#Chinese Americans

[mapsontheweb]

Does your state have more Chinese or Indian Americans? (2019-2020)

[hclib]

James Hong, The Main Man

Chances are, if you've watched movies in the last seven decades, you’ve seen or heard Minneapolis native James Hong. With over 650 film and television credits, he is one of the most prolific actors of all time. His latest accomplishment is a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was released on March 25, 2022. The film also garnered 7 Oscars from 11 nominations at this year’s Academy Awards, which Hong attended wearing a bowtie with googly eyes—a nod to the film. In 2022, at age 93, he became the oldest person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

James Hong was born in Minneapolis to Chinese immigrants in February, 1929. His father, Frank W. Hong, managed the Golden Pheasant, one of the first Chinese restaurants in the city (it opened in 1919 next to the more famous Nankin, which opened the same year). The Hong family later owned a business in what some considered to be Minneapolis’s Chinatown. Sent away to Hong Kong for elementary school, James returned to Minneapolis for middle school, where he had to re-learn English. He attended the old Bryant Junior High and then Central High School, where he graduated in 1947.

Learn more about the Hong family and Minneapolis’s Chinatown in this MinnPost article from 2015.

If you enjoyed Everything Everywhere All at Once, or are waiting in the queue for the DVD, check out more books and films featuring the writers, actors, and directors of this Oscar-winning film.

Images of James Hong from the 1946 and 1947 Minneapolis Central High School yearbooks. See more yearbooks and restaurant menus in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.

[houghtonlib]

Houghton has recently digitized several collections relating to Anna May Wong (born Wong Liu-tsong), widely considered to be the first Chinese American movie star.

Picture postcards and photographs of Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong compositions and collected music

Sheet music and texts relating to Anna May Wong

[pixoplanet]

⛓️ It's the 4th of July, America's Independence Day.

Do Native, African-, Asian, and Hispanic Americans have anything to celebrate today?

🛶 Do Native Americans have anything to celebrate?

Many Native Americans view the 4th of July as a celebration of colonialism and the oppression of indigenous peoples rather than a celebration of independence. The Declaration of Independence itself refers to Native Americans as "merciless Indian Savages." Furthermore, contemporary celebrations often overlook or ignore the painful history of Native American communities, perpetuating a sense of exclusion and historical erasure.

🛶 Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux Tribal Chief Sitting Bull

For many African-Americans, the Declaration of Independence's assertion that "all men are created equal" starkly contrasts with the historical realities of slavery and systemic racism that have plagued African-American communities since the nation's founding. This contradiction was poignantly highlighted by Frederick Douglass in his 1852 speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" For many, Independence Day serves as a reminder of the persistent fight that must go on for civil rights and justice.

⛓️ Frederick Douglass asks, "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?"

Despite the holiday's celebration of freedom and independence, Asian Americans have faced exclusionary policies, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. These historical injustices, coupled with ongoing issues of racism and xenophobia, contribute to mixed feelings about the 4th of July.

Many Hispanic Americans reflect not upon the 4th of July's ideals of freedom and independence, but upon historical and ongoing immigration, labor exploitation, and racial discrimination. The disparities between these ideals and their actual experiences can lead to a sense of exclusion. For some, the holiday serves as a reminder of their persistent struggle for equality and recognition in American society. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese

https://www.pixoplanet.com/post/4th-of-july

[longlistshort]

(Hung Liu “Portrait of China Mary”, 2006, Oil on canvas)

Currently at The James Museum in St. Pete, is From Far East to West: The Chinese American Frontier, an informative show that includes many beautiful paintings. There’s so much history in America that often doesn’t get taught in school. This is a great opportunity to learn about this immigration story through artwork as well as text.

From the museum about the exhibition-

While European American settlers gradually pushed the United States frontier westward throughout the 1800s, the West coast of the country was developing independently as well. Accelerated by the discovery of gold mid-century, the population boom included Chinese immigrants who crossed the Pacific Ocean to California.

Most 19th century Chinese immigrants came to their new country from the coastal Canton region (province of Guangdong today) in southeastern China. Starting over on a different continent away from familiar surroundings and culture would be challenging, but for many decades anti-Chinese hostility and exclusion laws made settling in the United States even more difficult. The achievements of Chinese immigrants paved a path for future generations and are a testament to strength and perseverance.

The foundation for the exhibition highlights narratives of Chinese America from the 1850s to the 1930s. The paintings-all created by Chinese Americans in the 21st century-reflect inspiration from this history. The painters are also fueled by their own, more recent immigration stories to the United States after China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and their rigorous art training in the government-sponsored movement of Socialist Realism. After China opened to the rest of the world in the late 1970s, many Chinese artists-like Mian Situ, Jie Wei Zhou, Benjamin Wu, Hung Liu, and Z.S. Liang, all featured here were inspired to immigrate to the United States in search of greater opportunity.

