Arts, Faculty of
Theatre and Film, Department of
DSpace
UBCV
Zhang, Rui
Master of Arts - MA
University of British Columbia
In this thesis I explore the interplay between theatrical aesthetics and intercultural communication in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s to examine a broad yet remarkable shift of cultural framework in contemporary Chinese American theatre during this period. I will investigate how contemporary Chinese American playscripts and performances represented and undergirded the inheritance and transformation of cultural frameworks. Prior to the 1980s, as many scholars have noted, Chinese American theatre was typically an artistic response to political movements and aimed to condemn discrimination against Chinese Americans and fight for equal treatment. As represented by Frank Chin’s works, the major themes of Chinese American plays and performances were struggles against distorted stereotypes and the unequal treatment of Chinese Americans because of their ethnicity. After the 1980s, however, Chinese American theatre started to become more heterogeneous in theme and topic. Equally important, not much scholarship has reflected the shifting cultural frameworks in Chinese American theatre after the 1980s – a scholarly gap that this thesis seeks to fill. I use various research methods across the five chapters, including close reading, performance analysis, analysis of archival video recordings and programs, and interviews with the artists. My case studies compare different emphases in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s. With a focus on contemporary Chinese American theatre, I am keen to seek its particularity within the commonly adopted and broad Asian range, and aim for broader and more inclusive interpretations that promote cross-cultural understanding and break down barriers between different cultures and ethnic groups.
AN ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE AMERICAN THEATRE FROM 1980S TO 2010S IN PANCULTURAL, INTERCULTURAL, AND INTRA-ETHNIC FRAMEWORKS by Rui Zhang B.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2012 M.A., Illinois State University, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Theatre) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) January 2025 © Rui Zhang, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: An Analysis of Contemporary Chinese American Theatre from 1980s to 2010s in Pancultural, Intercultural, and Intra-ethnic Frameworks submitted by Rui Zhang in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theatre Examining Committee: Dr. Siyuan Liu, Professor, Theatre and Film, University of British Columbia Supervisor Dr. Hallie Marshall, Associate Professor, Theatre and Film, University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract In this thesis I explore the interplay between theatrical aesthetics and intercultural communication in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s to examine a broad yet remarkable shift of cultural framework in contemporary Chinese American theatre during this period. I will investigate how contemporary Chinese American playscripts and performances represented and undergirded the inheritance and transformation of cultural frameworks. Prior to the 1980s, as many scholars have noted, Chinese American theatre was typically an artistic response to political movements and aimed to condemn discrimination against Chinese Americans and fight for equal treatment. As represented by Frank Chin’s works, the major themes of Chinese American plays and performances were struggles against distorted stereotypes and the unequal treatment of Chinese Americans because of their ethnicity. After the 1980s, however, Chinese American theatre started to become more heterogeneous in theme and topic. Equally important, not much scholarship has reflected the shifting cultural frameworks in Chinese American theatre after the 1980s – a scholarly gap that this thesis seeks to fill. I use various research methods across the five chapters, including close reading, performance analysis, analysis of archival video recordings and programs, and interviews with the artists. My case studies compare different emphases in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s. With a focus on contemporary Chinese American theatre, I am keen to seek its particularity within the commonly adopted and broad Asian range, and aim for broader and more inclusive interpretations that promote cross-cultural understanding and break down barriers between different cultures and ethnic groups. iv Lay Summary This thesis examines how ideas and values are passed down through generations and how they have changed over time in contemporary Chinese American theatre. To do so, I studied how plays are presented on stage and how characters from different cultures communicate with each other, which shaped Chinese American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s. After the 1980s, Chinese American theatre productions began to thrive and became more varied in their themes and topics. By comparing and analyzing different tendencies that emerged in these productions, I explore the unique development of topics and viewpoints in cross-cultural communications. v Preface This thesis is an original, unpublished, independent work of the author, Rui Zhang. The research was approved by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board, certificate number: H19-03850. vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................... iv Preface .............................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... ix Dedication .......................................................................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 1.1 Concepts and contexts of Asian American Theatre and Chinese American Theatre ..... 4 1.1.1 Concepts and Connotations of Asian American Theatre ........................................ 5 1.1.2 Contextualizing Asian American Theatre ............................................................. 10 1.1.3 The Approaches to and Criticisms on Asian-American Stereotypes .................... 16 1.2 Concepts and Contexts of Chinese American Theatre ................................................. 20 1.3 Methodology: Cultural Frameworks ............................................................................. 22 1.3.1 Pancultural Framework ......................................................................................... 24 1.3.2 Intercultural Framework ....................................................................................... 25 1.3.3 Intra-ethnic Framework ........................................................................................ 26 1.4 Theoretical Framework: Intercultural and Intra-ethnic Theatre ................................... 28 1.5 Research Methods ......................................................................................................... 32 1.6 Overview of Chapters ................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 2: From Intercultural Struggles to Intra-ethnic Demarcations in David Henry Hwang’s FOB: Reconciliation or Disconnection? .....................................................................41 vii 2.1 Marginalization is Still Rampant: A Historical Perspective ......................................... 44 2.2 Intercultural Awareness in an Intra-ethnic Setting ....................................................... 53 2.2.1 Performing the In-Betweenness: Intra-ethnicism Disguised as Interculturalism . 59 2.2.2 FOB vs. ABC: Intra-ethnic Divisions Predominated by Intercultural Hegemony 64 2.2.3 Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan – From Incongruity to Congruity ............................ 73 Chapter 3: Exchanging Cross-cultural Value in Personal Communication: Individualism vs Collectivism in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to A Student Revolutionary .....................................79 3.1 Different Hierarchies: Intra-ethnic Disparities Ruptured by Intercultural Divisions ... 85 3.2 Intra-ethnic Incompatibility: Lack of Rapport and Identification................................. 89 3.3 Familial Ties vs. Generation Gaps: Different Routes to the Same Goal .................... 100 3.4 Position Swapped: Individualism vs. Collectivism .................................................... 106 Chapter 4: Reality Check: The Ever-Enlarging Intra-ethnic Gap in Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness .............................................................................113 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 113 4.2 Background and context ............................................................................................. 118 4.2.1 Asian American Theatre from the 2010s Onward .............................................. 122 4.2.2 The Playwright .................................................................................................... 123 4.3 Synopsis of the Play .................................................................................................... 127 4.4 Remaking the Chinese through Chinese American Lenses: Extreme Happiness or Extreme Misery? ..................................................................................................................... 128 4.4.1 Clashes of Cultures Seen in Interpersonal Relationships ................................... 130 4.4.1.1 Sunny and Colleagues: Reciprocity and Conflicts.......................................... 131 4.4.1.2 Sunny and Her Parents: Generational Gap and Patriarchal Oppression ......... 136 viii 4.4.1.3 Sunny and Pete: Collaboration Against Urban-Rural Division ...................... 139 Chapter 5: A Rare Exception Among Conformation to Normalcy: Caught by Christopher Chen ............................................................................................................................................145 5.1 Territorialization and Deterritorialization ................................................................... 152 5.2 Is There Anything Real? An Introduction to Caught.................................................. 154 5.2.1 The Performance Space in Disguise of a Gallery ............................................... 156 5.2.2 Lin Bo: A Faux Chinese Dissident Artist ........................................................... 159 5.2.3 Doubt and Negation: Deterritorializing the Fantasy ........................................... 165 5.3 Transformation of Cultural Frameworks on an Intercultural Stage ............................ 173 Chapter 6: Conclusions .............................................................................................................176 References ...................................................................................................................................194 ix Acknowledgements I could not have finished this thesis without the inspiration and motivation of the faculty and students of the Department of Theatre and Film at UBC. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Professor Siyuan Liu, for his invaluable guidance, support, and encouragement throughout this challenging journey. His expertise, insight, and patience have been instrumental in shaping this research. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my committee member, Professor Hallie Marshall, and to express heartfelt thanks to Professor Kirsty Johnston and Professor Esther Kim Lee, for their invaluable feedback, constructive criticism, and thoughtful suggestions that helped me refine and improve this thesis. I also wish to thank the New York Public Library and Robert Bradshaw, the Managing Director of The Play Company, for granting me access to the video recordings of the performances covered in this thesis, and Christopher Chen, the author of Caught, for offering his insights in my interview. Without them, I would not have been able to analyze and evaluate the nuances of the scripts and performances with the depth required for this research. It would have been impossible to complete this thesis without financial support from UBC’s Four Year Fellowship, Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, International Tuition Award, IODE Fine Arts Foundation Scholarship, and President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award. I am thankful for these incredible opportunities they have made available to me. I am deeply grateful to my parents, who have supported me throughout my years of education, both morally and financially. Without their sacrifices and support, I would not have been able to pursue my academic dreams. Finally, beyond anyone else, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Vanessa, whose love, humour, and understanding have been my anchor and my source of strength over the course of this academic pursuit. x Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my family for their constant love and support. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction The emergence of Chinese American theatre has often been driven by the impulse to transform negative stereotypes, biases, and institutionalized discrimination; to search out and establish identity amid the battle between inheriting Chinese traditions and assimilating to the American lifestyle; and to explore relationships within and outside of the Chinese American community. Critics, theorists, historians, and theatre artists have made great efforts to review, analyze, and question these Chinese American impulses. While defining the fundamental term “Chinese American” has been central to these efforts, the enterprise has also included broader topics such as diasporic identity, gender norms, and generation gaps. Studies have also ranged from explorations of specific performances’ connotations to investigations of particular theatre companies’ histories, mandates, and missions. Some of these works sit squarely in theatre and performance studies, while others align more closely with cultural studies. For this thesis, I focus on the shift of cultural frameworks in contemporary Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s and investigate the inheritance and transformation of cultural frameworks that are represented in and undergird contemporary Chinese American playscripts and performances in order to explore the interplay between theatrical aesthetics and intercultural communication in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s. Prior to the 1980s, as many scholars have already noted, Chinese American theatre used to be an artistic response to political movements and aimed to condemn discrimination against Chinese Americans and fight for equal treatment (Zarilli and Williams 2006, 246; Nelson 1997, 1). There are two reasons to narrow the time period to between the 1980s and the 2010s: first, as represented by Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman (1972) and The Year of the Dragon (1974), the major themes of the Chinese American plays and performances that were staged in big cities 2 like New York prior to the 1980s were prone to struggles against distorted stereotypes and unequal treatment of Chinese Americans because of their race and ethnicity since the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the US. Second, it was after the 1980s that the Chinese American theatre became more heterogeneous in theme and topic, making it possible for me to compare the diverse propensities that had emerged. More importantly, little scholarly literature has reflected the shifts in cultural frameworks in Chinese American theatre after the 1980s, which leaves a significant gap and a fresh cutting point for me to scrutinize the variations of cultural frameworks reflected in the Chinese American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s. Chinese American theatre has been shaped by a wide range of cultural frameworks, each reflecting the diverse experiences and perspectives of Chinese Americans. For example, cultural frameworks that emphasize the importance of immigrants assimilating to American culture and values, preserving and promoting one’s own cultural heritage, and the shared cultural and political ties between Asian countries and peoples have been prominent in Chinese American performances since the 1960s. In terms of prior research on contemporary theatre, more scholarship has been written on the Asian American theatre and theatre of Asian Americans in other parts of the world, but scholarly works specifically on contemporary Chinese American theatre are still lacking (Fischer-Lichte and Wihstutz 2013; J.D. Lee 1997; E.S. Kim 2000; Nelson 1997). With a special focus on contemporary Chinese American theatre, I am keen to seek its particularity within the Asian American community. Marching into the 1990s, Chinese American theatre has witnessed a cultural turn because of intra-ethnic division, i.e., conflicts or disagreements within the Chinese American community, and widespread unfriendliness caused by political tensions or historical conflicts towards China and the Chinese people. To illustrate and discuss this cultural turn, I have conducted a thorough 3 search for Chinese American plays, published either individually or in anthologies, from the 1980s to the present that have been produced professionally in major metropolises in the US. This includes those that have been produced on reputable stages in New York, such as FOB (1980) at the Public Theatre and Face Value (1993) at the Cort Theatre, as well as those that have been presented at regional theatres, such as Paper Angels (1980) at Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, Happy Valley (2005) produced by Mu Performing Arts in Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, and The Hundred Flowers Project (2012) produced by Silk Road Rising in The Crowded Fire Theatre. I have settled on four Anglophone plays written by award-winning playwrights between 1980 and 2017. These plays deal with intercultural and intra-ethnic relationships in contemporary American and Chinese settings parallel to the time in which they were written and produced, each having received critical reviews and significant attention in major journals and newspapers. I have confined my study to focus on Chinese American plays written by American citizens of Chinese descent – plays written by Chinese citizens are not included in this thesis. The goal is to exclude the political differences in the playwrights’ backgrounds so that I can conduct a more focused analysis of the cultural frameworks of the four Chinese American works, where Chinese Americans write the playscripts and perform the protagonists. The four plays can be divided into two subgroups: David Henry Hwang’s FOB (1980) and Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary (1991) bear witness to a shift in cultural frameworks in contemporary Chinese American theatre over the last two decades of the 20th century; Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness (2013) and Christopher Chen’s Caught (2014) mark further modifications and derivations of the new cultural frameworks formed in the first two decades of the 21st century. 4 1.1 Concepts and contexts of Asian American Theatre and Chinese American Theatre From the 1980s onward, professional Asian American theatre productions have been making significant progress on top of their predecessors’ achievements in the previous decades, which was followed by an increase in scholarly criticism on this emerging field. Scholars and theatre artists have reflected on the previous decades of performances and extracted the classic dilemma of belonging: although born and raised in the US, their reception as peripheral in the eyes of the Americans of European descent keeps Asian Americans away from being regarded as people who share the same values and beliefs with Americans of European descent. In response, apart from focusing on gaining a space in American culture to combat stereotypes and racism, Asian American artists started to create literature to outline possible solutions and anticipated results regarding the issue of identity. Examples include, but not are limited to, Genny Lim’s Paper Angels (1980), David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly (1988), and Bondage (1992). Chinese American theatre, as a prominent contributor to Asian American theatre, follows a similar track that reflects ongoing issues of race and ethnicity and existing between cultures, although responding to more detailed questions such as intra-ethnic divisions and racial problems that transcend cultures. Chinese American theatre explores these divisions based on the diversity of specific experiences and perspectives of different groups, including those of recent immigrants versus those who have been in the US for multiple generations. Scholars such as Esther Kim Lee (E.K. Lee 2006, 2015a), Josephine Lee (J.D. Lee 1997, 1998), Karen Shimakawa (Shimakawa 2000, 2002a), James Moy (Moy 1990, 1993), Dorinne Kondo (Kondo 1997, 2018), Daphne Lei (D. Lei 2005; D.P. Lei 2011, 2022), and Sean Metzger (S.A. Metzger 2005; S. Metzger 2011) have studied and analyzed Chinese American and Asian American theatre in terms of their 5 subjects, history, categorization of forms and playwrights, cultural and racial emphases in different periods, and the critiques of Chinese and Asian American productions and scripts. 1.1.1 Concepts and Connotations of Asian American Theatre Yen Le Espirutu argues that the pan-Asian unity could not be achieved until a predominantly American-born Asian population emerged in the 1960s with a shared language and identity in the postwar US (Espiritu 1992, 25-27). In terms of the concept of Asian American theatre, James Moy and Josephine Lee point to W. E. B. Du Bois’s “by us, for us, about us, near us” proposal for African American theatre as an ideal form for Asian American theatre (Du Bois 1926, 134). While Moy depicts difficulties in breaking the silence and stereotypes of Asian Americans due to the complexity of the Asian American community and the danger of essentialization (Moy 1993, 8), Lee believes that a “representational apparatus” is necessary for achieving that goal by producing quality performances (J.D. Lee 1997, 141). Asian American theatre artists’ nationalities or affinities to certain countries are usually subordinated to the pan-Asian culture instead of being interpreted individually. To some extent, the term “Asian” is more determined by countries with larger socio-political and economic influences while those of the others are muted, which essentializes the term and neglects huge differences between each member. In other words, because of the economic and cultural power imbalances between Asian countries, the popularity and influence of individual countries differ. Therefore, the connotation of “Asian” becomes murky. Although Chinese American theatre offers a clearer border for this thesis, its denotations and connotations are described differently by artists and scholars, so a specific and proper definition and categorization of Chinese American theatre is needed before further discussion and analysis. Many variables restrict the notion of Chinese American theatre, namely the 6 author’s nationality, the language s/he/they use(s), and whether the story is about life in the US or China. Elaine Kim states that the major component of Chinese American theatre are Anglophone works written by Chinese Americans, which covers a broad field, but she also acknowledges the works about American life written in Chinese (E.H. Kim 1982, xi). This expansive definition does not differentiate subgroups of Chinese Americans and includes works written in either Chinese or English, which makes it hard to compare the cultural frameworks of such groups and may lead to a slippery slope toward creating new stereotypes based on their specific differences. Similarly, Cheung and Yogi, who have initiated the categorization of Asian American theatre based on specific Asian nations, argue for subjective criteria to define the Asian American – including Chinese American – experience: the author’s ethnicity and the language s/he/they use(s) do not matter, and the content can be about Chinese American life either in China or in North America (Cheung and Yogi 1988). Their definition suggests that it is the core value of the work that determines the cultural identity of the author, but the lack of specification of nationality and language in their definition will cause similar problems as those troubling the first definition. Yet another definition is offered by Bing Wu – works done by Chinese Americans who adopt a Chinese American lens (B. Wu 2008, 16-17). This definition focuses on the nationality of the author but does not distinguish differences between American-born Chinese and Chinese immigrants, which is a significant dividing line within the group. Daphne Lei remarks that the definition of Asian American has expanded from “by birth” to “naturalized,” and mixed-race writers of Asian heritage are also included in the group (D. Lei 2005, 315). In order to provide a controlled study on the shift of cultural frameworks, I propose my definition of Chinese American theatre as English-language written or adapted plays and performances that are not limited to Chinese American matters produced by natural-born 7 American citizens of Chinese descent, though not necessarily of exclusively Chinese descent, and reflecting their unique values. Despite differences among Asian countries, the pan-ethnic term “Asian” in Asian Americans was not coined to essentialize Asian cultures regardless of their diversity. On the contrary, it aimed to unify and incorporate people of Asian descent as an imagined collective in America to achieve a stronger political impact while setting aside internal differences (J.D. Lee 1997, 10). Not surprisingly, the definition of “Asian Americans” permeates American society and is well accepted, although Asian immigrants have other criteria by which to group themselves, namely “primordial ties, such as common locality or dialect, kinship bonds, and religious affinity; and pragmatic interests, such as the desire to secure economic advantages or achieve political ends” (M. Chan 2008, 63). Besides, Asian American protests in the mid-1980s reflected “the changing scope of ethnic identities, as linguistically, culturally, and geographically diverse groups come together in the interest of panethnic, or all ethnic, solidarity.” (Espiritu 1992, 2). According to David Henry Hwang, in Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts, the term Asian is vague, and its definition is commonly limited to East Asia, India, and the Pacific Islands (Ling 1999, 223). By lumping Asian countries together, a seemingly favourable cooperation is founded within those countries, which helps form an affectional bond and promote Asian cultures, but the hierarchy of influences advocates the values, cultures, and political appeals of the prominent Asian countries, namely countries in east, south, and southeast Asia, while other countries in middle or north Asia remain relatively inaudible. Further, apart from the specific origins of Asian Americans, the conformation and subordination to the notion of the Asian American obliterate factors like “class, education, and age” (Lowe 1996, 30-31). Hence, the attention paid to imbalanced power dynamics under the 8 umbrella term “Asian” is not only inadequate but reinforces essentialization by this “master signifier” or “signifier without signified,” which recognizes and promotes the existing and partial representation of Asians (Žižek 2008, 108-109). In addition, Lowe also remarks that the notion of ethnic identity should be reconsidered in terms of “cultural, class, and gender differences,” and the Asian American identity is marked with heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity (Lowe 2016, 39). Josephine Lee also pointed out that Asian American theatre “deserve attention not only for how they represent many different forms of racial affiliation and experience, but also as they prompt us to scrutinize, interrogate, and challenge our assumptions about these new kinds of visibility” (J. Lee 2023, 411). In this case, I argue that the reception of Asian American theatre is largely determined by the overriding representations of more popular cultures, such as Chinese or Japanese, in the Asian American community, leading to the lack of visibility of and publicity for productions and playwrights that are not associated with those cultures. Studying Chinese American theatre separately from Asian American theatre allows for a deeper understanding of the unique cultural, historical, and social dynamics specific to the Chinese American experience. While Asian American theatre began as a pan-Asian coalition-building movement, it is important to recognize that each ethnic subgroup within the Asian American community has its own distinct history, traditions, and challenges, especially the Chinese American identity, immigration experiences, intergenerational conflicts, and interactions between American and Chinese cultures. As such, conducting a comprehensive and thorough survey of theatre practices of Asian American cultures is more feasible in a multiple-volume series compared to the space of a single thesis. It is important to note that Chinese American theatre cannot stand alone without the overlapping themes, shared experiences, and collaborative efforts within the Asian American 9 theatre. As Espiritu comments, although counting Asian Americans separately in terms of nation in the Census would contribute to an absence of pan-Asian solidarity, it is the pan-Asian groups that demand this classification not to protest against the “umbrella category” but to express their dissatisfaction with “the absence of subgroup categories” (Espiritu 1992, 132). Studying Chinese American theatre within the context of Asian American theatre can provide valuable insights into the diversity and complexity of the Asian American experience as a whole. In Kandice Chuh’s words, “[t]o address, account for, and accommodate difference, we must remember that there is no common subject of Asian American studies; there are only infinite difference that we discursively cohere into epistemological objects.” (Chuh 2003, 147). In this thesis, I focus on four case studies of dramatic texts and performances of one of the most influential constituents of the Asian American arts and cultures – Chinese Americans – to build on the critical foundations introduced in the following parts and extend this scholarly work by reviewing and analyzing prevalent cultural frameworks and their representations key to the development of Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s. The interplay between theatrical aesthetics and cultural theories opens a door to illuminate issues including identity, principles, and interaction with the social context in Chinese American theatre concerning both form and content. Theatrical aesthetics refers to the ways in which the components of theatre contribute to a specific artistic vision or style. Cultural theories, on the other hand, are intellectual frameworks that seek to understand the ways in which culture shapes and is shaped by society. When these two concepts intersect, theatrical aesthetics can serve as a vehicle for exploring and expressing cultural theories, and cultural theories can shape and inform the creation of theatrical aesthetics. 10 In this case, the presentations of Chinese American identities in theatre reflect the historical and cultural contexts that have shaped those identities. Presentations of these identities are not just intellectual or conceptual but also have an emotional and sensory impact on the audience. Based on the reception of Chinese Americans in different times, the physical and visceral impressions brought by the explication of the cultural frameworks not only demonstrate assertive presentations of Chinese American identities but also reflect the influence on the artistic recreations in theatre. These practices diversify Chinese Americans as a minority group and Chinese American theatre as a branch of American fine arts. By presenting these diverse identities on stage, Chinese American theatre is able to offer a more complex and nuanced representation of the Chinese American community. This diversification is important because it counters the stereotypical and one-dimensional portrayals of Chinese Americans that have often been presented in mainstream media. As I explore further, these concerns about multiculturalism motivate me to clarify the duality of the pancultural framework in Chinese American theatre. 1.1.2 Contextualizing Asian American Theatre Unlike the proliferous histories, criticisms, and anthologies of other Asian American art forms,1 Asian American theatre’s history and its delineations still await more explorations and 1 The most noticeable anthologies of Asian American literature includes Asian American Literature: Asian American Literature, An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context (1982), An Annotated Bibliography (1988), Asian American Literature: Reviews and Criticism of Works by American Writers of Asian Descent (1999), Asian American Literature in the International Context: Readings on Fiction, Poetry and Performance (2002), Transnational Asian American literature: Sites and Transits (2006), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature (2009), The Cambridge Companion to Asian American Literature (2015), Asian American Literature and the Environment (2015), The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature (2016); and the published anthologies include Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers (1974), Pake: Writing by Chinese in Hawaii (1989), The Forbidden Stitch, An Asian American Women’s Anthology (1989), Home to Stay: Asian American Women’s Fiction (1990), The Big Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature (1991), Chinese American Poetry: An Anthology (1991), Dissident Song: A 11 perspectives.2 Esther Kim Lee’s 2006 book, A History of Asian American Theatre, provides an introduction to and comprehensive survey of the emergence, development, and critical issues (e.g., the Miss Saigon controversy) in Asian American theatre from 1965 to the early 2000s. Lee has also discussed histories of Asian-American theatre companies, actors, playwrights, performances, incidents, and debates. In the first sentence of the first chapter, Lee states that the “Asian American theatre,” a term coined in 1968, did not exist until 1965 when the East West Players was founded; as a classification, “Asian American,” along with non-European “others,” was used by the authorities as a criterion to “justify systematic and consistent” discriminations (E.K. Lee 2006, 7). Prior to 1965, American theatre entailing Asian characters had created notions of the ethnicity by providing unassimilable and over-assimilated Asian characters performed by Caucasian actors, such as Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan (J.D. Lee 1997, 10-11). The biased projections of Asians reinforce the idea that Asians were inferior to Americans of European descent.3 Triggered by this fetishization, Asian American theatre artists compromised their ethnic and national differences to form a consolidated sense of a pan-Asian approach to Contemporary Asian American Anthology (1991) Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian Americans (1993), The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America (1993), Asian American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology (1996), Asian-American Literature: An Anthology (2000), Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing (2001), Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation (2004), Where Are You From?: An Anthology of Asian American Writing (Volume 1) (2012). 2 The major anthologies of Asian American plays include Between Worlds: Contemporary Asian American Plays (1990), Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women (1993), Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape (1997), But Still, Like Air, I’ll Rise: New Asian American Plays (1997), Tokens?: The NYC Asian American Experience on Stage (1999), Asian American Plays for a New Generation (2011), and Version 3.0: Contemporary Asian American Plays (2011). 3 Josephine Lee states that the stereotypes of Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan imply “a clear link between social tensions and cultural representation” (J.D. Lee 1997, 11) and Gary Okihiro believes that these stereotypes suggest the American concern about Asian countries as well as Asian Americans (Okihiro 1994, 142-45). 12 empower themselves artistically and politically, but the exact definition of “Asian” did not come to a consensus (E.K. Lee 2006, 4, 22). Lee then introduces the histories of four major Asian American theatre companies that later became hubs for Asian American theatre artists: East West Players in Los Angeles, Asian American Theatre Company in San Francisco, Northwest Asian American Theatre in Seattle, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in New York City. The East West Players (hereinafter as EWP) started with the “church basement period” from 1967 to 1971. They found it hard for the company to gain visibility, although the church offered an affordable venue to produce their plays and form its production style (E.K. Lee 2006, 44). EWP embraced both Asian and Western values and produced not only original Asian and Western plays but also anglophone performances of Japanese classic works and plays by Asian American playwrights. In this case, the EWP managed to diversify their demonstration of “theatrical talents” and provided opportunities for Asian American playwrights to assert a new “intercultural and artistic” Asianness to add to the diversity of representations and rectify previous “oriental” stereotypes (E.K. Lee 2006, 44-45). Moreover, EWP succeeded in acquiring financial support beyond the restrictive state and federal funding, which accelerated the advancement of original Asian American plays and performances (E.K. Lee 2006, 46). However, EWP encountered financial obstacles and conflicts between members between 1970 and 1972. Some performances included “nudity, homosexuality, concentration camps, and interracial marriage,” which were at odds with the values of the church that housed the performance space, and the resulting censorship of EWP performances deprived the artists of the privilege to use the space and limited the ability of EWP to expand, which led to the termination of the funding from the Ford Foundation (E.K. Lee 2006, 47-48). Thanks to generous EWP members who were willing to spend their own money to 13 support the theatre company, EWP survived the dark days and obtained a new theatre space in 1972 and received major grants in 1973. It is worth noting, however, that in order to support EWP financially, Mako, one of the founders of EWP, had to play stereotypical Asian roles in Hollywood films. He was criticized in the 1980s by the EWP board of directors who forced him to resign (E.K. Lee 2006, 49). This dilemma reflected an essential problem in Asian American theatre: performers were trapped in stereotypical roles, as performances containing these roles were expected. The patrons’ support could sustain their theatre company so that the theatre could build popularity and afford to develop works in the future to criticize the exact stereotypes they used to present. As the first and largest Asian American theatre company in the 1990s, EWP focused on developing new plays and serving the community, and its mandate remained to “train and provide opportunities to Asian American actors” (E.K. Lee 2006, 53). The Asian American Theatre Company, founded by Frank Chin in San Francisco in 1973, combined “political activism” and “cultural maturity” and became a site to present Chin’s “literary and intellectual voice from the Asian American version of cultural nationalism” (E.K. Lee 2006, 55). Chin was ambitious to produce new plays and train new artists to promote “Asian consciousness” in the Asian American Theatre Workshop (hereafter as AATW) (E.K. Lee 2006, 58-64). However, opposed by both new and old members of AATW because of Chin’s obstinacy, Chin resigned in 1978, and it was not until two years later that a stable administrative committee was formed. The new committee changed the company’s name to Asian American Theatre Company to reshape its image and keep away from Chin’s legacy, but management issues led to two financial crises in 1989 and 1990 (E.K. Lee 2006, 69-73). However, having witnessed its revival in the new century, Lee believes that AATC will become “a cultural center for Asian Americans” (E.K. Lee 2006, 73). 