Essays on Chinatown

In her 2010 publication of Shanghai Girls, Lisa See provides her readers with a tale based on the perfect combination of two themes: immigration and culture. Pearl and May, two Chinese sisters residing in Shanghai, “the Paris of Asia,” create the center of the storyline that sees them move from China to the United States amidst a lot of political turmoil that wrecks havoc in both countries. Now, at the commencement of the novel, Pearl, the narrator, and her sister May enjoy the life of calendar models in Shanghai, but they lose their apparent autonomy when their father forces ...

Migratory History It is said that ethnic Chinese first appeared on the western shores of North America during the period of the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, which is about between 1521 to 1815. They had accepted commissions as being businessmen, sailors and fishermen on the Spanish galleons that traversed the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Mexico (Brownstone, 2). Several numbers of ethnic Chinese were able to reach California as this state was still the territory of Mexico until 1848. Future expeditions to Vancouver by John Meares, a British fur trader, brought more Chinese into Vancouver around ...

Introduction

In fact Chinese have landed to the US already in 1848. The main reason behind their resettlement in American soil was golden mines that have lured thousands of Chinese people to the States. Yet, as soon as the economy in the States declined Chinese workers were seen as a significant issue for the majority of Americas’ working population. As a result, a severe law was adopted to hold back the Chinese and forced them to move to the shelter that later turn into one of the most popular tourist attractions for the visitors of San-Francisco (Chinatown Resource Guide). This ...

This paper answers two fundamental questions in two sections. They will cover aspects of the AAS course and provide an insight into relevant issues and matters relating to the Asian American community and history.

Question 1: Race, Racialization and the Law

Asian Americans were always viewed in the context of “Asian immigrants”. This is for several reasons. First of all, the history of the United States rising as a prosperous nation happened from the east coast. And for various reasons, the first colonies created in the 1600s were made up almost exclusively of migrants from the British Isles. However, as time went on, the colonies expanded ...

Modern day streets in our urban settings are named after historical figures, and they bear immense significance. One of such streets is Clement Street in the Richmond District of San Francisco, California. San Francisco is the smallest county in the state of California. It covers an area of under 50 square miles, with a population of more than 200, 000 people. Part of California City is the Richmond District. The focus of this paper, Clement Street is at the heart of Richmond District. In the 1800s, Adolph Sutro moved into an arid area filled with shrubs and sand dunes. ...

Chinatown is a film which deals with numerous issues that affect the urban society and modern times. There is much crime and personal interest involved in all aspects of life. What is important to mention is also the fact that some people are monsters by nature and not only because of their greed. The most important themes that this film deals with are: love, greed, feminine power and moral corruption. There are different kinds of love in human relationships, but the relationship between a father and a daughter is sacred. In this film, Noah Cross is the man who ...

The attempt to control drugs in the United States has its roots in the 1960s. There have been numerous attempts and approaches that have been used to deal with drugs and try to control its usage and movement in the country. This has come with some failures that suggests a new system must be implemented to improve and enhance the status quo. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze and review two chapters of a book which describes the relationship between race, drugs and incarceration. This will evaluate the main narratives of the chapters and evaluate the ...

Othering is the process of an individual portraying or perceiving something or someone as different or alien. That happens if people have different social identities. In most cases, the majority is likely to practice othering. Some social identities include gender identities, ethnic identities, and class identities. A good example of othering is people who closely identify with their religious or cultural beliefs, and form a mental picture that other people with different beliefs are the ones on the contrary or the problematic ones. Othering has been well depicted by the Chinese in various circumstances. The establishment of plantations in ...

Discussion Questions

How does the author's mother come up with enough money to send to her parents? Diaz's mother was jobless. However, she was able to gather and save few dollars from whatever came on her way. Regardless of how little the family earned, she could save, scrimp, and stash to make sure she had enough dollars to send to her parents. According to Diaz, she deducted some dollars from the cash that her husband gave her for family's daily expenses. Consequently, the family could hardly get soda, juice, snacks, or even labeled clothes. The family had to live broke and ...

