by phone at oftice or home yesterday. Wanted to see you and beg ol you to rplinquish my property. Pcthaps u hen I cxPlain situation you $ ill undcrsrand it is not for any gain or profit but aftcr covering the real estale tleld thoroughly I discovercd the{e are rucialrestrictions on everything rve looked at. This cin be \erified bl' the real esiate bffices. Therefbre please see my unusual silualion aDd makc the Senerous gesture due to seriousness of my position. . . . per apparentfly was sympathetic. One week later. Hoppcr conceded Wong's e by not cloting escrow. and wong was able to regain the deed to het house. ) though rcla{ively aft'luent and well known. Anna May Wong's movements were rcumscribed bj prejudice. Wong neverlpublicly discussed hcr personal losses. When Wong's mother was lled by a driv$r in front of tlre house or when Wong's sister Mary commilted neithel became part of her public image fbr understandable ln tne But she Uid not discuss her mother's death with any interviewer. Clearly. the would not add luster to Wong's star persona. and might even of these "Reality" in star discourse as [film scholar Richard] de Cordova her in concert with the fabricated image of the star hel self. shown, is a s Chinese heritage was romanticized, any potentially "negative" that did hot enhance her image as a tragic yet romantic figure were omitted. s. while Wofrg might mention travelling abroad to China to visit her tamily or anti-miscegbnation laws that prevented her tiom ever marrying a man of an:r race. Iittlt else of her experiences as a Chinese American person was subject discussion. Early in her carper. Wong attracted media attention because she looked "alien." yet fully participatpd in the conspicuous consumption of American popular culture. Wong presentep herself as more American than Chinese in her dress. siang and 212 i ltdi.r Pxi,ll!'tn\ i|i A\idn A h,ridn His?tI attitude$. [Film journalist] Margery Collier commented on this in l9-j0, concluding that]Wong featured "the face and figure of a Chinese girl and the nind of an AnrericFn flapper." Wong was a combination of stereolypes of both Chinese and Americ{rn women. Although Collier asserted that "Hybridism is inherent" in Wong's "screen interpretation." Wong realized greater marketability in emphasizing her "Chine$e" identity. Wong'stage foutine in Europe turther exploited her perceived hybridify and exotic Orientalism. as well as her marginai status in Hollywood. The novelty of "appearing tirreign yet sounding "continental." alongside hcr'Amcrican flapperl' image. contributed to Europeans'fascination u,ith Wong. An article announci{g her l93l return to Hollywood descibed how 'Wong was the toast of the contineht. according to stories brought back by fillll player who visited Europe. She mlde appearances in England. Gerntany. and I'-rance and speaks tluently the langua$es of these nations." By the early I 930s. Wong tired of being typecast. She herself des ired better roles. She hail only made two pictures. Dcag,/rtcrs ot thc Dft1!]ot1 ( 1932) and Shonghui (1932) since her return to the United States in 1932. Before departing fbr yet again. in | 933. Wong agrced to be irter\ iewe cl by the N etr kn' k H e ra I d 's Marguerite Tazelaar. She explained that "afier going through so many of roles that don t appeal to me. I have cone to the point of finding it futile to repert pu)r things. t feel that by now I have earned the ri-sht to have a finle choice in the parts I play." Wong would not be considered fbr non-Asian rofes, jet afso could lose Chinese roles to non-Chinese actresses. The Los Arrgeles in Septembcr iL)l: lhrl W\n.s ur: thc leuding cur)\iLlerillion lo sllrr Tiue.s in The SotrDaughtel adapted fiom r stage play. However, Helen Hayes was cast fbr that rde. also contributed to a lack of suitable roles that Wons could olav as American. Although 1932 seemed to promisc more Chinese roles, the government's threat b ban Paramount and other studios from exhibiting filns i China further dampened Wong's prospects fbr roles. IAs wong stated:] Chinese government has {ppointed a Chinese Consul in Hollywood rc censo. the objectionoble scenes in allChincse piclures. This puts somc limitationr upon stories Chinese pliiyers. I suggesled to the consul thrt I make iI picture f'or China. but thut is lpending. Wong of Ch nese in l9 I t dl and go to ned that the Chinese government s prolests over Hollywood depictions hrd re'ulted in'.ome limitutions upon .torie' for Chinese pluyers." Chiism surged in the 1930s in response to Jrpan s occupation of Manchuria and the League of Nation's refusal to respond with sanctions. One maniof this was a sharpened governmental critique of Hollywood's negatlve s of Chinese. In addition. the tendency of films tcaturing Asian characters to relv on sordid or violent plots also cont buted to a decline in role'. groups. such as the Catholic Legion. began to boycott Hollywood films of the perceived immoral intent. hersell hoped that chan-sing depictions of Asians might result from thc pressures converging on Hollywood. "Il ]n between the tilms they object to wishy-washy tilms they will certainly get. if thc producers get panicky and of innocent entertainment, is the kind of pictule ['ve been wanting to Oricntalisn d d Ptl, Llt Cultutr. 