14 The Northwest Asian American Theatre was found in the early 1970s by Asian American students in Seattle. Originally named Asian Multi Media Center, it aimed to offer “occupational training and a cultural education” and specifically, “artistic training and media awareness” (E.K. Lee 2006, 76). In the same year, an acting group TEA (the name was later changed to Asian Exclusion Act) was created by members of the AMMC focusing on issues including mediated negative stereotypes of Asian Americans, Asian characters cast with non-Asian performers, the absence of a true Asian American presence, and a lack of opportunities for Asian American theatre artists in the Seattle area (E.K. Lee 2006, 76-77). However, after two years of production, similar to the previous two theatre companies, the AMMC confronted financial obstacles that caused many of its members to leave. During the challenging years, AMMC was renamed the Northwest Asian American Theater and became a leading Asian American theatre company in the Northwest US in the late 1980s. The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre established by Tisa Chang was meant to “compete with other professional theatre groups in New York City” (E.K. Lee 2006, 82). Interested in intercultural theatre, Chang preferred “Pan Asian” to Asian American because she did not limit the theatre company to the US but sought to incorporate Asians around the world and utilized Asian legacies to explore “new theatrical forms” (E.K. Lee 2006, 87, 90). The mission statement of the theatre company was to allow Asian American performers to “work under the highest professional standards,” to adopt the traditional Asian techniques to explore new theatrical forms, and to encourage emerging Asian American playwrights and plays to reflect on the reality of the times (E.K. Lee 2006, 89). Thanks to Chang’s financial support, PART was able to focus on developing productions to meet its goals without monetary concerns. Although some PART productions were criticized for exoticizing “Asianness” and confining the topics to Asians, Lee 15 points out that its survival in New York for decades has proved its success in aesthetic expressions and representation of Asians in the US. Through these cases, Lee shows the difference between Asian and Asian American performances: Asian theatre and performance characterize traditional cultural presentations in Asian languages, while its Asian American counterpart portrays Asian American ideas and reflections in English. Early institutionalization of Asian American theatre originally intended to expose Asian performers more for their marketability and then “political resonance” (S. Metzger 2011, 277). However, the journey was not trouble-free. Theatre companies, such as the East West Players, worked to arouse self-awareness and a sense of ethnic identity of Asian Americans but often had to capitulate to dominant trends in order to receive public attention (Kurahashi 1999, 3). For example, the characters’ names needed to be easy to pronounce, suitable for English language contexts, and understandable for playwrights and performers (Budde and Taucar 2011, 209-210). In general, Asian American theatre was devoted to finding a self-defined identity and served as an artistic response to the Civil Rights Movement that aimed to acquire equal rights and rectify misinterpretation of them by establishing positive representations of Asian Americans (E.S. Kim 2000, iii). Josephine Lee considers race and ethnicity as theatrical values (J.D. Lee 1997, 6). She holds that, on top of being a theme, race and ethnicity are the core of Asian American theatre, which would lose value if it were interpreted in the same way as European American theatre. Take Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman (1972) as an example: Chin implemented an aggressive posture to denounce the “castrated” image of Chinese immigrants by setting up “patriarchal, homophobic and sexist” heroes to “transform bodily scar into marks of valor” (J.D. Lee 1997, 28). The Chinese who resided in the US, where they had been oppressed since the 16 beginning of their immigration, did not have a valid channel to address the problem (Moy 1993, 10). By producing “angry and misogynistic” works (J.D. Lee 1997, 61), Frank Chin not only united the characters by race or ethnicity, but he also amplified the power of the play by positioning race and ethnicity as the core. Esther Kim Lee adds that race and ethnicity provide a convenient assembly point or platform for Asian diasporic characters and performers to muster their narratives and presentations and become the fundamental themes for Asian American theatre throughout the twentieth century. 1.1.3 The Approaches to and Criticisms on Asian-American Stereotypes James Moy spotlights that stereotypes of Chinese and Asian Americans are constructed by sinophobic Americans and illustrates the fetishization and commodification of Asians both on stage and in real life (Moy 1993, 5). Sadly, he admits that it is almost impossible for marginalized groups in the US to alter their stereotypes through projecting their daily lives on stage since “Anglo-America patronizes products that affirm the position for the dominant culture” (Moy 1993, 141). Moy suggests that “Asian America must use the representational apparatus” to create artistic pieces in order to prove their aesthetic values and establish an alternative to the dominant culture (Moy 1993, 141). Josephine Lee engages with Asian American experiences and representations through lenses of cultural studies, dramatic literature, and theatre studies in her 1997 book Performing Asian America: Race and Ethnicity on the Contemporary Stage. She picks foundational Asian American plays, such as Frank Chin’s The Year of the Dragon and The Chickencoop Chinaman, David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly, FOB, and Family Devotions, Philip Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die, and Valina Hasu Houston’s Tea, as examples to discuss the legitimacy of historical representation and political pursuits against stereotypes by questioning and reappropriating the 17 stereotypes, revisiting the historical period when Asian Americans suffered from institutionalized discriminations, and attempting to criticize the capitalist oppressions of new Asian Americans. In addition, Lee mentions that ethnicity and race are inherent in Asian American theatre, which results from the history of Asian Americans, concerns of identity formation, and the relationship between Asian Americans and European Americans. Complementary to her book, her 1998 article, “Between Immigration and Hyphenation: The Problems of Theorizing Asian American Theater”, further her doubts about theorizing Asian American theatre by discussing the immigrant theatre in three Theatre Mu’s productions. She explains the specious link between “immigrant” or “ethnic” theatre and “hyphenated” theatre as well as the duality of the “hyphenated identities”: although they challenge the monolithic Americanness, Asian Americans become disenchanted with the new immigrants (J.D. Lee 1998, 23). Karen Shimakawa’s idea of national abjection in her 2002 book National Abjection: The Asian American Body Onstage somewhat echoes Moy’s seemingly pessimistic outlook for Asian Americans to alter their receptions through performance. Shimakawa quotes Julia Kristeva’s interpretation of abjection to explain that the Asian Americanness must be “present and jettisoned” at the same time in order to establish and maintain the US Americanness: the Asian Americanness is both an integral part and a radical other of the US Americanness (Shimakawa 2002a, 3). However, although Asian Americanness is labelled as the national abject, another label of Asian Americans as a model minority conflicts with this abjection because Asian Americans have shown a superior propensity to achieve the American dream and acquire values and practices of “proper” American citizens (Shimakawa 2002a, 13). Shimakawa also, by interviewing representative Asian American playwrights, shares their debates about multicultural 18 plays, intercultural performance, and the outlooks of major Asian American companies. The major debate essentially concerns the genuineness and wisdom of support for diversity and multicultural theatre, and the Asian American theatre artists she interviews support Shimakawa’s argument of national abjection by illustrating its mechanism in a production of Miss Saigon, resisting the stereotypes acknowledged by theatre artists, and responding to society as a collective. Taking a different viewpoint, in her About Face, Dorinne Kondo juxtaposes Asian American theatre with Japanese fashion to discuss how factors like orientalism and otherness have impacted the formation of the Asian American identity. She also notices that the Asian American theatre tends to become part of the consumerism, but she pays more attention to its political advocacy by commenting on two momentous plays, M. Butterfly (1988) and Doughball (1990), and vital works and incidents in the realm of Asian American theatre in the section on “Strategies of Intervention.” Esther Kim Lee argues in Chapter Four of A History of Asian American Theatre that the re-appropriation of racial and gender stereotypes in David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly (1988), by exaggerating negative conceptions of the Asian American, informs the audience of the fact that race is a social construct rather than an inherent feature and exposes the racial stereotypes’ limitations in providing a complete description of the characters (J.D. Lee 1997, 98). As a landmark theatrical piece, M. Butterfly has received appreciation and criticism from other leading scholars in the field. James Moy critiques the play for its privileging of commercial success by appealing to Anglo-Americans’ desire for fetishizing Asian Americans (Moy 1993, 125); Robert Ku argues that audiences were fully aware that the real reason they came to the theatre was to “gawk at something Chinesey, something authentically Chinesey − something no hooey Chinesey” (Ku 1999, 80-81). These comments on M. Butterfly show not only concerns about 19 reinforcing racial and cultural stereotypes but also an Asian American “double consciousness” that borrows others’ lenses to look at themselves (E.K. Lee 2015a, 4). Noting the failure of Hwang’s Rich Relations (1986) and Face Value (1993) which were not visually Asian, Esther Kim Lee argues that the underlying reason for Hwang’s re-appropriation was that Asian American playwrights were trapped in the position that only ethnic or racial elements could win them commercial success (E.K. Lee 2006, 135-136). Since Asian American theatre has produced an “immediate, visceral response to the physicality of race” (S. Metzger 2011, 278), contemporary Asian American performances summarize and represent the ongoing social trends and events for the audience to better understand the racial problems Asian Americans confront. Following this thought, Chambers-Letson and Son echo August Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed in their understanding that theatre is a rehearsal of reality and provides opportunities for improving social events and movements (Chambers-Letson and Son 2013, 132). For example, except for certain plays that aim to dispel stereotypical perceptions of Asians, presenting their slices of life on stage may be considered as museum exhibitions that reinforce existing stereotypes (Moy 1993, 53). Moy provides examples of the presentations of Native Americans, Latino Americans, and African Americans to assert that this kind of enforced visibility downgrades cultures other than Anglo-American, which are reduced to an object and constructed as perpetually foreign (Moy 1993, 53). But in another way, it deconstructs and reorganizes the formation of discrimination and offers a venue to declare differences (Chambers-Letson and Son 2013, 134). In addition, by showing the issue upfront, rather than following the dominating values of hegemonic class, gender, and racial privileges, the audience is more likely to recognize it as a real problem existing in society instead of an illusion that nobody dares to talk about (Pao 2001, 392). 20 These critical approaches, from James Moy, Josephine Lee, Karen Shimakawa, Dorinne Kondo, and Esther Kim Lee on Asian American theatre, pinpoint the stereotypes and cultural (mis)representations of Asian Americans and initiate the discussion of the interconnectedness between the history and theatrical representation of Asian Americans, identity formation, and intercultural relationships. In my research, I will draw from both their theoretical perspectives and broader intercultural or intra-ethnic theatre theories to tackle the importance of theatrical representations in the process of transforming stereotypes and creating more diversified identities within the minority group. Shimakawa’s explanation of national abjection and querying of multicultural theatre inspires me to concentrate on the contradictory opinions about the presence of Asian Americans and figure out the cultural frameworks supporting each view. Kondo’s focus on Asian American theatre’s political significance illustrates the tension between mainstream and minority groups. Further, Kondo proposes that a mobilized subjectivity benefits social transformation against the Eurocentricity or the so-called “universality” (Kondo 1997, 18, 22). This notion of “universality” is parallel to Shimakawa’s concern about the genuineness of multicultural theatre, and my reading of it is also inflected by philosopher Slavoj Žižek who has argued that “the multiculturalist respect for the Other’s specificity is the very form of asserting one’s own superiority” (Žižek 1997). In other words, if the dominant culture incorporates elements from marginalized cultures into its creative work to show respect for the uniqueness and beauty of those cultures, it is possible that the dominant culture may not understand or recognize their values but merely extract them to reinforce its power to maintain its dominance. 1.2 Concepts and Contexts of Chinese American Theatre The history of Chinese Americans is largely problematized and transformed into a metaphorical space of little relevance, which contributes to the division within the Chinese 21 American community. Even though exposures to individual lives in the community have become more available and convenient, it does not change the fact that fissures exist in the Chinese American community. For example, in Chinese American theatre, the Chinese setting is more often than not a particular time when stereotypes were clearly discernable, no matter how outdated or distorted they are: Letters to a Student Revolutionary (1991) and The Great Leap (2018) are set during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, when China was facing an unprecedented uprising that might have struck down the government; The World of Extreme Happiness (2013) talks about oppression issues in contemporary China that are constantly exaggerated in reports and propaganda; Caught (2014) reveals the manipulated distortion of the image of Chinese political oppression. These playwrights pick critical moments to mediate the image of China or Chinese, which disassociates themselves as Chinese Americans and thus buttresses their determination in following the ideology to be sedate as a visible minority disembodying the negative labels attached to China or Chinese. Of course, not all Chinese American plays and performances are obviously connected to a particular time and events, but still, most would touch on the influence brought by industrialism and urbanism on individuals in China. For example, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish (2011), by showing the jokes and awkwardness in the translation between Chinese and English, ridicules the complicated interpersonal relationships and questions the possibility and willingness of mutual understanding in the midst of cultural conflicts. In the puppet thriller Made in China (2017) by Gwendolyn Warnock and Kirjan Waage, images of baby pandas, dragons, bamboos, skyscrapers, and factories are used to depict the status quo in China, which project the western superiority or saviour complex and sustain the image of the mythical east. Set in New York, Zhu Yi’s A Deal (2017) points out the forgery of human rights conditions in China and the 22 fact that materialistic benefits set ideological conflicts aside and promote cooperation. China and Chinese people are indispensable to all the above mentioned Chinese American scripts, and the scripts provide a diverse set of viewpoints of the Chinese culture, while, in the meantime, China and Chinese people are further ostracized. 1.3 Methodology: Cultural Frameworks As Chinese Americans have been affected and offended by direct and indirect mistreatments in the past, Chinese American theatre used to depict the disturbing conditions of Chinese immigrants and a strong desire to rectify the legacy of racial discrimination. The intra-ethnic and diplomatic tensions in the 1990s contributed to the shift of Chinese American theatre. As a result, a more humanitarian lens is adopted to explicate the detachment between Chinese Americans and Chinese people by sympathizing with the Chinese characters and criticizing the Chinese regime. In this case, the Chinese American theatre seems to have forgone the antagonistic ideology against the ruling power in the US and extricated Chinese Americans away from the Chinese people by standing on the moral high ground to denounce the Chinese regime. Paradoxes in aesthetic and political articulations, along with explicit expressions of gaining superiority within ethnicity and constructing a more amiable image, confirm the significance of this worldview in modern times. Neglecting the existence or influence of a comprehensive worldview that informs how individuals and groups understand the world and how they should act within it also plays a role in this confirmation. This is particularly evident in the cultural realm since it is a convenient vehicle to spread beliefs and encourage conformism. In this way, Chinese American theatre not only brings the precepts of this new cultural framework on stage but also exemplifies them, at times even drawing attention to how cultural frameworks are formed and how audiences subscribe to them. 23 In order to expose major cultural frameworks both affected by and portrayed in the Chinese American theatre, at the micro level I will analyze four contemporary theatrical works by Chinese American playwrights. My analysis will focus on how each playwright’s work creates emotional connections that reflect the legitimacy of the cultural frameworks at that moment. Following Helen Gilbert and Jacqueline Lo’s model of intercultural theatre,4 I have assigned specific terms for each major cultural framework that I will analyze in this thesis for the convenience of reference, which are pancultural, intra-ethnic, and intercultural frameworks. These key terms will help me clarify the importance of the ever-changing cultural frameworks in understanding the contemporary Chinese American theatre and, in turn, the contemporary Chinese American theatre practices that both confirm and counteract these cultural frameworks verbally and physically. Moreover, I am most interested in discerning the legitimation of three types of cultural frameworks. First, the pancultural framework, through its commonly shared humanitarian concerns, offers an opportunity for audiences to recognize the Chinese Americans not as “other” but “one of us.” Second, the intercultural framework suggests intra-ethnic communications inaccessible to other ethnic or racial groups, which clarifies core interests that manipulate interactions between various cultures. Third, the intra-ethnic framework reveals a variety of mentalities, understandings, and attitudes within the same culture. Apart from specific discussions of these three cultural frameworks’ function in validating theatrical effects and connections between audience and theatre, I will also, at the macro level, trace the correlation between cultural frameworks incorporated in socio-political and cultural 4 Jacqueline Lo and Helen Gilbert divide cross-cultural theatre into three groups, namely transcultural theatre, intra-ethnic theatre, and extracultural theatre (Lo and Gilbert 2002, 37-38). 24 incidents and movements and guiding principles adopted by the Chinese American theatre in response to the overwhelming influence cast over theatre. By delineating two levels of cultural patterns, I will argue that cultural frameworks and theatre, the representative form that interests me most, shape a virtual tie and space between individual members of the Chinese American community while simultaneously reinforcing the authority’s legitimacy and solidarity by creating further divisions between different minority groups or within the same ones according to their intrinsic interests in the guise of allowing for more freedom and choices. In order to produce a more grounded analysis, I need to define a few terms vital to my research. First and foremost, for the purpose of this thesis, my study of the Chinese American theatre will only focus on Anglophone theatrical works written and produced by authors of Chinese descent in the US, whose topics provide critical reflections on the pervasive mindsets of Chinese and/or Chinese Americans on the cultural conflicts within the Chinese American community and between the Chinese American and the Chinese cultures. Second, different cultural frameworks do not emerge according to a temporal order but rather intertwine throughout the period from the 1980s to the 2010s, and there could be more than one cultural frame reflected in one production. In addition, the discussions of aesthetics and production elements will clarify these cultural frameworks and invite further nuances within these frameworks. 1.3.1 Pancultural Framework The pancultural framework refers to thoughts, languages, and behaviours that seemingly accept cultural and racial differences and rectify exclusion and discrimination. Those Chinese American theatre works fitting into this category aim to push their audience’s attention to direct harms caused by racist and other discriminatory discourses. It is not hard to notice that the 25 pancultural framework is susceptible to caring more about previously oppressed minority groups, aiming to provide them with equal status to everyone else, especially Americans of European descent. However, as humanitarian as this type of cultural framework can be, it is not universally applicable to all cultures because its legitimacy or validity is based on the western value system. For example, in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to A Student Revolutionary (1991), the Chinese American protagonist’s hope and sympathy for her counterpart, who is a Chinese girl willing to adopt western values, is destined to backfire on her original intent as it suggests a constructed consensus to make other cultural frameworks conform to a western one. As Daphne Lei’s suggests, hegemonic intercultural theatre (HIT) “combines First World capital and brainpower with Third World raw material and labor, and Western classical texts with Eastern performance traditions” (D.P. Lei 2011, 571). 1.3.2 Intercultural Framework The intercultural framework is built on the endowed concept of us or self and other and outlines interests-oriented doctrines or principles that direct (re)actions and responses in contact zones. Interculturalism is seen as “fluid, ephemeral, multi-nodal, and minoritarian” (D. Lei and McIvor 2020, 239). It frequently involves reinterpreting or entirely discarding traditional cultural traces and explores the effects of globalization on cultural exchange, shifting attention to projects, and histories that emerge from migrant or minoritarian contexts. Although Asian American theatre artists are driven by individual interests, their common pursuit is to solidify their identity that ties their own communities, be it immigrant, racial, or gender identity, so as to create bilateral demarcations and strive for the utmost advantages. The intercultural framework provides a lens through which artists can address the dualities of identity, often influenced by 26 both ancestral heritage and the contemporary American context, as well as assimilation and cultural preservation. 1.3.3 Intra-ethnic Framework The intra-ethnic framework embodies treatments of contradictions and conflicts that happen in the same ethnical/racial/cultural group. I use the concept intra-ethnic, derived from Rustom Bharucha, to explore the “internal cultural differences that exist within the boundaries of a particular country” (Bharucha 2016). In this thesis, the country is the US, where the internal cultural differences among Asian descendants seem to have been muffled and inadequately traced through time. The necessity to focus specifically on the intra-ethnic framework results from a need to expose “differences within seemingly homogenized identities and groups… [that] are almost invisible, concealed behind ‘common’ codes of behaviour and language,” and to question such performance discourse as a homogeneous enunciation (Bharucha 1996, 128). He also pinpoints that the danger of this concept is that it can be adopted by western theatre artists to appropriate cultures through coercion and complicity, thus legitimizing the authority to execute such appropriations (Bharucha 1996, 86). As Bharucha believes that “[p]erformances … differ as much from culture to culture as dramas do, even though recurrences of structure and patterns of movement may be found in the creation of their spectacles,” he disagrees with Schechner’s as well as other social scientists and anthropologists’ methodology to extract a ritual structure or process from its specific social setting and apply it to a different and unrelated one (Bharucha 1984a, 300). Bharucha calls for “a fairer exchange between theatrical traditions in the East and the West.” (Bharucha 1984a, 305). In order to shatter the essentialized generalization of and locate conflicts within a national or ethnical culture, disparate internal cultures or subcultures need to be observed and theorized. Bharucha states that while the 27 differences within a culture tend to be marginalized, by examining the intra-ethnic encounters in theatre, those coexisting differences can be acknowledged before possible dissolvement (Bharucha 1997, 31). Bharucha states that there are philosophical differences regarding interculturalism. For Bharucha, interculturalism is not only “a subject or discipline that demands to be studied on a purely theoretical level”, but it needs to be addressed within the unique circumstances of a distinct historical context (Bharucha 1984b, 255). He then specifies that assuming that interculturalism, a popular phenomenon that surpasses the distinctions of class, ethnicity, and history, is too simplistic and lacking in sophistication. It is important to recognize that the consequences of interculturalism vary significantly for those residing in economically disadvantaged, “developing” nations such as India, as opposed to those living in technologically affluent, capitalist civilizations like America. He firmly believes that “we (in the West and the East) need to develop a clearer, more precise, and historical understanding of the regional particularities of specific cultures.” (Bharucha 1984b, 259). Bharucha concludes the article focusing on the definition of Other as “another and a mirror at the same time” but not “the projection of one’s own ego” to criticize Schechner’s interpretation of “other” cultures (Bharucha 1984b, 260). For contemporary Chinese American theatre, contrary to Bharucha’s discoveries in Indian theatre, evident differences are deliberately articulated and performed. Strikingly, these have served as vital catalysts propelling plots and saving critics from the effort of having to reveal the tendency to essentialize a certain ethnicity, although its ontological existence has not received its deserved recognition or critical discussion from academia or media coverage. However, as Bharucha points out in his speech, after acknowledging diversity within the same culture, it is 28 highly proper to invite varied individuals and communities to share “the same space and amenities” (Bharucha 2016). 1.4 Theoretical Framework: Intercultural and Intra-ethnic Theatre Interculturalism, or intercultural theatre, has been scrutinized by scholars and practitioners. Generally, intercultural theatre is described as a practice that incorporates inspiration from Asian theatrical traditions into western theatre, and the major practitioners and theorists, like Diana Taylor, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, Eugenio Barba, Richard Schechner, Robert Wilson, and Peter Sellars, have made significant contributions to the development of intercultural theatre. The word intercultural was coined before the 1980s to replace the word international (Schechner 1989, 155). Accordingly, intercultural theatre has attracted critical awareness from leading scholars like Patrice Pavis, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Rustom Bharucha, Jacqueline Lo, and Helen Gilbert. Fischer-Lichte states that intercultural theatre aims to create a “universal” or homogeneous performance in order to surpass specific cultures and therefore revive those cultures (Fischer-Lichte, Gissenwehrer, and Riley 1990, 287; Fischer-Lichte, Jost, and Jain 2014, 119-33, 179-96). Asian American theater has benefited from this kind of cooperation between cultures and ethnicities. Parallel to the Civil Rights Movement and inspired by antiwar and the Third World Movement from the 1950s to the 1970s, Asian American and non-Asian activists collaborated to fight against racial discrimination (E.K. Lee 2006, 93). As a response, Asian American theatre opened out to diversified, alternative, and avant-garde forms of performances, taking an intercultural shape by combining distinct performance traditions (E.K. Lee 2006, 101, 157). This blending of cultures allowed Asian American theater to address complex issues of identity, belonging, and marginalization through a unique artistic lens. By integrating elements from both 29 Western and Eastern theatrical traditions, the performances not only reflected the hybrid identities of Asian Americans but also challenged conventional narratives within mainstream American theatre. Moreover, this intercultural approach attracted a broader audience, encouraging dialogues about race, ethnicity, and the immigrant experience and ultimately contributing to a richer, more inclusive theatrical landscape in the US. On the other hand, intra-ethnicism, instead of discussing the communication between different cultures, emphasizes divisions within the same culture. In Theatre and the World: Performance and the Politics of Culture, Rustom Bharucha criticizes the Eurocentrism in intercultural theatre, accusing western intercultural theatre of focusing on itself, which leaves the Other anything but “the projection of one’s ego” (Bharucha 1993, 28). As a counter, Bharucha proposed the notion of intra-ethnicism that illustrates the dynamics of the interactions between subcultural divisions within a single nation as a cultural critique to resist the western hegemony disrupting the equality of cultural exchange in his 2000 book The Politics of Cultural Practice: Thinking through Theatre in an Age of Globalization. As Bharucha proposes, the intra-ethnic discrepancies are “almost invisible, concealed behind ‘common’ codes of behaviour and language” (Bharucha 1996, 128). Bharucha’s focus on the cultural divergence in the same territory is applicable to the Chinese Americans in the US on account of the ethnic and cultural identity within this seemingly homogenized group. This complexity is reflected in the varied experiences and identities among Chinese Americans, which often include distinctions based on regional origins, language, and generational differences. These factors contribute to rich cultural expressions that challenge the mainstream discourse. For instance, the experiences of first-generation immigrants may starkly contrast with those of second- or third-generation Chinese Americans, leading to differing perspectives on identity, belonging, and cultural heritage. 30 Furthermore, intra-ethnic conflicts can manifest in social dynamics, where individuals from different backgrounds within the same ethnic group may clash over cultural practices, political affiliations, or societal expectations, thus underscoring the importance of recognizing these internal divisions in the broader context of cultural analysis. Roy Miki and Pavis have expressed a common worry about multiculturalism – the ghettoization of others and the establishment of new stereotypes (Miki 1998; Pavis 1996, 2010). Rustom Bharucha supports intercultural and multicultural theatre work by claiming that interculturalism “encompasses a spectrum of exchanges that … go beyond the cultural domain” (Fischer-Lichte and Bharucha 2011; Bharucha 1996, 1997, 2016), although he concedes that interculturalism will not solve all problems by bringing different cultures to a contact zone. Negating the “universal” assumption of intercultural theatre, Bharucha suggests a new, intra-ethnic approach to delineate intra-ethnic differences in terms of politics and history within the same culture, which offers an alternative to the widely accepted concept of intercultural theatre. This framework encourages a deeper examination of how intra-ethnic dynamics play a crucial role in shaping cultural narratives. By understanding these complexities, we can better appreciate the rich and varied experiences of individuals within the same cultural group, recognizing that their interactions are influenced by various factors, including socio-economic status, regional identities, and historical contexts. Building on Bharucha’s notion of intra-ethnic theatre, Min Tian implies the inevitability of different perceptions of “other” cultures as long as sociohistorical differences exist (Tian 2008, 5). It is important to create spaces for dialogue that allow for the expression of diverse voices and experiences. Besides, as Diana Taylor points out, the imbalance between cultures and argues that, in intercultural contacts, the dominant culture serves as the hub to mediate marginal cultures 31 absorb benefits and lose nothing economically, historically, or culturally compared to the dominated culture that must accept the dominant cultures and adjust their own ones (Taylor 1991, 93-103). Against this backdrop, showcasing differences within cultures challenges the generalized narratives in mainstream discourse. Ultimately, embracing the nuances of intra-ethnicism not only enriches the understanding of cultural identity but also empowers marginalized voices to reclaim their narratives in a world that frequently seeks to simplify or stereotype them. Daphne Lei compares opposing views of boundaries in the context of interculturalism: some people hold that the fundamental division between the East and West is blurred since there is always a Western influence on the East and vice versa. Furthermore, intercultural theatre has expanded and proliferated as the discussion has become more sophisticated due to the inclusion of other issues such as “gender, diaspora, ethnicity, and globalization” (D.P. Lei 2011, 571-2). Others, led by Ric Knowles and Patrice Pavis, state that as society becomes more diverse, people feel increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of blending cultures, and the separation between different ethnic groups is valued (Knowles 2010, 3; Pavis 2010, 5-15). Lei proposes that the approach to challenging or improving the hegemony is more feasible than the idea of overthrowing the hegemony (D.P. Lei 2011, 572) and asserts that the less interrupted the cultural journey is, the more successful the production is at the local level. Allowing for a more nuanced representation of the Asian American experience, theatrical works can effectively challenge hegemonic narratives and promote a deeper understanding of the complexities inherent in intercultural exchanges. By juxtaposing views for and against intercultural and intra-ethnic theatre, I will examine how Chinese American theatre practitioners have considered their own position from the 1980s 32 to the 2010s and ways Chinese American theatre has responded or contributed to the unilateral transformation of culture and the complicated subdivisions within Chinese American culture. In order to explicate Chinese American theatre’s responses to intercultural communication, I will conduct four case studies in two groups to illustrate the intellectual and emotional contours and trajectory of contemporary Chinese American theatre. 1.5 Research Methods The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate the aesthetics and cultural frameworks of Chinese American theatre artists. This will be achieved by a comprehensive analysis of theatrical plays and dramatic texts that are specifically created by, for, and about Chinese Americans. Through an examination of these literary works within their respective historical frameworks, my objective is to gain insight into the ways in which sociopolitical and cultural factors have shaped the present-day Chinese American theatre. In conducting this qualitative research, a comprehensive review of the relevant scholarly literature in the field has been undertaken. Additionally, a diverse range of materials pertaining to the plays have been collected, encompassing play scripts, reviews, photographs, program photocopies (both in electronic and hard copy formats), scholarly articles, manuscripts on the plays and playwrights, as well as interviews with theatre artists. Furthermore, video recordings from the New York Public Library and the Play Company in New York, along with earlier video clips or transcripts of interviews with the playwrights and performers, have been consulted. Furthermore, interviews have been done with Chinese American playwrights and performers in relation to this study. The questions used in these interviews were approved by UBC’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board and were emailed to the interviewees prior to the interviews. In addition to interviews and the aforementioned primary and secondary sources, I have engaged in deep textual analysis of 33 theatrical texts and video recordings of performances. This approach allows me to closely examine crucial features and patterns, facilitating the development of a comprehensive and precise interpretation. The selection of the four plays for my thesis was influenced by various crucial factors with the goal of thoroughly examining the conflicts between Chinese America and China in the realm of Chinese American theatre. Firstly, David Henry Hwang’s FOB explores identity and cultural assimilation among Chinese immigrants in the US. Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary examines political activism and its impact on personal relationships, providing valuable insight into the complexities of Chinese American experiences. Francis Ya-chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness discusses the harsh realities faced by individuals striving for success in modern China, highlighting the powerplay between economic ambition and social inequality. Christopher Chen’s Caught was selected for its innovative narrative structure and meta-theatrical commentary on truth and perception, offering a unique perspective on the complexities of cultural representation. While other notable plays such as M. Butterfly and Chinglish were considered, they were ultimately omitted to maintain focus on the specific thematic elements and narrative trajectories explored within the chosen plays. The four case studies allow me to conduct a more comprehensive and thorough examination of perspectives on subjects such as Chinese American identity and cultural representation in these lesser-explored theatrical works. However, restricting the analysis to a limited selection of works constrains the breadth and depth of the study. Findings from a small number of plays that only focus on marginalized groups or different points of view may not be applicable to the larger Asian American literary and theatre scene during this period. 34 1.6 Overview of Chapters In Chapter Two, I scrutinize David Henry Hwang’s FOB (1980), focusing on typical divisions between the Chinese Americans: new immigrants, immigrants who moved to the US since they were at a young age, and American-born Chinese. Each group has its own view of the world and attitude towards the Chinese diaspora and China. In FOB, Hwang inserted a fight scene in the form of traditional Chinese theatre, which represented cultural heritage and offered a hint for the characters involved in the staged fight to seek identification. However, although they may have reconnected by their common cultural background, the difference between characters is obvious. For this phenomenon, Angela Pao argues that the process of immigration has impacted the transformation of national identity into ethnic identity (Pao 2001, 393). In other words, the longer immigrants are exposed to western culture, the more they are prone to constructing their identity based on their race instead of ancestral nationality, which explains the different preferences to nation or race between generations of Chinese Americans. Historical issues have haunted the development of Chinese American theatre for decades. From the melancholy and harsh lives of the early Chinese diaspora to the internal conflicts between generations and peers, and from biased criticism of China to reconsideration of the country, Chinese American theatre has witnessed the collapse of a false binary to a more nuanced understanding of both Chinese Americans and Chinese people. Depicting conflicts and understandings of the same age group, David Henry Hwang’s FOB delineates the contrasting views of the different statuses of the three characters. Although a specious reconciliation is somewhat achieved, opposite cultural kinships still obstruct the real negotiation between different branches of the diaspora. The contrast between characters’ mindsets leaves a space for the possibility of discovering the kernel of the problem and making possible grounded critiques 35 to renew understandings of this predominant hierarchy and gain agency to free discussion, while the specious reconciliation deprives both parties’ freedom to exchange predicaments and forces each other to voluntarily accept the “peace treaty” due to moral constraints. Apart from discussing (imagined) China or home, plays denoting Asian Americans’ domestic lives have gone through a cultural turn. In the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s production video that I viewed at the New York Public Library, the play starts off the plotline with Dave’s introduction to FOB in a classroom style. Then, the realistic Chinese restaurant setting and characters in archetypal apparel provide the audience with a sense of an authentic Chinese diasporic environment. I will analyze the effects achieved by this juxtaposition between rational instruction and emotional recognition of the Chinese diaspora. In this chapter, using David Henry Hwang’s FOB as an example, I will review the theatrical treatment of different views of intra-ethnic clashes seemingly aimed to achieve mutual understanding and to reveal the hidden cultural frameworks in disguise. In Chapter Three, I present the transformation of China’s image from a remote homeland to a target or stepstone for Chinese Americans to attack in order to obtain a higher level of affinity with westernized values. Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary (1991) is a representative of this, with Chinese American character Bibi fostering a European American gaze at her Chinese friend Karen. As seen in the play, characters with traditional Chinese names are more commonly seen compared to hybrid or Anglophone names in the past and no longer portrayed as conspiratory or inferior. Instead, they are more likely to be more powerful or smarter than characters who have adopted English names. The naming strategy, along with the purpose of Bibi’s “back to your roots” trip to China, demonstrates the ongoing mindset of assuming a higher status for Chinese Americans over Chinese. The Chinese adopt Anglophone 36 names to fit with the notion of “superior Chinese,” while Chinese Americans preserve traditional names to embody the endowment of cultural heritage and commiserate with the Chinese living in abysmal conditions. In the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s production video, the dressing style of two characters differs vastly: Bibi’s fashion taste resembles the image of a middle-class lady in the US, while Karen wears solid colour shirts and pants that were mandated in China. The main point here is to highlight its subconscious hegemony rather than to merely demonstrate its intention to alienate Chinese from the Chinese Americans. The setting of the performance lays a barrier in the middle, separating the two performers throughout the show, which echoes the exchange of “letters” across borders freely but, at the same time, transmits messages partially and incurs quarrels. This conceptual setting both contributes to the power rupturing the Chinese and Chinese Americans and reminds audiences of the peculiarity of the dramatized events that caused misunderstandings leading to the rupture. The play ends with an appeal to remember the hard-earned democracy in China that indicates the other focus of this chapter: Chinese American theatre becomes a site aspiring for western democratic and humanitarian values. This chapter will demystify the paradox of the ostensible reunification of Chinese and Chinese Americans in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary (1991). This and the previous chapter together introduce conflicts and cooperation between Chinese Americans and Chinese people, which silhouette the common mentality at the end of the twentieth century and provide a benchmark for later comparisons. Chapter Four and Chapter Five offer analyses of two Chinese American plays and performances sharing similarities in cultural frameworks in the 2010s. Following the discussions in the previous chapter, Chapter Four is devoted to showcasing an epitome of the political disinclination between Chinese and Chinese Americans. Following the discussion in Chapter 37 Three, this chapter is devoted to showcasing an epitome of the political disinclination among the Chinese characters in Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s play The World of Extreme Happiness (2013) and discussing the Chinese American perspective on the image of China. The title of the play, The World of Extreme Happiness, using “happiness” to ridicule the unjustly ordered Chinese society, is a provocative examination of individuals struggling to build their futures amid China’s fast economic transformation. Gender inequality, exploitative work ethics, and political censorship pose formidable hardship and misery for the protagonist Sunny, thus epitomizing a popular origin for the distinction between Chinese and Chinese Americans in theatrical productions on issues in contemporary China. One scene in this play mentions that the company is looking for a model worker to embellish its image after many employees’ suicides, which borrows from a notorious report by Mike Daisey focusing on the inhumane working conditions in Chinese factories. With the help of a realistic setting, the reinforcement of political estrangement in this theatrical performance bypasses rational assessments and appeals to emotion or affection. Besides, the production’s promotional materials, including trailers and programs released by the Manhattan Theatre Club,5 present a Chinese translation of the title, which not only draws potential audiences of Chinese descent in America but also substantiates its authenticity and foreignness. In this case, the Chinese title further dramatizes the hyperreality mediated in Daisey’s report to reinforce its authenticity. The intertextual hyperreality analogizing to the cruel working conditions in China makes it harder for people who have never done research on China to discern the accuracy and correctness of the information. 5 The trailers can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhPqxO-Dmok and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Yazo-m5iQ. The programs can be retrieved from the New York Public Library. 38 In Chapter Five, rather than discussing race or gender issues particular to Chinese Americans, I argue that Christopher Chen’s Caught belongs to the group of contemporary Chinese American plays that promote a pancultural framework but also concurrently invite contemplation of artists’ and media’s legitimacy and credibility in terms of informing the complexity of political protests and social injustice. In “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place,” Jean Baudrillard points out that although the war did happen, the presentation and reportage of the war might not be comparable to the truth. In this sense, the Gulf War was not a real war but masked as a war, and people learned this war only through a westernized view, since major media companies whose influence permeating the whole world were controlled by the west, so the audience could not escape from the selective and edited misrepresentations. The production starts when audiences enter the lobby, where an installation shows the condition of a Chinese jail detaining political prisoners, which provides a genuine and convincing background story for the first part of the performance. Characters in Caught elucidate that a split subject leads to the potential for agency and resistance since they become spect-actors of performances and destabilize the representational frames to encourage audiences, including the performers themselves, to question the content of the performance. The metatheatrical setting creates a “chain of appropriation,” and the interaction with the installation turns theatre into a site for intertextuality. The negation of the “truth” of the art installation and imagined political suppression is achieved in a Brechtian way – by speaking to the audience to remind them of the illusions of both form and content. In this case, a dialectical examination of “facts” interpellates its audience, through repetition, to believe and mimic the authority’s schematic ideology. Chapter Four and Chapter Five together construct the mentality of Chinese American theatre, which addresses the two-fold attitude toward China in the 2010s: on the one hand, 39 Chinese people are innocent, but they are suffering from the communist regime, so they deserve attention and assistance; on the other hand, by constructing the image of Chinese people and China completely differently from the Chinese diasporic culture, Chinese Americans demonstrate their preference for assimilating to American culture while criticizing the Chinese counterpart. In the conclusion chapter, Chapter Six, I revisit my arguments and research questions. Based on the script and performance analyses, I will summarize the trajectory of the shift of cultural frameworks in the Chinese American theatre chronologically: FOB demonstrates the intra-ethnic cultural framework that has replaced the past major theme of fighting against racial discrimination. Then, in Letters to a Student Revolutionary and The World of Extreme Happiness, the playwrights adopt a pancultural framework to cover up the building of intra-ethnic hierarchy. In this hierarchical scheme, Chinese Americans gain superiority over Chinese people living in a society depicted as horrendous. No matter the conflict is within the Chinese American community or between Chinese Americans and Chinese people, the underlying statement remains the same: the new immigrants or the Chinese people are culpable for their inferior status detrimental to the Chinese Americans’ assimilation into the Eurocentric society. However, the characters Lin and Wang in Caught disclose that the convincing truth of China or Chinese people could be forged by the dominant culture to disrupt the minorities from within. Generalizing the Chinese without checking the authenticity of the mediated images of China or Chinese people contributes to divisions among Chinese Americans. From the 1980s onward, Chinese American theatre has demonstrated diversified voices and perspectives on Chinese and Chinese Americans. Chinese American theatre has continued to expand its scope in recent years, which not only deals with challenges of balancing two cultures, the search for identity, and the complexities of domestic relationships but also addresses issues 40 such as globalization, immigration, racism, and social justice, among others. Among these perspectives, the three pancultural, intra-ethnic, and intercultural frameworks that I have introduced represent common ideas in the theatre works of the Chinese Americans in the past forty years. Discussions of these mindsets will assist in understanding challenges and struggles faced by individuals of different cultures and subcultures and political and sociocultural factors that have shaped the trends of Chinese American theatre in the 1980s and the 2010s. 41 Chapter 2: From Intercultural Struggles to Intra-ethnic Demarcations in David Henry Hwang’s FOB: Reconciliation or Disconnection? David Henry Hwang wrote in the playwright’s note to his play FOB that, “The play began when a sketch I was writing about a limousine trip through Westwood, California, was invaded by two figures from American literature: Fa Mu Lan, the girl who takes her father’s place in battle, from Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976), and Gwan Gung, the god of fighters and writers, from Frank Chin’s Gee, Pop!”(Hwang 2000, 6). Prominent authors of Chinese American literature, Maxine Hong Kingston and Frank Chin, have both used Chinese mythology to convey their respective perspectives on the Chinese American experience. A National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction winner, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior borrows stories of Fa Mu Lan from Chinese mythology. This borrowing incurred criticism from authors and scholars at that time. Among them, Frank Chin who had both written plays and edited collections of Asian American plays in an effort to expand the influence of Asian American literature. As an active leader of Asian American literature, Chin denounced Kingston’s misrepresentation of Chinese American history and creation of popular stereotypes to cater to American readers. In “Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake,” Chin attacked Kingston’s impression of Chinese culture as “fake,” “Westernized,” and “stereotypical” (Chin 2005, 133-56). Hwang dramatized this controversy in FOB by staging an imaginary fight between Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan, where Fa Mu Lan gets the better of Gwan Gung after an intense confrontation. In doing so, he borrowed two mythical figures who appeared in Chinese American literature to express his concerns about Chinese American identity and assimilation. Hwang pinpoints the divisions within Chinese Americans by linking their cultural identification the 42 length of their exposure to the American culture, although it was not on purpose when he started to write the play. He admits in the notes to FOB that he wrote the play without considering a framework: “With FOB I was really influenced by Maxine Hong Kingston’s work and my basic notion was, what would happen if these two gods met in Torrance, California? When I began it, I had no idea what the next word would be. I just went through the woods by myself” (Savran 1988, 123). However, his adventure opens up a perspective other than Kingston’s and/or Chin’s to examine the cultural identities of the Chinese Americans. Esther Kim Lee states that Hwang’s earlier works “demonstrate a willingness to allow his subconscious to take over his writing” and reflect the genre of “magical realism” (E.K. Lee 2015b, 10), combining the real and the non-real and using Chinese opera to translate the non-real. This writing style is clearly represented in FOB when Hwang has the two gods appear on stage and express his understanding of Chinese Americanness. After viewing David Henry Hwant’s FOB, Maxine Hong Kingston asked the question, “What is a Chinese-American?” after viewing David Henry Hwang’s FOB, commenting, “Is there a separate identity? In FOB, there is a little bit of borrowing from Chinese theater,6 but it is not Chinese theater. He’s searching, and he hasn’t found it yet” (Gerard 1988, 44). Hwang disaggregates Chinese American identity into three subdivisions in FOB: new Chinese immigrants represented by Steve, who aspires to a bright future in the US but knows little about this unfamiliar land; Chinese immigrants who have lived in the US for a long time, represented by Grace, who holds Chinese traditional values but has suffered from racial discrimination and desires to assimilate; and American-born Chinese represented by Dale, who is fully westernized and avoids any connection with Chineseness. The 6 Kingston refers to the image of Gwan Gung and the performance of Steve as Gwan Gung and Grace as Fa Mu Lan. 43 contrast between the fluidity of Steve’s and Grace’s identification with certain cultural politics and Dale’s adherence to internalized racism complicates the composition of the Chinese American identity. Angela Pao argues that the process of immigration has impacted the transformation of national identity into ethnic identity (Pao 2001, 389-409). In other words, the longer immigrants are exposed to western culture, the more they are prone to constructing their identity based on their race instead of ancestral nationality, which explains the different preferences for nation or race between generations of Chinese Americans. However, FOB offers an exception to Pao’s assertion by delineating the complication of Grace’s mindset on assimilation. Grace frustrates Steve when he complains that nobody knows about Gwan Gung in the US, but she also confesses the pain she endured when she redesigned her appearance to fit in with her schoolmates. In a broader sense, diversified identities and cultural frameworks were expatiated in the 1980s’ Chinese American theatre. The preference for assimilation and reconciliation instead of radical struggles against ethnic and generational conflicts contributed fresh content to the advocation of racial equity in the past. For my research, it is important to remember this murkiness and be careful to investigate and articulate with greater specificity and accuracy the details of the particular member country I analyze. Among different ways to form a clearer categorization, narrowing the topic down to theatrical performances related to a specific country is a way to make my thesis more feasible and practical. In this thesis, I focus on Chinese American theatre as a distinctive and strong influence in the reception and culture of Asian Americans. In the discussion of Hwang’s FOB in the following sections, the hostility and misunderstanding of subdivisions of the same ethnic group reveal that the cultural difference and affiliation keep the subdivisions from effective communication and disinclined to recognize each other’s cherished wishes. Therefore, the 44 discussion of the relationships and interactions of Chinese Americans in FOB cannot be simply categorized as with only an intercultural or intra-ethnic lens. A combination of both the intercultural and intra-ethnic lenses will benefit the analysis of the FOB in order to not only differentiate branches of the same ethnic group, but also to figure out the interactions between different subgroups when they encounter a contact zone. 2.1 Marginalization is Still Rampant: A Historical Perspective Chinese immigrants were the first and only ethnic group that was legally excluded by the US: the Chinese Exclusion Act, which suspended Chinese immigration from 1882 until 1943, legally discriminated against Chinese immigrants. The long history of institutionalized discrimination against the Chinese has already left the general public with a negative and fragmented impression of Chinese immigrants in the US. Moy summarizes the intentions of the policies as a way to rule out the presence of Chinese immigrants and construct distorted representations catering to European American culture (Moy 1993, 65). Although the restriction was repealed almost 80 years ago, “Exclusion of Chinese” is still the head of Chapter 7 under the “Aliens and Nationality” title in the US Code, which is the only chapter devoted to prejudicial regulations against a specific ethnic group or nationality. Although its content is empty (Exclusion of Chinese 1943), the title itself serves as a reminder of the historical legal discrimination against Chinese immigrants. Indeed, although formalized institutionalized racism disappeared with the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, misunderstandings, misconceptions, and stereotypes of Asians continued to haunt the latter half of the 20th century via “fetishization” and “commodification of representations” of Asian characters by American playwrights, photographers, film makers, cartoonists, and the like. Anglo-Americans have also patronized products that affirm the position of the dominant culture (Moy 1993, 141). As Gayatri Spivak, 45 Edward Said, and Homi Bhabha have demonstrated, the “oriental Other” serves to maintain the cohesion of Western values. Under these circumstances, Chinese Americans are naturally categorized as others in a cultural and racial way, and the revival of unofficially declared hostility is inevitable. Chinese Americans in the US have witnessed their stereotypes change from inferior and lower-class nuisance to model minority that still essentializes the whole ethnic group. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the image of Fu Manchu created by Sax Rohmer brought about the notion of “Yellow Peril,” which endowed the Chinese, including Chinese living in the US, with the stereotype that they posed a military, economic, immigration, and racial threat to the west (Frayling 2014). On the other hand, Charlie Chan was set as a model of the Chinese and Chinese Americans on the other end of the moral spectrum. However, Charlie Chan was only considered the epitome of a tiny portion of the Chinese, as “Fu [Manchu] represents his race; his counterpart stands away from the other Asian Hawaiians” (W.F. Wu 1982, 180-81). In recent decades, the prevalence of cultural diversity reflects the acceptance and even celebration of cultural and racial groups that were muted previously. In terms of theatre, more frequent exposures to Chinese American characters and their well-off family conditions have shown an elevation of their social status, such as the characters HYH and DHH in David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face (2007), but does this specious prosperity indicate the disappearance of discriminative mindsets? The answer is probably not. In the European American discourse, Asians are described independently not only as a model minority but also as “a [definitely non-white] racial group distinct from the white majority, but lauded as well assimilated, upwardly mobile, politically nonthreatening, and definitively not-black” (E.D. Wu 2014, 2). The existence of a model minority affirms the inclusion of all racial groups in the nation while strengthening 46 the border between racial groups. It also warrants the validity of the American dream so as to mitigate the unfavourable actions of other minority groups (P. Wong et al. 1998, 99-100). In this way, embodying the dual identity as model and minority simultaneously, Asian Americans suffer from not only dominance-vs.-minority racism but also inter-minority racism. As a major power among Asian Americans, the nature of Chinese Americans echoes most of the descriptions for the broader Asian American community. If theatrical representations react upon social structure and racial recognitions, the generalized understanding of the Chinese Americans as the “other” is reinforced. Ann-Marie Dunbar spotted a highly illuminating example in Philip Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die (1988), in which the character Vincent Chang laments, “I was so cocky after my Oscar nomination. No more of those lousy Chinaman’s parts for me anymore. This was my ticket out of there. Hell, I might even call my own shots. My agent kept warning me, though. ‘Vincent, you’re an oriental actor. It’s different for you’.” (Gotanda 1998, 121). In response to being perceived as different, Chinese American artists are actively working to change the scenario. The artists take steps to eliminate the racial differences that separate them from other ethnic groups, but the characters’ racial identity will not accommodate those ambitious artists. The acceptance and reception of Chinese American theatre reflects its convergence and divergence of the predominant beliefs or values that inform social, economic, and political practices in different time periods which witnessed Asian American artists’ efforts to eradicate the influences of stereotypes. To some extent, the Eurocentric society in American urban areas, by abdicating or negating their dominant position, at least on the surface, requests other participating members to situate themselves in their respective identities and prescribed spaces. For instance, Chinatowns, which exist in almost every major city in the US and are laden with the history and culture of 47 early Chinese immigrants, are certified as an alien place for an ethnic minority community to form and to be involved in the new racial formation within its borders (J.G. Reinelt and Roach 2007, 157). Apart from geographical demarcations, appreciations or criticisms of theatre productions created by Chinese Americans always focus on their “Chinese” or “Asian” elements rather than considering them as equal to those created by Americans of European descent. In a way, the reception of Chinese American theatre has long been preoccupied by an anti-hegemonic and anti-racist framework. In 2012, the US federal government made the first step of indemnification after repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act by formally apologizing and seeking to compensate for historic discriminatory policies against Chinese immigrants. At the same time, however, the government has yet to track adequately the policies and practices that legitimate the discrimination in the first place, such as by fetishizing the past and covering up the inconvenient and persistent truths. Without revisiting and deconstructing the causes of institutionalized racial discrimination, it is unrealistic to rectify the heritage of hierarchical categorization based on race. The formal apology was not covered in some major newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or The Washington Post, in the US even several days after it took place, which made it hard not to doubt the government’s sincerity to admit or redress their previous injustice and unfair treatment that Chinese Americans had endured. In this case, on the one hand, the Eurocentric doctrine is still entitled to determine Chinese Americans’ place in US society; on the other hand, Chinese Americans were still regarded as “other,” which calls for more efforts to protect their own rights. Although the first immigrants came to the US from Africa and Asia at almost the same time, most, if not all, Asian Americans can trace their ancestral home to a certain country in Asia. New Asian immigrants were more willing to gather with their compatriots because notions 48 of nation and nationalism were “powerful cultural signifiers with material entailments” (J. Reinelt 1999, 126). Conversely, immigrants who were born or have spent years in America are less confined by national borders and less prone to mingle with other Asian minorities, since they have already transformed the above-mentioned notions of an ethnic collective and founded new contact zones. 7 Prior to 1943, Chinese immigrants were suffering from unfair and inhuman treatments financially and politically because of race-based income inequality, head tax, popular sentiment among the mainstream populations, and legislature, especially the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (E. Lee 2003b, 2003a; Rouse 2009; Chung 2011; S. Chan 2006). In 1943, the US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943, also known as the Magnuson Act, which permitted 105 Chinese citizens to enter the US annually and Chinese Americans in the US to be naturalized as US citizens.8 The act ended the institutionalized discrimination against Chinese immigrants because of their racial and national identity, but the number of immigrants was still tightly restricted. Two years later, many Chinese immigrants in the US who fought in the Second World War benefited from the War Brides Act, which allowed alien spouses and children of the US Armed Forces to enter the US,9 reshaping the Chinese immigrants’ gender ratio in a more balanced way.10 This history was explored in plays written later, such as David Henry Hwang’s 7 Including but not limited to Act of February 19, 1862; Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; Geary Act of 1892; Act of April 29, 1902; Act of April 27, 1904; Emergency Quota Act of 1921; Immigration Act of 1924. 8 For detailed information, see https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/22/STATUTE-22-Pg58c.pdf and https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/78th-congress/session-1/c78s1ch344.pdf. 9 See https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/79th-congress/session-2/c79s2ch945.pdf. 10 See https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Yearbook_Immigration_Statistics_1998.pdf. 49 Dance and the Railroad (1981), which also described the Chinese immigrant workers’ spirit to fight for equal rights. In the 1960s, the flourishing Civil Rights movement aimed at anti-racism won the support of various races who were discriminated against because of their ethnicity or nationality. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which allowed as many as 20,000 immigrants from each independent country, marks another critical turning point in US immigration policies, allowing an influx of immigrants from China along with other Asian countries (M.G. Wong 1986). In addition, the policy attracted more educated immigrants as well as dependents and relatives of the immigrants from Asia (Barkan 1983, 48). Yet, because the US had not established a diplomatic relationship with the People’s Republic of China, most of the quota for Chinese were taken by immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong, some of whom had moved there from mainland China.11 In addition, the Hong Kong parole program admitted 14,757 Chinese from 1962 to 1966, and the 1965 Act permitted those immigrants to apply for permanent residence in the US.12 By 1980, the total number of Chinese immigrants in the US had rocketed to 806,040.13 With the increasing number of immigrants, Chinese American artists were 11 Emigration from mainland China was almost impossible during the Cultural Revolution period (1966-1976), and the few who managed to escape were also beset by difficulties. See examples http://mjlsh.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/Book.aspx?cid=4&tid=3420 and http://mjlsh.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/Book.aspx?cid=4&tid=3960. David Henry Hwang’s FOB reflects this trend since no character in the play is from mainland China: Steve is from Hong Kong, while Dale and Grace are from Taiwan. 12 See US. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service: 1966-67. District of Columbia: U.S. G.P.O, 1967. And “US Considers Plans to Admit Refugee Group”. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, May 23, 1962. 13 See https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1980/1980censusofpopu8011u_bw.pdf. Morrison G. Wong offered a more comprehensive introduction to the social, socioeconomic, and demographic characteristics of the post-1965 Asian immigrants, including their age, gender ratio, marital status, educational achievement, income, etc. See Wong, Morrison G. 1986. “Post-1965 50 presented with a broader range of experiences and perspectives. For decades, historical issues concerning Chinese immigration have haunted the development of Chinese American theatre. From the miserable and harsh lives of the early Chinese diaspora, to the internal conflicts between generations and peers, and from obvious discriminatory legislation and practices to successful struggles to attain equal civil rights, Chinese American theatre has witnessed a gradual rejection of false binaries and a fairer understanding of both Chinese Americans and new Chinese immigrants. Consequently, they are able to explore the complexities of interactions between Chinese Americans and mainstream culture in greater depth and provide more nuanced insights into matters of identity and race. According to David Henry Hwang, Asian American theatre is divided into three periods based on the waves of playwrights.14 The first wave is from the 1960s to the 1970s, when dramatists endeavoured to acquire a “cultural space” (Yew 2011, x). Esther Kim Lee pinpoints David Henry Hwang’s FOB (1980) as a transition point in Asian American theatre, where the second wave of playwrights overtook the first wave by starting to break the racial and cultural boundaries (E.K. Lee 2006, 136). According to Valina Hasu Houston, the first-wave Asian American playwrights were largely influenced and propelled by the ontology of Asian American theatre, whereas the incentives for the second-wave playwrights were “ethnicity, race, culture, gender, and politics” (Houston 1997, 23). The second wave was from the late 1970s to the 1980s, when theatre artists strove to find an authentic Asian identity in order to challenge the colonial definition of Asia and reveal an Asian Immigrants: Where do they Come from, Where are they Now, and Where are they Going?” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 487 (1): 150-168. 14 Hwang argues on the back cover of Ching Chong Chinaman (2011) “The fourth wave of Asian American playwriting has arrived.” However, he did not provide a list or description of the latest wave at the time he stated. 51 accurate representation of reality. Roberta Uno distinguishes the two generations of playwrights by their original birthplace and their influence on later artists (Uno 1993, 7). Esther Kim Lee adopts Houston’s definition of the two waves for its connotation of “artistic movement and style” instead of the playwrights’ ages (E.K. Lee 2006, 125). To a large extent, Daphne Lei’s idea of “virtual Chinatown” (J.G. Reinelt and Roach 2007, 156) mirrors theatrical productions in that period, which constructed an imagined community that guided the audiences’ and participants’ cultural affinity. Apart from figuring out identities, José Muñoz proposes another possibility: disidentification. Normally, minorities either identified with the dominant culture or created a counterculture that engaged and provoked different understandings. Unlike either identification/assimilation or counter-identification/anti-assimilation, disidentification provided minorities with another opportunity to change a cultural mindset by supporting and fighting against the mainstream culture at the same time (Muñoz 1999, 7). This approach allowed them to navigate complex identities, embracing certain aspects of the dominant culture while simultaneously resisting and subverting others, thereby creating a space for more nuanced expressions of their cultural identities. The division of playwrights denotes the shifts of cultural paradigms from reclaiming voice and rectifying biases to tackling race and identity issues, which corresponds to the situations of different time periods. The emergence of third-wave playwrights marks a significant shift in Asian American theatre, as they grapple with issues of identity and belonging in a multicultural society. Harbouring in a collective identity, the third-wave playwrights became aware of detachment from their ancestors, which encouraged their decision to reject an essentialist identity (E.K. Lee 2006, 204), as their proficiency in two languages and immersion in two cultures enabled coexistence of hybridity and heterogeneity in the US. 52 However, postcolonial, diasporic, and “global” economic studies differentiated between the Asian diaspora and Asian Americans and disconnected their lineage (Shimakawa 2002a, 49). Asian stereotypes were repeatedly presented on stage, which not only isolated Asians from other ethnic groups but also accelerated the demarcation between the Asians diaspora and Asian Americans. As a result, the third wave of Asian American theatre artists no longer considered racial identity as the sole problem in their works; instead, they sought a more nuanced intra-ethnic discussion and scrutinized humanitarian themes not specifically about Asian cultures. For example, in David Henry Hwang’s adapted version of Flower Drum Song (2002), the impression of the parents was constructed as inscrutably stubborn and resolutely conservative, which left no room to negotiate the formation of their Chinese or American identity or possible solutions to achieve a feasible reconciliation. In many contemporary Chinese or Asian American plays, the protagonist falls into a false dilemma because they are portrayed as ultimately having to choose to join one side: the marginal culture, the dominant culture, or independence. Again, in Flower Drum Song, Wang Ta, the protagonist who was born and raised in the US, decides to transform the opera house into a nightclub, which reveals his wish to be assimilated to the mainstream culture due to his affection for his lover and rebellion against his father. However, the underlying reasons for such choices remained unexplored in many plays, as discussions on the divide between Asians and Asian Americans were set aside due to emotional connections and obligations. Preference for individualism assists the division and even destruction of “potentially subversive alliances” (J.D. Lee 1997, 32). For example, in FOB (1980), each of the characters represents a certain trait of division within the same ethnic group: Dale, as an American-born Chinese, ruptures the possibility of intra-ethnic collaboration and repels the intention by Steve, 53 an F.O.B. (“fresh off the boat”) from Hong Kong, to draw Taiwan-born Grace over to his side, and Grace strikes a hostile attitude towards Steve when they first meet. Therefore, the ambiguous range of Asians becomes even more unstable, and the Asian diaspora and Asian Americans are also separated because of new cultural conflicts within the same ethnicity. These cultural conflicts reveal questions including whether it is possible to achieve reconciliation or even cooperation between the two groups and whether they are aware of the cultural frameworks that the division between the two is manipulated and aimed to give rise to a firmer hegemony over them. 2.2 Intercultural Awareness in an Intra-ethnic Setting Intercultural awareness is often discussed in the context of interactions between distinct ethnic groups, but it is equally crucial within intra-ethnic settings, where individuals of the same ethnic background may experience cultural divergences based on factors such as generational differences, immigration status, and assimilation levels. These internal divisions can lead to complex dynamics as individuals navigate their identities, balancing between preserving their cultural heritage and adapting to the dominant culture. In such contexts, understanding and negotiating these differences are vital for fostering intra-ethnic harmony and solidarity. Written and premiered in 1979, David Henry Hwang’s first play, FOB, won the 1980 Obie Award. The term FOB is short for “fresh off the boat,” which denotes Chinese immigrants who have just arrived in the US. In portraying three young adults in a Chinese restaurant in California, the play delineates differences and reconciliations between new Chinese immigrants, Chinese immigrants who have lived in the US for a long time, and second-generation immigrants, or American-born Chinese. 54 Each of the three characters represents a certain trait of the division within the same ethnic group: Dale, an American-born Chinese who conforms to an American way of life, always finds fault with Steve, a new immigrant from Hong Kong who seems to be incompatible with life in the US. Their quarrels and discussions explicate irreconcilable contradictions on issues such as assimilation and racial recognition. Dale refuses to build an intra-ethnic connection and resists the intention of Steve, an “FOB” from Hong Kong, to draw Taiwan-born Grace over to his side. Meanwhile, Grace, Dale’s cousin who has lived in the US for over a decade, strikes a hostile attitude towards Steve when they first meet. Later on, she changes her attitude from reluctance to willingness to accept Steve, their common Chinese cultural bond, and personal aspirations, reminding them of the similar hardship they have suffered or will experience in the future and against which they will still strive to pursue their dreams. This shift in Grace’s perspective illustrates how intercultural awareness within an intra-ethnic setting can evolve, leading to a deeper understanding and acceptance of diverse cultural experiences within the same ethnic group. The play is set in a Chinese restaurant in California in the present day. In the restaurant, there are three chairs and a table in the middle of the black and white checker floor, and restaurant supplies like water flasks, rice, and sauces are in the backdrop. In the prologue, Dale introduces one of the play’s permeative motifs – the interpretation of FOB. FOB, a derogatory term used to describe the new immigrants that are unsuitable in the US, is explained and supported with stereotypical examples in the opening speech of the play and created tension among audience members when the production premiered in the Public Theatre in New York. In terms of the stereotypical features showcased by Dale, Hwang states that, “One of the things I found very early on at the [Public Theater] was that with [a] predominantly non-Asian audience, you had to 55 give them the permission to laugh because they weren’t sure whether or not they were being offensive by laughing, and so after the New York Times came out and said it was funny, then everyone thought it was OK to laugh” (E.K. Lee 2015b, 16). Outlining the characteristics, such as “Loud, stupid, four-eyed FOB,” may reinforce the stereotypical identifications of the new immigrants, but it did create a relaxed ambience for the audience to see the interactions between the three characters as soon as they knew that their laughter to racially loaded descriptions would not offend the people who happen to fit the characterization. In Act I, Steve goes into Grace’s family restaurant asking impolitely for bing, or chong you bing, which is a literal translation of green onion pancake, and Grace makes fun of him. Bing is a signature Chinese food shared across China and in Chinese restaurants in the US, which epitomizes a cultural symbol that reconnects Chinese Americans to the faraway homeland. On top of that, Steve has met Grace at a dance party previously, so Steve is surprised that Grace does not respond to him when he enters the Chinese restaurant to order food. Steve does not feel embarrassed but declares that he is the incarnation of Gwan Gung, whom he deifies as the “God of warriors, writers, and prostitutes” to maintain his cultural pride. Steve imagines that he is a representative of the god whose purpose is to urge the Chinese immigrants in this land to stand up against hostility and oppression. In response, Grace personifies Fa Mu Lan, a fictional Chinese woman warrior, and starts to mock Gwan Gung and educate Steve about American culture. Then, Dale, Grace’s cousin, comes in and chats with Grace in a delightful mood, which contrasts his attitude towards Steve later in the play. When Dale tries to have a conversation with Steve, the latter pretends that he cannot understand Dale’s words and responds with broken English. Dale attempts to give Grace and Steve a ride to the French restaurant they are going to 56 dinner at, but he is shocked by Steve’s offer of his limousine. After that, out of contempt, Dale, to gain supremacy over Steve, starts to find faults with Steve about his language problems, driving skills, tastes, and financial dependence on parents. Dale’s attitude towards Steve and his resentment against Chinese immigrants and culture evoke Grace’s sympathy towards Steve. Then, in the dinner that is now taking place in Grace’s restaurant, Steve and Dale, like a duel, continue the competition by eating an excessive amount of hot sauce. Steve seems to enjoy the spicy flavour while Dale cannot bear the burn. In Act II, after the dinner, Dale asks Grace to leave the cleaning work to Steve so that he will experience similar hardships that Dale has gone through to reach his current social status. Seeing Grace protecting Steve, Dale confronts Steve with derogative descriptions of the “FOB.” Steve is mad and orders Grace to inform Dale that he is Gwan Gung, but Grace does not regard him as that. Then, Steve as Gwan Gung and Grace as Fa Mu Lan have a sword fight, which ends in Fa Mu Lan’s victory. After the fight, Steve and Grace are connected by their inherent Chineseness, and Grace gives Steve the bing in a tape-wrapped giftbox. In the end, Steve and Grace fall in love and go dancing, leaving Dale alone in the restaurant to resentfully curse new Chinese immigrants. The ending creates a debate about the contrast between assimilating to the American culture and sustaining the Chinese culture. From the restaurant setting, the characters’ appearances, and the food, the Chinese references encircle the characters in an ethnic environment in the US. The distinctive factors in this setting are Dale’s western outfit and Steve’s luxurious vehicle. In the Public Theatre production, the comparison between Steve’s long black gown and Dale’s blue suit depicts their cultural belongings clearly: the long black gown, which is commonly worn by kungfu masters or intellectuals in movies, represents Steve’s strong sense of attachment to 57 Chinese social conventions, and the suit offers Dale a coating to cover up his self-abased Chinese roots. Steve’s limousine breaks the stereotype of Chinese immigrants as lower-class labour workers, but the financial support he gets from his family overpowers him to an extent that other characters may regard his manners as attempts to reshape the status quo away from the American lifestyle. Significantly, Steve and Grace reconcile at the end and celebrate the cultural fusion and the identification with their hybrid identity, which suggests a feasible solution to the new immigrants struggling to locate themselves spiritually in the Asian American community. Moreover, that Dale’s antipathy does not dampen Steve’s enthusiasm further supports that the reconciliation idea is robust enough to survive intercultural frictions. Depicting conflicts and understandings within the same generation, David Henry Hwang’s FOB delineates the contrasting views of the different statuses of the three characters. Although a reconciliation between Grace and Steve is achieved, the opposite cultural orientations of the two still hinder their willingness to admit each other’s intentions and prejudices between different subgroups of the Chinese Americans, as Steve and Dale demonstrate in the play. The failed negotiation between Steve and Dale leaves a space for possibilities to discover the kernel of the problem preventing their mutual understanding and acceptance and make grounded critiques to renew understandings of and invite discussion on this predominant hierarchy. Although the ferocious confrontation between Steve and Dale seems to suspend their intercultural communication at a superficial level, as their dialogues never touch cultural or social topics, it is Steve’s rejection of Dale’s interpellation, i.e., Dale fails to position Steve in his social order, that turns down the particular identity offered by Dale and reveals that Steve is aware that this imposed identity is not natural. 