Here, these artists’ historical interpretations speak to culture, identity, community, and resilience. Related objects and ephemera from the period support these stories. From the Gold Rush to Angel Island, this exhibition reveals often overlooked but significant contributions and perspectives of Chinese immigrants that deepen our understanding of U.S. history.

Hung Liu “Dandelion with Small Bird”, 2017 Mixed media

About the above painting from the museum-

Dandelions and their fluffy seed pods can be found anywhere in the world and thrive wherever they land. Their migratory nature allows them to survive a journey across vast lands even across oceans and take root anywhere in the world. For Liu, the dandelion represents her own tenacity and ability to thrive in the face of adversity.

The dandelions, fragile in nature and tattered by the lightest breeze, mimic how images, and personal narratives, too, can be scattered by time and the winds of history —as well as by the rhythms of feast and famine … –Hung Liu

Mian Situ “Blasting a Route Through the Sierra Nevada, 1865, Central Pacific Railroad”, 2018, Oil on canvas

Mian Situ “The Gold Seekers , Chinese Camp, 1850”, 2015, Oil on canvas

Jie Wei Zhou “Dragon Parade”, 2012, Oil on Linen

This exhibition is on view until 1/28/24.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Sijue Wu

Sijue Wu was born in 1964. Wu is a professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan, where her research currently focuses on singularities in surface waves. In the past, she has also researched vortex sheets and other aspects of fluid dynamics. Wu's achievements have been recognized with a Satter Award from the American Mathematical Society and a silver Morningside Medal from the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians. In 2022, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

[ericpoptone]

Pan-Asian Metropolis -- Pasadena's Lost Chinatown

INTRODUCTION Most of my essays about Los Angeles begin similarly. A question is asked, an answer is hard to find or is deemed inadequate, and then I head straight down a rabbit hole. This one began when a friend asked a question that involved Altadena and a street there with a Japanese name. She then mentioned that neighboring Pasadena had had a couple of Latino colonias — Chihuahuita and…

[ohhfarts]

Most depictions of Chinese transcontinental railroad workers have a bunch of humble looking guys in conical straw hats all wearing the same baggy shirt carrying buckets or dynamite or whatever.

I love that this one has this dude who is HELLA JACKED swinging a sledgehammer the force of which sends his queue flying into the air. Dude next to him in Mr T's vest armed with guns for days while smoking a pipe. 10/10.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"CUTE CHINESE GİRL JOURNEYMAN WELDER," Toronto Star. March 26, 1943. Page 2. ----- Los Angeles - One of the champion welders at the Douglas Aircraft Co., its officials affirm, is a left-handed Chinese girl who talks with a Brooklyn accent - and is pretty. She is Miss Jennie Lee and is an avid fan of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. She passed a rigid examination before she got her journeyman welder's "A" rating. She is also a champion-southpaw bowler and as a hobby collects jive recordings.

[makymakvrchat]

Chinese Citizens caught being spies in America

[mapsontheweb]

In 1870, only 0.2% of the US was Chinese, but many Western states had significant populations. Idaho was #1 at 29%, followed by Montana and California at 9%. Here's a map of the Chinese % by county. Shoshone, Idaho was #1 at 65%.

by @SidKhurana3607

[relaybeacon]

Before Brown v. Board of Education, There was Tape v. Hurley

School segregation in the United States wasn't just a black and white matter. Tape v. Hurley (1885) concerned Chinese American Mamie Tape's enrollment in a majority white school.

[grayblebayble]

Studios are so obsessed with trying to find the next cash cow that they will kill the calf before it's weaned from its mothers milk.

[summercomfort]

in my pursuit of ever-increasingly niche comics, I drew a 13 page comic about Tape v Hurley, a court case about Chinese-American school segregation in 1885. The rest of the pages are after the readmore, as well as on AO3 here. More obsure Chinese American court case comics are there, as well.

Historical Notes

Mary and Joseph Tape were not born in America, but their names and identities were very much formed in America. Joseph Tape was born Jeu Dip in Guangdong, China, immigrated the America when he was twelve, and spent his teenage years working as a house servant in an Irish household. Mary arrived in America at the age of eleven, and was found and raised as Mary McGladery in a Protestant orphanage as the only Chinese child amongst ~80 children. Both Mary and Jeu spent their formative years amongst White Christian families, so when Jeu Dip and Mary married in 1875, little wonder that Jeu picked the English name of Joseph Tape -- Joseph to match with Mary, and the German last name Tape as a nod to his former name of Dip.