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Mark Ostendorp and Linda Lombard Abstract This study examines the concept of multiculturalism, which became very frequently used nowadays. Multicultural communities are present in almost all highly populated countries, and can be divided into religious, racial, linguistic and ethnic groups. These groups have been forming throughout the human history, and thus are very important when a certain country is being studied. Specifically, this paper is going to look into the ways in which multiculturalism affects and changes the societies where it is present. It is known that the United States is a multicultural community, and when its social life ...

Introduction

Throughout history, Chinese people have been migrating to USA in search for greener passage. From 1826 to 1950, they were booking their passage on ships like occidental and oriental steamship company, and pacific mail Steamship Company to travel. The money that they required to fund their journey was mostly borrowed from family members, commercial lenders or district associations. The first Chinese people to arrive in Los Angeles were men, who specialized in manual work. Their work mainly included gardening, laundry, road builders or ranch work. The migration of Chinese people from china was localized and controlled through parts of ...

Impacts of female roles in traditional Chinese drama on foreign audience (US audience) or impacts to spread Chinese culture

In Chinese drama, the female characters are referred to as Dan. This is a general name given to female characters that play different roles, and it can be subdivided into four: Wudan, Laodan, Huadan, and Zhengdan (Wertz, 2011).Zhengdan is also known as “Qinqyi”, and this character mainly plays the role of a middle-aged woman who is strong-minded and her behavior is full of elegance. Most lines acted by the Zhengdan character are delivered as songs. Moreover, the spoken parts of her acting are delivered as rhythms. This character is always dressed in blue gowns. Huadan character refers to young women ...

Identity in the play the short story One Friday Morning

Identity refers to the state of maintaining one’s character under different conditions. Identity therefore relates to social situations such as gender, color, class, and community. In African American literature, identity can be experienced in social circumstances that are largely discriminatory. Discriminatory aspects that affect the blacks largely relate to oppression. This aspect molds the manner in which African Americans are confronted with dilemmas regarding their place within the white-dominated society. Ideally, the reality of the blacks cannot be separated in the American society because color provides an inherent phenomenon of identity that manifest in different races.

The aspect ...

Thesis

Sources In arguing his thesis, the author uses multiple sources to show the diverse patterns intimacy when the Chinese, who lived in the hinterland of British Columbia, are compared with their counterparts in Chinatowns, with the latter showing more liberalism. One of the categories of sources used by the author to argue his thesis is the reports prepared by different scholars at the time. These reports give accounts on different aspects that are important to the author’s thesis. The Canadian census is also utilized richly as a source, especially where statistical information to track the growth of Chinese ...

Discuss the Ways in Which the Chinese Community Depicted in Shun Li and the Poet Functions as a State within a State

Introduction

Shun Li and the Poet is an Italian film officially released in 2011. The film was written and directed by Andrea Segre, one of the seasoned directors in Italy. According to media and news agency interview sessions with Andrea Segre, his foundations in the filmmaking industry was derived from writing and directing documentary films, which he was particularly known for. This is why for those who were able to watch the film, it is highly likely for them to ...

Canada is a multicultural area, which has the different sense background, of religious, racial, and cultural festivity. This is notable through the Canadian government adoption of the Multiculturalism policy, in the 1970-80s. This placed the Canadian government, as being the multiculturalism ideology instigator, due to its public prominence on the articulating the social significance of immigration. Therefore, placing the Royal Commission in Canada, dealing with Biculturalism and Bilingualism, often to be referred in multiculturalism as being; the modern political wakefulness derivation. "Multiculturalism" as a term, has been used by Canadians both descriptively, what is seen as a fact sociologically and prescriptively ...

Literature and any work of art are defined as a mirror that reflects the society that we live in.There are many ideas and themes which are covered in literature work as they address the social issues. Many of the themes are developed based on how issues develop within the society; many authors relate their work to the basic issues that many readers can relate with and also covering a particular period. In the novel “Bone “Leon is struggling in his family business which he is being assisted by his three daughter and wife. His daughters are finding it challenging to fit ...