58 The imaginary relationship between people and their actual conditions of life breaks the equation between the imaginary and real objects. In Steve and Dale’s case, the reality in this Chinese restaurant is built on the discursive exchange between the characters buttressed by different mindsets that are alternative representations of the imaginary reality instead of a reflection of the historical reality. In this way, Steve’s refusal of Dale’s interpellation ruptures Dale’s intention to turn Steve from an individual to a subject of Dale’s, and his non-cooperation pushes Dale to reexamine Steve in a different “imaginative” context. At the same time, a specious reconciliation between Grace and Steve deprives both parties’ freedom to exchange predicaments and forces each other to accept the “peace treaty” voluntarily due to moral constraints. The relationship between Grace and Steve is complicated by the dramatization of the two characters as two mythical figures in Chinese history. By transforming themselves into delegates of respective heritages, Steve’s and Grace’s mindsets manifest through the staged performance of their relationship that represents the two characters as subjects rather than individuals. In this transformation, interpellated by Grace, Steve foregoes his insistence on the traditional values embodied by Gwan Gung and learns the necessity and obstacles in sustaining the unidimensional acculturation model, as immigrants are prone to adapt more to the mainstream culture while alienating their native culture (Phinney 1990, 499-514). However, this model cannot be applied universally since it overlooks those who have been raised in a multicultural environment. From Grace’s perspective, while she has much more exposure to the western culture, she can still maintain a thorough understanding of Fa Mu Lan. Grace’s case fits the better accepted bidimensional model, which states that people may sustain their native culture while also being acculturated to the mainstream culture (LaFromboise, Coleman, and Gerton 1993, 395-412). 59 In this chapter, I will investigate the interplay of identities and aspirations within the dynamic and evolving Chinese American community as portrayed in FOB. I will discuss the struggles, conflicts, and shared bonds that underlie this complex social context and explore the dynamics of conflict, compromise, and adaptability that characterize the Chinese American experience in the United States as depicted in FOB. 2.2.1 Performing the In-Betweenness: Intra-ethnicism Disguised as Interculturalism In the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s 1990 production video that I viewed at the New York Public Library, the music transition in the beginning of the performance points to the intermingling of two cultures. The performance starts with western music popular at the time – the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” – and then shifts to cacophonic Chinese string and woodwind music. After Dale’s monologue, the popular western music reemerges. The Chinese musical instruments sound normal individually, but when the melodies interweave in a disorganized way, the dissonance marks the incongruity in the ensemble and also the image of Chineseness in a western context. The music for scene transitions changes from a relaxing flow to a tumultuous ensemble, as if foreshadowing the forthcoming conflicts in the intercultural communication between the different intra-ethnic groups. If the revival of the Bee Gees’ song is juxtaposed with Dale’s two identical speeches, it would epitomize the cultural power that interpellates the Chinese Americans to assimilate to the American culture, as the strong contrast between the Chinese and American cultural representations cultivates preference towards the American culture that is more freely expressed. 60 Set in a traditional Chinese restaurant, the 1990 Pan Asian Repertoire Theatre production reveals the distinction between the characters upfront when the performers step on the stage.15 Visually, the Chinese restaurant setting and the characters’ costumes and manners convey to the audience a sense of an authentic Chinese American environment. Dale wears a business suit, which indicates the immigrants’ aspiration for both social and financial achievement. Steve is in sombre grey working jumpsuits covered by a black kimono-like gown like a Kungfu master, a hybridity of a stereotypical projection of China and an imagined heroic figure, suggesting the presence of a multifaceted and intriguing persona. There is a possibility that he possesses a strong interest in or a longing to personify a combination of cultural generalizations and an idealized, courageous identity, so rendering him a character with profound complexities and potentially an element of enigma. Grace, with a ponytail, wears a pink t-shirt and high-waist black pants, which suggests her straightforward and relatable persona and represents a pragmatic and grounded disposition of the Chinese Americans. These concepts are presented to the audience through their costumes in a straightforward manner, as the contrasting colours and styles reveal various social statuses and personalities of the three characters. In addition to costume, the production’s choice of language and behaviour presents the disparate attitudes: coming into the restaurant where music is playing, Steve tries to attract attention by clearing his throat and shouting, “Hey!”, while slapping the dining table. He then orders bing in Cantonese, but Grace ignores him. He makes the same order in English, which is again met with the same unwelcoming attitude. In anger, he yells, “Hey you!”, and kicks the tape-wrapped box back to Grace after she sticks it to his forehead. Steve asks Grace to answer 15 The video recording of the Pan Asian Repertoire Theatre production of FOB, which I watched at the New York Public Library on December 17, 2019, was shot on June 7, 1990. The production was directed by Tisa Chang. 61 his question directly instead of throwing the menu onto the table in front of him, and then grabs the box again, irritating her and prompting her to seize it back. From mutual repugnance to a childish tug-of-war, the attempts to reconcile and disrupt the power dynamic between the two are obvious: by ignoring Steve’s need, Grace occupies a higher ground, but Steve’s rude reactions violate her expectations and remind her of having been mistreated and discriminated against in the past, which elicits her sympathy towards this new immigrant. Her anger recedes, allowing Steve to share the same ground with her. Then, when Steve starts to introduce Gwan Gung, he practices some basic Kungfu moves, like punching and kicking, accompanied by a piece of Buddhist, mystical, and martial arts music. His physical display is so shoddy, however, that he hurts himself when he tries to kick his own hand. Since Steve makes a scene, Grace seizes the opportunity to set Fa Mu Lan as the example for Chinese immigrants; she rebuts Steve’s pronouncements verbally to uncover Gwan Gung’s recklessness and introduce Fa Mu Lan’s mercy. In this way, Grace regains her higher cultural position and exposes Steve’s inadequacy in representing Chinese culture. When Dale arrives, having been called to come over by Grace, he shows the cultural hierarchy in Chinese Americans. He then interrogates Steve and gets suspicious of his background. When Dale talks to Grace, he uses a napkin to wipe his nose, buses the table with a cloth, and plays with her hair. His casual movements and idiosyncrasies are in stark contrast with the above mentioned awkward conversation between Steve and Grace. However, Steve breaks the balance through a series of tactics: initially, instead of talking to Dale, he only nods or smiles; he responds to Grace, but not to Dale – the only time that he talks to Dale is to offer his car for them to go to the French restaurant together; when Dale pats on Steve’s shoulder to establish higher status over Steve, Steve unexpectedly pats Dale’s shoulder back; after their 62 quarrel to decide the place to go to, Dale and Grace organize and clean the restaurant before they leave for dinner, after which Steve pats Dale’s shoulder again and refuses to join them; Steve assumes a mock Hong Kong accent when he meets Dale but drops it and adopts a fluent American accent when he notices Dale’s condescending attitude when guiding Steve to clean the table; when Dale delivers the speech calling for Steve to become American, Steve counters with a rhetorical question asking about Dale’s parents’ lives; Steve challenges Dale to eat as much hot sauce as he can, but Dale loses the competition; Steve loses his temper when Dale wants to check the giftbox and Steve throws a dishcloth onto Dale; when Dale tries to teach Steve to behave; Dale demands he clean the table and dishes by grabbing Steve’s hands, but Steve gives him a side-eye. In short, Dale tries to take control, but Steve keeps thwarting his attempts and retaliating in order to dismantle the superiority that Dale keeps trying to assert. Finally, although Dale refuses Steve’s intention to reconcile by refusing to shake hands with Steve when the latter is about to leave, Dale takes the initiative to win over Steve by acknowledging Steve’s English, and Steve accepts it. Obviously, Dale does not intend to compliment Steve's effort and progress in learning English, but instead makes sarcastic remarks and evades the fact that he has lost the confrontation with Steve. After Steve and Grace leave, Dale repeats the full derogatory description of FOB. However, the same speech is not simply a replica of the one in the beginning of the play, although Dale recites the speech verbatim. The opening half-joking speech serves as a pre-show for the performance and introduces stereotypical characteristics of the new immigrants. Dale delivers this speech to end the whole performance in a resentful and serious manner, expressing his deep-rooted antipathy against FOB and revealing that his temporary truce with Steve has ended. 63 When Steve and Grace converse in the guise of Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan – during which Dale refuses to get involved. Steve holds a battleaxe and Grace holds a red tassel spear to perform jingju combat moves. They do not intend to hurt each other physically but showcase the conflicts between the two gods by staging wushu (Chinese martial arts) routines that aim to support the storytelling. When Steve throws his weapon to Dale and invites him to join the fight, Dale trips, indicating that he feels alienated from traditional Chinese culture. After Steve is beaten by Grace, he kneels down on the ground and cries, exposing his frustration and depression caused by the fact that he has not been accepted in the US, and he is eager to acquire empathy. This speech is accompanied by ancient Chinese instrumental music featuring a bamboo flute, which offers a conventional Chinese ambiance to accommodate the speech. Grace passes Steve the box, and Steve opens it only to find that it is the bing that he has asked for at the start of the play. Steve is shocked when he sees the bing and eats it slowly at first. Then, as if resorting to salvation, Steve finishes the bing insatiably. Grace and Steve praise each other for being “warriors” in this land, and Steve grabs Grace’s hands and invites her to dance, and Grace agrees to leave with Steve. In contrast to the antipathy and repugnance between Steve and Dale caused by a sense of disappointment and hopelessness, the interaction between Steve and Grace argues for the importance of historical influences that ties the Chinese American community together in hope of forming a unified value and voice to resist the unfair treatment when facing intercultural communications. At the end of the play, Steve remarks that, “Our hands are beautiful”, and, “I see the hands of warriors…There are no gods that travel. Only warriors travel”, showing that Steve has recognized Grace’s tireless efforts to situate herself in the not-so-friendly cultural setting (Hwang 1990, 49). The ending also serves as a reminder that intra-ethnic 64 prejudices and confrontations will undermine the cultural cohesion rather than enhance the Chinese Americans’ social status. 2.2.2 FOB vs. ABC: Intra-ethnic Divisions Predominated by Intercultural Hegemony The “FOB” in the play, namely Steve, is a new type of Chinese immigrant. He did not come from a poor rural area, nor did he grow up on a meager working-class income as the previous generation did – he was born into a wealthy merchant family in Hong Kong who had been accustomed to bustling cities and western cultures. In Grace’s words, “People are dressing really well now – and the whole place has become really stylish – well, certainly not everybody, but the people who are well-off enough to send their kids to American colleges – they’re really kinda classy” (Hwang 1990, 38). In the play, eager to show his superiority as an “American citizen,” Dale advocates for material wealth and longs for economic success. The plot is simple, and there are no complicated scene changes. However, Steve, Dale, and Grace’s dialogues intertwine Chinese traditional legends and American modern culture, which shows the huge difference between Chinese and American cultures. It also reflects the opposition and conflict between American-born Chinese and new immigrants through the covert and overt fights between Dale and Steve. Born and raised in the US, the ABCs are unavoidably influenced by American culture and values, making it easier for them to assimilate into mainstream American culture. In FOB, Dale states clearly, “So, I’ve had to work real hard – real hard – to be myself. To not be a Chinese, a yellow, a slant, a gook. To be just a human being, like everyone else” (Hwang 1990, 32). Unfortunately, as Josephine Lee notes, while Dale’s self-actualization in social status confirms that an individual can achieve success without obstructions from family or ethnicity, it is his “inability to fully liberate him from ‘Chinese-ness’” that bothers him and drives him to hostility 65 towards new immigrants. Dale sees Steve as a projection of his lower-class father, who had to work humble jobs. Because of this past family humiliation, the prejudice in Dale’s heart against the Chineseness and Chinese immigrants pushes him to treat Steve like a poor worker, like his father, so as to ridicule Steve and sever his own link with the latter (J.D. Lee 1997, 178). Dale’s vent is accumulated and suppressed about his own family’s experience, which he is unable to express, except to blame his Chinese compatriot, Steve. Here, the ABC character regards newcomers as opponents since these newcomers symbolize their common national roots and highlight the overall characteristics of Chinese immigrants. The reason Dale could not empathize with Steve from the beginning is that the latter embodies the identity of all the Chinese identity and experience that Dale had tried to eradicate from his life. The arrival of Steve is a constant reminder of Dale’s Chinese ancestry in the eyes of Americans, negating his many years of effort to cut off his connections to Chinese ancestors. The attitude of ABCs has changed from extreme low self-esteem in front of Americans to excessive self-arrogance in front of recent immigrants. They laugh at the poor English and ignorance of the newcomers, and they dismiss newcomers in order to reinforce their own sense of superiority. At the same time, they prove their value and mitigate their melancholy and disappointment for playing the “peripheral role.” The performance then starts off with Dale’s opening monologue introducing the term FOB with acrimonious words and corresponding graphs on a blackboard in front of the audience: F-O-B. Fresh Off the Boat. FOB. What words can you think of that characterize the FOB? Clumsy, ugly, greasy FOB. Loud, stupid, four-eyed FOB. Big feet. Horny. Like Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Very good. A literary reference. High-water pants. Floods, to be exact. Someone you wouldn’t want your sister to 66 marry. If you are a sister, someone you wouldn’t want to marry. That assumes we’re talking about boy FOBs, of course. But girl FOBs aren’t really as…FOBs. Boy FOBs are the worst, the…pits. They are the sworn enemies of all ABC – oh, that’s “American-Born Chinee” – of all ABC girls. Before an ABC girl will be seen on a Friday night with a boy FOB in Westwood, she would rather burn off her face. (Hwang 1990, 6) By belittling the new immigrants, Dale considers them as the ultimate obstacle for the ABCs to shorten their distance between the Americans and themselves. While delivering this speech in a blue suit and black dress shoes, Dale draws an FOB figure synchronously as he describes them – he writes FOB in the upper part of the blackboard and draws a face with glasses, big ears, and mouth in the letter O, and then a pair of high water-pants and big feet under the letters. The exaggeration in the visual presentation of his monologue embodies his disrespect towards the new immigrants; at the same time, it also serves as a comedic apparatus that amuses the audiences, who burst into laughter several times when Dale stops talking to continue his drawing as he comes to the specific descriptions of body parts of the “FOB.” Although the title of the play is FOB, Dale points out the incongruity between new immigrants and ABCs. From Dale’s perspective, the two groups are not compatible, yet, to some extent, their ethnicity forms a bond that connects them. The time they have spent in the US creates distinctions within Chinese immigrant groups tied to their level of cultural integration. Supported by his costume, Dale considers himself a genuine American who discerns the difference between Steve and himself in terms of cultural affiliation. Through the first half of the performance, the intra-ethnic disparity is represented in an intercultural confrontation where Dale believes in the unilateral influence he exerts on Steve, while the latter insists the unilateral affect 67 flows in the opposite direction. As Lisa Lowe has commented in her Immigration Acts, “Rather than considering ‘Asian American identity’ as a fixed, established ‘given,’ perhaps we can consider instead ‘Asian American cultural practices’ that produce identity; the processes that produce such identity are never complete and are always constituted in relation to historical and material differences” (Lowe 1996, 64). The shift in Steve’s cultural identification is not clearly depicted in the play, and his identity will be further reshaped by his encounter with more cultural exchange with Grace and other Americans. Nevertheless, his identity is not defined but described by his everyday behaviours and manners. Dale may serve as an exception, as he reinforces his position in the power dynamic between ABC and new immigrants by ridiculing Steve. DALE: I asked him to do it. He’s useless! (He takes the sponge) Look, I don’t know how much English you know, but (Using a mock Chinese accent) look-ee! … DALE: Here – now you do. (Dale forces Steve’s hand onto the sponge.) Good. Very good. Now move it around. (Dale leads Steve’s hand) Oh, you learn so fast. Get green card, no time flat, buddy. (Dale removes his hand; Steve stops.) Uh-uh-uh. You must do it yourself. Come. There-now doesn’t that make you feel proud? (Dale takes his hand off again; Steve stops. Dale gives up, crosses downstage. Steve remains at the table, still.) Jesus! I’d trade him in for a vacuum cleaner any day. (Hwang 2000, 37-38) However, his reconciliation with Steve before Steve leaves with Grace at the end of the play somewhat destabilizes his firm belief in his superiority in the immigrant group, as he admits that, “The evening was real…different, anyway” (Hwang 1990, 50). Before the specious reconciliation between Dale and Steve, Dale’s preaching aims to make a laughingstock of new immigrants’ habits and Steve’s broken English, but by being persistent in 68 soliciting Grace’s affection, Steve challenges Dale’s introduction to FOB and questions the definition of FOB in a straightforward way. STEVE (to Grace): After eating, you like to go dance? ... STEVE (to Grace): Like to go dance? ... STEVE: “FOB”? Has what meaning? ... STEVE: “Fresh Off Boat” has what meaning? (Hwang 2000, 26-27) Dale complains about his parents and their generation with pejorative descriptions: My parents – they don’t know nothing about the world, about watching Benson at the Roxy, about ordering hors d’oeuvres at Scandia’s, downshifting onto the Ventura Freeway at midnight. They’re yellow ghosts and they’ve tried to cage me up with Chinese-ness when all the time we were in America. (Pause) So, I’ve had to work real hard – real hard – to be myself. To not be a Chinese, a yellow, a slant, a gook. To be just a human being, like everyone else. (Hwang 1990, 33) Even though he is a Chinese American, the attitude Dale adopts towards new immigrants from China is no better than the discrimination from other racial groups. The antipathy against new immigrants or their organic ethnicity results from the top-down cultural infiltration from the mainstream culture into the minority cultures. As a member of a minority group, Dale wishes to detach his connections to the Chinese. Although Chinese Americans have suffered from racial discrimination, his attitude reveals the racial stratification and the determination of value that split his identity: a biological Chinese and a cultural American (D. Lei 2005, 307-17). Josephine 69 Lee attributes this discrepancy to the pressure of capitalism that evokes people’s natural desire to strive for materialistic abundance and success (J.D. Lee 1997, 168). In order to achieve that goal, Chinese immigrants respond with the zeal of the convert to be assimilated in order to gain acceptance.16 However, the impossibility of altering their appearance underpins the ABC’s self-loathing attitude (Kurahashi 1999, 154). The colour white has become a benchmark for beauty, which propels non-white minority groups to modify their colour of hair and skin to become akin to the Americans to avoid their self-resentment. Dale’s discriminatory behaviours towards Chinese immigrants coincide with the assimilation process of the Chinese immigrants after 1965. Coming to America, you’re gonna jump the boat. You’re gonna decide you like us…. You’re gonna decide to become an American. Yeah, don’t deny it – it happens to the best of us. You can’t hold out – you’re no different. You won’t even know it’s coming before it has you. Before you’re trying real hard to be just like the rest of us…. And when your father writes you that do-it-yourself acupuncture sales are down, you’ll throw that letter in the basket and burn it in your brain. And you’ll write that you’re gonna live in Monterey Park a few years before going back home – and you’ll get your green card – and you’ll build up a nice little stockbroker’s business and have a few American kids…. (Hwang 1990, 26-27) Grace serves as an excellent example to support Dale’s claims here. She emigrated to the US at a young age, and she was an outcast at school because of her poor English. She found American 16 For further discussion of the zeal of the convert, see https://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/28/the-zeal-of-the-convert-is-it-the-real-deal/. 70 kids more friendly than those ABCs who iced her out consistently. As Tsai, Ying, and Lee’s survey shows, Chinese immigrants identify themselves as Chinese when they initially come to the US. Particularly for individuals who arrived during youth, when their cultural identity was establishing, being Chinese plays a significant role in how they view themselves. In contrast, they need to learn how to be Americans in order to survive in the country. As a result, their self-perceptions as Chinese are more reliant on their participation in both Chinese and American contexts. Their ideas of being Americans may be a result of contextualization because they are unfamiliar with American society, and the new identity may not yet be fully ingrained in their self-concepts. As a result, their perceptions of being Americans are limited to their participation in American culture. The concept of being American and being Chinese may alter for immigrants with longer time in the country. As immigrants have more exposure to and experience with American society, they may start to internalize an American identity (Tsai, Ying, and Lee 2000, 322). Being Chinese or being American seems to be more about pride when the Chinese Americans have not had much exposure to either Chinese or American culture and more about participating in cultural activities they have access to (Tsai, Ying, and Lee 2000, 323). Therefore, the limitation to reach the contact zone between different types of Chinese Americans often creates an illusion that both parties are self-contained: they disdain to associate with each other and develop a unique group concept to highlight their different cultural prides. Grace did not manage to escape from this loneliness until high school, when she started to familiarize herself with the new world. Grace’s life trajectory represents a major theme of the play – an illustration of the process of cultural integration and assimilation, which demonstrates the shift in Chinese immigrants’ identification. Along with Steve’s frustration about the rejection of his faith in Chinese traditions 71 and Dale’s displeased contact with Steve, Hwang juxtaposes the unfavourable receptions of the Chinese American characters’ identities in the play. By doing so, Hwang presents intra-ethnic clashes seemingly aimed at achieving mutual understanding but which embeds hierarchy-enhancing schemes. Baumeister asserts in The Handbook of Social Psychology that with more exposure to and experience with American culture, the cultural orientation of being Chinese and being American may shift among the Chinese immigrants, and their self-concept may be the cause of these discrepancies (Gilbert, Fiske, and Lindzey 1998, 680-740). In other words, the degree of incorporating cultural orientation influences these differences. Although these ABCs were born and have been living in a typical American environment, where they are educated to think, feel, and behave like the Americans, due to the legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act and cultural hegemony coupled with the complexity of ABCs’ own cultural background, or the disparity in economic status with the Americans at that time, there are obstacles preventing them from feeling truly accepted by the American culture. At the same time, few opportunities have been granted to the ABCs to connect with or understand Chinese culture, which leaves an impact that cannot be ignored in their lives. In the journey of searching identities for Chinese Americans, Steve’s attempt to reconnect with Gwan Gung, one of the most respected gods in China, offers a departure from assimilation, but his understanding of Gwan Gung fails to support his endeavour. In the play, David Henry Hwang adopts a surrealist style to incarnate Gwan Gung in Steve and dissociate the Gwan Gung from the main plot. Steve runs into a Chinese American and asks him whether he knows anything about Gwan Gung: I ask him, “You know Gwan Gung?” He says, “Hong Kong?” I say, “No, no. Gwan Gung.” He says, “Yeah. They got sixty thousand people living on four 72 acres. Went there last year.” I say, “No, no. Gwan Gung.” He says, “Ooooh! Gwan Gung?” I say, “Yes, yes, Gwan Gung.” He says, “I never been there before.” (Hwang 1990, 26) The bewilderment at the existence of “Gwan Gung” reflects that Chinese ancestral history is a mysterious, remote, and ambiguous legend for the ABCs and leaves them to wander between mainstream and non-mainstream, centre and periphery, and modern and traditional. In addition, the implausible ancestry affects the generational gap between Dale and his immigrant father. In the play, Dale sneered at his parents when he talked about them, thinking that they “don’t know nothing about the world, about watching Benson at the Roxy, about ordering hors d’oeuvres at Scandia’s, downshifting onto the Ventura Freeway at midnight” (Hwang 1990, 32). He called them “yellow ghosts” and said angrily, “they’ve tried to cage me up with Chinese-ness when all the time we were in America” (Hwang 1990, 32). He hoped to cut off any relationship with his parents as soon as possible so that he could be an unfettered and upright “American”. However, he also confessed in the same monologue, in which Dale’s psychological contradictions and complexity are vividly portrayed, that he has not realized his American dream and there is a large gap between him and his local friends. The majority of the Chinese American theatre pieces from the 1980s onward have documented the hardships and perceptions of the inferiority of Chinese Americans, and Hwang’s FOB allows for re-examinations of Chinese Americans in terms of their mentality towards their counterparts of the same ethnicity. In FOB, that the ABCs represented by Dale adopt a resisting and repulsive attitude towards the new immigrants like Steve in order to vent their disappointment and helplessness is understandable. Both of them are Chinese in the US who have experienced racial discrimination, but the situation of ABCs is more subtle since the 73 inability to match their American peers or to be recognized as a member of the Chinese community keeps them questioning their identity. Hwang has emphasized the importance of history and tradition in FOB and believes that a common view and voice among Chinese Americans like Steve and Grace formed in the end of the play may suspend the internal frictions for the sake of collective benefits. 2.2.3 Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan – From Incongruity to Congruity The imaginary figure of Gwan Gung is introduced to the audience when Steve queries a random person about Gwan Gung and gets a negative answer (Hwang 1990, 15). Steve and Grace, incarnated as Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan respectively, utter unrelated monologues that are rooted in traditional Chinese icons. Hwang places the representations of Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan in a Chinese restaurant in Torrance, California, to enable the two first-generation immigrants to have a dialogue based on the same culture. The juxtaposition and interaction between the two characters interrogates the authenticity of identity by digging into Chinese traditional culture. An incarnation of loyalty, bravery, integrity, and justice, Gwan Gung’s frequent appearance as a heroic figure in both jingju (Beijing opera) and the Chinese classical literary work Romance of the Three Kingdoms makes him not only heroic, but also a god of war and reflects the most respected among Chinese characteristics. Fa Mu Lan originates from a yuefu (poems composed in a folk song style) poem composed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 CE), which tells the legend of Mu Lan, a woman who dressed as a male to serve in the army on behalf of her father and became a heroine. In Chinese literature, these two figures are portrayed as the most respected representatives of the Chinese people and adopted by Chinese Americans to defend their identity and individuality in the US, where orientalist concepts prevail. In FOB, 74 Steve is full of pride when mentioning Gwan Gung to Grace for the first time. He describes a battle of Gwan Gung to Grace: …one day, Gwan Gung woke up and saw the ring of fire around the sun and decided, “This is a good day to slay villagers.” So he got up, washed himself and looked over a map of the Three Kingdoms to decide where first to go. For those were days of rebellion and falling empires, so opportunity to slay was abundant. But planned slaughter required an order and restraint which soon became tedious. So Gwan Gung decided a change was in order. He called for his tailor, who he asked to make a beautiful blindfold of layered silk, fine enough to be weightless, yet thick enough to blind the wearer completely. The tailor complied, and soon produced a perfect piece of red silk, exactly suited to Gwan Gung’s demands. In gratitude, Gwan Gung stayed the tailor’s execution sentence. He then put on his blindfold, pulled out his sword, and began passing over the land, swiping at whatever got in his path. You see, Gwan Gung figured there was so much revenge and so much evil in those days that he could slay at random and still stand a good chance of fulfilling justice. This worked very well until his sword, in its blind fury, hit upon an old and irritable atom bomb. (Hwang 1990, 11-12) The action was simple and neat, and the execution of justice was decisive. When Steve first arrives in the US, he regards Gwan Gung as a spiritual hero and takes on Gwan Gung’s invincibility in real life. His worship of Gwan Gung constantly inspires him to survive in a place where discrimination and injustice are prevalent. On the other hand, Fa Mu Lan, personified by Grace, is a representative of Chinese heroines. Maxine Hong Kingston borrows the image of Fa Mu Lan in her masterpiece The Woman 75 Warrior as the spiritual support for the Chinese girls in the novel.17 In FOB, while Steve compares himself to Gwan Gung, Grace speaks with eloquence of Fa Mu Lan. David Henry Hwang arranges two figures, Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan, that are not from the same dynasty in history in the same dialogue, not only because both of them are long-lasting inspiring role models for the Chinese Americans, but also to support the fact that it is impossible for the Chinese Americans to disinherit the Chinese legacy in visceral and spiritual dimensions. Even though they have established a new identity in the US, the original cultural foundation still affects them and is an integral part of their identity. Moreover, the dialogue between Grace and Steve involves the inheritance and dissemination of traditional Chinese culture. When Steve asks the Chinese Americans around him whether they have heard of the character Gwan Gung, he gets a range of answers. He tells Grace that these Chinese do not even know who Gwan Gung is. Some of them confuse “Gwan Gung” with “Hong Kong”; another Chinese kid said that he worships Jesus as the only God instead of Gwan Gung. The implication is that among the second or third generation of Chinese immigrants in the US, Chinese traditional culture seems to be gradually losing its followers. In this play, it is only the first generation of immigrants, with a deep-rooted memory of China, that still consider the traditional culture as their ideological belief. Among these Chinese Americans who have abandoned traditional elements, some aim to integrate into the Americans in search of a brand-new cultural identity, but some still are haunted by memories of Chinese cultural legacies. For Grace, the feeling of being rejected by the ABCs drove her to mingle with white kids, but she 17 The fictionalization of Fa Mu Lan in Kingston’s Woman Warrior differs from that in ancient Chinese literature. In the “White Tigers” chapter of her novel, Fa Mu Lan does not fight for her country against foreign invasions but takes revenge by leading an army of men to overthrow the unrighteous power of the emperor and sexist officials. 76 realized that her Chinese part always existed when Dale scolded Steve for his lack of basic knowledge to survive in the US. The stories of Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan told by Steve and Grace are far from historically accurate. Gwan Gung, who is worshipped as the “Saint of War” for his loyalty and righteousness, was a Chinese general who worked for the warlord Liu Bei at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. The historical authenticity of Fa Mu Lan is unclear, and she may be a fictional character who was believed to enlist in the army for her father to defend ancient China. Historical or not, both characters are brave warriors that are loyal to their country and conform to the code of ethics in Confucianism. However, as told in FOB, Gwan Gung participated in battles between Chinese people in different regions, while Fa Mu Lan led the Chinese army to repel foreign invasions. These differences between the two heroic figures offer Hwang a niche to express his view that it is better to cohere intra-ethnic divisions in the ethnic group to address intercultural conflicts. This meta-interculturalism that deconstructs the notion of Gwan Gung alienates the audiences who are familiar with the Chinese classical canon, as the scene creates odd characters that lead to an absurd plot. Additionally, fictionalizing the two characters as historical figures presents a form of culture that fits the exoticized view of China, which keeps a distance from the well-known image of Chinese Americans and the new immigrants but at the same time fortifies the mediated and lost-in-translation image of Chinese culture. Moreover, Hwang adopted jingju elements to collocate Chinese and American cultures simultaneously on stage. For example, when Steve and Grace are fighting against each other as Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan, their movements follow jingju’s routines, especially when they circle the stage (pao yuanchang) and perform a combat with imaginary spears. This allows the performers to display an orthodox Chinese way of communication and explain the intra-ethnic 77 persuasion figuratively. In the performance, Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan struggle in both verbal and physical ways against each other, which constructs a metatheatrical spectacle that introduces Steve’s and Grace’s heartfelt feelings about cultural beliefs through the two heroic figures. However, the reason for Steve and Grace to engage in a quarrel is not convincing, so the transformation of characters from young adults to remote deities seems abrupt. In the article “New Theatrical Statements: Asian-Western Mergers in the Early Plays of David Henry Hwang”, Robert Cooperman argues that certain jingju elements, such as chanting and costume that are presented in this production of FOB, are unnecessary for productions of the play as there is no need to contrast the “drab and nearly-bare stage” with a mix of colours, and both performers spend more efforts on dialogue instead of following the method acting techniques to imitate stylized movements in jingju (Maufort 2012, 204-5). However, as Hwang confessed in an interview, “This is one of those things about FOB that I really cannot explain as an adult. I think it was just purely intuitive, not at all directed or intellectually logical.” He did not plan to employ the form of jingju to achieve certain goals (M. Johnson 2017, 66). Granted, the fusion of two cultures reflects the real-life condition of Chinese Americans, where intra-ethnic conflicts intertwine with intercultural reconciliations. And the introduction of Chinese culture in American theatre meaningfully contributes to its cultural diversity. In FOB, David Henry Hwang tried incorporating traditional elements in his work for the first time, applying them to two immigrants in order to point out that a common historical experience cannot be ignored in the process of establishing a new and fluid identity. An identity crisis is, perhaps, an inevitable phenomenon in the long process tied to this shifting sense of identity. In FOB, Hwang writes as someone who is familiar with Chinese American culture. Using a Chinese American character of a similar age but with different attachments to the US, he points to the 78 reality of heterogenous struggles of immigrants and their children looking forward to achieving more homogenous ideals, i.e., to reconcile among different cultural affinities and build a strong ethnic bond. He does not propose a solution to this identity crisis, and the theatrical exploration of Chinese American identities continues in the following years. 