1901-19J0s 2l) or y9ars." rnterest rn currentiy reading Durin Byrne's Mc.rJsr Marco Polo. expressed a fllm based on Marco Polo's exneriences in Asia. It would help figure-why. corect lhe impression mo!iegoers have of mc as sinister Oriental children were afraid to come near me iI Lolrdonl would present a -itfbr greatcr under, and fldvcnturous picture. and it $ould nrake Anrcrica and China. beaulilul. standing also ie Chan ly until three Wong clearl reflected Wong's that her to the medi which is a ility to project those r(tes celebrity to acc Within the li in her own uas tn in 1934, career. Bef, Rob g could ollywood fi el room. to Wong success ln Picturegocr some stLrdios with a proposed film series inspired by the ferrruring her\eif r\ il deleclive. Studio\ did nr't rcsp('nd posilater. with the success of the Charlie Chan series. understood that the cultural uniqueness that she represented on very uniqueness that inspired prejudice and discrimination. with the stereotypical roles she portrayed, she also recwere greatly limited. In 1937. she explained to an admirer. ions plaving I am in. I have no choice in the matter. One has to take lable." As one whose economic livelihood corlelated with her' commodifiable. easily identified image Wong often was Iimited were available to her as { non-wbite actress. The need to maintain in order to enhance her ability to be cast ir filnt roles, rcquirecl the expectations of audiences lnd studio executives. range oIpo:.iblc role: rvrilablc to her. wong cho\e l() particicization a. an Oricntll perlormer. After completing Liirrelir,rrr, no llrther roles materialized tbr Wonc. She deoarted acain fbr she already established her reputation, in an attempt to revive she left. Wong apparently sought the advice of her Hollywood on how to cultivate her celebrity abroad. Wagner su,ggested that y increase her value in the culture of fllm and celebrity by being ing to Wagner. Among other things. I urged her to 'can' her and be Chinese. I suqsested that she even burn incense in her to her exotic char-m." to have iollowed Wagner's advice and, by all accounts. enjoyed lJournalistl Vivien North described for the British readers I the mysterious quality surrounding the actress: ItS m I ITOrS nst the Orientlrl buclground olhcr room. with its bowls ofbig llowers. soft lighting. her hands-with their Iacquered finger nails malching the Chinese red almost her .jumpel-firlded. her ankles crossed and every feature y feeling her complete stillncss. sitting therc Fan magazine 930 Filnr that " This ywood s composed- j John K. Newnham made similar observations of Wong in , feature. comparing Wong to a "Chinese Puzzle." Newnham ass'American mentality" worked in concert to promote her "Chinese nique combination of American initiative enabled her to "play u'ell." 2r4 Major Problems in Asien American Hittory and why she can always step back to staring roles. She has a comer which is her own. I\T 's analysis suggests that Wong succeeded because she could use her mulcarions Io her advantage. Presenting herselI in more ovenly orientalist Wong's primary selling point continued to be her racialized identity. tiple GFUR THER READING 'Amazing, Astounding, Wonder: Popular Science, Culture, and the Emergence Fiction in the United Srates, 1926 1939, Ph.D. disserration. U.C. Berkeley Cheng, J of (r W. War Wthout Mercl: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986). R. Scratches on Our Minds: American Images of China and India (1958). B. The Portrayal of China antl lrulia on the American Sc reen, 1896 1955 Dower, Isaacs, Jones, C. Orien@ls: Arian Anlpncnns in Populor Culturc tlgqot. Janis. "The China Mystique: Mayling Soong Chiang, Pearl S. Buck and May Wong in the American Imagination," Ph.D. dissertation, U.C. Berkeley, Lee, Ri Leong, (l LinE, / . Bebt een Worlds: Women Writers of Chinese Ancestry (1990). , Grna. Romance and the 'Yellow Peril': Race, Sex, and Discursive Strutegies in Fiction (1993). Moy, J S. Marginal Sights: Staging the Chinese in Anerica (1993), Liu. David. 4sian/Amprir,m: Historical Crossingsofa Rarial lronrier ( la99\. All the World's a Fair: Visions ol EmDire at American Intenational Rydell, 1876 t9t6 (t984). W. Orientalism (1978). T. Iron Cages: Race and Culture in l9th-Century America (1979\. KnoWei. NeN York Before Chinatotn: Orientalism and the Shaping ofAmerican t776-1882 \1999). Annette. Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: A Literary Biography (1995). Franklm. Or liwal 14edio Rot itm: 4sians in rhe 4meriran Motion Pirrure.r Said, Takaki, Tchen, lt Scott. "Liang Qichao and the Chinese ofAmerica: A Re-evaluation ofHis Memoirof Trarel* in the \ewWorld. -/ournal ol American Ethnic Hirtory ( 992):3-24. ofCulture: Three Chinese Views ofAmerica:' American Ouarterl| 48( 996): 2Ol 232. ,. Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and E oticism in Modern Ameica