scholarly journals Nightclub as a Liminal Space: Space, Gender, and Identity in Lisa See’s China Dolls

Humanities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Melody Li
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Chinese Values ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Chinese American Women ◽  
A Site

Nightclubs flourished in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1930s when it became a nightlife destination. To Chinese Americans, however, San Francisco nightclubs became a new site at the time for them to re-explore their identities. For some, visiting these nightclubs became a way for them to escape from traditional Chinese values. For others, it became a way to satisfy Western stereotypes of Chinese culture. Lisa See’s China Dolls (2015) describes three young oriental women from various backgrounds that become dancers at the popular Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco in the late 1930s. Through the three girls’ precarious careers and personal conflicts, Lisa See proposes the San Francisco nightclub as both a site for them to articulate their new identities beyond their restricted spheres and a site for them to perform the expected stereotypical Asian images from Western perspectives. It was, at that time, a struggle for the emergence of modern Chinese women but particularly a paradox for Chinese-American women. The space of the Chinese-American nightclub, which is exotic, erotic, but stereotypical, represents contradictions in the Chinese-American identity. Through studying Lisa See’s novel along with other autobiographies of the Chinese American dancing girls, I argue that San Francisco nightclubs, as represented in Lisa See’s novel, embody the paradox of Chinese American identities as shown in the outfits of Chinese American chorus girls—modest cheongsams outside and sexy, burlesque costumes underneath.

scholarly journals Qipao: The Carrier of Chinese Cultural and Philosophical Symbols

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
Cheng Fung Kei
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Chinese Values

The qipao has become the symbol of identity for Chinese women. It is a tight-fitting dress with a standing collar, an asymmetric left-over-right opening and two-side slits. Chinese knot buttons are also an essential part of the qipao. While the garment serves to express Chinese values and has philosophical connotations, its colour, fabric pattern and Chinese knot buttons express wishes for happiness, luck, fortune, longevity as well as a yearning for peaceful interpersonal relationships and harmony with nature. The qipao was developed not only from a traditional gown used by the Han (the majority Chinese ethnic group), but also integrated minority cultural elements and has recently added Western sartorial patterns. This has resulted in a national dress that is more harmonious with contemporary aesthetics, manifesting the adaptability, versatility and inclusiveness of Chinese culture.

The Li of Chinese American Familism

2019 ◽  
pp. 127-156
Author(s):  
Russell M. Jeung ◽  
Seanan S. Fong ◽  
Helen Jin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
Cultural Scripts ◽  
The Family ◽  
Tea Ceremony ◽  
Over Time

Chapter 6 identifies how Chinese Americans maintain the value of family through rituals, including rites of passage, ethnic routines, and table traditions. Rites of passage such as the wedding tea ceremony provide individuals with distinct responsibilities within the family. Ethnic routines, including family meals, transnational visits, and reunions, inculcate the norms of hospitality, reciprocity, and face/shame. They also teach the cultural scripts of familism through table traditions, such as pouring tea. Traditions and rituals change over time, however, and second-generation Chinese Americans pass on their liyi values and ethics differently than their immigrant parents did. The second generation lack a migration story of family sacrifice and have an attenuated knowledge of Chinese liyi traditions, and racialized multiculturalism further reduces ethnic traditions to what is marketable and consumable. Chinese Americans therefore hybridize and Americanize their ethnicity, which results in a new liyi Chinese American identity that consists of food and fun.

Inside and Outside Chinese America

Mahjong ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 122-143
Author(s):  
Annelise Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Game Play ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Visual Presence ◽  
Private Homes

By the 1930s, mahjong stood in both China and abroad as “the national game of China.” Many Chinese Americans embraced mahjong for both its perceived Chineseness and its perceived Americanness. Chinese Americans interacted with mahjong in ways that in effect helped navigate tensions associated with Americanization. Chinatown residents participated in commodifying and marketing mahjong as an aspect of Chinese culture for outsiders, while also using it to create separate ethnic spaces for Chinese Americans to engage with each other. The presence of mahjong—through the noises of the tiles and the language of game-play, through its visual presence in public spaces and in private homes—helped mark geographic spaces of ethnic community. For Chinese Americans, playing mahjong was not about assimilation in contrast to cultural continuity or vice versa. Rather, it was a versatile pastime that helped create spaces for a shared Chinese American experience.

scholarly journals Can Preschoolers be Health Messengers to Promote Breast Health among Chinese Americans?

