Hung Liu Essay

Jin Wang is embarrassed to even be apart of his family by the way he acts and how he represents their culture. He now can see how hard it is to fit in.

“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.

Liu grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York to Chinese immigrant parents from Taiwan. His Wikipedia page refers to him simply as an “American writer” as opposed to many Asian American figures who has their ethnic background noted before “American” in their description. Liu refers to himself as a “banana” where he is white by acclamation, and much like the claims of Takao Ozawa of the landmark court case in 1992—he does not physically look white. This clash would be the root of Liu’s struggle with his ethnic identity and race growing up. Liu did not grow up with a “tiger mom” in the likes of Amy Chua , but a relaxed father who spoke English better than typical Chinese immigrants and a mother who only wanted him to be a “good boy”. Eric Liu happily and completely assimilated into American culture, and it was not until after he was married in his late twenties did he begin to question his Chinese identity. For Eric Liu, his assimilation “began long before he was born”. For Eric Liu, he was completing his parents’ assimilation—parents whom immigrated to America with human and financial capital. In comparison to his peers, Eric Liu never knew how he was different aside from what he saw in the mirror because Eric Liu was raised in a middle class family.

Fong See is holding on his lap very firmly and sturdy his youngest son Eddy, while Letticie very protectively holds the small of her daughter’s back with her hand. And how could they not be on the verge of protectiveness. During this time, the Chinese immigrants were viewed with much negative sentiment by the American citizens. They believed the Chinese were taking away their jobs and if they were successful business owners this sentiment against them was even greater. “For many Chinese American, life in California was marked by daily rounds of humiliation and intimidation” (Bean and Rawls, 193). And this did not excluded the See family, who despite being a very successful family, they were still viewed as Chinese immigrants who emigrated from China as laborers, and as Chinese descents they were subjected to the discriminatory treatment of that

Some historians argue that Chicago’s Chinese population was an insular ethnic group located in Chinatown. Contrary to popular belief, Chinese men did not simply live as lonely bachelors in the U.S. Instead, they navigated foreign terrain to seek methods that both fulfilled patriarchal duties to their wives and children, who were legally kept out of the U.S. in most cases, and find intimacy and companionship among white, black, and Chinese prostitutes in Chicago. Intimate relationships formed between prostitutes of many races in Chicago and Chinese men were integral in Chinatown’s underground economy and challenge images of a monolithic Chinese population and the perpetually lonely Chinese bachelor.

Even for those that were not slaves, life was not easy. In New York, many of these African Americans were employed as laborers. (Benwell 16) Even if you were successful as a black man, your achievements were not recognized. A prime example being the terrible things said to the black man trying to shake hand with the senator Daniel Webster. (Benwell 20) Down in Louisiana, if you had any African-American blood in your history you were despised. (Mackay 86) The racism is so deeply ingrained into some that even if you had no physical traits of African-Americans you still would be shunned because of your heritage. The slaves would be disproportionally targeted by the disease of New Orleans because they had no choice to leave. Reading Hardy’s account of Chinatown was eye opening into how many viewed Asian-Americans during this time period. One only has to read some of the nasty things she called them, “inferior class”, “idolatrous heathen”, and “strange, passionless people” to name a few. This discrimination against Chinese may have been due to the small amount of intermingling between the two societies in SF. Hardy tells us that they were governing themselves at this point. (Hardy

In Ha Jin’s novel Waiting, we are introduced to the protagonist Lin Kong a doctor in the ostensibly progressive communist Chinese Army. Lin Kong is agonizingly bound to Shuyu, the peasant wife his parents had arranged for him to marry due to this arrangement, Lin struggles with the cultural appropriations afflicted upon him within his family and love life as models of old are challenged with the new. His arranged marriage has bequeathed him to believe that his relationship with Shuyu is empty considering his lack of love for his wife, furthermore this leads to the ever-prevalent emotional strife and difficult decisions he faces throughout the novel while the Cultural Revolution is manifested. Anthony Gidden’s essay Family from the The Runaway World states that, “There is a global revolution going on in how we think of ourselves and how form ties and connections with others,” that is “advancing unevenly in different regions and cultures, with many resistances (Giddens 52). With this being said, the “Waiting” allows for us to explore Lin Kong’s relationships, marriages and multiple struggles with his identity during this transitory period in his life with the implied reforms that are to come with the Cultural Revolution in China.

The art museum I had visited was the Virginia Fine Art Museum, in Richmond. I saw a lot of brilliant work of art. But, there was one particular piece of art that stuck out to me the most, which was the Yang Guifei. This painting was made in 1979 during the Chinese, People’s Republic period. The picture is painted on a hanging scroll with ink and colors on a piece paper. The hanging scroll is about 5’0 feet tall, it has a women painted on it, in all different color such as dark pink, light green, light blue, yellow, grey, and black. The hanging scroll also has black Chinese words written down the side of the women. The eyes stuck out the most to me because it is painted black. The body of the women is painted a dark pink. The hair of the women

Ming Cho Lee is one of the most influential theatrical set designers. He has designed for Broadway and Shakespeare festivals. He has worked under some of the most talented mines in theatre as well as being the mentor of other theatrical greats. Aside from designing professional works, he has also taught at Yale School of Drama for almost 50 years. Through this long career, he has earned two Tony awards and many other theatrical honors. It is arguable that lee is one of the most influential set designers of the 20th and 21st century.

The sisters deal with the struggles of assimilation as they grow up in the seclusive community of chinatown only to live in an American world. The family life of the Leong household

In the mid 19th century, America was viewed as a hotspot for freedom and wealth. When the noise of the gold rush flooded the world, immigrants started to see America more appetizing than ever. The Chinese saw America as a place to have a fresh start and as a place of refuge because of it’s generosity, so they immigrated to the west in great numbers. There was a large Chinese population in Virginia and all along the Pacific coast. Writers Mark Twain and Maxine Hong Kingston both wrote in great detail about the Chinese Immigrants. They went into detail about the immigrants and how they came over and why. Although Twain and Kingston both wrote about the immigrants in a positive light, Twain was sympathetic of the immigrants and Kingston focused more on their image and her ancestors.

Li faced a huge culture shock. He struggled with attaining a sense of belonging in a world so different to what he was accustomed to. Through time he did adapt and began to question his allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. Li’s pursuit of a career in dance causes him to face many hard decisions on whether he should follow his heart. Li lost his belonging to his country and was denied the right to see his family.

Authors: Miranda E. G. Armstrong, Jane Green, Gillian K. Reeves, Valerie Beral, Benjamin J. Cairns.

This literati painting is “Ting Hu landscape” which painted by Chang Dai-chien, who was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. As the most famous As the most famous twentieth century literati painter, Chang Dai-chien learned the characteristics of ancient Chinese literati painting, especially the Tang, Song, Ming, QING Dynasty, formed his own style ----- Daqian style.

Does the film Huang tudi (Yellow Earth) offer a critique of the Communist revolution? If so where and how?