So, by this point, most people have heard about Jackie Chan’s comment on the “Chinese need[ing] to be controlled.”
I watched the actual clip of Jackie Chan speaking at the Boao Forum (the part English media outlets have been reporting on starts at 0:50) and as someone who speaks Mandarin, I was concerned about the difference between watching the original clip and reading online English translations.
I was initially exposed to the issue through an online English news source, which said that Jackie Chan stated, “I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now. If there is too much freedom, like the way Hong Kong is today, it is very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic. I’m beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled.”
When I first read his comment in English, I was pretty outraged. Then I watched the original clip and didn’t find myself nearly as upset. I suspect this has to do with the fact that when information is translated, it is often read as an individual and isolated quote, making it easier to sensationalize.
There are definitely problems with what he said, especially in light of his privilege as a movie star who probably moves about his surroundings freer than the average Chinese citizen. As well, Jackie Chan is internationally known and anything he says publicly, unfortunately, can and will be read as representative of the Chinese people. Oh, and let’s not forget Jackie Chan’s glorification of the United States as a place where people know how to dispose of their gum, as opposed to China, where people don’t, and therefore need to be “controlled” (see 1:30 into last link, which is in Mandarin).
This whole Jackie Chan situation makes me wonder how information gets consumed and digested by racialized second/third/fourth-generation people who may not speak the language. More specifically, I am thinking about information and knowledge that has been translated from its original language into English. There are lots of diasporic people who are trying to learn about their racialized histories and reclaim their families’ stories who can only do so through listening to stories, watching movies and reading in English. I wonder how much of the complexities are lost, as the histories and stories are translated into the supposed “universal” language.
Or am I giving Jackie Chan too much leeway and credit? Gah, probably.
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MMA fans know Cung Le as the devastating striker and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion who broke Frank Shamrock‘s arm with a kick and as a trainer of a number of MMA fighters like the UFC‘s Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Cung Le is now striking out into the movie business. Here is a clip of him with Channing Tatum in the recently released movie Fighting.
The caption on Channing Tatum’s YouTube channel says that he is Korean, but when I see the clip, I only see Cung Le, local Vietnamese guy from San Jose made good. 
Channing Tatum beating Cung Le? Unlikely, but hey, it is an American movie! I do have to give Channing Tatum props for training with Cung Le. 8 Asians had discussions about Cung Le becoming an emerging Asian-American star, and he seems to be just that, starring as Marshall Law in the upcoming Tekken movie, having a key role in the science fiction movie Pandorum, and even making a movie with Yuen Poo-Wing called True Legend. Here is a picture of him as a Chinese Brigand.
I admire Cung Le for branching out into movies both in the US and Asia, even beginning to learn Chinese, while still keeping with his MMA and martial arts roots. Cung Le is someone to keep an eye on.
Shopping With GASP!
It took an act of Congress, but there’s good news for the mom I wrote about a few weeks back. She won’t get deported and separated from her kids and her partner. Shirley Tan was scheduled for deportation because she can’t legally marry her long time same sex partner for immigration status, and her appeal for asylum failed.
While this act of Congress doesn’t help other same sex couples looking to get their partners immigration status, it does put light on how unfair current immigration laws are to the LGBT community.
It’s estimated there are 40,000 couples in similar situations to Shirley Tan and her partner Jay Mercado. The only hope for these other couples is the passage of the UAFA act. There’s hope that Shirley and Jay’s stories will revive interest in the act and provide the focus it needs to get the act passed. There has been various forms of the act around since 2000, and the current incarnation has 17 cosponsors in the legislature. It’s supported by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (who incidentally was responsible for the act of Congress that saved Shirley Tan from deportation).
If you’re interested in helping pass the UAFA in Congress, you can visit the Immigration Equality page that lists ideas including writing and calling Congress, writing to editors, and signing a petition among other activities.
Photo Credit:(Maria J. Avila / Mercury News) Hat tip: Efren
A couple of astute readers might have noticed the Thursday 8Asians.com Photo Zen and Video Zen posts going on for a couple of weeks; no dialogue, no witty opinions, no angry, controversial diatribes — just linking a photo or a video and letting the image speak for itself. It was a good run, but it’s better as a separate free-standing tumblelog. So here I am to officially announce that we now have our own, aptly called 8Asians – the tumblr!
So, how is a tumblelog different than a blog? There’s no real difference from a blog, really, except that it “favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging.” And the perfect person to do that of course, is 8Asians.com blogger Jun — Brooklyn native, architecture student, and our resident at all things badass. While I may contribute time to time, Jun will be your emcee on “highlighting Asians — and uber talented non-Asians — who draw, dance, build, film, sing, write, invent, paint, teleport, and of course, tumble.”