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela C. Sun ◽  
Eric R. Kessell ◽  
Janice Y. Tsoh ◽  
Joanne Chan ◽  
Joyce Chang
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Culturally Tailored ◽  
Chinese American Women ◽  
Theatrical Performance

Women’s limited knowledge about breast cancer screening (BCS), combined with differences in Eastern and Western disease prevention concepts, may contribute to late-stage breast cancer diagnosis among minorities. Children can be conduits of knowledge transfer to adults. This pilot study tested the use of a culturally-tailored theatrical preschool performance in increasing Chinese American women’s knowledge of BCS guidelines. Chinese preschool children relayed BCS guidelines through a culturally-tailored theatrical performance. Data were collected from 177 Chinese American women (84% foreign-born) who completed pre- and post-performance surveys. Findings suggested that promoting BCS guidelines through a culturally-tailored preschool theatrical performance significantly increased participants’ knowledge of the guidelines. Interventions involving young children as change agents to deliver simple health messages such as BCS guidelines are feasible and promising to increase knowledge and desired behavioral change within the target population. Further empirical investigations are warranted in larger randomized controlled trials.

Pathways to Early Breast and Cervical Detection for Chinese American Women

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Lee ◽  
Florence Lee ◽  
Susan Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Cancer Screening ◽  
Cervical Cancer Screening ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Pap Smear ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Screening Tests ◽  
American Women ◽  
Breast And Cervical Cancer ◽  
Chinese American Women

The authors used telephone interviews to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices regarding breast and cervical cancer screening among 775 Chinese American women in San Francisco. The rates of ever had a mammogram, ever had a clinical breast examination, and ever examined one's breasts among women aged 40 and older were 70%, 75% and 70%, respectively. The rates of ever had a Pap smear and ever had a pelvic examination were 67% and 85%, respectively. However, the rates of having had these cancer screening tests at regular intervals were much lower (25% for mammograms, 37% for Pap smears). Ability to speak English and insurance status were significantly associated with breast and cervical cancer screening knowledge and practices. Further analysis of the data, together with the data collected from a survey on physicians serving this population, will provide a basis for future interventions.

scholarly journals Transnationalism in Maxine Hong Kingston’s China Men and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p122
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Wang
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Research ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Chinese American Literature ◽  
China Men

Chinese American literature is commonly interpreted as the narrative of the living experiences of Chinese Americans. Under the past nation-state research paradigm, Chinese American literature critics both in China and America are preoccupied with the “assimilation” of immigrants and their descendants in Chinese American literature texts, they argue that Chinese culture is the barrier for the immigrants to be fully assimilated into the mainstream society. But putting Chinese American literature under the context of globalization, these arguments seem inaccurate and out of date. This article examines the transnational practices and emotional attachments in Maxine Hong Kingston’s China Men and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club to show that the identity in these two works are neither American nor Chinese, but transnational. Thus, Chinese American literature is not the writing of Chinese Americans’ Americanness, but a celebration of their transnationalism.

Shifting Political Terrains in “The City by the Bay” (“海湾之城” 政治角力转向 )

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-215
Author(s):  
James S. Lai (賴士宏)
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Mayoral Election ◽  
The Common ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City ◽  
Significant Factors

While the unchallenged November 2015 re-election of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was a telling moment in contemporary San Francisco politics, it was Mayor Ed Lee’s inaugural November 2011 election that revealed the shifting political terrains across its eleven Board of Supervisor districts that will likely shape the future role that Chinese Americans will play in the governing coalition of the “City by the Bay.” In the November 2011 San Francisco mayoral election, Ed Lee became the first Chinese American to be elected to lead this city. Despite the common explanation that Lee’s historic victory was due to the city’s first time use of the controversial ranked-choice voting (rcv) system, this study argues that whilercvwas an important factor in Lee’s election, other significant factors played a more prominent role. In particular, the two convergences taking shape between Chinese Americans/Asian Americans and the moderate governing coalition along the axes of Race/Space and Identity/Ideology were more significant to the outcome of Lee’s election than thercvprocess. In addition, the other significant factors that contributed to Ed Lee’s monumental election in 2011 include his previous public-service experience as a moderate coalition builder and the role of Chinese American community elites that advocated for the endorsement of Lee in both public and private settings with key moderate coalition leaders.尽管李孟贤在 2015 年 11 月的地方选举中毫无悬念地顺利连任足以载入旧金山当代政治史册，追本溯源，其在4年前首次参选改变了旧金山监事会的政治力量对比，塑造了华人参政的未来。2011年11月，李当选为该市有史以来第一位华裔民选市长。李的历史性胜利，通常被认为是由于首次使用有争议的排列选择投票（rcv）制度所致。这项研究认为，尽管rcv是李当选的一个重要因素，但其他因素的作用也是不可忽视的，尤其是华裔/亚裔美国人与其他族裔群体围绕种族/空间以及族裔身份认同/意识形态的轴心而形成的温和执政联盟，对于李的竞选胜利比rcv起到更为显著的作用。此外，促成李孟贤在 2011 年市长大选胜利的其他显著因素还包括他以前的公共服务业绩，他本人在建构温和执政联盟中的所扮演的领导角色以及华人社区对他在不同场合中的温和政治主张的认同和大力支持。This article is in English.

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