Hong Kong Reflections By John Carroll

Gene Luen Yang’s writing style in his graphic novel, American Born Chinese, demonstrate great technique of suspense and foreshadowing. Yang grew up with two parents who were an electrical engineer from Taiwan and a programmer who grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan, both of whom emigrated to the United States. His experiences follow this book’s plot and his writing style follows exactly how he may have felt during that part of his life. His parents helped give him a strong work ethic and reinforced their Asian culture to make sure he was never ashamed of where he came from.

I have really not had the opportunity to read graphic narratives or novels, comic books or anime. It was really interesting to read this week’s chosen book which was a graphic novel titles American Born Chinese. I was really excited to actually see the story of the Monkey King because growing up as a child that was one of the favorite T.V shows that I truly enjoyed from the start to the end of each episode. After reading this book, I have really given much appreciation to the authors of graphic novels or narratives. The story in the book American Born Chinese, is mainly about Jin but has other stories as well within the book. It initially starts with story of the Monkey King, and then it switches to Jin’s story in the second chapter. The story then switches to Danny’s story with a repetition of the same pattern.

When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform

Mai Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects, powerfully studies the unfortunately understudied period between 1924 and 1965, the lifespan of the national origins quota system. This era begins with the passage of the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act in 1924 and ends with the lifting of national origins quotas through the passage of the Hart-Celler Act of 1965. The era from 1924 to 1965 remapped the nation by developing both a particular racial and ethnic identity and a "new sense of territoriality" (Ngai p.3). This period demonstrates the most widespread immigration restriction in U.S. history that literally "remapped the nation" (Ngai p.3). Ngai argues that widespread immigration exclusion created an intensified sense of national borders as well as increased security on those boarders. This helped produce what is now defined as the illegal alien (Ngai). Impossible Subjects primarily concentrates on immigrants categorized as illegal aliens, alien citizens, colonial subjects, and contract laborers. Because these are immigrants whose experiences are not greatly represented in our national narrative, the regulations that have governed them have never greatly been exposed, resulting in a collective oblivion within United States history. Ngai turns her research to important analytical use. Ngai’s most interesting lines of argument lie within her analysis of the creation of illegal immigration from Mexico and her analysis of Japanese internment during World War II.

Timothy Cole was a 24-year-old student at Texas Tech University. After completing two years of college, he had enlisted in the army for two years in hopes of serving his country. Timothy was an ordinary man with dreams of getting married and having children, but that dream never materialized. Upon his return to Texas Tech in 1985, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape of a 20-year-old girl named Michele Mallin. Mallin, then, a student at Texas Tech University Lubbock, was walking to her car when a man approached her and held a knife to her neck. He forced himself into her car and drove her to the outskirts of town where he raped her repeatedly. The next day the police investigator showed Michele pictures of the suspect where she pointed at Timothy Cole. When police showed her a lineup, again she picked Cole. “I was positive,” she said. “I really thought it was him,” but in fact she had accidently robbed an innocent man of his freedom (Lavendra 2009).

Sitting in a circle, most of those who were staring at me also looked like me – black hair, squinted eyes, and yellow skin. Not twenty minutes ago, I paced around the heart of a predominantly white college campus. Now, I was introducing myself to the members of Asian Students United (ASU). While I was never a part of ASU, I asked one of the organization’s executive board (eboard) members – Tien, who happened to a Facebook friend – if I could attend a couple of their meetings to conduct research on Asian American identity. He delightfully agreed. After all, from an outsider perspective, I would fit right in. At these meetings, I participated in many of their activities, which included making a quilt and participating in discussions. Yet, I was always observant and somewhat detached because this was all new to me, making me an observer-participant. This allowed me to observe a range of details; however, because I was so new, such details may have been unimportant to those whom I studied. On the other hand, my Vietnamese church was all too familiar. As a full participant in the church and a former participant in Youth for Christ (YFC), I was pressed to critically observe and dissect these interactions. While I still asked the group leader for a chance to observe YFC meetings, data from this second site may be more biased toward the way I have known people in this institution from prior years. As a tradeoff, though, being a participant-observer may have allowed me to note more

Another strength, which also seems to be the helpful part of making this article effective and overall worth the read to a Christian as a whole, is seen in his concluding statement of a quote by Timothy Richard of China, “How can we expect an unbelieving world to take us seriously in our talk about a gospel of reconciliation when we remain so obviously un-reconciled to one another?”4

Throughout the book, “The Western Place” , by Maxine Hong Kingston, there is a differential gap between the two sisters who come from two different sides of the world. A lot of differences between the two sisters and their personal lifestyles comes from one sister living in America as a Chinese-American and the other sister living in China. In the story Brave Orchid who is the sister that is brave, outspoken, and sometimes cruel sees life as a bundle of opportunities to take with no regret. However, it is different when her sister Moon Orchid comes into town from China because she is the complete opposite. Moon Orchid is rather humble, timid, and quiet while she observes the lifestyle of her sister and nieces and nephews.