Jun has been updating the tumblr for a while and I always look forward to the things he posts; surely you will as well.
In a stunning revelation, the Committee of 100 just published a report about Chinese Americans and Asian Americans stating that Americans who aren’t Asian can’t tell us apart. What’s interesting to note is that this group had done a similar study back in 2001 and found that the findings in 2009 were almost identical to the ones in 2001.
Among the surprising findings is that 74% of non-Asian American survey respondents believed that Asians comprise more than 8% of the American population, with 40% of those respondents believing that we are more than 16% of the American population. We’re actually only 5% of the population.
Another incorrect belief is that 51% of respondents believed that 25% or less of the Asian American population is American born. The correct percentage is only 30%.
It points to a classic theory in Asian American studies called the “perpetual foreigner”, which has its roots in an 1897 case of United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, where the judge ruling against a Chinese immigrant fighting to obtain naturalized American citizenship stated that Asians are “strangers in the land … incapable of assimilating.” It’s a belief that has persisted today, and which was one of the reasonings behind many of the exclusion acts that prohibited Asian immigration before World War II, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and ultimately with Filipinos as well. It also spurred the anti-miscegenation laws which prevented Asian men from marrying non-Asian women pre-World War II in a blatant attempt to remove Asians from the United States by stopping them from having legitimate children, with legislators knowing that the differential ratio between Asian men and women often was 15 to 1 or more in some places.
To help white Americans tell Chinese and Japanese Americans apart after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, Time Magazine wrote an infamous article in 1941 entitled “How to Spot the Japs from the Chinese.”
Unfortunately, it seems non-Asian Americans still can’t tell us apart and they actually might need this article.
After North Korea fired a missile over South Korean and Japanese airspace, angering the United States, this far-right “Christian” blogger somehow manages to conflate geishas, “immoral sperm banks” and the attack on Pearl Harbor, blaming this on the Chinese. Mind you, Christwire is widely known as a satire website, but the reference hits home. And the Chinese were the ones trying to stop the North Koreans from doing this, lady.
Almost makes me wanna go wear my coolie hat, strap on a queue, and start singing “Turning Japanese” while cooking adobo just to confuse the hell out of everyone.
(Image via HOW TO SPOT A JAP (1942). Hat tip: Erin Skinner, via twitter)
Are we still talking about hipster grifters? Because I think I just found a new one in comedian Charlyne Yi. Look at her!!! She captures the eye and heart of Michael Cera (yes, THE Michael Cera)! If I knew the Arrested Development star had an Asian fetish, I totally would have tried harder.
Alright, I’m really kidding because I adore Charlyne Yi, starting from when she first presented her Man On The Street bit the United Citizens Brigade Theatre, appearances around other comedy venues and her role on Knocked Up. She caught my attention since it felt rare to see a young Asian American comedian on stage who didn’t joke about her mother (*ahem* Margaret Cho) or other aspects about being…well, Asian. Instead, Yi has a unique and creative performance style, which is refreshing after hearing a barrage of Korean mom jokes–*ahem* Margaret Cho. I got to meet Yi when we booked her for Ring My Bell, a live Internet show where viewers could call in and talk to a featured celebrity over the phone. The webisode was pretty quirky, just like her!
This time, the cameras follow her in the “documentary,” Paper Heart, where she travels across the States to learn all about falling in love with (you guessed it) Michael Cera. I can totally relate.
My sons finished their very long basketball seasons last month, and I was surprised how some of my own views on sports, basketball, and Asian-Americans changed after what seemed to be an endless season. Here are six lessons that I learned:
Lesson 1: There are tall Asian-Americans out there
I find that the Asian-Americans are generally shorter.
I said that (so did Barack Obama), but after this season, I’d have to qualify that statement to “some groups of Asian-Americans are shorter.” Number One Son’s 6th grade basketball team had a non-league game scheduled against “School T”. Both teams were mostly Asian-American, but School T’s Indian and Chinese kids were taller than our Filipino kids. The real shock came when my sons’ schools’ 7th grade team played School T’s 7th grade team. While both teams were mostly Asian, their 7th graders towered over our 7th graders, with a Chinese forward and an Indian forward who were each close to 6 feet tall.
I have noticed that more and more tall Indian and Chinese kids are playing basketball. This discussion points out that some provinces in China are known for having tall people. Moreover, the Asian-American basketball league Dreamleague has 6 feet and over divisions. One thing, though, is that when there is a tall Chinese kid, he gets referred to as “Yao Ming.” “Yao Ming just got the rebound!” Annoying.
