Chinatown: The Spread of Eastern Culture in a Western Society

     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.

Modern day Chinatown is a vibrant and bustling community full of bright colors and Chinese characters adorning buildings as far as the eye can see. Chinese elders roam around the narrow and unkempt streets while children frolic around from store to store with wide smiles, riffling through toy stores as store owners look on. Mothers scurry from store to store searching for the most tender meats to buy for the night's dinner or for the next day's lunch. Tourists from nearby downtown drift into the heart of Chinatown with large and expensive cameras, posing for pictures with Lion head statues and continue on, buying cheap Chinatown goods along the way. Everywhere there are signs of the Chinese immigrant's sweat, labor, and collective efforts

For over thousands of years, globalization has widely occurred worldwide. Infact, since it had such an impactful widespread among people and families, It stayed throughout its heritage and was passed on to today.

Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing to the early 20th century, many Chinese families struggled to gain social, economic, and educational stature in both China and the United States. In the book, A Transnational History of a Chinese Family, by Haiming Liu, we learn about the Chang family rooted in Kaiping County, China, who unlike many typical Chinese families’ exemplified hard-work and strong cultural values allowing them to pursue an exceptional Chinese-American lifestyle. Even with immigration laws preventing Chinese laborers and citizens to enter unless maintaining merchant status, Yitang and Sam Chang managed to sponsor approximately 40 relatives to the states with their businesses in herbalist

According to Osterhammel and Petersson, globalization “summarizes a wide spectrum of experiences shared by many people” (2). I agree with this statement and would go on to claim that globalization is a group of processes and events, some beneficial and some harmful, that have resulted in the spread of networks across the world. However, this spread of networks did not happen over night. This is in part because not all interactions are transformed into networks, as these require a certain degree of longevity. In order for interactions to become networks, groups must consider the range between each other and their interactions must be important or impactful, intense, fast, durable, and frequent. For the reason that each of these characteristics must be present in order for networks to form, globalization has been in the works for many centuries and is still at work today. Therefore, while the historical events and processes of past centuries have provided the roots of globalization, the modernization of recent decades has built upon these roots to connect the world in a way

At this point of time, globalization has grown to be a phenomenon that is significantly important economically, politically, and culturally. The amalgamation and incorporation of the world economy around the globe has reshaped business. Not only this, it has created "new social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth, and, occasionally, wretched poverty" (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4) by restructuring the lives of the individuals. For some, globalization is associated to modernism and contemporary practices. Others understand it as American domination (particularly those living in Asia). On the other hand, some people believe it to be the emasculation of America (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4).

Some argue that globalization will, on the long term, bring all cultures as a unique Western, if not Americanized, culture, while others argue that some cultures will persist in order to keep their own essence and therefore avoid the homogenization of all cultures. Alongside pure tradition, global conflicts, contradictory political regimes and the diversity of economic systems, some cultures are bound to face issues when trying to fully fit in a global western culture, and that is why cultures are adaptable to one another, but with some limits that we will express in this essay.

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

In the essay Chinatown: A Contested Urban Space, by Mary Ting Yi Lui, Chinatowns collectively occupy a special place in the collective imagination of American ethnic history and the nation’s contemporary multicultural identity, as evidenced by their serving as the settings for various motion pictures. From coast to coast, Chinatowns remain major tourist draws, and continued immigration from the Chinese diaspora ensures that Chinatown will retain their social and cultural significance for many years to come. Chinese Americans are the oldest and largest Asian ethnic group in the United States, consisting of fourth and fifth-generation Americans of Chinese descent and recent immigrants of languages spoken and points of origin. Chinese immigration

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.

Open space serves recreational areas for residents and helps to enhance the environmental and aesthetic quality of neighborhoods. National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) indicates that the typical park and recreation agency has 9.6 acres of parkland for per 1,000 residents and even the lower quartile of the rate is still 4.6. NPPA also recommend 4 acres per 1,000 as a standard. However, the Chinatown only has 2.5 acres of park space per 1,000 residents, which is much lower than the typical and recommended standard. Additionally, there is no City-owned vacant lots available within the community.

Globalization is the process by which different societies and cultures integrate through a worldwide network of political ideas through transportation, communication, and trade. Generally, globalization has affected many nations in various ways; economically, politically, and socially. It is a term that refers to the fast integration and interdependence of various nations, which shapes the world affairs on a global level. Simply put; globalization is the world coming together. In this essay I will discuss multiple perspectives on globalization through the analysis of these three sources.

Globalization is the process through which the world is slowly but surely getting interconnected. The relation is as a result of the exchange of cultural

Globalization is far reaching in this day and age. Globalization is the worldwide flow of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture. It leads to a greater interdependence and mutual awareness among the people of the world (Tischler, 2011, 2007, p. 430). One non-Western culture that has been impacted by globalization is China. An example of the impact of globalization on China is their economy. Since joining the World Trade Organization, China has transformed from a culture that relied on economic self-sufficiency and shunned the thought of globalization to an economy that is progressively more open to trade and foreign investment.

Globalization is an undeniable phenomenon of our modern societies. Global patterns keep spreading in many fields of our everyday life: food, economy, marketing, and last but not least, culture. Cultural products are indeed very often produced following the American pattern and exported to various places around the world. Hollywood blockbusters are huge hits in many different countries, our radios broadcast more and more American songs and even our national singers choose to sing in English rather than in their native language. Globalization is caused by many different factors. Cross-border processes such as interregional trade, employment, population migration and military conquest or colonization probably constitute the main factors (Holton, 2000, 141, 149).