79 Chapter 3: Exchanging Cross-cultural Value in Personal Communication: Individualism vs Collectivism in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to A Student Revolutionary Elizabeth Wong is part of the second wave of Chinese American playwrights. Born to working-class Chinese immigrant parents, Wong learned early in life to internalize demeaning stereotypes of media-created Asians. As an adolescent growing up in Chinatown in Los Angeles, she felt compelled to distance herself from the community in which she had come of age: “I didn’t have anything to do with all these people who talked with accents, who didn’t read the things that I read or see the movies that I saw…. I didn’t have anything in common with these people…. I didn’t feel I was like them, I didn’t want to be associated with them, and I didn’t know why” (Uno 1993, 262). Years later, in her essay “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl”, Wong recounts that her favourite heroine never spoke Chinese, and she considered speaking Chinese “a source of embarrassment” because “it was loud, it was unbeautiful… not like the gentle refinement of the American South” (E. Wong 2003, 142-4). Wong continued to battle cultural self-negation after obtaining her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in 1980. She was unable to recognize her Chinese ethnicity as a powerful tool for bringing a distinct perspective to her reporting since she felt undervalued rather than validated by it. It was largely due to Asian American theatre that Wong learned to embrace her ethnic history as a source of strength rather than an uncomfortable background. Working with artists of colour to show “individualities of tradition” and rejecting cultural prejudices imposed on artists of colour, Wong explained that the dignified treatment of Asian American themes in Asian American theatre was a crucial factor that enabled her to legitimize her image (Uno 1993, 262-3; 1991). 80 Wong began to doubt the objectiveness of journalism after eight years of being a journalist reporting mainly on aviation and transportation, which required her to restrict herself to the objective reconstruction of events without injecting her subjective reactions, particularly those induced by her personal cultural viewpoint (E. Wong 2018). Her increased awareness of what she felt to be the intrinsic limitations of journalism prompted her to reconsider her career objectives. Influenced by several prominent American theatre artists and academics during her studies and mentoring, including Wakako Yamauchi and David Henry Hwang, Wong realized that her Asian American perspective could be useful in moulding, rather than merely reporting, news. Since beginning her journey in theatre, Wong has written plays that parallel her previous experiences and insights, even though she had not built any connections with Asian American writers until the 1980s (Greene 2001, 505-6). Wong asserted in an interview with Alexis Greene in 1999 that she loves theatre because of its “sense of urgency” and direct verbal and nonverbal communications that “provokes people and provides a place for robust debate” (Greene 2001, 496). She wishes to “change and improve things” and encourage her audiences to “make things better” (Greene 2001, 497). In Kimchee and Chitlins (1996), Wong expressed her understanding of clashes between people of different cultures coexisting in the US; in China Doll (2003), she revealed the dilemma of casting and ethnic disorientation faced by Chinese American performers as a reflection of her own frustrations of being identified as “other” in the mainstream theatre (Greene 2001, 497-508). According to Esther Kim Lee, “In 1980, Asian American theatre was virtually unknown outside its close-knit community, but by 1990, it was not uncommon for a mainstream regional theatre company to produce an Asian American play” (E.K. Lee 2006, 124). During the 1980s, 81 more nationally recognized Asian American playwrights and theatre artists have composed and produced hundreds of innovative plays, accompanied by growing national recognition. The presentations of impressive “creativity and craftsmanship” gained notice from the mainstream theatre at the time (E.K. Lee 2006, 124). Roberta Uno listed the theatre companies and events in the US during the 1980s that increased the visibility of the Asian American theatre in her Unbroken Thread, which was one of the major anthologies of Asian American plays in the 1980s (Uno 1993, 8). Lee borrowed Velina Hasu Houston’s term “second wave” to refer to the artists with “optimism, intensity, and ambition to challenge mainstream theatre” and ways to express Asian American subtlety “beyond the rhetoric of the cultural nationalism of the 1960s and 1970s,” including but not limited to David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda, and Velina Hasu Houston (E.K. Lee 2006, 126). As part of this shift, female Asian American playwrights’ contributions in the 1980s became more prominent. Plays by female Chinese American playwrights have been produced on mainstream stages and earned popularity and awards, which adds to the diversity of the modern American theatre. These plays tend to explore the various influences of nationality on Chinese Americans in their daily lives. An early exam of this is Genny Lim’s Paper Angels (1980), which draws attention to the frequently disregarded historical narrative of Chinese immigrants who faced prolonged detentions on Angel Island. This compelling play brings attention to the frequently disregarded historical narrative of Chinese immigrants who faced prolonged detentions on Angel Island. Lim’s depiction of these individuals not only provides insight into their challenges and ability to persevere but also questions dominant narratives, presenting a convincing argument for the crucial contribution of female Chinese American playwrights in redefining the portrayal of their community’s history and identity in American theatre. In 82 subsequent years, a growing number of highly skilled Chinese American female writers have made significant contributions to the theatrical domain, enhancing the diversity of Chinese American theatre through their distinct viewpoints and voices. Wong’s play witnessed the transformation of China’s image from a remote homeland to an alienated space in the 1980s. The image of Chinese used to be connected to descendants of Chinese ancestry, but portraying China as an ostracized image breaks the imagination of Chinese Americans. The sense of strangeness keeps the remote country at a distance from Chinese Americans and urges them to obtain a higher level of affinity for westernized values and recognize themselves more as Americans than Chinese. The interaction between cultural identity and the developing portrayal of China in Chinese American theatre highlights the fluid process of identity construction and the impact of theatre in redefining people’s self-perception within the wider framework of American culture. Due to China’s underdevelopment in this period and the related differences in economics, politics, and cultures with the US, along with the repression of freedom in China, the pancultural framework that sympathizes with the real or imagined sufferings of Chinese citizens in China is called for. This framework aims to bridge the gap between Chinese immigrants and those still residing in China, cultivating a shared sense of empathy despite the vast disparities in living environments. A prominent example of this is Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary (1989). Based on the Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989, and produced by the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in 1991, the play depicts its Chinese American character Bibi fostering a white gaze at her Chinese pen pal Karen. Characters with traditional Chinese names are more commonly seen compared to hybrid or Anglophone names in the past and are no longer 83 portrayed as newcomers who are thought of as conspiratory or inferior. Instead, they are more likely to be more powerful or smarter than characters who have adopted English names.18 The naming strategy for characters and fictional figures boosts the imbalance between the Chinese and American cultures. Focusing on friendship and political enlightenment, the power-loaded play dramatizes the 10-year cross-cultural correspondence between Bibi and Karen. Bibi is a rebellious American girl who pays a homecoming visit to China with her family, where she searches for people of the same ethnicity. Bibi detests the food and people in China until she accidentally encounters Karen, an idealistic Chinese girl of her own age who is looking for opportunities to improve her English. Following this encounter, they begin to exchange letters for the next 10 years until the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989 cuts off their connection in a tragic way. In their letters, Karen expresses her aspiration to escape the monotonous and oppressive environment in China and wants help to pursue the right to enjoy free will in the US, which she imagines as a perfect land full of opportunities. However, Bibi tells Karen how hierarchies and prejudices among people of different cultural backgrounds in the US annoy her, and the status quo is supported by both the oppressor and the oppressed. She gradually realizes that the “retail therapy”, which is to seek relief from anxieties through shopping sprees, cannot resolve the problem. By offering people promising outlooks and abundant choices, this delaying tactic trivializes political conflicts and maintains the status quo. As their relationship develops, they also exchange details about their intimate domestic lives, especially their opinions of their mothers, propelling their rebellious characteristics on different levels. In the end, with Karen 18 For example, in Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman and David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, characters with traditional Chinese names often outperform those with Anglophone names. 84 having disappeared in the protest, Bibi expresses sympathy for Karen and remarks on the cost of pursuing democracy and freedom. The names of the characters in this play are unexpected, since it is more common that Chinese Americans would be given English names, while a Chinese person in China would keep with Chinese tradition. The strategy of naming the characters, along with the purpose of Bibi’s back to your roots trip to China, reveals a mindset that assumes a superiority for American-born Chinese over Chinese-born Chinese: the Chinese character adopts an Anglo-Saxon name to fit with the notion of “superior Chinese,” while the Chinese American character is given a non-western name to embody the endowment of cultural heritage. That an individual is identified with the name transforms the subject to a symbol and is hailed repeatedly in daily life. Consequently, the subject is interpellated by the a priori expectation, which alienates the characters from their subjectivity and replaces it with the imposed appellation. The names complicate the ethnic orientation for the audience, but the very different dressing style of two characters offers a distinct contrast between lifestyles, as recorded in the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s production video: Bibi’s fashion taste resembles that of middle-class America, while Karen wears the solid colour shirts and pants that were required in China. The main point here is to highlight the subconscious hegemony carried out by the costume rather than to merely demonstrate its intentions to alienate Chinese from the Chinese diaspora. The set creates a physical barrier in the middle of the stage, separating the two performers throughout the show. The characters never cross the barrier during their exchange of letters, but they can exchange information and feelings free from restraint. At the same time, the messages are partially transmitted because the barrier prevents them from acknowledging the context. The 85 minimalist staging in the production calls for critics to patronize the play, its “Chineseness” being childlike, simplistic, and exotic, an object of “desire and derision.” (Bhabha, 2004:96). The play ends with an appeal for the audience to remember the hard-earned democracy. This ending points to the other focus of this chapter: Chinese American theatre serves as a site to examine and discuss western and humanitarian values. This chapter will demystify the paradox of the ostensible reunification of Chinese and Chinese Americans in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary. Working alongside chapter 2, the present chapter explores conflicts and cooperation between American-born Chinese and Chinese people, while at the same time outlining Wong’s perception of Chinese American mentality in the end of the 20th century. It will provide a benchmark for comparisons with the next two chapters. 3.1 Different Hierarchies: Intra-ethnic Disparities Ruptured by Intercultural Divisions Karen Shimakawa observes that Letters To A Student Revolutionary portrays “the disparities between the ‘real’ foreign other with that position’s polar opposite, ‘real’ (Asian) Americanness” to deal with the results of abjection (Shimakawa 1995, 124). This contrast highlights the internal conflict faced by individuals who straddle these identities. Bibi visits the office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to inquire about the preparations for Karen’s immigration, where she encounters a bewildered but innocent Mexican woman who has difficulty understanding English and has the wrong forms. Instead of offering help, the chorus, representing other people in the queue, twice asks, “Hey, what’s holding up this line?”, which seems to show a frustration with the slowness of dealing with bureaucracy. However, it is not until Bibi quarrels with the Immigration and Naturalization Service Officer, defending the Mexican woman’s right to receive equal service as others who speak English, that she realizes her position as an “outsider” among the white Americans and that her self-perception is at odds 86 with how others perceive her, a point further highlighted in performance.19 Bibi’s reactions reveal that people in line for service ignore the struggles of their minority compatriots and support the unequalness subconsciously. This indifference not only perpetuates systemic inequalities but also highlights how deeply societal biases are rooted, as even those who share a common background with the oppressed may unconsciously uphold the very structures that marginalize them. In the production, after Bibi and the INS officer’s opening and shutting of the window, Bibi takes the INS officer’s position when the officer steps offstage, and, with her hands on her waist, she shouts to those people in the queue to fight for their rights. Wong groups the powerless Mexican woman and Bibi as a contrast to other individuals who also strive to embrace their new selves while leaving less room to consider cooperation among themselves. This juxtaposition prompts Bibi to realize shared circumstances with other minority groups in the United States, leading her to acknowledge that she is not distinct from Karen when they meet the gaze of the white majority. On the other hand, the conflict among the other people in the queue, Bibi, and the Mexican woman reflects the fact that, even as Bibi fights for the Mexican woman, the minorities strive to identify with a cultural framework that stresses individuality and competition among the non-white groups and neglects efforts to earn their deserved respect regardless of ethnicity. Besides, the so-called American dream promotes individualism as a means of “dividing and undermining potentially subversive alliances,” which will be further discussed in the analysis of Bibi and Karen’s communications about consumerism (J.D. Lee 1997, 166). 19 I watched the video recording of the performance of Letters to A Student Revolutionary directed by Ernst Abuba in 1991 at the New York Public Library in December 2019. 87 The Mexican woman keeps talking to the INS officer in Spanish and getting replies in English. The INS officer’s bilingual capability versus the Mexican woman’s poor comprehension of English sets up another hierarchy between the two. According to Norman Fairclough, “ideology is most effective when its workings are least visible. If one becomes aware that a particular aspect of common sense is sustaining power inequalities at one’s own expense, it ceases to be common sense and may cease to have the capacity to sustain power inequalities, i.e., to function ideologically” (Fairclough 2001, 85). In this scenario, neither the INS officer nor the Mexican woman is aware that the INS officer’s bilingual capability is common sense so that the power inequality between the officer and the Mexican woman is sustained consequently. This hierarchy does not form a binary of European Americans and non-European Americans nor lump non-European Americans as a counterpart to the minorities. Instead, because of the officer’s subjective judgment, the clash between Bibi’s ethnic identification compared to the chorus’ aspiration of gaining privilege by obtaining US citizenship epitomizes the hardship for the minority groups of diverse backgrounds to understand their common ground. When the INS officer complains about the Mexican woman, Bibi replies, “I’m in no hurry. Help the lady out” (E. Wong 2004, 283). The INS officer threatens Bibi that she would “see the back of the line” if she still attempts to form an alliance with the Mexican woman. Nevertheless, Bibi speaks to the Mexican woman in Spanish to insult the INS officer in a low voice. However, the chorus drowns out this private conversation to show their loyalty to the INS officer and the social norm signified by the officer. Bibi does not care about the chorus and gives the Mexican woman detailed instructions on how to get to the right line and how to get the correct form. She then returns to educate the INS officer, asking them to add “Please and thank you” to their vocabulary (E. Wong 2004, 284). The INS officer refuses to respond to Bibi, 88 simply slamming down the service window to cut off the possibility of further communication, which evokes groans from the chorus. Unlike the chorus, Bibi insists on challenging authority by opening the window and requesting to see the supervisor of the INS officer, but the INS officer closes the window again and walks offstage in response. In the meantime, Karen asks whether Bibi has received an answer for her case. Bibi’s angry reply — “[C]an’t you see I’m trying to prove a point here?” — marks the initial swapping of Bibi’s and Karen’s doctrines of individualism and collectivism. Karen only cares about her chances of emigrating to the US, but Bibi shoulders a more communal task to fight for the same rights for the minorities. However, Bibi has discovered that her individuality, or “self-assertiveness,” is inadequate for challenging the preexisting oppressive hierarchy between the INS officer and the Mexican woman (J.D. Lee 1997, 185). Bibi urges the people stuck in long lines to assert their rights in the face of rude and biased government officials. Her suggestion for assertiveness is not supported since those lining up for service complained, “Look what you did. Now we all suffer,” and console her by saying, “We’re used to it,” and “Well, get used to it,” when Bibi still intends to change the status quo. Bibi’s strong appeal for minority rights is doubly obstructed by both Americans and her potential alliance, i.e., other minority groups that are obedient to the norm. Her frustration drives her to disavow the seemingly abundant choices and freedom she has been obsessed with and start to admire Karen, whose focus on political and collective goals instead of individual pursuits now beckons Bibi to follow. Despite her bilingualism and temporary deviation from consumerism, Bibi’s position in her own imagined union among Americans of different origins does not align with the chorus or the Mexican woman. In other words, a hierarchy exists not only between Karen and Bibi, but also among the minorities in the US. Bibi recognizes that Karen and Bibi 89 share the identical perception from the American viewpoint, so Bibi starts to dislodge the “foreignness” in her later writings to Karen. The intra-ethnic Chinese hierarchy between Bibi and Karen dissolves as the intercultural conflicts between different ethnicities in the US jeopardize Bibi’s place in the realm of a multicultural society. 3.2 Intra-ethnic Incompatibility: Lack of Rapport and Identification In Letters to A Student Revolutionary, Wong recounts the connection between a second-generation Chinese American woman, Bibi, and a Chinese woman, Karen, based on the playwright’s personal experiences of her family’s travel to China. Bibi met Karen in China in 1979, and the rest of the play revolves around their subsequent correspondence, which lasts until the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square tragedy in 1989. Even though both Bibi and Karen are in their twenties and of Chinese heritage, the play’s premise and structure construct them as opposites. Karen is characterized by her craving for American pop culture, while Bibi’s Chinese American identity makes her a “foreign” Chinese lady to the local Chinese people. In the first half of the play, supported by Karen’s yearning for Bibi’s lifestyle and appearance, as well as her desire to immigrate to the US, Bibi establishes a sense of superiority over Karen subconsciously. On her trip to China, Bibi develops her concept of Chineseness based on her observations in Beijing, categorizing herself as a unique type of Chinese that is distinct from the masses. Bibi equates the absence of American food to backwardness, which reveals her aversion to China. Like Dale in FOB, Bibi is engulfed in a consumerism that equates freedom to purchasing power. I took to the streets of Beijing. Wandered into Tiananmen Square – a hungry look in my eyes, a vain hope in my heart…. You there, sweeper. Could you please tell me where I might locate a golden oasis of fast food? Hey there, brother, can you spare an American 90 down on the duck? Someday, right next to the mug of Chairman Mao, there'll be a golden arch and a neon sign flashing – billions and billions served. Open 24 hours. No place is truly civilized without Mickey D and a drive-up window. ‘Scuse me, Mr. Soldier, can you possibly direct me to the nearest greasy spoon? (E. Wong 2004, 269) Bibi’s aversion towards Chinese cuisine and cultural practices serves as a factor that distinguishes her from identifying herself as a member of the Chinese community. Karen’s first impression of Bibi confirms that their differences in appearance, including hairstyle and clothing, divide them into two different worlds, although they share the same ethnicity: “She is a rainbow in human form” (E. Wong 2004, 270). Karen shows her aspiration to relinquish her Chinese version and become a “foreign” Chinese after she recognizes the differences between them (E. Wong 2004, 270). However, Karen does not know that Bibi’s introduction of popular hairstyles in the US indicates that it is impossible for Karen to transform her appearance to escape from being seen as an alien national (E. Wong 2004, 272). Meanwhile, although Bibi is born Chinese American, her superiority only exists when comparing herself to Karen or ordinary girls her age in China. The fact that Bibi is not perceived as an “insider” in the US alludes to the fact that the chances for Karen, or the broader “other,” to be fully assimilated as an American are slim, no matter how zealously Karen tries to become Americanized. According to Bibi, although she has the freedom to make choices, the overwhelming options do not guarantee the promised freedom and may constrain her to designated positions in the US. As Bibi realizes later in the play, she is immersed in the pleasure gained from “shopping sprees,” which prevent her from reflecting on ethnic prejudices and inequalities. 91 The nuances of each position and the tensions between them are illustrated when Bibi visits Tiananmen Square after revolting against a Chinese breakfast, where she finds herself distinct from the Chinese people in green soldier uniforms. In a frozen tableau, the interactions between Bibi and the motionless and indifferent chorus on the square reveal their mutual incomprehensibility. Bibi’s pink dress serves as a stark contrast against the unified apparel in dark green or blue. Bibi’s selection of a pink outfit is noticeable within a collective assembly of individuals attired in a cohesive fashion predominantly characterized by dark green or blue tones. The observed discrepancy in clothing implies a departure from the mainstream political position, reflecting Bibi’s inclination to manifest her distinctiveness and a distinct cultural background that shapes her aesthetic preferences. Moreover, the fact that Bibi wanders freely distinguishes her from those local Chinese walking in a uniform manner. Although Karen represents an individual Chinese person different from the chorus, shaped by China’s socialist culture her self-perception forms a strong contrast to Bibi in every way, not only in terms of appearances but also mindsets. Bibi, a devoted American shopper, realizes that the more she spends, the less she can achieve her spiritual goals. Consumption is neither a genuine choice nor a cherished fantasy for Karen, who lives under a totalitarian system. Karen, on the other hand, instead of pursuing material abundance, focuses on self-realization through community battles for more freedom and shared development. As Josephine Lee points out, the Chinese Communist government is a self-described and apparent “machine of oppression,” while American capitalism serves as a more powerful tool that shapes the characters with materialism (J.D. Lee 1997, 185). According to Karen Shimakawa, Wong strongly emphasizes the materiality and specificity of Asian American identity and contrasts it with the stereotype against Asians in order to reveal the “inaccuracy of collapsing the two 92 positions” (Shimakawa 2002b, 82-83). This foundational strategy shapes the structure and design of the play. The tension between the socialist or communist context and Karen’s eagerness to escape from it serves as a distinct contrast to Bibi’s carefree lifestyle, marking a division between the two identities and creating a hierarchy where the American freedom is superior to the oppressive culture in China. When they start to exchange letters after Bibi returns from her trip to China, their respective settings demonstrate the difference. Bibi wears a tank top, and her partner Charlie lays out a beach towel on the ground to create a relaxing beach scene. Bibi lies on the beach towel with one leg on the other, squeezing her eyes up as if the sun is scorching, recounting stories about freedom and sexual liberation. Meanwhile, on stage left, Karen, in her green uniform, sitting upright on a stool, is writing and reading aloud a letter simultaneously. Back on stage right, Charlie, who wears a yellow tank, sunglasses, jeans, and white socks in black shoes, sits on her right side and greets Bibi in French. Bibi unfolds the letter, and her partner reads it, CHARLIE: (reads) Summer 1979. Dear Bibi, greetings from China. Do you remember me? I am the girl with whom you have shared a conversation. (to Bibi) Looks like you’ve got a pen pal. I think it’s very sweet…. I met you in Tiananmen Square I write to you from my little room…. (E. Wong 2004, 14) Then, Charlie stands up, and Karen takes over the reading when they utter the word Tiananmen Square simultaneously, where Bibi and Karen met. The stress on the place name foreshadows that the space will serve as a vehicle for potential conflicts in the future. Karen: (overlapping) Tiananmen Square. I write to you from my little room. There is no window, but I have big picture of map to show me sights of America. 93 The Grandest Canyon and Okay Dokay Swamp. I share my room with my brother who teaches English at the high school…I would like to get a new brother. Is that possible in America? I think anything is possible where you live. (E. Wong 2004, 276) The contrast of lifestyles between Bibi and Karen is driven by Karen’s persistent desire to contact Bibi, but, more often than not, her attempts are regulated by the soldiers. In the production, Karen stands up as if to contact Bibi, but a soldier in a blue cap comes to Karen’s right and asks her to sit down. With his hands in the back, the soldier paces back and forth in front of the Karen to show his authority. In other instances, Karen’s wish to communicate with Bibi received an indifferent response from her: Karen aspires to join the conversation across the stage to the right, and her eyes convey a strong desire to speak about her wishes. Compared with the description of Bibi, as Shimakawa observes, the portrait and discussion of the complexity of Chinese American identity is at the core of the play, so the construction of hierarchy contributes more to the deconstruction of the Chinese American identity than showcasing the substantial discrepancy between Chinese people and Chinese Americans. In addition, the inversion of Karen’s and Bibi’s attitudes towards consumerism and collectivism reinforces the fluidity or obscures the differences between Chinese and Chinese Americans. In the Pan Asian Repertory production, Bibi’s and Karen’s costumes at their first encounter at Tiananmen Square construct a cultural and social contrast between Bibi’s American freedom and Karen’s lack of commodities. Accompanied by a whitish blue floodlight and country music, the minimalist setting – white mid-length curtains on both sides and a stool under each – imbues the stage with multiple functionalities for the scenes, which range in date from 1979 to 1989, offering a practical and adaptable stage to accommodate a range of events, 94 including the emergence of China’s economic and democratic reforms and the Tiananmen Square tragedy, allowing for seamless transitions and creating a visually captivating performance. Under azure light, a janitor in a black jacket and white pants and with his back to the audience is sweeping the floor. Then the background music changes to jazz, and the janitor moves backwards, waving his broom as if he were dancing. After a blackout, three soldiers stand apart with their feet wider than shoulder width at stage center, creating a barrier for the two girls on each side: on stage right, the “human rainbow” Bibi, whose whitish pink dress and black belt serve as a marked contrast with Karen’s green and dull military uniform on stage left. But Bibi’s superiority and freedom are based on materialistic indulgence in food, clothing, hairstyle, etc. Bibi notices the difference between communist China’s restrictive conformity and her own individual liberties as an Asian American. When she sees the undifferentiated crowds of people in Tiananmen Square, Bibi perceives no associations with Chinese culture but the undifferentiated mass in the oppressive regime of communist China. Before meeting their unfortunate demise, Bibi expresses admiration for the endeavours of Chinese political activists in addressing the issue of societal injustice. Nevertheless, this repressed endeavour compels her to reassess the distinction between reality and fantasy. The disparity is enlarged by the blocking of the split stage, with its left side illuminated by yellow light and the right side by white light, creating two different worlds. Dancing to the melodies imitating revolutionary model operas, the four soldiers raise their right hands to salute; three of them turn back to upstage to continue to sweep the floor while Karen goes to stage left before exiting the stage. Karen then returns onstage riding a bicycle to downstage right but does not trespass on Bibi’s area, and the sweepers gossip that Karen wants to make the acquaintance 95 of Bibi, who is taking a stroll. The scene ends with a strike of the gong when the soldiers are showcasing a series of jingju movements around Karen, who is performing slow Tai Chi moves. The juxtaposition of movements at different tempos creates a scene in which Karen resorts to soft movement while not leaving her spot to evade the soldier’s interference and hold fast to her pursuit of freedom. The performance reveals the strict control of individual freedom in China. Karen does not have the power to rebel against it but is close to circumventing the censorship and pursuing her own ideal. This political coercion is also identified in Bibi’s observation of Tiananmen Square, reflecting a tension between a fluid Chineseness and her distinct individuality (J.D. Lee 1997, 183). When Bibi visited Tiananmen Square, she could not stand its homogeneous appearance, and Bibi was startled to engage in a conversation with foreigners for fear that their personal safety would be violated. Karen escapes from the mass and identifies herself with Bibi: “I have nooooo freedom. None whatsoever. Is it my misfortune to be born in my country and you were born in yours? I look at you and it is as if I look at myself in a glass” (E. Wong 2004, 278). Although Karen blends into the crowd along with other similar-looking people when she leaves the stage, she yearns for the individuality and freedom that she has learned through her communications with Bibi, and Bibi’s gifts to Karen arouse Karen’s aspiration of becoming a fashion designer, and to be identified as a unique individual, even at the risk of the communist government’s retaliation. Regardless of how inspiring Bibi’s presents are, like the fashion magazines that broaden Karen’s horizon to the design industry, these gifts may be that important for Bibi as they may be byproducts of her retail therapy. Despite her rejection of her prescribed duty as a member of the model minority in the capitalist US, Bibi seldom denies the role of the purchaser and enjoys the benefits of the retail therapy to alleviate her identity crisis in the US. 96 Bibi and Karen’s concepts about marriage and relationships with the other gender are almost complete opposites, and the stereotyping of Americanness and Chineseness reaches a culmination. Karen confesses that she has failed to break through the confinement of the traditional Chinese cultural norms around dating and marriage when she introduces her fiancé to Bibi, having mentioned in her letter to Bibi that, “he is the first man I ever dated. Yes, that’s the word, dated. Only one to ask, only one to go out with, understand? Not much choice here in China, even though we are very many millions of people” (Uno 1993, 295). Therefore, Bibi’s detailed description of her love affair with Charlie arouses Karen’s admiration for the American lifestyle. In Karen’s mind, Bibi’s dating experience is ordinary in the US, which stands in stark contrast to her present repressive surroundings, hence making it an idyllic situation for her. Karen’s naïve understanding of the US is contrasted with Bibi’s well-informed cynicism and skepticism about democracy and freedom, and their views about China set up another conflict. On the stage, the debut of Karen’s cat, Debbie, plays an important role in visualizing Karen’s ideas and her choices of response to Bibi. The cat is performed by one of the soldiers, who leans on Karen’s left hand and crawls to her to meow when she expresses her longing for freedom: “She is not a pet. I do not own her. She is a free cat” (E. Wong 2004, 276-7). Karen touches the cat’s chin, which makes the cat satisfied. Then the cat crawls to Karen, who is writing a letter on her hand. When she writes “only friend,” indicating Bibi, the cat meows as if scolding Karen’s thought of pursuing a capitalist belief while forgoing her compatriots, which arouses laughter from the audience. Karen pets the cat to calm it down. When Bibi writes back six months later about the bureaucracy in the US, Karen keeps talking to the cat and ignores Bibi: 97 BIBI: Karen. Two months ago, I went to the office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Have you ever seen that movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”? Well, we have this problem in America. It’s called bureaucracy. KAREN: Don’t I have a good eye for choosing friends, Debbie? CAT: Meeow. KAREN: Oh, don’t be jealous. (E. Wong 2004, 282) The scene featuring the letter in the Pan Asian Repertory production has heightened significance due to the artistic decisions implemented by the production crew. In this interpretation, the letter is gently held by the cat’s paws with fingerless gloves. The cat nibbles on the letter playfully, introducing a sense of mischief into the situation. Karen initiates a meaningful exchange with the cat, inquiring about its inclination to be informed about the contents of the letter. The cat’s reaction, or more precisely, its absence of response, elicits amusement as it goes stationary, resulting in laughter in the audience. In addition to its humorous element, the cat’s contact with the letter and Karen’s subsequent endeavour to comprehend its substance serve to emphasize a more profound thematic dimension. The cat's hesitance to interact with the letter reflects a resistance towards Bibi’s depiction of the negative sides of the US, which are lacking in Karen's idealistic perspective of the nation. This phenomenon underscores the inherent conflict between the two characters’ viewpoints, illustrating how individuals may consciously adopt or dismiss specific narratives depending on their personal biases and aspirations. The scenario serves the dual purpose of providing entertainment and 98 stimulating contemplation on the dynamics between perception and reality within the framework of individual ideas and values. By positioning the Chinese and Chinese American characters as cultural opposites in terms of their “Chineseness,” Josephine Lee perceives a cultural schizophrenia in the Asian American character as, “the result of ... existence within a system that perpetuates self-individuation and consumerism as goals and encourages the replacement of other human bonds with purely economic relations” (J.D. Lee 1997, 168). Lee’s study demonstrates Asian Americans, constructed as America’s model minority, are bound by the capitalist value system and questions the nature of Americanness. Defined by Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong in Reading Asian American Literature as a metaphor for racial self-hatred, the concept of “doubling” applies when one character, who desires to deny her ethnic identity, confronts and rejects a second character who epitomizes that ethnic identity in appearances, outfits, discourses, and values (S.-l.C. Wong 1993, 77). Refusing to be seen as foreigners-within, Chinese Americans have made continuous efforts to reshape the configuration between “Chineseness” and “Americanness.” Lee expands upon that concept of racial doubling by adding to the mix a consideration of the economic pressures promoted by capitalist belief (J.D. Lee 1997, 167-68). These efforts underscore the complexities of identity formation in a multicultural society, where Chinese Americans must navigate not only racial and cultural expectations but also the economic demands of a capitalist system that often reinforces their otherness, thereby challenging them to redefine their place within the American narrative on their own terms. While it is important for Chinese Americans to assert their identity, focusing on financial discrepancies overlooks the cultural and social factors that shape their experiences as a marginalized group in America. 