More lessons after the jump…
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Diversity Inc, released this week, their list of the top 10 best companies to work for, if you’re Asian. 401 companies applied for this honor, and the resulting list was chosen based on organizations that “demonstrated a long-term commitment to hiring, retaining, compensating and promoting Asian Americans”. Number one on the list was Abbott Laboratories (ranked number 16 overall in Diversity Inc’s rankings of companies).
I was surprised to hear there was such a list, and probably less surprised to see who was on it. Large, mainstream American companies made the list, and it’s good to see and hear about companies that promote diversity. I wrote recently about my own recent revelation about my company’s perceived glass ceiling, so knowing there are companies that are trying to remove these barriers is refreshing.
Reading about this list also made me reflect back on my first and second choices of companies to work for. When I graduated from college, I was lucky enough to have my choice of offers to select from, mostly on Wall Street. I chose JP Morgan as my first job, because it had made the Best 100 Companies to Work For list. When I decided to move to California, that same list made it easy to select my second corporate job. I wonder if I would have chosen differently if I had access to a list that showed companies that were making strides in treating Asian Americans equally. I will never know, but it’s good to know that option is available to those that are starting out now and to those looking for a new career move.
Tak is so cool that he raps about how cool he is. And he’s backed by a gaggle of (semi) scantily-clad Japanese girls who chant about how cool he is.
On Friday night I was figuring out what I wanted to watch on the DVR and noticed that a “Joe Wong” was going to be a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. I wound up watching The Late Show live and learning that he’s a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Chinese American comedian making his network television debut – four years in the making.
Joe initially came across as a stereotypical, William Hung-esque geeky Chinese American with an accent, and I wondered if he would be mocked by the audience; the Asian American comedians I’ve seen up until now, such as Vietnamese American Dat Phan, don’t usually have strong accents or come across as FOB’s.
Overall, most of his material was based on his immigrant experience and stereotypical Asian American type jokes, but he did start to win over the audience as he progressed. At the end of his set, I was impressed, given my initial concern of Joe reinforcing a stereotype, when in reality, he’s really breaking a stereotype – I mean, how many Asian Americans do you know who are comedians? Especially those who have accented English?
I really wonder how comedians, especially those starting off or those who are married and have kids, can make a living? I hope Joe can and wish him the best of luck. In doing some quick research on Joe, I came across some a few interesting articles on him in the Boston Globe.
Right now it’s a gorgeous day in San Francisco — mid-80′s, hands down the nicest day to date this year — so really, there’s no way I can not blog about Kero One‘s Welcome to the Bay, the rapper’s homage to San Francisco (and let’s be honest – I live there too, so I’m completely, shamelessly biased.) Never has 16th & Mission and the inside of a MUNI train look so glamorous.
Visuals from director Phil Velasco aside, take a close listen to the second verse where he talks about his parents journey from Asia to the United States and talks about a time “when words like ‘chink’ were teachable.” Kero One isn’t doing so bad nowadays; he quit his day job as a web designer in 2006 and now does everything from producing tracks for Talib Kweli to collaborating with Epik High to touring Europe, Japan and Korea.
(Hat tip: cbs5.com’s Eye on Blogs)
A two-year study carried out by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping used GPS and infrared devices to determine that there were 3889 miles of wall sections, 223 miles of trenches, and 1387 miles of hills and rivers (natural defenses) making the entire barrier 5,488 miles long.
Portions of the wall, some concealed by hills or mounds of earth and sand were discovered by GPS and infrared techniques. The newly mapped parts of the wall were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to protect against northern invaders and were buried over time by sandstorms. Recent studies by Chinese archaeologists indicate that the parts of the wall in Gansu may disappear entirely within 20 years due to sandstorms.
I was fortunate enough to visit a part of the Great Wall for the first time in 1994 on a business trip. It was early enough in China’s great rush towards modernization that the tourist area I visited had not yet been overrun with much of the tourist “circus” that surrounds it today. I went again in 2002 taking my parents and my partner, and even with the added tourist venues (like a roller coaster, additional shops, etc), I was still in awe of the Great Wall and the effort it must have taken to build it.
The trip to China, the Great Wall, and everything else we saw, will remain one of my most precious memories, as it was the only trip I took to China (our ancestral home) with my parents. This latest discovery about the Great Wall, reminds us that it’s never too late to learn about our past. And for those of us that are Asian, taking a trip to our ancestral home is one of those activities of a lifetime.
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