Journal “In a united family, happiness springs of itself.” Chinese Proverb
Chinese Diaspora History Canadian Chinese The Concubine’s Children (Double Happiness) (Happy...
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Transcript of Chinese Diaspora History Canadian Chinese The Concubine’s Children (Double Happiness) (Happy...
Chinese Diaspora
• History
• Canadian Chinese
• The Concubine’s Children
• (Double Happiness)
• (Happy Together)
Chinese Diaspora: History• Traditional Chinese emigrants since
16th C
• Three kinds: Indentured workers, Free Artisans, Traders.
• Areas: South-East Asia, Hawaii, North America , the Caribbean, South America (Mexico, Peru)
• 華僑、中華民族之花果飄零、華裔
Chinese-Canadian : History• free entry (1858-84)
–1880 and 1885 railroad workers
• restricted entry (1885-1923)– 1904 -- 500-dollar head tax
• exclusion (1924-47) • selective entry, 1948 to present “liberation” of
China 1949 p. 68-
• recent Taiwanese, Hong Kongese and mainland Chinese immigrants
Chinese diaspora & flexible citizenship
Traditional Chinese Diaspora: Characteristics
• Adaptable, resilient, • a high level of family and clan
solidarity; close-knit (monetal) relationships • invited by the “colonizers” • Sojourners -- “un-assimilable”? “quiet,”
wicked (CC. p. 62)
and “a human machine”• e.g. “a Chinaman’s chance”
• the yellow peril phobia
Contemporary Chinese Diaspora: Characteristics
• All over the world: hard to generalize and impossible to unite
• discriminated against still for their hard-earned wealth
• flexible citizenship
• sense of dual or multiple identity
• e.g. “Imperialism of Syntax”
Canadian Chinese during the Exclusion Period:
Historical Phenomena• China Town as a Bachelor Society• 1921 census--sex ratio
– Vancouver 10/1(5,790 males and 585 females)
– Ottawa 30/1 (273 males and 9 females)
– Halifax 60/1 (138 males and 2 females)
• Racism v.s. Solidarity (Tang), Opium and Mah-jong (CC p. 62)
• Ways of Asserting Masculinity
Some photos
head taxes--50 in 1886, 100 in 1900, 500 in 1903
1923- Chinese Exclusion Act
Some photos (2)
• setting-- • Vancouver‘s Chinatown (mah-jonng
parlour and tea house),
• Nanaimo’s,
• Prince George &
• Chang Gar Bin (廣東 )
The Concubine’s Children
The Concubine’s Children: charactersChan Sam
May-yin Wife no. 1
YuenPing & Nan
Winnie
Chow Guen
Leonard(adopted)
Denise Cheong
Wife no. 0 & 2 daughters
John Chong
The Concubine’s Children: Chronology (present 1987)
• 1848 -- Chan Sam leaves his family• 1922 -- arrives in North America p. 61• 1924 -- May-ying’s arrival• 1929 -- return to China p. 63• 1930 -- back to Canada, Winnie’s birth• 1935 -- second return• 1940 -- Chow Guen (Nan died in 1942)• 1948 -- Winnie left Chinatown • 1987 -- Winnie’s trip
The Concubine’s Children:
Issues (1)• A family broken into
two and linked together by the daughters trip back to China.
• the image of the coat p. 59
• the photo of the two girls
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (2) Family relationships
• The Influences of Institutionalized Racism on Family Relationships
• A. Gender -- Chan-Sam and May-Yin The Canton House ( 廣東酒家 )
in Nanaimo's Chinatown years after
May-ying worked there
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (2) Family relationships
–their marriage: a hunting knife under his side of the mattress (63)
–May-ying as a waitress (63)
–May-ying as a Concubine (63)
–Wife No. 1 -- p. 64: dutiful and submissive
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (2) Family relationships
• B. Parenting
• Chan-Sam the house 65; p. 71
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (2) Family relationships
• B. Parenting• Chan-Sam• --being fatherly from afar (69; 71)• -- does not belong in Nanaimo,
missing home 58-59• --sacrifice the famly in Canada
for the sake of the family in China
The Concubine’s Children:
Issues (2)• May-ying --scary; strong woman
"cutting and curling her hair to look older to conform to the illegally purchased birth certificate” (62); (p. 63)
May-ying• Dressing Winnie as a
boy
p. 55
Leave her husband 63; 65; 66
May-ying
• claimed back the rites of love (67)–gamble her love on Chow Guen,
get a son Leonard
• about the death of Nan 68
• Her later years (73-74)
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (3)
• Family -- and a daughter’s sense of identity
• May-ying’s influence on Winnie– the family photo (p. 60)
– Winnie neglected; Strictly disciplined 66-67 like a checked baggage, 68; dressed as a son 65
– Winnie’s bruises, shame p. 67
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (3)
Family -- and a daughter’s sense of identity
• Winnie's rebellion– diligent work at school; – decides to quit school and get married p.
69; – the grandfather’s money to buy a house 69– the father and then the mother live with
them a while – final brokeup 70; 75
The Concubine’s Children: Issues (3) Many kinds of family
• Paper daughter 69 • Ping 77 --"I don't
deserve this; I was not born here."
• Winnie: no more shame (p. 61) immigration--liberation 77
May-ying & newborn Ping.