99 This doubling phenomenon is seen in both Karen’s and Bibi’s behaviours, respectively. Bibi’s doubling is multifaceted. The American-born Bibi’s initial condescension toward her root culture is a metaphor for Asian American racial self-hatred. Bibi expresses revulsion toward Chinese food, Chinese music, and Chinese attitudes in order to separate herself from her Chinese ancestry, comparing them to their American equivalents and finding them sadly lacking. Lee suggests that Bibi’s cultural disgust repudiates “the threat of a shared Asianness” that could topple the so-called normative American body politic with its collectivity of potential pan-Asian resistance to American options (J.D. Lee 1997, 169-70). However, her righteous activities in the INS office described in the previous section construct her second doubling, which reinforces her spirit to gain equality and communal good on top of her consumerist traits. Her third doubling is reflected in her interactions with her mother, which will be discussed in detail in the next section. Although confined by the low living standard and strict scrutiny in China at the time, Karen’s reaction in the letter exchanges with Bibi is genuine and direct. She disdains her lack of freedom and other rights and would be more than exhilarated to emigrate to the US, which would give her opportunities to make money and realize personal pursuits that are impossible in China. Karen’s natural yearning for connections with Americans and American freedom reinforces this personal preference to an extent that makes a desperate character that compels the Bibi to set up an ideal as a Chinese American that Karen can also become one day. At first, Karen believes that American freedom means being able to travel at will without the Chinese Communist government keeping an eye on you. Bibi’s sympathy for Karen is inappropriate since she essentializes people who wear uniforms and are unaware of their basic rights. However, as time passes, their attitudes towards the student movement in China challenge 100 their predominant concept of home. Bibi’s experience denotes that the diasporic lives have gone through a cultural turn. 3.3 Familial Ties vs. Generation Gaps: Different Routes to the Same Goal Discussions of domestic relationships are seen in Chinese American plays since in Frank Chin’s two 1970s masterpieces: The Chickencoop Chinaman (1972) and The Year of the Dragon (1974). Although the focus of Letters to A Student Revolutionary is on the correspondence between Bibi and Karen, who are of the same generation, the family bonds of both leading roles help shape the characters’ complicated beliefs. Unlike Bibi’s modern fashion choices, Bibi’s mother wears a dark gray shirt and light gray pants. A tape measure around her neck indicates that she is a tailor. This contrast underscores the shift of cultural attachment within the family and across different generations. In a scene set in 1980, Bibi’s mother walks to stage right and sits down, and Bibi kneels on her right-hand side to take off her mother’s jacket for her mother to sew on a sewing machine. Bibi’s mother gives Bibi chopsticks to eat with, but, rebellious, Bibi pokes holes in collars with chopsticks and is dissatisfied with her mother’s advice about Bibi’s future. Bibi’s mother, speaking in broken English, tries to impart selflessness and adherence to Chinese traditional and cultural standards, negating Bibi’s Americanness. Therefore, when Karen suggests that Bibi should keep the stable job she has, Bibi rebuts her by claiming that Karen resembles her mother. Bibi’s Americanness is incompatible with her mother’s or Karen’s Chineseness, and so Bibi rejects their advice and determines to follow her own mind. Bibi’s decision marks her resonance with Karen’s appraisal of the US and her Americanness, which prevents her identification with her Chineseness. Bibi stands up and rubs her mother’s shoulders, trying to change the topic, and her mother touches Bibi’s hand. Bibi walks to her mother’s left-hand side, and the mother 101 stretches out her hand to comfort her daughter before returning to the center and putting on the jacket that has just been mended. The physical contact between Bibi and her mother hints at deep-rooted connections between the two generations, but the ephemerality of the contact announces the fragility of connection, which has been impacted by the clash between collectivism and individualism. Later, still having a tape measure around her neck, Bibi’s mother is upset about Bibi jumping from job to job and stresses every word to express dissatisfaction when she says, “Who like job? If you quit, naw mmn yein nay (I don’t know you)” (E. Wong 2004, 292). Bibi’s mother’s threatening to cut off their connection completely leaves the bond between Bibi and her in danger, as well as between Chineseness and Chinese Americanness. When Bibi ignores her mother’s advice, her mother turns around and takes off the tape measure, with her back to the audience, leaving a frustrated and helpless shadow on the stage. The danger of cultural demarcation is relieved as Bibi’s mother wishes to sustain a contact space for Bibi and herself. However, Bibi’s refusal to serve as a member of the model minority validates her new Chinese American identity by choosing a career not common for Chinese immigrants. The last connection between Bibi and her mother is over the phone when Bibi informs her mother that she will become an actress, which makes her mother gasp in shock. Bibi’s mother bends her knees and leans forward when she utters every sentence, as if beseeching Bibi. At the end of their conversation, Bibi’s mother knows that she will not interfere with Bibi’s decision. She takes a final sigh and shakes her head when she looks at the audience, without much sadness or upset, which marks her acceptance of her fate and her inability to change Bibi’s mind. From Bibi’s perspective, her mother is a representative of ordinary Chinese people with little awareness of conflicts between generations. The seesaw struggles between generations serve as a useful tool 102 for playwrights in the 1980s to advance the main plot while planting covert plots to support the major conflicts in their works. Bibi’s reaction to her mother differs from her reaction to Karen, although both Bibi’s mother and Karen serve as representatives of Chineseness in the play. Bibi has the freedom to plan her life, but the familial tie between Bibi and her mother insinuates collectivism is in Bibi’s mind before her encounters with Karen, and Karen’s corroboration of the collectivist image makes Bibi aware of the importance of struggling for the communal good when she confronts the INS officer. On the other hand, Karen’s mother was shot in a rice field for stealing food for her hungry children when Karen was five years old, fifteen years ago. The scene is set in spring 1981, and the execution of her mother happened in 1966, at the onset of the Cultural Revolution. When Bibi asks about her family, Karen recollects her mother’s long black hair when she was shot by the Red Guards for stealing food for her children and rebelled against the power. KAREN When I was very young. Near my house, next to the pig pen, there is a rice field. Yes, a warm day in the rice field. Many mosquitoes. I am raw from the bites. My mother is in the field. She has long black hair, just like mine. I see her. I run to her. I wave to her. I'm running and so happy. The water from the field splashes up. The ground grabs, holds my feet as I run. KAREN Yes. The rice cut my legs as I run. Blood trickling down my legs. But I don't care. I brought my mother her lunch box. MaMa! “Bao Bao gay ni dai fan lai!” [Your baby brings you your lunch.] Wait! Who is that? It is the commissaire! He is the man who reports everything. 103 KAREN He is shaking my mother. He's shaking her. Why is he doing that? Where is he taking her? MaMa! MaMa! Where are you going? MaMa! MaMa! I fell in the rice, and I was wet from the water. I just watched my mother as they took her away. BROTHER People must reform their thinking. KAREN She was our mother. BROTHER I miss Mother as much as you. But wrong thinking and wrong action must be made into right action and right thinking. KAREN My brother. . . the little red guard. BROTHER . . .is a good citizen of the State. The individual is not important. BROTHER The people have spoken. The individual is dead. KAREN Yes, our mother is dead. (Uno 1993, 288-89) When Karen’s mother dies, Karen stands up from a sitting position and utters in her hesitant Chinese, “or be weightier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather (huo zhongyu Taishan, huo qingyu hongmao).” It is not because Karen is unfamiliar with the quote or not confident to say it aloud, but it is likely that the performer’s proficiency in Mandarin makes her speech in Chinese sound unnatural. This Chinese quote is not recorded in Wong’s original script and is added to this production. The quote is from Sima Qian’s “Response to Ren Shaoqing” (“Bao Ren Shaoqing Shu”), written at the end of the first century BCE, and was adopted by Mao Zedong in 104 his article “Serve the People” (Wei renmin fuwu) in commemoration of Zhang Side, who was part of the Chinese Communist army: All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said, “Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.” To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather. Comrade Chang Szu-the died for the people, and his death is indeed weightier than Mount Tai.” (Mao 1944) This article, as part of the three short essays (lao san pian) written by Mao Zedong before the People’s Republic of China was established, was mandatory reading in the primary and secondary education curricula, so it is not strange for Karen to utter the quote at that moment, as she should have studied the article and learned it by heart. The inclusion of this Mandarin quote in the production serves as evidence that Karen’s deep familial bond and her understanding of the oppressive nature of the communist system compel her to perceive intergenerational cooperation as mutually advantageous, rather than engaging in conflicts. In contrast, the cause of the death of Bibi’s father remains a mystery, but it was probably because of overwork. When her father steps on the stage, he sings “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and passes a straw hat to Bibi. Bibi takes off the hat and shapes her hairstyle before she puts on the hat again. Suddenly, Bibi’s father lies down as if he has been shot by a gun and then dies in Bibi’s arms. Heartbroken, Bibi kneels and recollects her memories: “He used to call me his little yellow rose. He worked all the time, I didn’t know my dad very well, you see” (E. Wong 2004, 291). The deaths of Karen’s mother and Bibi’s father show that, for the well-being of their offspring, parents can sacrifice anything, but it is the economic and political systems that are to be blamed 105 for the losses. These interactions of individual and collective identities “examine how we live, how we think, how we might do better.... [A] lot of people try to divorce politics and spirituality... but I see that in order to have effective politics you must be embused with a certain kind of spirituality... that will help you aspire to your best nature” (Lee-Brown 2004, 75). Karen’s revisiting her mother’s death might be interpreted as a significant foreshadowing of the intense internal struggle she would confront during the last scene of the production. As the individual explores the circumstances surrounding her mother’s demise, she starts the process of uncovering a multifaceted network of sentiments, recollections, and unresolved inquiries. The process of reassessing her previous experiences not only produces unresolved feelings of sorrow but also initiates a profound self-reflection that will eventually influence the development of her character’s path. The origins of her predicament are established during this reflective expedition. However, when she engages in political activities, she starts to encounter an increasing conflict between her own aspirations and her dedication to a broader objective. This internal conflict enhances the depth and intricacy of her character and renders her ultimate decision more painful and intellectually stimulating for the audience. Representing both the individual and the communal selves, Bibi and Karen learn about each other’s mindsets through their letters. Their written conversations propel them to examine their beliefs and behaviours and dig into the embedded determining stereotypes. The death of Karen’s mother fosters her rebellious attitudes towards Bibi in the latter half of the performance. She knows that one can be easily deprived of individual happiness, and a better way to guarantee personal welfare is to strive for collective benefits, even at the cost of sacrificing individual interests. By the same token, Bibi’s contact with her mother has also allowed her to reassess her previous naïve understanding of freedom. 106 3.4 Position Swapped: Individualism vs. Collectivism In the scene set in May 1989, one month before the Tiananmen protests, the students and Karen take off their jackets and place them on their right shoulders, and they help each other to tie their headbands. These movements resemble a common practice in China at the time to show ambition and determination to work together for the benefit of the collective. A soldier in the back holds a stick to scrutinize the students’ behaviour. Wearing a white blouse and a black dress, somber and reminiscent of May Fourth demonstrators, Karen walks in front of the crowd after announcing their goal of achieving democracy and political freedom. The enthusiastic students hold their hands high and yell their slogans respectively before they repeat them together. CHORUS ONE: “The power of the people will prevail.” KAREN: (overlapping) “…People will prevail.” CHORUS TWO: “To liberate society, we must first liberate ourselves.” KAREN: (overlapping) “…we must first liberate ourselves.” CHORUS THREE: “We must give our lives to the movement.” KAREN: Yes, I will give my life to the movement. (E. Wong 2004, 304) Bibi’s and Karen’s stances regarding political engagement, driven by these notions of individualism and collectivism, are starkly contrasted. Bibi expresses a sense of bewilderment and uncertainty, but Karen decides to join the students’ democracy movements to promote an individual liberty that contributes to the societal advancement. The prospect of Karen sacrificing 107 herself at Tiananmen Square appears unavoidable as she is propelled by altruism. As indicated by their unified costumes, the collective culture in China nullifies the socioeconomic and ethnic differences to integrate various groups in the movement for the sake of the communal good at the cost of the minority groups’ well-being. However, as “political theater, cultural memory, and collective identities,” their protest in Tiananmen Square showcases the ritualistic spectacle of parades and power (X. Chen 2002, 195-6). The protestors’ consensus and unity offer a channel for people of various groups to express their shared hopes and beliefs for the communal good (X. Chen 2002, 196). By sharing their common belief and sparing no effort in contributing to this movement, the students’ protest testifies to a proper way to pursue a more focused will of freedom instead of falling into the pursuit of consumerist society. However, their collective culture resembles the sovereignty they are protesting. Therefore, even if their protest were to succeed, they might face similar political issues when they become those in power to rule the same people in the previous distorted order, which is not shown in the production but can be observed based on their organization of protest. Besides, in an ideal scenario, they will proceed to compose and execute new policies to ensure individual freedom; they may as well encounter obstacles recounted by Bibi and hit the beaten track again. Karen attempts to sing the Chinese national anthem in Mandarin with the other three students accompanying her, but it is obvious that the performer’s Chinese in the Pan Asian production is not standard, which draws the character out of the play since Karen should have been a native Mandarin speaker. Interestingly, the soldiers in the back are humming as well, which can be interpreted as the soldiers being undecided or even respecting the student’s objectives. Then she joins the crowd to march forward and sing the English version of the 108 Chinese national anthem. Karen sings the anthem repeatedly and loudly while marching in the same spot. The two students on either side of her hold their right fist high, and the student in the back follows although she is too afraid to do so in the first place. They are empowered to march forward, and Karen holds her right fist high. A chorus member says, “The time is now for freedom. The time is now for democracy.” (E. Wong 2004, 305). Bibi follows and stands up to face the middle and announces that the students have been on a hunger strike for days and will not eat until they acquire freedom (E. Wong 2004, 305). The soldiers drive away the crowd with brooms that symbolize guns, but the students keep saying, “We are all here,” individually and then in unison to show their determination. Doubting themselves, the soldiers drop their brooms and turn to face the audience. The students keep advancing despite strobe lights on the stage, with the white ones representing gunshots and the red ones signifying blood. The sound of crying and its echoes come from offstage after the blackout. While Bibi has similar thoughts about political revolutions, they differ from Karen’s practice. Bibi’s imagined rebellions against her mother at the beginning of the play epitomize Bibi’s revolutionary dreams. She perceives her parents’ sacrifices as self-improvement and believes that only shame can strengthen familial or ethnic relationships. Her trip to China is associated with a sense of consumerism or self-actualization. Bibi’s interactions with Karen suggest the possibility of an alternative in which Bibi gains a higher awareness of kinship and Karen develops a deeper sense of the self. For a brief while, Bibi appears to identify with Karen, but the sympathy-driven connection is prone to change in later scenes when Bibi discerns that Karen’s political appeals do not align with her projected goals. Bibi abandons her negative reactions to Karen and takes responsibility for Karen, since Karen helps Bibi understand Bibi’s 109 relationship with her parents. Bibi’s awareness of the collective contributes to her sense of Chineseness in addition to her appearance. On the other hand, as Karen becomes active in the student movement, Bibi grows concerned about Karen’s pursuit: “I am Chinese too and I feel a deep connection to you. I am not sure America is the proper model for the new China .... You should look to make a Chinese democracy” (E. Wong 2004, 304-5). The play does not provide a clear answer to Bibi’s concerns, and the communication between Bibi and Karen ceases. There are no indication whether Karen has survived the tragedy. Karen’s sacrifice is divided into two parts: her individual achievement, or her belief in sacrificing an individual for the communal good, and the escape from the collective when she tries to locate her husband in the end. Karen makes clear her goal of seeking individual achievement, but her strong urges diminish when she is constrained by political actions for the sake of the community. It seems that there is a conflict between Karen’s collective and individual goals. KAREN On June 4, 1989. Tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks full of troops marched into Tiananmen Square. Many of us linked arms, and tried to stand in their way. KAREN Tanks marched forward and crushed the first row. We marched forward. KAREN Run! Get out of the way. Run! KAREN Lu Yan, watch out! Lu Yan! KAREN Lu Yan, where are you?! 110 KAREN Blood everywhere. KAREN Lu Yan? Where are you? Lu Yan. KAREN The statue fell. Everyone was running. (E. Wong 2003, 306-7) During the final scene, everyone on stage stands up, takes off their headbands, and introduces each other. The student in the middle comes down on one knee, and the student on stage left steps on the thrust in the middle. Karen, appearing as a student, walks downstage alone. Instead of striking a heroic pose, Karen spends her final moments at Tiananmen Square searching for her spouse. Karen’s choice to suspend her political struggle due to her emotional needs shatters her image constructed in her letters to Bibi, in which Karen showed a determined commitment to serving the collective welfare even at the cost of her survival due to the suppression by the authorities of the turmoil. When Karen fulfills her desire to achieve individuality, she fails to suggest an option that engages individuals to fully join the pursuit of collectivism. This failure obliterates Bibi’s concern about her own bewilderment about democracy and consumerism, as she is not that convinced that Karen has a clear plan to bring about revolutionary changes to the political oppression against minority groups. Karen and Bibi’s relationship provides them with a unique and disruptive bond. According to Josephine Lee, this alternative relationship between the two women demonstrates that the foundation for an ethnic link does not have to be family, patriotism, or economic interests, thus providing an alternative to the relationships fostered in either “the American bureaucracy” or “the communist state,” which is to believe that criticizing the status quo is necessary for achieving a better future (J.D. Lee 1997, 188). Bibi’s sympathy does not motivate herself to follow Karen’s political enthusiasm. Bibi learns that even if Karen has survived the 111 political protest, she will still be baffled by the inescapable consumerist concerns. Since Karen is not satisfied with the political repression in China, she has no choice but to strive for political transformation for the benefit of the country. The parallel between Karen’s choice and Bibi’s concern indicates that, if the political movement were to succeed in urging China to step on the track of western democracies, the problems happening in the west will take place in China in the future, where Karen will face the same concerns as Bibi. Bibi gains a new sense of freedom after witnessing Karen and other Chinese students struggling for democracy, which causes her to recognize that the efforts of earlier Chinese Americans have allowed her to enjoy hard-earned freedom in the US. As the Chinese Americans are marginalized in the US, Bibi chooses to explore her Chineseness with a fresh perspective. She has accepted her Chinese ancestry after understanding that it is not her Chineseness that undermines her American identity. On the contrary, her engagement with her Chineseness has reaffirmed her affinity to American freedom. Bibi writes in one of the final letters she sends to Karen, “I am Chinese too and I feel a deep connection to you” (E. Wong 2004, 305). Sadly, after the massacre, Bibi ceased to receive letters from Karen. Her listener has disappeared, and Bibi must search for her belief system alone. The play’s conclusion depicts a disruptive but cooperative intra-ethnic unity, as it reflects a new connection, rather than a strengthening of their differences, between a Chinese American woman and her Chinese counterpart. Karen and Bibi’s relationship, although interrupted in the end, is based on recognizing their common and powerful identity as Chinese women, not tied to “family, nationality, or economic benefit” (J.D. Lee 1997, 163-88). However, as Wong states in an interview, “Both Bibi and Karen make the mistake that they think they can forge a friendship based on a shared heritage, when in fact... they don’t have 112 a lot of similarities” (Uno 1993, 264). Letters to a Student Revolutionary depicts a story of two young women of the same ethnicity but living in different countries, holding different cultural backgrounds and ideals. During the ten years of their letter exchanges, both have experienced emotional and spiritual transformations and start to review their understanding of identification, culture, and freedom. To some extent, Bibi and Karen mirror the conflicts between ideal and reality born by those who possess no power or ambition but aspire to make choices without obstruction (Uno 1993, 263). Both Bibi and Karen embrace their differences while acknowledging their cultural and societal ramifications. Through exchanging uncensored letters, Bibi and Karen learn about each other’s lives, which triggers them to examine their belief systems and the oppressive experiences together that determine their current situation. “I think the play was trying to reflect on what it means to have freedom. I really do think that the definition of democracy in America has been mutated equating democracy and capitalism” (Uno 1993, 264). The play seems to delve deep into the complex relationship between political pursuits of freedom and democracy and an individual’s affluent life. Wong’s play mirrors a broader societal discussion on these topics, making it apparent that the play aims to reflect on what it truly means to have freedom. By making this connection, Uno’s comment underscores the relevance of the play in today’s discourse on democracy and capitalism, highlighting how the play’s exploration of these themes mirrors broader societal debates. A pancultural approach entails the endorsement of general principles and concepts that are applicable to all cultures and communities. Nonetheless, the theatrical production investigates these complex topics, establishing connections to broader societal discourses and recognizing that these concepts are susceptible to varying experiences and interpretations within diverse cultural and contextual contexts. 113 Chapter 4: Reality Check: The Ever-Enlarging Intra-ethnic Gap in Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness 4.1 Introduction According to reports published by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition, the visibility of Asian Americans on Broadway and in non-profit theatres in New York has risen from 3% at the beginning of the 2010s to 6.3% by the end of the 2010s ("Ethnic Representation on New York City Stages" 2013; "The Visibility Report: Racial Representation on New York City Stages" 2021). Although the visibility of Asian American performers in New York has doubled in the last decade, the group is still underrepresented. The report of 2015-2016 shows that while Broadway filled an unprecedented 36% of its roles with minorities, Asian American actors received only 5% of all roles throughout the season. Moreover, because of the difficulty in securing roles, it is unlikely that Asian American performers will reject roles even if the roles are problematic in terms of race (Chavez 2018). For example, despite the consistent criticism of Miss Saigon for its white-gazed storyline, music choice, and white cast, the desire of Asian American performers to audition for the show never dwindled. As the Filipino American performer Jose Llana admits in an interview with Diep Tran, “Do I love that two of our most popular Asian characters in musical theatre are a Vietnamese pimp and a Vietnamese whore?” he says. “No! I remember auditioning for the London production of Miss Saigon, and there were some parts of me that had real issues. The Engineer is a self-hating Asian, and I hate it. I hated auditioning for that part. But those are the parts that we have” (Tran 2015b). The hope of Asian American performers remains tied to a future time “when non-racially specific roles are cast with actors of colour with regularity or when the nation’s large theatres are led by more women and people of colour” (Chavez 2018). 114 Diep Tran, an arts journalist and the Chief Editor of Playbill, who has worked as a features editor of Broadway.com and senior editor of American Theatre magazine, points out another difficulty facing Asian American theatre artists in the 2010s: the hostility towards Asians in the US. The marginalization of Asians in the theatre has been achieved by casting white performers in Asian roles and constructing stereotypes (Chavez 2018). The “yellowface” practice has become less common thanks to the protests of a large number of theatre artists, but Asians are still not portrayed as equal to other Americans. Instead, they are shown as foreigners seeking the assistance of Caucasians (Chavez 2018). The Asian American Performers Action Coalition has released a statement criticizing anti-Asian violence that has impacted theatre: In our own industry, we have witnessed this same white supremacist narrative in the form of the exotification, dehumanization, and erasure of Asian men and women on America’s stages. Words matter. Representation matters. The perpetuation of hideous and inaccurate stereotypes, only seeing our stories via a white lens, and removing us from the American narrative through exclusion are all directly connected and have their ramifications. They dehumanize us to the point that some believe we are expendable enough to further erase with cold-blooded murder. (Wild 2021) The sexualization and dehumanization of Asians, especially Asian women, can still be spotted on mainstream American stages, with controversial shows such as The King and I and Miss Saigon being revived in the 2010s. Without sufficient explanation of the historical backgrounds and socio-political contexts, it is not easy to address stereotypes of Asians in these shows. However, Asian Americans have made progress in gaining more access to voices such as directors, designers, and performers in mainstream theatres to 115 discuss topics like xenophobia and immigration. For example, Allegiance (2015) is the first Broadway show that was directed, composed, and had a predominantly Asian American cast (Tran 2015b). The growing presence of Asian Americans in the arts reflects broader societal changes, where shifting global dynamics and the recognition of China on the international stage have also played a role in reshaping perceptions of Asian identity in the West. In 1971, with support from the third-world nations, mostly in Africa and Latin America, the People’s Republic of China replaced the Republic of China in the United Nations and became one of the five permanent members on the UN Security Council, which marked China being recognized diplomatically by most of the nations. In 1978, two years after the Cultural Revolution ended, the Chinese economic reform, or the reform and opening-up policy, was put in place, which allowed foreign capital to invest in China and boosted the economic development in China enormously. Deng Xiaoping, the “general architect of China’s reform and opening up, and of modernization,” (Y. Chen 2006, 54-55) created four Special Economic Zones in 1979, namely Shantou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Zhuhai, that attracted millions of migrant workers with much higher payment than factories outside these cities. The movie Tequ dagongmei (Working Girls in Special Economic Zone), directed by Liang Zhang in 1990, and the TV series Wailaimei (Factory Girls), directed by Hao Cheng in 1991, further promoted the image of the diligent and aspirant female migrant workers that epitomize modern women in the new era in China. Twenty years later, although the economic prosperity continued, the situation in the cities seemed to have worsened. Dozens of workers in the Foxconn City industrial park in Shenzhen, China, jumped off the buildings in the factory because of low wages and inhumane working conditions. These incidents caused widespread concerns over the migrant workers. Foxconn’s chairman apologized and arranged 116 safety measures and mental health support measures for workers in the factory. However, in May 2010, an unverified photocopy of “A Letter to Foxconn Colleagues” appeared in Chinese media, in which Foxconn urged workers and their family members to pledge not to request compensation from the company or engage in aggressive behaviours that affect world production (Fan 2010). Later, Foxconn increased their payment for workers and adjusted their working hours according to the government regulations to appease the wrath from both the workers and the public. This incident at Foxconn highlights the harsh realities faced by workers in China’s rapidly industrializing economy, where corporate practices often clash with human rights, setting the stage for narratives like Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness. As an epitome of the girls from rural China in the 1990s, Sunny, who is born in a village, is abandoned by her parents in a slop bucket because she is not a male. Fortunately, she survives and leaves for a Shenzhen factory at age fourteen, where she finds a low-paying job in order to help pay for her brother’s education and enrolls in self-help classes in the hope of obtaining an office position. She works long shifts cleaning toilets in the factory and aspires to be promoted. However, Sunny’s attempt to lift herself out of poverty results in tragic consequences for a coworker, so she challenges the system and starts to fight for an alternative. When her company wants her to deliver a speech in Beijing to advocate the company’s care for common workers, she gathers her courage to reveal the harsh and miserable work conditions. As a result, she is arrested and tortured in jail, but, as described in the play, her spirit encourages other workers all over China to renounce the oppressive and discriminatory regulations. However, the fact that Sunny’s brother suffocates Sunny to death at the end of the play, in order to save her from suffering more torture, exposes the reluctant truth that she may have changed nothing. The discussion of gender inequality, 117 inhumane work conditions, and political censorship poses formidable hardship and misery for Sunny, the protagonist of the play. The hardship offers a Chinese American perspective via the theatre of issues in contemporary China. To draw attention to the brutal working conditions in China in the new millennium, The World of Extreme Happiness adapts the Foxconn story in a scene in the latter half of the play, when the company desires a model worker to embellish its image after the suicides of a number of employees. Cowhig borrows from the notorious report, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” by Mike Daisey, focusing on the inhumane working conditions in Chinese factories. Although the report was criticized for Mike Daisey’s fabrication of his experience in China and the story was retracted from American Life, where it was published, it called for attention to the ill-treatment of workers in factories in Shenzhen. In order to dramatize the issue on stage, Eric Ting, director of the Manhattan Theatre Company production, chose a realistic setting, showing the company’s name in Chinese characters on the backdrop and using costumes with Chinese characteristics. This design constructs an estranged environment compared to a common western company in this production to appeal to the audience’s affection and attention to the issue. The promotional materials, including trailers and programs, included a Chinese translation of the title, which created a sense of foreignness and served as a gimmick for marketing. The intertextual hyperreality hints at the cruel working conditions in China and makes it harder for people who have never done research on China to discern the accuracy and correctness of the information. In other words, cultural or media representations intertwine through references to one another to create a heightened, simulated version of reality. In this hyperreal state, the boundaries between reality and representation blur, leading audiences to experience a world that is more reflective of the intertextual connections and cultural myths than 118 of actual reality. In this case, Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra can be borrowed to scrutinize the roles of the symbols of culture and media in terms of forming an understanding of shared existence by revealing the play’s purpose to further dramatize the hyperreality mediated in both the play and performance. According to Baudrillard, rather than a reflection of the happenings in real life, simulacra, or the either faithful or distorted copy of original reality, precedes the reality itself (Baudrillard 1995b, 1-2). In this play, the symbol of traumas not only created a simulation of urban-rural, gender, and political inequalities in China in the last two decades presented to the audience that may not have any knowledge about China, but also envisaged a pessimistic outlook for the issues to be resolved. These effects resulting from the dramatization of real events invite further inspections. 4.2 Background and context The first wave of Chinese American playwrights, to a large extent, intended to establish an image of the Chinese diaspora living in the US to disrupt stereotypes (e.g., Frank Chin’s Chickencoop Chinaman). After addressing and redressing this problem, Chinese American theatre artists became aware of the lack of a new community/collective identity they could conform to, so the second wave of playwrights turned to focusing on hybridity and confrontation with traditional Chinese views and values (e.g., Hwang’s Flower Drum Song (2002)). The internal/intra-ethnic conflict haunted many playscripts in the 1970s-1980s. After decades of pursuing an “authentic” identity for the Chinese, or, in a broader sense, to represent the Asian diaspora, “Chinese American” became a more open term. Yet even as Chinese American identity came to be regarded as fluid and performative within the umbrella term “Chinese American,” they were still ostracized as “other” because of their appearance. According to Neil Gotanda’s description, a “distinct[ly] anti-Chinese turn” in the anti-immigrant mindset in the 1980s was 119 caused by the US-led globalization articulated through and against “Asia” (Chuh and Shimakawa 2001, 1, 4). For example, when David Henry Hwang had his play FOB produced after winning the Obie Award for his M. Butterfly, the sound designer questioned the music by denunciating the so-called “Chink music” (Yew 2011, ix). On the one hand, Chinese American theatre was looked down upon even though it had been recognized by major and prestigious awards in the industry; on the other hand, the situation reflected the fact that Chinese Americans as an ethnic minority group were visible at the time but still heavily hindered by racist stereotypes and language. A desire to rethink the position and evolution of the Chinese diaspora pushed theatre artists to create works to reflect this phenomenon. The third wave of Chinese American theatre artists started to question, in a deconstructive way, the relationship between the Chinese diasporic community and the “outside world,” especially issues happening to all ethnic groups regardless of specific ethnicity and nationality, instead of mere race and identity queries. However, despite the fact that Chinese American theatres have started to share some similar values as those of European American theatre, they are still regarded as operating in the US cultural periphery. Intra-ethnic noncooperation caused the situation to deteriorate, as Ann-Marie Dunbar stated that “deAsianizing” declared irreconciliation between Asian American theatre and mainstream theatre and has further marginalized the Asian American theatre (Dunbar 2005, 19). Chinese American theatre in the new millennium parallels the dwindling communication between cultures and starts to keep a distance from their intrinsic property of being a member of the other by criticizing the perceived stereotypes of the Chinese people, instead of the Chinese diaspora. Tseen-Ling Khoo also argues that diasporic and minority literatures focus more on the politics of identities and races instead of “reclaiming voices or asserting identity,” but this value 120 is being replaced by more universal issues (Khoo 2003, 183). Dunbar adds that another distinctive transition was the tendency of jumping out of the realm of Chinese, or in a broader sense, Asian American themes to embrace more universal ones (Dunbar 2005, 15-16). Khoo’s and Dunbar’s insights present a major effect or side effect produced by Chinese American theatre in the new era. On the one hand, the historical struggle or burden to rectify the image of Chinese Americans still falls on the shoulders of Chinese American theatre artists in the new millennium. On the other hand, although they may portray theatrical scenarios involving Chinese Americans and Chinese people, Chinese American plays concerning issues not limited to the Chinese community gradually become prevalent. For example, in Christopher Chen’s Caught, although the performers are Chinese Americans and the storylines are about China and Chinese Americans, the core concern of the play is to question the truth in the largely mediated world. As discussed earlier, the 1980s marked a vital turning point for Chinese American theatre. At the beginning of the 1980s, Chinese American theatre, especially Hwang’s The Dance and the Railroad (1981), recorded the hardships of the very first wave of Chinese immigrants, who were hired to build the Central Pacific Railroad but received unfair treatment, including lower pay. The historical legacy influenced other works in the 1980s as well. Coupled with the Chinese Exclusion Act, Winston Kam’s Bachelor Man (1987) reflected that institutionalized racism worsened the living conditions of Chinese immigrants, many of whom failed to reunite with their families before they died. The inevitable struggle between, borrowing Boal’s terms, the oppressor and the oppressed (Boal 2006, 43), was one of the most notable topics in Chinese American theatre, in which the binary between the dominant Eurocentric society and the Chinese minority was created. Chinese American theatre was more of a political apparatus than a 121 “culinary theatre” preaching to the converted (Miller and Román 1995, 169), since it not only reproduced past stories but also provided new perspectives to view the world. Meanwhile, aiming to subvert and transform their image, Chinese American theatre artists also diverted the value of the community they represented from pursuing the American dream and accepting assimilation to chasing their own dreams and creating unique identities. Prior to the 1980s, the image of China created by Chinese American theatre served as a virtual and unreturnable home in the Chinese immigrants’ imaginations, and the gap between Chinese Americans as a minority and the Eurocentric hegemony was enlarged by racial difference. From the 1980s onward, although plots and characters in Chinese American plays still highlight the distinctiveness of the Chinese American theatre, the focus changed from loss of identity, as well as fighting for equal rights and against discrimination, to more humanitarian and universal issues, retelling histories, and reconstructing identities, in part driven by the development of the multicultural theatre and the cultural mosaic. Apart from situating Chinese Americans in a specific identity, the gender issue, or the discussion of Chinese American women, as well as other Asian American women who suffer from double discrimination, has attracted more attention. The World of Extreme Happiness shows the occupational, sexual, and political oppressions suffered by protagonist Sunny, which adds individual struggles on top of the pervading fantasy imposed on Asian American women. Furthermore, from an acting perspective, emotional experiences shown in performances are widely shared and resonant with audiences. These then promote fluid racial identity over racial difference, and the production of racial identity through interconnected spaces of emotion becomes ambivalent (Rogers 2012, 439). In other words, there is a tendency among scholarly discussions of Chinese and Asian 122 racial problems to elide cultural differences and argue for broad applicability among other minorities that have faced similar concerns. As Metzger has pointed out, by demonstrating conflicts among “aesthetics, community formation, capitalist enterprise, political dialogue, and the visualization of different sorts of bodies,” Chinese American theatre is actually an “intellectual project” (S. Metzger 2011, 277). It is not hard to trace how a few prestigious Chinese American playwrights in contemporary times are simultaneously artists and critical thinkers whose theatrical works offer a bird’s-eye view of the conflicts or issues in Chinese communities, satisfying the curiosity of audiences but also triggering academic reflections (Berson et al. 1990; E.S. Kim 2000; Moy 1993). Indeed, after the 1980s, whether in newspaper or magazine reviews or academic essays, criticism and comments on Chinese American theatre are more often noticed, many of which are by scholars of Chinese descent. Nonetheless, even with the help of academic and critical attention, Chinese American theatre still has a long way to go to gain more visibility in the market. Recent endeavours, such as the publication of anthologies and the emergence of diverse forms of performances, have benefited Chinese American theatre in terms of visibility and perspectives, but I believe a more to-the-point and effective strategy is yet to be developed to deconstruct the cultural frameworks that muffle and ossify Chinese American theatre. 