Chinatown Culture

As the well known and revered Chinese-American historian remarked, "When the Chinese arrived in America, they brought their language along as cultural baggage as well as mores and customs that had evolved in one of the world's great civilizations" (Louie, 1). The history of the Cantonese, or Yue, language is more than 2,000 years old, making it older than Mandarin, the official language of China, which only has 700 to 800 years of history. Around the time of the Qin Dynasty, Cantonese became more established as a language with its own distinct features, the direct a result of the Hans moving from Northern to Southern China. Mountains and rivers isolated the North from the South, which continued to allow differences between Mandarin and

     Films that are classified as being in the film noir genre all share some basic characteristics. There is generally a voice-over throughout the film in order to guide the audience's perceptions. These movies also involve a crime and a detective who is trying to figure out the truth in the situation. This detective usually encounters a femme fatale who seduces him. However, the most distinctive feature of the film noir genre is the abundance of darkness.

Contemporary art has a long history of appropriating material into new work such as Duchamp’s ready-mades where he recontexualizes found source material, the photo collages of Hannah Hoch and today’s remix culture. In Remixthebook, Mark Amerika (2011) argues that in Postproduction art, “the artist takes what has already been produced in culture and, through creative postproduction means, expresses a new cultural configuration that both speaks to contemporary culture as well as the source material that has been remixed”. Traditional crafts such as patchwork and quilt making have also contained ideas of transformation of old collected materials into new forms. By the frugally collecting and repurposing of these waste materials, Gower critiques

Growing up as an Asian American, I often struggle to identify my own cultural identity. Being the first generation of both my mother and father’s side of the family, I more than often get confused between American and Asian culture when applying them to society or at home. While being raised at home, I am largely influenced by culture and traditions from Asian parents and relatives. However, when I go to school or someplace else, I am heavily judged for practicing part of my Asian culture because it is entirely different than western or American. With that being noted, I began to learn and adapt to the western culture in hopes of fitting with society as well of trying to keep my Asian culture intact. As can be seen, this situation I dealt with is the same problem the whole Asian American community faces. Mainly focusing on younger generations like me for example, the Asian American community struggles to adapt to the western culture because they were raised with an Asian influence. Wishing to fit in society and be part of the social norms, the Asian Americans community faces issues that identify their cultural identity.

In the contemplation of art, or rather the conceptually intangible definition it currently possess, it is imperative to be mindful that “art” has been utilized as a promotional device, ceremonial item, aesthetically purposed article or perhaps none of these or all. It is because of this vague term that Carolyn Dean, in her text, “The Trouble with (The Term) Art”, makes a case for the consequences of applying the term “art” in societies that lacked such a notion which also accounts for the Western-centric lens the field intrinsically utilizes when viewing non-Western art. The claim is deftly supported by the utilization of expert accounts in the subject, alternative perspectives for what is considered the current norm, and self-examining questions,

In Randa Jarrar’s essay Why I can’t stand white belly dancers she bluntly addresses the predicament of cultural appropriation. Jarrar’s main purpose is to inform her audience on appropriation, whether it’s done oblivious or uncaring of the situation. There are many ways she presents the situation, the tone she takes on to convey the problem is unsympathetic and transparent.

Imagine a story that has everything- cheating spouses, secret affiliations, deception, action, lies, and a pretty girl or two on top of it all. Chinatown is the name of this story, and it exists in the form of a Film Noir movie. Chinatown is a film from 1974, directed by Roman Polanski and written by Robert Towne. Chinatown is a story about truth and misinformation, with heavy themes of mystery and ultimately tragedy. With Jack Nicholson as Detective J.J. Gittes and Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Mulwray starring in the film the characters in Chinatown are especially memorable. As a whole, Chinatown is a prime example of a movie from the Film Noir genre and is proven to be a well-liked example of it.

Meaningful appropriation remains a vital precept of creativity and innovation. In the last 20 years, many artists have constructed knowledge in forms of contemporary art from both social and cultural sources. Artists have continuously remixed contents from certain cultures for new expressive purposes. It is often deemed by members of the originating cultures, that appropriation in the arts is disrespectful, as cultural elements become distorted and lost in translation. Meaningful appropriation however is often misunderstood and is mainly viewed as borrowing that is in some way inappropriate, unauthorised or undesirable. Although, artists in remix culture have not necessarily attempted to destroy cultures, but instead offer a new perspective to individuals by bringing divergent cultures together through art. Artists such as Stella McCartney, a designer famously known for her creation ‘Chinatown Plaid, 2013’ in fashion, utilises dominant creative strategies such as remixing and collaging of fabrics in order to convey her artistic vision, which highly compliments both the ‘Refugee’ work culture and female individuals as strong and resilient. In a similar sense, digital artist Michael Guppy remixes artworks using programs such as Adobe Photoshop in order to remove central elements from famous artworks, a reoccurring theme in his work in which he explores both the social and cultural side of technology and how it transforms society. Whereas, graphic designer Thomas Robson

5. Jake Gittes misjudges Evelyn Mulwray towards the end of the movie when he accuses her of killing her husband. The reason he accused her is because he found bifocal glasses in the salt water pond in her backyard and Hollis Mulwray died with salt water in his lungs, however, Mr. Mulwray did not wear bifocal glasses. Mr. Gittes also misjudged Mrs. Mulwray after she lied to the police about hiring him because he assumed that she knew more than what she was letting on. His speculation eventually became true after Mr. Gittes and Mrs. Mulwray discussed the affair and her payment at the dinner table. Mrs. Mulwray made it easy to assume that she was the killer because of her secretive activities and uneasy behavior she exhibited during conversation.