A: Some religious practices and customs that are mentioned are: ceremonies held for the seven goddesses who protected virginal maidens, which, in Mrs. Chen’s (back then, Lai Fong) case, was the last time she prayed with her mother; wearing a golden amulet that was “opened … to the light” by monks of the Shaolin Temple to ward off evil; and bowing in respect to the student who helped her. She also blamed her past life for her misfortune and gave to the beggar because she believed that the gods viewed compassion kindly. Her actions and perspective of things shows us the way she was brought

Wu Zhao, the first female emperor of China, rose to power during the Tang Dynasty and her active role with Buddhism fabricated a perpetual impact in the Chinese society as a whole. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration, under Wu’s reign, formed a symbiotic relationship with one another. She is considered to be one of the most prominent advocators of the religion during the era. Her efforts to spread of Buddhism and the monetary support help Buddhism to expand throughout the people significantly, which provide the religion another source of financial income to spread even further. Regardless of Empress Wu’s intention, she has furnished the religion in numerous ways, but what did she receive in return? This proposes

“Good morning! Today we will be going to Yosemite National Park. I hope you are prepared…” Eddie, the tourist guide, announced a little too enthusiastically for an early morning after my family and I entered the bus. Taking a seat by the window, I tried drowning him out with my music, and then proceeded to sigh when I could still clearly hear him through my headphones. I was annoyed, but not because I did want to go to Yosemite; I just did not want spend time with the group of loud and obnoxious tourists on the bus. When my family and I first agreed to go on a tour of Yosemite, I was excited because I had never been there and I had heard many positive reviews about its scenery. That day, however, it was hot, I was worried about starting college soon, and all I wanted was to sleep comfortably without a Chinese tourist behind me complaining about the American government. “Great,” I thought sarcastically to myself, “what a fun trip.” When we reached Yosemite, however, my attitude completely changed. Although I was still with the group of loud tourists, I was able to mentally escape from them and my worries for the short duration in Yosemite. The immense cliffs, everlasting sequoias, beautiful waterfalls, and abundant wildlife were mesmerizing and for the first time in a while, I felt humble and small, as if I were just a tiny ant in an incredibly huge world. We, as humans, often forget our relationship with Mother Nature, but this trip to Yosemite had reminded me of this

In “Chango’s Fire” Ernesto Quinonez shows Julio’s battle between his Pentecostal faith and Santeria, all the while addressing gentrification in the Puerto Rican community. Julio’s journey from his Pentecostal upbringing to Santeria illustrations through Julio’s eyes what his religion meant to him growing up and what made him decide to stop indulging in said religion. When Julio began setting fires he became a part of the problem with gentrification and it was his belief in Santeria that allowed him to discourse from aiding in gentrification.

Eric Liu has written two books with Nick Hanauer on politics and civic life, The Garden of Democracy (2011) and the True Patriot (2007) and has written a memoir, The Accidental Asian. His commentary on “branding” appears to be the main issue in the op-ed of the public space in the USA. Eric Liu displays his disagreement on their Bronx homestead’s being named into some brand called “Yankees”. The Yankees showing off their name into the homestead has angered the writes in many ways. The writer thinks it has insulted the great legends born in the stadium. He isn’t happy about this change as he thinks it as a national treasure. Now Yankees will also be a part of a deeper, acceleration trend in our society, the relentless branding of public spacing.

The poem, “Singapore”, by Mary Oliver advocates for respect for all types work. It is set in a restroom at an international airport in Singapore. The poem has two characters, who are the poet and a female toilet cleaner. The poem starts with the poet visiting a restroom at the international airport. The poet finds a native woman kneeling and cleaning the toilet that has human excreta. The poet is disgusted by this scenario. On the other hand, the toilet cleaner is embarrassed that the poet has found her doing this “undignified” work. The poet uses this scene to pass a message that all types work deserve respect. She uses imagery in her lines to express this message, which is discussed below.

Hong Kong,as one of the world's leading international financial centres,it has a major capitalist service economy characterized by low taxation and free trade. It is known of the world's most services-oriented economy, with services sectors accounting for more than 90% of GDP.