4.2.1 Asian American Theatre from the 2010s Onward The 2010s witnessed an unprecedented number of productions by Asian American playwrights, including David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, Christopher Chen’s The Headlands and Caught, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman and Soft Power, Cambodian Rock Band and The Great Leap, Damon Chua’s Incident at Hidden Temple, and Haruna Lee’s Suicide Forest. 123 Furthermore, Asian American playwrights no longer needed to solicit opportunities to get produced in theatres with national or regional influences. As for breakthroughs in themes and styles, Diet Tran observes, “It seemed that Asian American plays were finally having a moment. These weren’t just stories about immigrant parents and their kids, or trauma porn, or merely identity driven. They were playful and edgy, and they showcased Asian faces as human, with individuality and variety, with characters who loved rock music or ocean diving” (Tran 2021). Nonetheless, Asian American productions were less seen in major theatres due to the concern about their ability to attract big enough audiences. This is because Asian American characters were considered as “exotic outsiders to the mainstream” instead of relatable or applicable across various groups of people (Tran 2021). Therefore, a major task for Asian American theatre companies in the 2010s was the “humanizing of Asian faces for America” by telling “Asian stories from Asian artists, with Asian agency and centering Asian lives, therefore humanizing Asian lives” (Tran 2021). Cowhig echoes this call and employs her freedom to recount the stories of Chinese people who questioned the status quo and the perception of China as a conformist place. By writing The World of Extreme Happiness, Cowhig also wished to “bridge a generational gap before a new generation comes of age and there are more Chinese writers telling their own stories” (Palmer 2014, 48). 4.2.2 The Playwright The daughter of a Boston Irish Catholic father and a Taoist mother from rural Taiwan, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig was born in 1983 in Philadelphia. He father, David Cowhig, was a diplomat in East Asia, and her mother was a staff member of the Department of Defense. Cowhig received her education in several places after age nine. During her five years at the International School of Beijing, starting in 1996, she experienced absurd attempts to embellish 124 the substandard environment, hostilities against the US diplomats, and suppressions against those with different opinions from the state propaganda: [S]he recalls the dead trees on the street being painted green when the Olympic committee arrived. Outside, members of Falun Gong, dedicated to truth, compassion and forbearance, were supposedly immolating themselves in Tiananmen Square, while school was cancelled when NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, resulting in the US Embassy, where her father worked, being attacked with rocks and Molotov cocktails. (Bigsby 2018, 29) Although she lived with her parents in the diplomatic compound guarded by police and surrounded by barbed wires, which offered her a safe place to stay, the information source she had access to was CNN news. This is why she has stated that her adolescence was marked by a sense of displacement (Bigsby 2018, 29). As a result, her multicultural upbringing triggered her curiosity about “migration, change and collisions of cultures and belief systems” (Udell 2014). After returning to the US to continue her education at Brown University in 2001, she challenged her identity like many second-generation Chinese Americans. She has discussed her sense of perplexity about her received identity with different audiences: “I’m really tall, so I don’t ever get treated as an Asian woman. In America, people think of me as Asian, but in Asia, I’m just a white person” (Palmer 2014). She took courses in ethnic studies and joined a multiracial club, but she became uninterested in affiliating herself with any racial or ethnic identity and converted herself to a more humanitarian approach that focused on commonalities in the spaces between fixed divisions (Tran 2015a). This explains her rejection of the label of herself simply as a Chinese American playwright, although she still wishes to be considered 125 “Taiwanese” or “Irish” American since she does not claim any Chinese ancestry. This may indicate her uniqueness but does not align with her disinterest in racial identification (Bigsby 2018, 30). Nonetheless, in her interview with the Chicagoist, she states that her mother is from a farming family that was settled in rural Taiwan for generations, but her ancestors came from a Chinese fishing town (Udell 2014). Her attachment to Taiwan and long detachment from China may have alienated Cowhig from any sense of connection to China, which also offers her a more impersonal perspective on Chinese matters. Although she does not consider herself a member of the Chinese diaspora, Cowhig finds the stories of Chinese migrants intriguing, and China is crucial to her concerns in her work, especially marginalized Chinese people. Therefore, it is more probable that she does not oppose the race labelling, but denies homogenized recognition of her as a Chinese American. Her later years of moving from one location to another in a camper van with her husband not only further confirmed her belief in her fluid identity, but also added a more nomadic sense to her ideas which guided her theatre-making process later. She mentioned in an interview that “[a] lot of the theatre-making process is similar to a nomadic childhood – a really intense finite period, and then dispersal” (Szymkowicz 2011). She interned in the literary department of the Public Theatre in New York after graduation, but she considered the plays that she watched in New York uninspired, except for those emphasizing physicality. This propelled her to apply to the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre after graduating from Brown University, and then to become an MFA student in writing at the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in Austin from 2006 to 2009. 126 Cowhig builds her works on her personal experiences. Inspired by the sexual assaults, violence, and terror that happened to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, she wrote Lidless (2012) out of her interest in trauma because she was sent to Iraq in 2003 and saw evidence of the abused prisoners there (Szymkowicz 2011). She continued to investigate trauma in The World of Extreme Happiness (2013) and focused on the internal migrations from rural to urban areas in China and the clash of values, based on her six-month living experience in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, where her father interviewed dissident writers, and on her mother’s family’s experience of operating factories in China (Bigsby 2018, 41). Her conversation with the author, reporter, and poet Liao Yiwu informed her of the fact that China’s recent rapid transformation was at the cost of large groups of people being deprived of basic human rights and hopes. Her 410[Gone] (2014) explores “technology and avatarization” to address her distress and disorientation without being overwhelmed by it since her brother used to spend most of his time online before he committed suicide (Cowhig 2014). The number 401 in the title is the computer code for an unauthorized error, indicating a page unable to be loaded without a valid log-in or that the page no longer exists. Her latest work, The King of Hell’s Palace (2019), marched on uncovering the shocking issue of blood banks infected with AIDS in Henan, China, in the 1990s because corrupt health officials ignored safety standards for the sake of maximizing profits from blood transfusions. She questioned the decision-making process and strived for remedies for the families and the country as a whole to recover from traumatic events. Her works contest the problematic idea of “colourblind racial transcendence” and validate “cultural diversity, particularly the uniqueness of the mixed-race experience” (Heinrich 2023, 3). These plays of Cowhig’s present her concern for traumatized people and their struggle with the oppressive power, as well as suggesting imaginary plans to solve the problems, although 127 she leaves hints in the play that she may not have brought forward solutions that are feasible at the time of the plays. Especially in The World of Extreme Happiness, she designed a tragic but promising ending to show her hopes for the oppressed and her gloomy feelings about the future of those traumatized people in real life. 4.3 Synopsis of the Play With broad research on migrant workers and her own observations and family memories, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig appears to have a firm grasp on political oppression of the disadvantaged and the hardships of people who have been deprived of their basic human rights in China. For decades, disobedience has been met with harsh punishment in China, where there is little regard for personal dignity. By telling the story of Sunny, a girl who migrates from the countryside to Shenzhen, one of China’s Special Economic Zones, to work for an influential factory, The World of Extreme Happiness dramatizes the harshness of China’s seemingly booming economy, particularly the exploitation of peasant labor in urban China. Apart from the institutional exploitation of peasant workers, it is observed in the play that most, if not all, characters are not concerned about others, even when they witness brutal suppressions happening against coworkers, friends, or relatives. The indifference from both the authority and the people around doubles the misfortune of the disadvantaged, as they could hardly form an alliance with other oppressed people against the powers to escape more suffering. This pessimistic mood is pervasive throughout the play. The play begins when a rural couple, Li Han and Xiao Li, leave a newborn girl, Sunny, to die in a pig slop pail because of the preference for male children. However, Sunny survives and migrates from the countryside to Shenzhen to work as a janitor at a large factory in order to provide financial assistance for her brother, Pete. At work, Sunny meets Ming-Ming, who thrusts 128 her into a lecture by Mr. Destiny, who teaches her to change her attitude towards life so that she can achieve her dream. Sunny seizes the opportunity to deliver a speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing when her company needs a representative factory worker to solve a public relation crisis and improve the factory’s image. When she returns home before leaving for Beijing, Li Han has set up a ghost marriage for her and Ran Feng, who has been executed as a dissident worker. The indifference and frustration she have experienced at work and at home, along with Pete’s story of being humiliated by the city people, drive Sunny, oblivious to the serious ramifications of her actions, to add a political statement during her speech in hope of fighting for her coworkers’ rights and benefits. Not surprisingly, Sunny, once lively, is drugged, tormented, and sent to a psychiatric facility. In the end, Pete visits Sunny, and to extol her courage and sacrifice, he informs her of the imagined substantial impact of her speech. However, Pete cannot bear to see his sister suffering from formidable pain, so he suffocates Sunny to relieve her from this cruel world. 4.4 Remaking the Chinese through Chinese American Lenses: Extreme Happiness or Extreme Misery? Dorinne Kondo maintains that worldmaking theorizes the formation of race in the world of theatre, including “racialized structures of inequality, racialized labor, the racialized aesthetics of genre, racialized subjectivities, [and] racial affect” (Kondo 2018, 25). To spread opinions on race and issues derived from it, theatrical performances can stage political and intellectual visions that move people through interactions between audience and performers that mobilize the powers of the fleshy sensorium. As a rich site for investigating the intersection of race, power, aesthetics, and emotion, Kondo argues that theatre artists unmake and remake race in the “temporary communities” for both audience and performers to affect each other in the shared 129 space (Kondo 2018, 25).20 Kondo’s analysis concurs with Cowhig’s progress of destabilizing and reconstructing the order between not races but classes. To create a convincing scenario that resembles China, where the race issue is not as troublesome as the urban-rural division, Cowhig’s rich knowledge in “China’s history of human rights violations, poor working conditions in its many factories producing goods for Western markets, as well as tough censorship laws and non-stop propaganda and obfuscation of the truth” allows her to use major social and historical conflicts and refer to traditional and current Chinese literature in the play (Strangeways 2017). It may have prevented the local audience from differentiating fact from fiction, but using the capital of the theatre space, Cowhig has made efforts to provide a more reliable narrative of China and Chinese people so as to change the stereotypical and fixed perception of the past (Stewart 2015). The title of the play, The World of Extreme Happiness, is an ironic critique of the harsh political suppression and terrible working conditions in contemporary China that prevent ordinary people from acquiring happiness. In his review in the New York Times, Charles Isherwood questions, “Even should Sunny achieve the ‘extreme happiness’ of the title, how could she take pleasure in it in a world so unjustly ordered?” (Isherwood 2015). Steven Oxman comments that the “problematic drama on huge societal upheaval in China is almost beyond irony… one that aspires to encompass the paradoxes and perplexities that characterize modern China…. The title is paradoxical, according to critics, because it is impossible for Sunny, the protagonist, or anyone else involved in the production, to be happy in the face of China’s inconsistencies and disorientations during the last thirty years” (Oxman 2014). 20 The idea of “temporary communities” is coined by David Román in his Performance in American: Contemporary U.S. Culture and the Performing Arts. 130 It is true that Sunny’s working and living conditions, as well as the general lack of human rights, are on the opposite end of happiness. However, the title may have embedded its literal meaning if Sunny’s death at the end of the play is considered an extrication from the suffocating environment that has oppressed her since birth, including the ostracization of women and peasants, hopelessness at work, and the witch hunt culture. Besides, the reason for millions of peasants to work in the city is that they may earn the equivalent of a year’s worth of agricultural income in a much shorter amount of time. According to the figure of “Per capita disposable income, by urban-rural, 1990–2017” in China provided by UNICEF in 2018, the urban/rural ratio of per capita disposable income in the twenty-seven-year span ranges from 2.2 to 3.3, which confirms that, on average, a job in the urban area generates much more personal income than work in rural areas (2018). The discrepancy in income and hope for a better life continued to spur rural populations to move to cities in the 2010s (Ning 2021). Sunny’s narrative of being selected as the representative of workers in a big company reveals the passion and industrialism of the young people in China to enjoy the opportunity of upward mobility in a country that is developing rapidly, although at the cost of turning away from the injustices and pains of the past. Therefore, the bifold understanding of the title embeds the tragicomedy throughout the play. 4.4.1 Clashes of Cultures Seen in Interpersonal Relationships The World of Extreme Happiness serves as a noteworthy addition to Cowhig’s body of work, as it aligns with her thematic analysis of “trauma and recovery” and her inclination for in-depth examinations of cultural collisions. As her first play set in China with an ambitious structure, it continues her distinctive approach. Cowhig depicts that the production process as resembling the act of “animating a strange, lucid dream and then sharing it” and effectively 131 captures the evocative and surreal essence of her artistic endeavours (Udell 2014). Furthermore, the play exhibits a wealth of portrayals concerning both professional and familial connections. Cowhig adeptly employs a story structure to effectively replicate the phenomenon of urban-rural detachment inherent in interpersonal and intercultural exchanges. These linkages provide the spectator an opportunity to gain insight into the discrepancies and tensions that are present among various social strata and cultural environments. The play emphasizes the overarching themes of societal divisions and the numerous obstacles encountered by individuals as they negotiate these diverse environments. 4.4.1.1 Sunny and Colleagues: Reciprocity and Conflicts Right after the end of the first scene of Sonny’s birth in rural China, the time period jumps to 2006, a decade and a half later. Like millions of other rural young girls, in order to financially support her brother Pete’s education, Sunny, at the age of fourteen, as a “grown-up” peasant, abandons her rural roots for Shenzhen in search of prosperity among the manufacturing factories. Instead of a decent job, Sunny earns the minimum wage working as a janitor at Jade River Manufacturing, the supplier for the retail giant Price-Smart. Moreover, her supervisor, Old Lao, mocks her ambitions and informs her that even as an experienced worker she will not be able to jump to the manager’s position from an entry-level janitor when Sunny intends to apply for a prospective promotion after a manager commits suicide. This shows that the proletariat are exploited for cheap labor in exchange for false optimism and hollow promises. However, Old Lao is not set up as the antagonist, but he is a person who does not believe those who are enthusiastic about catapulting themselves to another social class can succeed. When Sunny asks about more efficient techniques of cleaning the floor, Old Lao answers her with his unreserved guidance, but when it comes to promotion, Old Lao scares Sunny off by thrusting a petition letter 132 into her hand, which can be considered proof of organizing subversive activities in the factory that will leave negative impressions of Sunny in the managers’ minds. By doing so, Old Lao tries to set Sunny up and disqualify her from gaining upward mobility. The play considers Sunny as the epitome of the migrant workers from rural regions who are despised by city people, the migrant workers who have expanded the urban population in China by over 400 million from 1990 to 2020. One of the consequences of this rapid transition is a widening gap in the cities between an older generation, which experienced the horror of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, and a younger generation that enjoyed more freedom in terms of mobility and finance. The play notices the growing division between those who live in cities and those who have the misfortune of being born into towns still bound by patriarchal norms in the rapidly evolving China. One example is the clash between Sunny and her parents on education in Scene Two, since her parents insist that education is a “bad investment.” Another example is Pete’s narrative about himself being humiliated by random city kids in Scene Seven, which forms a stark contrast against the conversation between James and Artemis, the owner and the vice president of the company, about fixing the public relations problem instead of preventing the peasant workers from committing suicide because of low wages and hopelessness. Besides, China maintains a residency system called hukou that divides rural and urban populations, denying migrants in the cities, where they work, access to fundamental amenities like primary and secondary education and healthcare unless they have paid extra fees to study in a school outside of their habitual residence or purchased extra insurance to cover their medical expenses. According to Leslie Chang, a Wall Street Journal correspondent in China, it is common for workers in China to get paid late or not at all by shady subcontractors, and they 133 have little option for retaliation because the surplus labor force will replace them easily if they dare to go on a strike (Chang 2008, 281-87). In addition, although uncomfortable, the migrant workers have to succumb to the open discrimination against their age, gender, and height during the hiring process and in daily life. Apart from endeavouring to present the reason attributed to the tension between urban and rural dwellers, especially in the arcade game scene, the play also focuses on the rebellious spirit that Sunny bears. When James Lin, the factory’s owner, and Artemis Chang, the vice president of the retailer that sells the factory’s products, are looking for a candidate to cast in a documentary to improve the company’s public reputation and redress the negative impact caused by the suicide of a worker in the factory, they aim to change the narrative by identifying a model employee who can portray a nicer face to the public. Sunny, who has been promoted recently, appears to be the ideal candidate, so she auditions to represent a happy peasant worker for the corporation to counter worker suicides. James and Artemis represent contemporary China’s entrepreneurs making a profit from the overexploitation of workers and the government’s open policies toward economic development, which anatomize the injustices of contemporary Chinese society. “May we keep customers happy, shareholders satisfied – and your workers from committing suicide,” Artemis adds later, as they toast their collaboration and plot their public relations remedy (Cowhig 2013, 19). However, in the meantime, the workers are suffering from long shifts, low pay, and desperation in a company that only exists to make profit for the top management. This scenario is based on the Foxconn suicides that happened in 2010. The series of suicides gained global attention, and Foxconn, one of the world’s top electronics manufacturers, was criticized for its terrible working conditions and workers’ benefits. In addition, the play pushes further to render 134 disturbances that happened during China’s aggressive and rapid shift from a rural agrarian society to an urbanized and industrial society through the descriptions of the birth of Sunny and her unfavorable treatment by her urban counterpart. Meanwhile, through the lens of one character’s confrontation with the police, the play connects the Cultural Revolution with its possible impact on the interpersonal relationship in the play to maintain a consistent conflict between the collective and the individual. Artemis, as the daughter of dissident peasants, is forced to justify her association with deceased relatives who were arrested during the Cultural Revolution and promise that she will not scheme any anti-government events. The World of Extreme Happiness examines what it costs an individual to defy the Chinese authorities, and Artemis’ heartfelt exposition perfectly concludes this inconvenient truth at that moment: “There are only two roads to walk down. There were only ever two choices. You can see the truth – and always be in pain. Or we can look away and be rich. And safe. And happy” (Cowhig 2013, 66). Never losing her optimism, Sunny aspires to get promoted from janitor to supervisor, trying everything she can to leave a good impression. Although Old Lao is not impressed by her ambition, she embraces her chance when a co-worker, Ming-Ming, urges her to attend self-help lectures organized by a motivational speaker named Mr. Destiny, who teaches the lowest-paid workers to change their lives by changing their mindset and establishing a strong will. The crowd chants, “Wealth. Power. Fame. Honor. Wealth. Power. Fame. Honor.” during a “successology” gathering when Ming-Ming and Sunny step into the auditorium. Mr. Destiny: What do you deserve? Unison: Money! Mr. Destiny: When do you need it? 135 Unison: Now! Mr. Destiny: What do you have? Unison: Power! Mr. Destiny: When will you use it? Unison: Now! Mr. Destiny: Two, four, six, eight – Unison: Now it’s time to change our fate! Mr. Destiny: Three, six, nine, eleven – Unison: It is time to feel alive! Mr. Destiny: Seven, eight, nine, ten – Unison: We will not be crushed again! (Cowhig 2013, 28) When Sunny is asked about her wish, she asserts that she would like to make more money and have more power.... Spend it! And get more power! And buy nice things and a good education for me and my brother…. Then I’ll go back to the countryside and laugh at everyone who’s still poor… and living in dirt. Then I’ll move back to the city, buy an apartment, improve myself, and Get Even Stronger! (Cowhig 2013, 30) Her hopes are no different than those of ordinary rural Chinese residents who have fled to cities for a better life and to gain a better social status than their counterparts. Sunny becomes powerful and even ruthless as she sees glimmers of a brighter future. Following the doctrine of Malcolm X’s “By Any Means Necessary,” Sunny does a sexual favor for Old Lao, who concedes and grants her a promotion, so she can send more money back to her hometown to support Pete and her family (Cowhig 2013, 45). 136 Sunny tells her secret of getting promoted to Ming-Ming, but when Sunny wins the competition for the position to serve as the spokesperson for the company and deliver a speech at the Great Hall of the People, Ming-Ming tries the same trick that Sunny has done to Old Lao but gets sacked from the company. Ming-Ming deeply believes that Mr. Destiny’s idea will change her life and guide her to become wealthy and powerful, but she becomes disappointed by the broken promise of “money, fame, power.” To learn the secrets of self-improvement, Ming-Ming follows Mr. Destiny home one night, only to find that he is also a peasant with terrible living standards. While theoretical ideals of success bring about optimism for Ming-Ming and Sunny, the life of a migrant worker remains difficult. Believing that her last chance of changing her fate has passed, Ming-Ming is in pain but dares not speak about it, so she commits suicide. At this moment, the estrangement between Sunny, Pete, and Old Lao disappears, and all of them work together to perform first aid to save Ming-Ming’s life. The love-hate relationship between the co-workers reflects that it is the distorted developing model and systemic hierarchy that leave no space for aspiring and ambitious young adults to pursue their dreams, instead depleting them in the process of meaningless involution. 4.4.1.2 Sunny and Her Parents: Generational Gap and Patriarchal Oppression Offering a window to the other side of fast-developing China in the past forty years, The World of Extreme Happiness opens with a scene in which a Chinese peasant woman, Xiao Li, is giving birth while standing in front of half of a thatched bungalow. While standing, Xiao Li yells with her back to the audience. Although she curses her unborn child and cries out for relief, “Get out of me you son of a turtle,” she fails to give birth to a son (Cowhig 2013, 6). Her husband, Li Han, in a blue uniform, squats on a green stool beside an iron pail. Completely unconcerned 137 about his wife’s pain, Li Han engages in a filthy conversation with a smoking villager, Ran Feng, who wears the same outfit and a grey hat. Xiao Li delivers the baby and wishes that it were male. But, when Li Han discovers his wife has given birth to another daughter, his apathy evolves to irritation: “A boy is a child. A girl is a thing” (Cowhig 2013, 8). His utterance reflects the harsh culture in which female life was not respected or valued at all in China in the 1990s, when the one-child policy was at its height, through the phenomenon still exists today. Wang Hua, a local midwife, is punched by Li Han because Li had paid Wang to guarantee that the next baby would be a boy. Li Han then opens the pig slop bucket next to him, and Wang Hua wraps the baby girl Sunny with a piece of newspaper and drops it inside without hesitation, like dumping garbage. Li Han even spits into the bucket after that. This shocking moment depicts a common practice in rural China since the 1960s because of a toxic mix of a society that values men over women and China’s one-child policy in the 1980s, which led to an uptick in female infanticide and gender-selective abortions. Based on Kay Johnson’s study on Chinese orphanages, the number of abandoned female infants surmounted that of male infants, and the lopsided sex ratio reveals a “highly patrilineal definition of the family,” and young women in the countryside are forced to marry “patrilocally, symbolically if not always literally, leaving their own natal family and transferring their primary obligations to their husband’s family.” (K. Johnson 1993, 62-63). According to UNICEF, the sex ratio at birth in rural China has soared from 107.7 to the climax of 122.9 since China’s family planning policy was constitutionalized and implemented in 1982. Granted, this opening moment offers a sensational incentive for the audience to wonder whether the story is embellished dramatically. This tension lasted throughout the whole performance, which may have caused confusion for audiences less familiar with recent Chinese history. The one-child policy and the 138 desperation for male babies result in psychological damage for girls. The huge disparity in treatment of men and women in China is one of the primary themes of the play. However, when Sunny is later rescued by Li Han, since he is astonished to find that Sunny is smiling at him in the slop basket, Xiao Li speaks to Sunny: “Stupid Girl.… Why are you alive? And still smiling? … Don’t you know the lives of girls are full of misery?” (Cowhig 2013, 10). Sunny’s life exemplifies this harsh reality. Leslie Chang’s 2008 book Factory Girls records the lives of young women who have travelled from their villages to work on assembly lines in prosperous cities like Shenzhen and Dongguan, whose work supports the backbone of China’s export economy, and the fundamental change in life since the implementation of the Reform and Opening Up policy. These young ladies are among China’s 130 million migrant laborers, who represent the world’s greatest migration – three times the number of individuals who came to America from Europe over a century ago (Chang 2008, 16). According to John Gittings’ The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market, China was an agronomical nation in 1980, with 81% of the population reliant on farming for a living. By the end of the 20th century, the urban population had increased to 31% of the total population, and the number of cities and towns had soared from less than 100 to more than 700 and from 3,500 to 20,000, respectively. Deng Xiaoping, the de facto paramount leader of China since 1978, paid a visit to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in 1992 and delivered the famous theory of “Black Cat White Cat” once more – “Black cat or white cat, if it can catch mice, it’s a good cat.”21 To connect to the reality in China at that time, the quote symbolizes that an economy, whether planned or 21 In the early 1960s, Deng declared the slogan of the same meaning but not with the exact diction: “yellow or white, a cat that catches mice is a good cat.” See http://sites.asiasociety.org/chinawealthpower/chapters/deng-xiaoping-one/. 139 market, is simply a technique of allocating resources and can be separated from the political system. Therefore, Deng suggested that socialism should take advantage of capitalism should it be beneficial for the development of the country, and the formula of “building socialism with Chinese characteristics” was invented (Gittings 2006, 252-57). Representing the disenfranchised in desperate search for a better life in China, Sunny, the protagonist in The World of Extreme Happiness, may have a bright demeanor at times, but her optimistic name marks a painful irony in this miserable young woman embarking on a journey in contemporary China. Based on Cowhig’s personal perspective and experiences in her teenage years, the hopelessness, inadequacy, and overpowering desire for success expressed in the play suggest that Sunny reflects the author, who wishes to make achievements in her life as well. Li Han is a coal miner who is cruel to his children and only cares about his pigeons. It leaves the impression that he is an unsophisticated, self-serving worker. However, he has witnessed his brother’s death during the Tiananmen incident in 1989, and he has borne the trauma from that horrible brutality over the years by himself. When Sunny returns home, her father, who prefers his birds to his family, displays his thanks for her efforts by opting to sell her to Wang Hua as the bride to Wang Hua’s recently deceased son, Ran Feng, in a ghost marriage. Li Han believes that Pete should skip school and join him in the coal mine, but Sunny protests against the idea since it is Pete’s successful future that she has been working for. The poor communication between generations further exacerbates their inability to understand each other. 4.4.1.3 Sunny and Pete: Collaboration Against Urban-Rural Division The affectionate but frustrating relationship between Sunny and Pete is attributed to the depiction of urban-rural division, just as effective as Sunny’s experience at work. Pete aspires to study jingju (Beijing opera) and portray the legendary Monkey King, who can shift himself into 140 72 incarnations. Sunny insists that Pete should feel fortunate about his privilege of being a male in a patriarchal society and get as much education as he can, and her initial goal in working away from home is to support Pete’s education. However, as their father disagrees that Pete needs more schooling after tenth grade, Pete follows Sunny in moving to the city for more job opportunities. Although there is no exposition about Pete’s working experience, it is not hard to discern that it is highly likely that Pete suffers from similar discrimination and frustration to Sunny does when he talks about his miserable encounters after he leaves his factory. Sunny: Why did you leave the factory? Pete: I was riding the bus. A group of city kids got on and tried to make me give up my seat. None of the other peasants were in seats. They were squatting on the floor. Sunny: What did they do? Pete: When I got off at my stop they followed me. Sunny: To the factory? Pete: They Dragged me to an alley and threw me into a pile of bricks. Sunny: … Pete: They kicked me until I was covered in dirt, then stopped and said I was to filthy to touch their shoes. Before they left, they took turns pissing on me. Know why I like the train station? Sunny: What? Pete: It’s full of peasants who act like peasants. Sunny: Let’s go to the police. We can file a report- Pete: They ate our brains. Sunny: What? 141 Pete: Game over. (Cowhig 2013, 74) The conversation takes place in a video game room, so Pete’s last two lines indicate that they have not only lost in the video game, but also been brainwashed to conform themselves to the urban mindset. The apartheid on the bus, although there are more news reports that some peasants surrender their seats as they wish to keep them clean, is reminiscent of the time of Rosa Parks, when rules restricted the non-whites from sitting in the front of the bus in the southern US. Although there is no institutional discrimination based on a person’s geographical origin, it is an observed social phenomenon in China. The division between people from the countryside and those from cities in China still exists today. It is the desperation of her inability to assimilate to the urban identity that prompts Sunny to decide to make her voice heard when she delivers the speech to a large crowd despite the consequences. In the last scene, Pete gets a janitorial job in the psychiatric hospital and takes over Sunny’s rebellious spirit. Pete sees that Sunny’s head tilts to the left in a white outfit. He performs a Drunken Monkey sequence from jingju to entertain Sunny and shows her video clips to inform her of her wide acceptance in the country and the changes that have happened in response to her call. That’s “Drunken Monkey,” I learned it for you. Monkey moves like this after getting drunk on the peaches of immortality he steals from the Empress of Heaven because he doesn’t want to die. Remember? They sentence him to death, but when they try to chop off his head the blade breaks, and the fire they burn him with…. The fire they burn him with tickles. Even the golden arrows can’t pierce his skin. (Cowhig 2013, 84) 142 Pete swivels the chair to introduce Sunny to the audience and holds his fist over his head when he talks about democracy and human rights, while simulating the sound of a trumpet to create a festive atmosphere. Pete’s long monologues in Act Two, Scene Eleven, portray the ideal society in Sunny and Pete’s imagination, in which Sunny is regarded as a hero whose speech has been watched by millions of people, encouraging strikes against factories. The urban-rural division diminishes, and peasants return to the countryside to establish a democratic and autonomous order where Sunny is elected the chairlady, and her birthday becomes a national holiday. The ending seems to be promising since Sunny’s sacrifice, through Pete’s report of her influence outside the company or jail, has encouraged the public to redress the distorted interpellation of them as obedient and unrequited servers. However, it is doubtful whether Pete’s descriptions are true, since it is hard to believe that one speech could produce such thorough changes in a rigid system. During Pete’s speeches, Sunny keeps saying “Change me”, or smiling slightly, which indicates that she has no power at all. This contradiction between the imagined power and the lack of power in real life forecasts a fatalistic tragedy instead of raising any hope for the future. In the last few lines, Pete informs Sunny that he will relieve her from this torture, but in the most undesirable way. Pete: When you open your eyes. Your life will be wide open with possibility. It will be beautiful and blank. You might feel tired. Things will be hard. But if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. Do you believe in you self, Sunny? Sunny (whispering): Change me. Pete: Let go of your past. Let everything fade away. Face your future with clear eyes and a strong body. Are you ready? 