One of the main criticisms the Adorno and Horkheimer had of the art produced within the culture industry was that everything produced was made to look different but in actuality everything produced was identical (Adorno and Horkheimer). Adorno and Horkheimer claim that “under monopoly all mass culture is identical” (Adorno and Horkheimer) this concept can be seen and applied to

The gentrification of Chinatowns across the United States represent an environmental racism, because it forces people of of their homes on the streets. Most of the Chinatowns are located in the centers of the majors cities, surrounded by financial districts, and other rich neighborhoods. With current economy trends we can see an increase of new companies moving and opening new offices around different towns. With limited space available for new companies to open their business, landlords sell their building for big sum of money resulting in evictions. Such injustice is hard to stop because its not illegal, and all of the stakeholders besides the Asian Americans living in Chinatowns are happy with development. The possible winnable solutions to the problem of gentrification would be to strengthen the community so that the city representative could hear their voice and opinions when it comes the their problem. Asian Americans should try to be involved as United States citizens more as well, they should learn how to speak and understand english language and local laws better. Based on the book by Bindi Shah, Laotian Daughters, we can learn that organizing community and getting involved politically can help in reducing the environmental injustice, as well as reducing the negative stereotypes regarding Asian American minorities. Racial solidarity, critical incorporation and ethnic reconstruction that were used by APEN and the young Laotian girls could definitely help in reaching

Anyone who knows me, knows me knows that I love to watch reruns of “What not to wear” on TLC, As it teaches me something I clearly know nothing about, fashion. However anyone who is in my Spanish class known that I not only care about my culture but others as well. This school year has been interesting both fashion-wise and politically, from the Kylie Jenner Lip challenge, to Donald Trump running for president. It has been such a weird school year however, that it has pointed out a sad fact about the current fashion world, that is prevalent through the politics we discuss in our everyday lives, and that is cultural appropriation. As cultural appropriation according to the Oxford Dictionary is “A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another. It is in general used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance.” And despite how much we would like to believe that this issue doesn’t exist in our present day society, if one looks In clothing stores, fashion magazines, and even Halloween parties, cultural theft is occurring. This can be seen especially with indigenous cultures as: elements of indigenous cultures are morphed into fashion trends and costumes for those who will never understand their significance. “Navajo print” leggings, “tribal” jewelry, and “Indian princess” Halloween costumes are examples of gross

The viewer sees a private eye and beautiful client. First thought, "It’s definitely another Hollywood crime drama." On the surface, Chinatown has all the elements of a film noir: the presence of a beautiful but dangerous woman, otherwise known as the femme fatale, a gritty urban setting, compositional tension (highly contrasting light and dark colors or oblique camera angles), and themes of moral ambiguity and alienation. Chinatown, however, is different. Polanski shot Chinatown with color film, and though his colors do appear especially vivid, color film precludes the contrast intensity that black and white film offers. In addition, Evelyn is not the classic femme fatale. Though Jake mistakes her for her husband’s killer at first, Mrs.

The fashion industry is one of the most prevalent and visible forms of influence on today’s society. Billboards, malls, magazines, TV, movies, advertisements, runways, etc. are filled with fashion campaigns usually distributed to make a statement and to influence the consumers. Often times, the fashion industry engages in offensive promotions like romanticizing eating less and the “thigh gap” or producing clothing that has “depression” plastered all over it. One of the most offensive trends of the fashion industry is the use of cultural appropriation to promote their company or clothing. Cultural appropriation is the taking of something produced by members of one culture by members of another culture. The products of that culture usually have a special sacred or cultural significance to them, which is why cultural appropriation is seen as offensive and exploiting rather than appreciated. The public tends to overlook these extreme messages and appropriation from the fashion industry, brushing them off as trendy and ideal. This becomes a problem because the fashion industry’s blatant use of cultural appropriation in editorials and ads influences people to show admiration for products from other cultures yet still remain prejudiced against the people who created and continue to practice that culture.

There is a large diversity of people in Hong Kong because it continuously expands in economy and market. This of course, is a big advantage to our industry because although Precious Gems and Stones came in second to the Electronic equipment industries with a high dollar value of $82.4 billion and each export percentage share of 15.7% in terms of global shipments during 2014, the Precious Gems and Stones industry was the fastest growing among the top 10 export categories. It went up 161.1% for the 5-year period which started in 2010. It was also propelled by international sales of unwrought gold and unset diamonds. (worldstopexport.com)