Weekly

Response1Paper 8
Form:
Workshop
Shen
Kun-Xian

Title: A Space of Contended Nationalities: (Dis)identification and Neo-Orientalism in China Town, San
Francisco
City Text: Chan is Missing
Primary Text in class: White Teeth
Secondary Texts: Bhabha, Roach, Munoz
Set in the China Town in San Francisco, the oldest and largest Chinese diasporic community in the
world, my essay would mainly focus on the deconstruction of multiple nationalities within this seemingly
mono-cultural culturally monotonous space through the analysis of strategic behaviors such as
(dis)identification, mimicry, and surrogation, to name just a few. My primary text would be Chan is Missing,
an early Chinese American film in the 1980s that is said to be the first of its kind and influences later Asian
American films.
In Chan is Missing, we can see there is already tension between people who support the Communist
party (PRC) in Mainland China, people who are from Taiwan and root for the Nationalist party (ROC), as
well as those who refuse to identify with both and simply see themselves as Americans. Clearly, China Town
is a space that claims to be united, singular, or even enclosed, but is actually filled with intense relationships
between different groups of "Chinese" people. Without jumping to the conclusion of deconstructing
nationalism at once, I believe many postcolonial theories can come in handy here to examine how different
national movements conflict with each other, including spatial practices, (dis)identification, surrogation,
mimicry, and intersectionality...etc. I would use the marches of annual national anniversary (both PRC and
ROC) as performative examples of claiming identity, as well as the oriental buildings in China Town,
including restaurants, vendors, banksetc. What are the forces working behind these performances? What
identities do they claim? What traditions are they invoking? Do these forces intersect with each other and
create hybridity? Apart from Chineseness, the American society would also be taken into consideration. I'd
try to research how China Town becomes such an oriental space on the outside look; hypothetically, I
believe American tourism and capitalism in general (which is pretty much global capitalism) are the main
reasons for the Chinese merchants to transform the space into a flattened image. However, it can also be
read as mimicry or disidentification, a postcolonial defiance against the Western colonizers. The
representation of diasporic immigrants tradition under Western imperial gaze would require multiple
perspectives, just as the dynamic and exaggeratedly hilarious Indian restaurant in White Teeth.
In order to also deal with these representations in a more aesthetic, formalistic way, Id like to use
Zadie Smiths White Teeth, a novel that depicts the multicultural scene in North London in caricatures as a
founding text to examine China Town. Literary critic James Wood once describes Smiths technique as
hysterical realism in a negative tone, which is surprisingly accepted by Smith with optimism. Here, Id
like to use the concept of hysterical realism to describe Chan is Missing and China Town as well. In a
carnivalesque sense, Smith is able to transform the negative (e.g. racial oppression, misrepresentation,
nostalgia, amnesia of traditions, class and racial conflicts) into a hilarious parody or social satire, which is
an aesthetic in itself. This can be linked to the performative marches in China Town, the exaggerating
buildings, and the self-satirizing comments in Chan is Missing. However, it should also be noted that such
parody cannot have its effect if the people in the context are not aware of its irony.
Aside from main argument, I'd also link the essay to address more contemporary issues: for instance,
the rise of the new China, "Chinese dream" (a parody of American dream), replicas in Chinese urban area
(e.g. is a city made exactly like Paris, but is abandoned soon after construction. It is also called
"ghost town"), current relationship of China and Taiwan, a comparison of spaces between China Town in
U.S. and modern cities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or China...etc. Most of these would be used to examine how
"Chineseness" as a concept functions in a postcolonial world where U.S. is de facto governing almost every
part of the world. How do the "Chinese" communities cooperate with each other, and how do they break off?
How is the term "Chinese" used in order to fight against Western hegemony, and how is it misused to
orientalize people? And eventually, how do we view neo-liberalism and capitalism in this context?
A+
This is a wonderful project, Kun Xian. Youve assimilated so much theory already and you are using it
in complex ways to understand a rich and fascinating space. Youve written carefully about how the
multiplicity of Chinatown can encapsulate key terms from disidentification to mimicry and several others in

between. Indeed, my only concern about your project is that you might try to take on too much. The last
paragraph lists several important and intriguing issues, but I dont know that you can do them all! Your
work over the next week or so will be to decide on your priorities. Youve got the film; Zadie Smith; the
marches, the vendors, and then all the new stuff about simulacra and the New China. Whilst I think the
category of Chineseness is nicely encapsulated in the objects you describe in that last paragraph, you
may be able to get at this idea with the film and your study of the space of Chinatownyou may not have to
go to the comparative lens with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other spaces. You might be able to gesture to a
future project there, but Im not sure youll be able to take it on now.