The Tape family lived about 14 blocks outside of Chinatown, in a primarily white neighborhood. They dressed in Western clothing, spoke English at home, and Mamie grew up playing with non-Chinese kids. Naturally, they wanted their children to attend the local elementary school, a mere 3 blocks from their home. The principal, Ms. Hurley, denied her entrance, claiming that she was “filthy and diseased.” At the time, there was no public school option for Chinese children -- the 1870 state law stipulated separate schools for “African and Indian children” only, not Chinese. The Tape family, with the help of the Chinese Six Companies, their church, and the Chinese consulate, decided to sue, claiming that the 1880 California school code guaranteed everyone a right to public education and that this was a violation of the 14th Amendment.

They won.

But this was 1885, three years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act and six years before Plessy v Ferguson. Regardless of what the California Supreme Court might decide, public sentiment was on the side of the San Francisco school district. Determined to keep out this “invasion of Mongol barbarism”, the California State Legislature passed a law permitting separate schools for Chinese children, which then allowed Principal Hurley to reject Mamie Tape once more.

While Mamie was rejected from the Spring Valley Elementary School for being Chinese, she also had a hard time fitting in to the Chinese public school. The Chinese merchants saw Western education as something primarily for boys. (Their girl children learned from their mothers at home.) Mamie, a girl dressed in Western clothes, would have stood out like a sore thumb. The final panel of the comic was based on a photo from three years later, and even then, Mamie was the only girl.

Places where I fudged the history: Frank, Mamie’s younger brother, was actually six years old and should have been more present in the comic, but I wante to keep the focus on Mamie and Mary. Also, Mamie had actually shown up to her first day of school in Western clothes. An earlier draft of the comic had a separate arc involving Mamie feeling rejected at school and Mary buying her some Chinese clothes, but that got too long and complicated.

Much of this was drawn from Mae Ngai’s book about the Tape family and their experiences as 2nd and 3rd generation Chinese Americans, titled “The Lucky Ones.”

----------

Here is Mary Tape's letter to the San Francisco School Board, 1885:

1769 Green Street. San Francisco, April 8, 1885. To the Board of Education - Dear Sirs: I see that you are going to make all sorts of excuses to keep my child out off the Public schools. Dear sirs, Will you please to tell me! Is it a disgrace to be Born a Chinese? Didn’t God make us all!!! What right have you to bar my children out of the school because she is a chinese Decend. They is no other worldly reason that you could keep her out, except that. I suppose, you all goes to churches on Sundays! Do you call that a Christian act to compell my little children to go so far to a school that is made in purpose for them. My children don’t dress like the other Chinese. They look just as phunny amongst them as the Chinese dress in Chinese look amongst you Caucasians. Besides, if I had any wish to send them to a chinese school I could have sent them two years ago without going to all this trouble. You have expended a lot of the Public money foolishly, all because ofa one poor little Child. Her playmates is all Caucasians ever since she could toddle around. If she is good enough to play with them! Then is she not good enough to be in the same room and studie with them? You had better come and see for yourselves. See if the Tape’s is not same as other Caucasians, except in features. It seems no matter how a Chinese may live and dress so long as you know they Chinese. Then they are hated as one. There is not any right or justice for them. You have seen my husband and child. You told him it wasn’t Mamie Tape you object to. If it were not Mamie Tape you object to, then why didn’t you let her attend the school nearest her home! Instead of first making one pre tense Then another pretense of some kind to keep her out? It seems to me Mr. Moulder has a grudge against this Eight-year-old Mamie Tape. I know they is no other child I mean Chinese child! care to go to your public Chinese school. May you Mr. Moulder, never be persecuted like the way you have persecuted little Mamie Tape. Mamie Tape will never attend any of the Chinese schools of your making! Never!!! I will let the world see sir What justice there is When it is govern by the Race prejudice men! Just because she is of the Chinese decend, not because she don’t dress like you because she does. Just because she is descended of Chinese parents I guess she is more of a American then a good many of you that is going to prewent her being Educated. Mrs. M. Tape

[cozylittleartblog]

yeah like having to deal with the obnoxious middle aged women who thrift to resell wasn't bad enough, now we got the braindead fast fashion bozos cluttering things up too.

its ok shirt, i will love you like somebody else apparently couldn't even if you shed microplastics into the water supply and will fall apart after 7 wears. and then i'll sew you back together like anyone with two braincells to rub together Should

[lionofchaeronea]

A Trinity of Dragons: Fire, Earth, and Water, Rookwood Pottery Co., 1892