The Asian American Art Center was started in the year 1974 as the Asian American dance theater in Chinatown New York. Formed as a community of art organization which was non-profitable in nature. Its sole mission was to promote creative vitality and preservation of cultural development Asian American by use of art. It is achieved through interpretation and presentation of the current Asian and American art forms, exhibitions, utilizing performances and communal education. This center has over their ears prolonged to comprise the following core areas. Exhibitions and catalog publication, folk art investigation and certification, performance and presentation (Samson 116). ...

The hard-boiled detective seems a decidedly modern invention – the noir gumshoe who cynically navigates a world that seems to conspire against him, working his way through a seedy culture that he can capitalize upon. With hard-boiled detectives in film and literature, there is often a measure of moral ambiguity, as the main character is conflicted between what he does for a living and who he wants to be, or is otherwise blind to the harsher truths that surround him. Roman Polanski’s classic 1974 noir film Chinatown certainly fits this description, with Jack Nicholson’s Jake Gittes being a dark, morose yet deeply motivated human ...

Introduction

Trying to Find Chinatown is a one-act play position on New York City streets. The play has only two characters, Ronnie and Benjamin. Chinatown seems to be racial or ethnic identity. The central of conflict observed in the play is about the definition of ethnic identity. While Naked Lunch is a narrative that is hard to describe in terms of plot this is because, the book commences with the adventure of a Mr. William Lee, his journey begins with him running from the police in the US. Finally he moves to Mexico where he his directed to Dr. Benway not knowing what ...

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An important part of urban planning is water resource management. Cities need water in order to develop and survive, however, like many public planning issues, water can be a decisive issue. The film Chinatown revolves around water rights in 1937 Los Angeles. Water, an essential resource necessary for human survival, is scarce during a drought in the growing city on the edge of a desert. A commodity even more important than money, water is a recurring motif throughout the film. Inspired by historical events, Chinatown shows us how the issue of public water distribution is important in urban planning and development, and ...

DateYour name Course name Abstract for Research Project Oct 18, 2014

Abstract The United States of America currently does not have an official language. Nevertheless, many advocates are vouching for the officialization of English in a federal level. This would mean that border states will not be able to make their immigrants more welcome. A Constitutional amendment is being fought over and over, and legislator have tried to pass this project through every official channel, but it hasn't been successful so far. Children of immigration would suffer even more because officializing English would mean the end of bilingual education programs, as well as difficulties businesses, federal services and other entities. ...

What is ethnicity? A universally accepted definition is that of Fleras (2012), who believed that ethnicity is a shared awareness of common ancestry; a socially distinct group of people (or groups of people) that have a common culture, language, nationality and religion. People with all the aforementioned in common usually form an identity and entire communities. They can even motivate others with the same worldview as theirs towards taking action, in regards a socio-cultural or political matter. But, what happens to people that have mixed parentage? How do they find their identity, when divided into two worlds? This is something that rose my ...

What is the thesis of Takasi’s Essay? What is the evidence that he offers for its truth? Do you find this argument convincing? In the essay entitled the Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority, author Ronald Takaki tries explain that contrary to what other members of cultural minorities in the United States perceive or believe, Asian Americans are not superior both in terms of their personal and family income and educational background. Takaki exposes that most American cultural minorities such as the African Americans, for example, perceive that Asian Americans are superior to them as a cultural minority. The ...

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English Date: December 5, 2013

The Garment District, which is is a rectangular stretch of Manhattan that spans from west 35th street to 42nd streets, to 7th and 9th avenues, used to be one of the major clothing manufacturing centers in the USA. The shape and borders of the area changed over time, yet the core remained the same and contributed enormously to the industrial evolution of the country, as well as its cultural development. Now, however, certain activists plan to change the name to something more modern and fashionable because, in their understanding, it will ...

- Introduction: International Crime and Security Historically, transnational crime was analyzed primarily as a law and order problem rather than an issue of international security. Today, transnational crime has become a threat to the sovereignty of governments, reliability of financial institutions, and the functioning of democracy. For this matter, transnational crime graduates from its accustomed place of a national phenomenon and becomes a global security issue that requires an international approach to tackle. The seriousness of transnational crime is apparent. Transnational crime is cancer that is eating the legitimacy of some states. Because of its cancerous nature to the wellbeing of some ...

Abstract

Introduction The dawn of Chinese immigration to the United States came after the discovery of exploitable gold in 1848, at Sutter’s Mill in California. Drawn to the United States by the possibility of escaping the deteriorating economic standing and political restiveness in China, the Chinese had made their contact with San Francisco in thousands by 1854. Most of them sought to attain prosperity as gold prospectors but as time wore on the majority settled as tradesmen around the western mining fields whilst some sought recruitment as laborers on the transcontinental railway. At this time immigration was largely ...

Abstract

The city of San Francisco experienced two earthquakes in 1906. This caused firestorms which lasted for days destroying life and property worth billions. The city residents were shocked at the sudden turn of events. This is because they could not come to terms with the massive loss they had suffered as a result of the earthquake. People lived in fear as they lost hope in their livelihood since they did not expect such a catastrophe to befall them. However, they quickly recovered and embarked on the reconstruction of their city. There were various causes of the earthquake. As much as such ...

In Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman,” the author explores her childhood in a Chinese American community in Stockton, California. Through these recollections, Kingston reveals Chinese-American culture as one rooted deeply in tradition, but still struggling to find its place in the larger American canvas. Issues and questions of identity were still being found, which is part of the incredibly difficult and arduous history of the Chinese-American culture in America. Understanding the context of this culture helps one to appreciate “No Name Woman” all the more, as noting the struggles Chinese Americans had to go through allows us to ...

The main characters include Ben Loy, Mei Oi (a young married couple), Lee Gong (Mei’s Father) and Wah Gay (Ben’s father) together with others (Ah Song and Dr. Suey) who contribute to the development of a very interesting story with the couple as the backbone. Yes I can follow them and identify the role of each in New York “Chinatown”. The book is an interesting revelation of how the whites relate with immigrants in a Chinese America setting. The different stories of the characters illustrate the existing conflicts between the modern American society and the Chinese traditions and ideals. I ...

Asian immigrants were, for many years, the silent victims of American westward expansion. When Americans were expanding westward in pursuit of Manifest Destiny, they were not doing all the work themselves. Manifest Destiny was the widely-held belief by many Americans that America was destined to expand across the current-day United States. During the 1820s all the way through the 1860s, Americans from the east coast of the United States expanded across the United States, seeking a variety of different things-- some sought land, others new experiences or natural resources. Everyone who participated in the American westward expansion carried some kind ...

Since the film industry was established, in the late 1880s, several movie styles have come up. Although each generation has its own distinct movie style, there are some characteristics that are almost universal - especially for successive movie genres. The best example which explains this is Chinatown (by Roman Polanski) and Murder, My Sweet (by Edward Dmytryk). These two films represent different generations, but some similarities are apparent between the films. This could be due to the fact that they represent genres that are not so many years apart. While “Chinatown” represents a type of films known as neo noir, “ ...

Zhang Wei remembers the day he landed in America very clearly, it was a chilly winter day and everything including time seems to have frozen. He was anxious to see his father, Zhang Xiuxing who had traveled by sea a year earlier. He was only 16 when his father left and old enough to step into his father’s shoes. One year had flown by, and today, he would be leading his mother and his sister to the Promised Land that their father had prepared for them. He was sure that his father would be proud of how he had protected ...

Book Review - Contagious Divides

Nayan Shah's 2001 book Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco's Chinatown provides a unique portrait of the different representations of Chinese immigrants in the twentieth century, particularly in San Francisco, and how they have changed in the intervening years. The book itself takes a dramatically close look at public health issues surrounding Chinese immigration as well, as the portrayal of Chinese immigrants at first was extremely negative. The urban landscape of San Francisco was dramatically changed by the large influx of Chinese emigrating to the US, and the public health concerns that followed were dramatic and stifling to racial ...

A banana

Choy describes himself as a banana which simply means that he is yellow outside and white inside literally. This translated means that he is Chinese from his physical appearance but he is white based on his culture and language. His mother and father arrived from china and they are Chinese which explains why he is Chinese. He doesn’t mind being called a banana because it simply means that the North American culture is simply Anglo-white which his case is. His parents arrived in North America unwanted as aliens which is far much better that if they would have stayed and ...