143 Sunny (mouths): Change me. Pete: Take a deep breath. Now, change. (Cowhig 2013, 86) Unable to see Sunny suffer from more interrogations and tortures, Pete suffocates Sunny with a pillow and ends her pain. Sunny catches Pete and grips her clothes when she dies in the chair. The description of Sunny catching Pete and gripping her clothes when she dies in the chair implies that Sunny does not die immediately and that she is able to struggle for a brief moment before ultimately succumbing to suffocation. This scene is likely to be emotionally charged and difficult to watch or read, as it involves the violent death of a character who has been subjected to extreme levels of suffering and oppression throughout the play. However, this heartbroken description highlights the extreme measures that individuals may resort to when faced with overwhelming oppression and violence. Different levels of simulation have exemplified the divisions between colleagues, family members, and urban and rural individuals. Mr. Destiny’s brainwashing lectures create desires for Sunny to pursue, and Sunny figures out her ways of achieving her goals and shares that experience with her colleague. The arcade game serves as another simulation of the bizarre divergence between urban and rural mindsets. In addition, the Monkey King and its transformations form a spiritual sanctuary for Sunny to keep her hopes of changing herself for the ideal. These simulations, faithful or pretentious, create hyperrealities – not from reality but from copies of reality – for the characters and audiences to believe in. These copies of reality can reduce the risk of fabrication and create a more immersive and impactful experience for the audience. Simulations are a powerful tool in Cowhig’s play that can be used to explore themes of cultural identity and diversity and to engage audiences in fresh perspectives. According to 144 Baudrillard, hyperreality is a state in which reality is no longer distinguishable from simulations or copies of reality (Baudrillard 1995b, 1). In the context of theatre, simulations can create hyperrealities that are more immersive and engaging for audiences and that can provoke deeper reflections on social issues. Simulations and hyperreality blur the line between reality and fiction in the performance from time to time to help audiences provide a space for audiences to reflect and contemplate complex social issues. The World of Extreme Happiness offers a depiction of the experiences of underprivileged individuals in today’s China by employing a simulated and hyperrealist environment in order to fully engage the audience with the challenging circumstances experienced by the characters. By engaging in this practice, it creates a sense of ambiguity between the imaginary realm shown on the stage and the tangible socio-political circumstances it mirrors. By immersing the audience in a simulated reality, the production endeavours to provoke a heightened emotional reaction and foster a more profound contemplation of the social and economic inequalities, such as the profound disparity between the affluent upper class and the underprivileged lower class in China. 145 Chapter 5: A Rare Exception Among Conformation to Normalcy: Caught by Christopher Chen “In war, truth is the first casualty.” – Aeschylus On August 7, 2015, Peter Mattis, Senior Fellow with the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, published an article entitled, “Stop Saying China Is at a Crossroads” on The National Interest, claiming that the political attitude and values of the US diplomatic strategy had renounced its previous efforts to, “integrate [China] into the institutions of a U.S.-led international order.” (Mattis 2015). Although there were no clear policies prior to the ongoing antagonism, increasing confrontations in the South China Sea and the US-China trade tension have substantiated the political change. The US political paradigm shift from ineffective attempts to transform China into a subordinate economy, by permeating the notion of freedom and democracy in China, to direct conflicts in economic and social sectors has found cultural reflections in the same decade: the persona of characters from China in Chinese American plays experienced a gradual change in the 2010s. Compared to the Chinese American plays in the 1980s, the depiction of characters from China has become much more noticeable. Different from the Chinese American characters, whose complex identities are recognized, the Chinese characters cast a mythical shadow for the audience, and the more commonly seen descriptions of the characters are either clumsy or tragic. For example, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman (2011) creates a nerdy Chinese student who comes to study in the US with perfect math skills but who can barely communicate in English. Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness (2014) and The King of Hell’s Palace (2019) describe deceptions and a lack of a transparent political system in both Chinese urban and rural 146 areas. Compared to the 1980s, playwrights who have more in-depth knowledge of China and are capable of more accurate descriptions of incidents that occurred in China are no longer uncommon in Chinese American theatre in the 2000s. As playwright Christopher Chen states in my interview with him, the “not really here and not really there” mentality that used to be popular in Chinese American works a few decades ago, together with the protagonists and the theatre artists themselves, have dealt with conflicts between the fact that they are children of immigrants and the path they want to take in America – the classic division between immigrants and the second generation. Chinese and Asian American theatre has been evolving: the number of Chinese and Asian American artists is growing, themes and topics have expanded, and more plays and scholarly writings on Chinese and Asian American theatre are being staged and/or published. The emerging Chinese American playwrights after the 2010s include, but are not limited to, Christopher Chen, Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig, Yilong Liu, Lauren Yee, and Yi Zhu. Although Chineseness is still relevant to their plays, their focus has expanded to more ubiquitous values that apply to not only the Chinese American community but also other minorities and beyond. The Western perception of China has grown increasingly complicated, reflecting the dynamic interplay between the United States and China, as well as the influence of globalization on the exchange of cultural ideas. In recent years, there has been a discernible change in the Western preoccupation with and adoption of Chinese artistic styles. The phenomenon of incorporating many aspects of Chinese culture, including art, fashion, and philosophy, into Western culture has become notably prominent in the United States. Playwrights and theatre practitioners have played a crucial role in illuminating the complexities. Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig recognizes the significance of engaging in discourse on Chinese oppression within the realm of 147 American theatre, as it serves to enhance societal consciousness regarding matters that align with greater social justice considerations. The portrayal of Chinese concerns possesses the potential to cultivate empathy and advance the cause of social justice on a worldwide level. Nonetheless, the existence of both Western attraction with Chinese aesthetics and the possibility of cultural appropriation highlights a complex and multi-dimensional relationship. One perspective suggests that there exists a certain allure towards the perceived exotic and culturally vibrant aspects of China, which may engender feelings of superiority and a sense of cultural proprietorship. Conversely, Western spectators may experience a sensation of being overwhelmed or incapable of comprehending and appreciating the intricacies inherent in Chinese culture. Nevertheless, the complex interplay between Western affection for Chinese aesthetics and the possibility of cultural appropriation highlights a multifaceted dynamic. On one hand, the allure of the perceived sophistication of China’s culture can engender a sense of superiority. On the other hand, the foreign image may lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed or incompetent in comprehending and appreciating the nuances of the Chinese culture.22 The adoption of this sophisticated approach is of vital importance in the establishment of a theatrical space that effectively fosters significant intercultural dialogues. Rather than discussing identity, race, or gender issues particular to Chinese immigrants in the US, Christopher Chen’s Caught belongs to contemporary Chinese American plays promoting a pancultural framework. Simultaneously, Caught invites contemplation on the artists’ and media’s legitimacy and credibility in terms of informing oppression against political dissidents in China. Part of the story in the previous chapter is based on Mike Daisey’s adapted report of the 22 Interview with Christopher Chen. [September 1, 2020] 148 Foxconn suicides in 2010 and 2011, and it is also common to notice the coverage of the vulnerable groups in China in major news agencies in the US. It may not be a political tactic to use the widespread reportage to antagonize China’s image, as most of the news has reported facts, but the selection of facts in the news may have pushed the audience away from a thorough comprehension of the country. To some extent, proving the accountability of truth becomes secondary to perceiving its potential influence on public life. Especially in the latter half of the 2010s, an increasing trend to saturate a truthful but partial image of China witnessed in major networks proceeds to overwrite both affectionate and intellectual experiences of China in the West. In other words, it is also a scrutiny of trustworthy intelligence about a distant and dissimilar culture and individuals in a broader sense, during the journey of searching for and reporting “truth” – “social consensus… constrained by conditions of reality” – and its effect on public life (Katz and Mays 2019, 24, 258). Chen poses a puzzling question for the audience that emerges from the obstructions on the journey to seek truth: “The conditions under which we learn and can confirm truths or disconfirm falsehoods have grown complicated in ways we have not yet socially and politically assimilated. Knowing the truth is harder because propaganda, profits, prejudices, and pranks travel more quickly and are empowered by new means of cloaking themselves in the garb of truthfulness” (Katz and Mays 2019, 27). Chen elaborates on his bumpy truth-seeking journey in Caught. In it, Lin Bo, a male Chinese dissident artist, delivers a speech about his arrest for organizing an imaginary protest online to commemorate the deceased in the Tiananmen Square tragedy in 1989 and the tortures he suffered in a detention centre in China. Having had a profile appear in the New Yorker, a writer named Joyce and an editor called Bob invite Lin for an interview in their office about his 149 experience. Joyce, who wrote the profile for the New Yorker was convinced by his account, but Bob is suspicious that Lin fabricated his experience in China. During the interview, they discover that Lin’s statements conflict with the references they collected, and they suspect that Lin appropriated the memoir of another Chinese dissident and claimed it as his own. Lin is overwhelmed by their demanding questions and admits that he was adopted and raised in the US, and he wanted to gain fame by fabricating a story of an oppressed artist who dared to revolt against the restriction of freedom in China. Astonished, Joyce is angry about Lin’s lies because she may lose her job for having published the feature about Lin. Bob points out that Lin’s purpose is to become white, which Lin admits. Then the setting changes to a gallery with a white curator and Wang Min, a female Chinese artist. They sit face-to-face for an interview at the centre stage. Wang reveals that Lin’s story was her creative work and discusses lies and truths in artwork. Wang then criticizes journalism and the media for having diverted from the norm and made fiction and adaptations of facts more popular. The curator seems to believe every event Wang describes, and Wang castigates the curator for her inability to distinguish truths from lies. The curator collapses and feels lost as she is unclear about Wang’s point, but Wang tells the curator that she should focus on their journey and set aside the pursuit of goals. The final act is set in a living room, where Lin and Wang chat about the performance. After a moment, they begin to discuss Yu Rong, a fictional Chinese dissident artist, talk about Yu Rong’s life, and question each other about whether they knew the person. Then, Lin reads a message from Yu Rong on his phone to show that he and Yu Rong are acquainted. The play ends with Lin and Wang talking to the audience, reiterating that the intention of the performance is to urge them to, “Cast doubt upon me. Negate me” (C. Chen 2017, 75). 150 The first act of Caught points to a potential reason for some people with Chinese ancestry to borrow or invent stories about their tragic encounters in China to seek fame. The original story that the first act is based on, the Mike Daisey scandal,23 points to another possibility, that for some artists, the aesthetic adaptation of reality as truth is legitimate. In a Washington Post article, Joshua Topolsky justified Mike Daisey’s fabrications on the ground that they reported some facts and, more importantly, found a way to attract attention to the human side of his story or, in his words, “He lied to tell the truth, basically” (Topolsky 2012). The mixture of truths and lies is intriguing and presents an affectionate narrative about the Chinese workers, but it may as well further the division between the new immigrants and Chinese Americans and reshape the reception of Chinese Americans. Although a more comprehensive representation of Chinese people is spotted, it does not negate the possibility for new labels to emerge and be attached to the same group that has worn other hackneyed names. Michael Schudson points out that “cultural contact and conflict can provoke the articulation of norms inside the group,” and group egoism tends to relate different groups with one group’s norms, which may separate or affiliate the groups (Schudson 2001, 152). Echoing Michael Schudson’s insights, I argue that it is more essential to discuss the impact of the new stereotypical model on the perception of the image of China than to verify the social consensus about China. Assisted by a plethora of descriptions of controversial Chinese practices, such as the preference of boys to girls and being submissive, and oppression that moved beyond 23 In January 2012, a radio program This American Life aired an episode “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory”, a 39-minute excerpt from Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs”, which was the most popular episode in the program’s history. The captivating story recounts the horrible working conditions of FoxConn, a company located in Shenzhen, China, that mainly manufactured products for Apple. Although Mike Daisey had visited FoxConn and spoken with the worker, his description of underage, paralyzed, or poisoned workers was fabricated. The episode was soon retracted because of this dramatized and exaggerated story. 151 recapitulating those well-known immigration stories or historical movements, the presentation of the image of China in Chinese American theatre since the 2010s has opened new territories for the audience to explore. This increased exposure to China on stage offers a richer portrayal, but it caters to only one side of the spectrum, which is a latent hindrance to fair comprehension. Moreover, the rendered introduction to the reality in China is subject to the media that spread it. To borrow Jean Baudrillard’s idea of “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place” as a reference: although the war did happen, the presentation and reportage of the war might not be comparable to the truth (Baudrillard 1995a). In this sense, the Gulf War is no longer a real war but a hyperreality spread by the media. The mediated communications controlled by western transnational media companies, whose influence permeates the whole world, become perfect outlets for presenting channels selected or edited facts for the general public to gather information to create a collective consent that equals the media coverage of the incidents that have happened in real life (Çoban 2018, 1-3). In Caught, by exemplifying Lin Bo’s scheme to gain fame by disguising himself as a Chinese dissident artist, Chen urges the audience to think critically about the sources of information they have access to and seek more information to bridge the gap between the mediated presentation and the “truth” per se. According to John Tomlinson, pervasive mediatization in everyday life affects the deterritorialization of cultural experiences, i.e., cultural experiences that are no longer confined by geographical boundaries (Tomlinson 1999). The explicit or implicit linkage between Chinese Americans and China created in Chen’s Caught engages its audience in reshaping the cultural connections within the Chinese American community. By discussing the criteria for “truth” and its relation to media, as well as its potential impact on the audience, this chapter will adopt the frame of Deleuze’s territorialization and deterritorialization to scrutinize the 152 characters’ storytelling in Caught that contributes to questioning intercultural understandings and confirming pancultural values. 5.1 Territorialization and Deterritorialization From the 1980s onward, plays, productions, and anthologies by individual theatre artists, along with the collaborative work of Asian American theatre companies, have elevated theatre’s ability to reformat Asian Americans from an invisible and marginalized minority to a multiethnic community indispensable to the US cultural landscape.24 Before then, Asian American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s mostly focused on the topics of immigration, marginalization, racism, stereotypes, identity crisis, adaptation, and assimilation in the ethnic and pan-ethnic communities by showcasing “generational tensions, angry parents, disaffected children, enigmatic grandmothers, and buried family histories” (J. Lee, Eitel, and Shiomi 2011, 4). While parts of Asian American theatre since the 2010s still seem to follow this trend and tackle similar issues, deterritorialization has taken place to repeat the preoccupied image of Asian Americans. For instance, one of the protagonists in Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman (2011) is from China and does not speak a line until near the end of the play. He seems to resemble the characterization of an alienated immigrant in the past. However, the character is smart at math, more intelligent than the American-born Chinese kids in the American family, and speaks fluent English (although he remains silent for most of the play), which mitigates previous stereotypes against Chinese immigrants. His silent reactions on and off stage do not conform to the traditional expectation for normal communications and offer possibilities for the character: the audience may confirm their preconceptions of a Chinese student who cannot speak the language, 24 See page 1-10 of Asian American Plays for a New Generation edited by Josephine Lee, Don Eitel, and R. A. Shiomi for a detailed list of Asian American theatre companies, anthologies of Asian American drama, and names of Asian American playwrights. 153 or he may be concealing his talent to gain preference from the family. In another play by Yee, The Great Leap, a memoir of the protagonist’s father’s trip to a friendship basketball game held in China during the Cultural Revolution, which does not focus too much on the political incidents themselves but reconnects the transpacific link between the Chinese Americans and their parents’ homeland. The image of China in Chinese American performances since the 2010s has become a prevalent symbol of displacement, dislocation, and deterritorialization.25 For example, in Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap, the character Manford is a Chinese American basketball player who travels to China and confronts his cultural identity while navigating the complexities of international competition. This portrayal reflects the experience of many Chinese Americans who feel caught between two cultures and struggle to reconcile their identities in a globalized world. Theories of intercultural theatre, such as Pavis’ hourglass model and Lo and Gilbert’s topography model, have been cross-referenced frequently in previous literature (Lo and Gilbert 2002; Li and Pitches 2012; Verdecchia 2019; Ferrari 2020), but they have not specifically interpreted the everchanging intercultural performances, which have proven the complex challenges of a single model for intercultural performance. This chapter does not intend to create a new model, but rather to examine the trajectory of Chinese American performances from a new angle. In this chapter, I will explore both the dramatic text, and the performance of Christopher Chen’s Caught through the lens of deterritorialization as a case study to assess the value of the 25 For detailed descriptions and discussions of displacement, dislocation, and deterritorialization, see Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Vol. 1. Minneapolis, Minn: University of Minnesota Press; Giddens, Anthony. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press; Thompson, John B. 1995. The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers; and Tomlinson, John. 1999. Globalization and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 154 deprivation and reconstruction of the image of China in the deconstruction and transformation of cultural frameworks in Chinese American theatre in the 2010s. 5.2 Is There Anything Real? An Introduction to Caught When the Mike Daisey scandal was revealed, there was a heated debate at to whether he was entitled to dramatize the working conditions in his “report” of the manufacturer of Apple products. Similarly, in Chen’s Caught, Wang Min’s attempt to fabricate a story of China, where people dump thousands of baby girls into Chinese rivers every year, is taken seriously by the museum curator in the third act. Similarly, the specious joke about who is more cherished by the fictional character Yu Rong between Wang and Lin in the last act denotes the media’s power to enhance influence and endorse authenticity. In an interview with me, Chen shared his insights on the determining effect that media brings: “Media defines our perception of things. Period.”26 Arjun Appadurai applies the theory of deterritorialization to cultural studies and points out that the essential issue of current global interactions is the “tension between cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization.” (Appadurai 1990, 295-310; 2014, 481-90).27 Homogenization is another term embodying both Americanization and commodification, and heterogenization is another term for indigenization, where empowered new cultures assert their influences. Appadurai also categorizes the global cultural flow into a framework containing ethnoscapes (landscape), mediascapes (dissemination of information and the media-created world), technoscapes (technology), finanscapes (markets, stocks, and commodities), and ideoscapes (politics and ideologies or counter-ideologies that direct state power). 26 Interview with Christopher Chen. [September 1, 2020] 27 Interestingly, Appadurai denies that he got inspirations from Deleuze and states that they share similar insights. 155 The mediascape refers to the generation and dissemination of information at private and state disposal that instigates a desire for further communication or possession. As in Lin’s storytelling in Caught, the public diffusion of the mixture of facts and fabrications arouses Joyce and Bob’s curiosity, leading them to cross-reference Lin’s story with other dissidents’ records and determine the authenticity of his story. The ideoscape refers to a series of interrelated images that often involve national ideologies and anti-ideologies that aim to obtain all or part of the state’s power. They comprise a series of views, concepts, and influences – such as freedom, welfare, and representation – that determine various political cultures. In Caught, the three interrelated acts present a progressive examination of political ascendency in China by busting Lin’s made-up identity, redressing the curator’s trapped questions, and creating a mythical public figure for the audience to ponder. By introducing Appadurai’s insights on ideoscape, I will discuss the challenge of belief curation set forth by the puzzle-solving journey embedded in the conversations between the characters. Appadurai argues that it is the core of the modern world and various fundamentalisms as it propels the inferior labor workers to the spaces of the wealthy societies. This situation creates an exaggerated and strong sense of criticism of one’s home country’s politics and upholds a strong sense of attachment simultaneously. And it is because of deterritorialization that currencies, commodities, and populations are chasing a higher profit margin between hierarchical spaces around the world. At the same time, the media landscape and ideological landscape of the modern world have found their broken and incomplete counterparts here. He then demonstrates his theory in the above mentioned five “scapes”: it not only generates a new market for agents to reconnect the deterritorialized groups to their homeland via physical or imaginary means but also 156 directs the flow of labor, technology, cultural representations, and financial investments in “neo-Marxist models of uneven development and state formation” (Appadurai 1990, 295-310).28 On the one hand, mediascape refers to the distribution of capabilities to produce and disseminate information, which has become more accessible to individuals and groups all over the world; on the other hand, it is the image reflected in media in complicated ways, depending on their mode, hardware, audience, and the interests of those who own and control them (Appadurai 1990, 299). The use of visual methods provides audiences with rich and complex images and narratives about the ethnoscape, the technoscape, and the financescape in a mix. The border between the real and the fictional “scapes” becomes blurred and difficult to distinguish for the audience. He also argues that the mediascape comprises images and narratives, from which the audience usurps elements such as characters, plots, and genres to construct an image that connects the lives of their own and others. These imaginaries construct one’s illusions and metanarratives of others, which may inspire their desire to acquire and migrate. In this case, the images have stepped beyond people’s minds to become an organized social and cultural practice and a way of communication and coordination. Therefore, it is possible that, through the imaginaries constructed by media, people believe in both imaginaries of their own and others as actual existence to confirm their existence and connect to the realistic or imaginary world. 5.2.1 The Performance Space in Disguise of a Gallery Directed by Lee Sunday Evans, Christopher Chen’s Caught debuted in August 2016 at La Mama in New York, which, by creating a confusing and mythical setting, highlights the influence and impressions generated by cultural stereotypes and alienated epistemology. By 28 The definition of “displacement” refers to Homi Bhabha’s “Location, intervention, incommensurability: A conversation with Homi Bhabha” Emergences 1, no.1(1989): 66. 157 blurring the main characters’ identities and the surrounding reality, this four-act play avoids allowing the audience to remember a specific event and evokes their curiosity to challenge the authenticity of mediated information in intercultural communications. Chen expresses his concern about the extreme transformation of cultural hegemony in the US, where the marginalized have made their way to the national discourse, but its reception is diversified. Chen’s intention to set up multiple frames in a non-linear structure in Caught attempts to change the predominant practice of having the audience follow and believe the narrative, which is one of the most essential causes of producing stereotypes and make-beliefs (Olmos 2016). The rug-pulling, digging, and disintegrations in the play reflect his act of uncovering profound concepts (Spector 2020). By exposing the intentions of the three acts at the very end of the performance, Chen pushes the receptive audience out of their habitual appreciation of theatrical performances and invites them to avail themselves of Chen’s attempt to question their beliefs. Chen believes that his plays help him to seek the nature or essence of a fact, to “uncover more about the world and challenge myself to see the world in a different way.” (Spector 2020). In the process, he tends to deconstruct and unravel different and malleable realities through his writings and Caught is a prominent representative of his insights. The production starts when the audience enters the lobby, where an installation shows the condition of a Chinese jail for political prisoners, which provides a persuasive background story for the first part of the performance.29 Characters in Caught elucidate that a split subject leads to the potential for agency and resistance since they become spect-actors of performances and 29 Video recording of the production of Caught by The Play Company at La Mama, New York, in 2016. I watched this video recording at the office of the Play Company in New York in December 2019. 158 destabilize the representational frames to encourage audiences, including the performers themselves, to question the content of the performance. The metatheatrical setting creates what Chen calls a “chain of appropriation,” and the interaction with the installation turns the theatre into a site for intertextuality (C. Chen 2015, 62). The negation of the “truth” of the art installation and imagined political suppression is achieved in a Brechtian way – by speaking to the audience to remind them of the illusions of both form and content. For example, at the beginning of the performance, the curator of the gallery comes to the stage to announce the show, and at the end of the performance, it is scripted that Lin and Wong reiterate the Mike Daisey issue and guide the audience to cast doubt on the performance. In this case, a dialectical examination of “facts” interpellates its audience, through repetition, to believe and mock the authority’s scheme. Juxtaposed with the thesis’s final chapter, this chapter examines the mentality of a branch of contemporary Chinese American theatre that addresses the Western world’s two-fold attitude toward China in the 2010s: On the one hand, the Chinese people are innocent, but they are suffering from the communist regime, so they deserve attention and assistance, as exemplified in the son of the American family Upton’s attitude towards the Chinese student living in his family in Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman. On the other hand, by constructing an image of the Chinese people and China that is different from the Chinese diasporic culture, the Chinese Americans demonstrate their preference to assimilate to the American culture while resorting to innuendo about their Chinese counterpart, as the Chinese kid Upton did in Ching Chong Chinaman. Although the image of China serves as a vehicle for two different groups, I argue that the ultimate purpose is to imply a pancultural framework that bolsters the cultural hegemony between not only Chinese Americans and European Americans, but also between China and the US in Chinese American theatre. 159 5.2.2 Lin Bo: A Faux Chinese Dissident Artist The play is inspired by Mike Daisey’s scandal on the radio program This American Life, as discussed in the previous chapter, in which he forged fake investigations about the cruel working conditions in the Foxconn company in China, which did exist but were not as harsh as in his descriptions (Daisey 2012).30 Although the episode was criticized and later removed from the website, Chen points out that the kernel of this issue – the working conditions of the Chinese workers – has escaped scrutiny. Following this insight, Chen wrote Caught to set up a scenario for his audience to ponder the news and dig deeper to investigate issues buried in the maddening crowd, including the working conditions in factories, the accountability and influence of artistic adaptation of facts, and the audience’s credulity when facing unfamiliar worlds. Chen adopts a “Russian-doll” formula to describe three sequential events to call attention to the truth-seeking journey instead of struggling with the rhetoric (Tran 2016). The quote, which is often credited to Andy Warhol, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” has been deeply rooted in contemporary psychology.31 The surging number of various categories of media has boosted the process. Chen commented in my interview with him that the perceptions of China in the play are epitomized in the act when the characters comment on the New York Times, where the international section almost equals “the ninth circle of hell” and the US as a “culturally diverse paradise.” The self-righteousness and gruesome fascination with the “inferior” nations are perpetuated in the media’s storytelling. To some extent, the media prioritizes the most sensational issues rather than reporting the 30 The podcast is considered one of the origins of the Mike Daisey controversy, and it later retracted the episode and declared that many of Mike’s experiences were fabricated. 31 The origin of this quote is not found, but it is generally agreed that Andy Warhol has made the statement. 160 happenings on the ground.32 It is this penchant of the media that Lin Bo in this play ventures to take advantage of in order to achieve his dream of fame. Before Lin Bo steps onto the stage, the audience first sees an art installation of a jail cell with a bed and a toilet in Lin Bo’s art studio that he rents out on Airbnb for one dollar per night, which is a symbol for the imprisonment of Lin Bo, a Chinese dissident artist who claims to have been arrested for holding a cyber campaign to commemorate the deceased in the Tiananmen incident. The video recording of The Play Company’s production of Caught shows that the first act portrays Lin Bo’s story in detail. A plank in the middle of the cell reads “Lin Bo – Jail Seeking Prisoners 2016,” and the clock on top of the cell is at 9:00. The art installation insinuates the prisoner’s sufferings in this cramped space, but the renting advertisements induce the audience to view it with a tourist mindset. Then, a middle-aged anchorperson, Susan, comes to centre stage, wearing eyeglasses, a black sleeveless top, and a dotted dress that suggests her professionalism and etiquette. By contrast, Lin Bo’s sluggish jacket, light brownish shirt, and dark grey jeans, along with his slicked-back hairstyle and moustache, contour a common image of an artist, which establishes a character comfortable for the audience to believe. In addition, when the journalist hands Lin Bo a bottle of water, Lin Bo puts it down and starts to elaborate on his imprisonment. That he is not being constrained by social etiquette further confirms his identity as an artist. In addition, his inhibition to accept friendliness from others may be an after effect of his possible prior mistreatments in jail, echoing his description of his oppressed, imprisoned life. He first introduces himself by reading the prepared notes slowly with a choppy Chinese accent as the intonations of words follow Mandarin standards, which is an obvious signifier for his 32 Interview with Christopher Chen. [September 1, 2020] 161 disguise as authentically Chinese. Then he walks to stage right and points to the projection of the famous 798 ArtDist in Beijing on both sides of the cell.33 The 798 ArtDist, located at 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, is a cluster of cultural and creative industries. According to Lin’s explanation, 798, as a tourist attraction, is a posed performance of pseudo-tolerance of political dissidents to cover the veiled hostility towards efforts to transform the nation into a democratic one, i.e., political dissent activities outside the preset area are still strictly forbidden in China. He then shows enthusiastic proofs of his imaginary protest, inspired by American artist Lawrence Weiner’s concept, in memory of the June Fourth campaign in China.34 Lin Bo takes pride in his creed, “The idea itself is art” (C. Chen 2017, 45). He compares life to imaginative interactions and characterizes the entirety of individuals’ encounters inside the imaginative cycle, where he expects no hindrance or danger. However, although his project was not even a physical campaign, the national security apparatus managed to reach his place, and he mentions that he should not have opened the door in a frustrated mood: he sticks both his hands in his pockets and sighs. After that, Lin Bo illustrates his life in prison with the help of a series of hand gestures: when he is taken to the interrogation place, he holds his hand on his belly; when he is asked to provide information 33 The projected images include: a construction site of the central business district of Beijing, bungalows to be demolished, three construction workers standing on a steel bar, 798 ArtDist in Beijing, the sculpture of Mao in 798, a child riding on a canon, caged people with their hands up, three applauding sculptures in army uniform, a headless applauding sculpture, two workers holding up a pile of 100 Chinese yuan bills, three sculptures holding the “Little Red Book”, a map of 798, a statement of A Glacier Vandalized, a line “An Apple Molested”, the June the Fourth campaign, the Goddess of Democracy, and a dead student among fallen bicycles. 34 Lawrence Weiner’s conceptual artwork, “Declaration of Intent” (1968), illustrates that “1. The artist may construct the piece. 2. The piece may be fabricated. 3. The piece need not be built. Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist, the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership.” In his Statements (1968), he created several other conceptual artworks. See https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/lawrence-weiner and https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jun/17/artist-lawrence-weiner. 162 about people involved in this project, he has his hands clasped; he then puts his hands behind his back; and when he introduces the living conditions in the prison, he keeps moving his hands. Seokmin Kang and Barbara Tversky state that gestures are natural actions that convey meanings not delivered in speech when explaining things to speakers themselves or to the audience. Gestures carry information to assist in story understanding and “represent complex manners of action more directly certainly than words.” Therefore, gestures both represent and resemble the message to be delivered (Kang and Tversky 2016). Lin adopts these above mentioned gestures to support his “sincere” speech, but his frequent changes in gestures also reveal his anxiety in the course of storytelling. Although Lin attempts to keep gestures natural to match his speech, his restless hands reflect his insecurity and irresolution about his story. However, since his character is set to be a dissident in China, it may still leave an impression for the audience that he is so traumatized by this horrible experience that he cannot help but become agitated, which causes his complex of gestures and wins sympathy. His speech wins applause from the audience. At the end of the first act, he picks up the bottle of water and shakes hands with the journalist before walking offstage. However, because of the discrepancies between his narratives and a scholar’s on-site investigation, Lin Bo is challenged by the journalist Joyce and her editor Bob. The cell installation is replaced by a long table with three chairs at the beginning of Act 2. Joyce, in a business suit, stands up to greet Lin, who hugs her in return. Along with Joyce stands a man, Bob, in a business suit as well, holding a folder in his hand, who is introduced to Lin Bo by Joyce. Lin then talks about La Mama as well as his imprisonment in China in an assertive and slightly emotional way, keeping a smiling face and a one-leg-on-the-other pose, while Bob rolls 163 up his sleeves and both Bob and Joyce take notes in a serious manner. When Joyce mentions that Professor Friedman, who has done tons of on-site research on the political dissidents in China, happens to have recorded the conditions of the same cell that Lin claims to have been staying in, Lin’s “small world” comment triggers a burst of laughter among the audience. Then, Lin starts to act oddly: he moves his legs intermittently and checks Professor Friedman’s research from time to time. But when Joyce points out that Lin’s report conflicts with Professor Friedman’s, Lin continues to explain while his incongruous movements and speeches betray him: his hands are restless; he stares at Bob in a hostile manner; he challenges Professor Friedman’s research sarcastically; when Joyce tries to console him, he responds with a loud voice and awkward diction. Even though Joyce and Bob point out that Lin must have appropriated the experience of other dissident artists, Lin still insists that his imprisonment is undoubtedly valid. Joyce keeps questioning his experience in China to dig out the “truth,” and it is only when Bob slams the folder on the table and accuses Lin of lying all along that Lin turns to Joyce and looks at her, possibly ending the conversation. Then, Lin confesses that he has made up the imprisonment experience, which enrages Joyce so much that she flips the paper savagely and starts over to record Lin’s words. Joyce pulls her chair closer to the table and changes to a serious voice, wearing a blank expression and adopting decisive hand movements to continue the interrogation. Joyce figures that her career is doomed for publishing Lin’s fabricated stories and keeps walking in a circle with her left hand on her forehead and her right hand on her waist. She covers her face as she fulminates and is overwhelmed by Lin’s deceit. Bob consoles her, but Joyce first spreads out her arms to show her anger and hopelessness and then curses Lin. Lin loses courage and turns his face away from Joyce, and Bob grabs and tears the pieces of paper on the table and drops them on the ground. 164 Accompanied by sorrowful music, Joyce sinks in melancholy and desperation, and Bob points his finger at Lin angrily. Joyce then reveals her original thoughts that she wished to gain fame and a promising future with the feature about Lin, and Lin mistakes her confession as an opportunity to reconcile with her, but his expression of friendliness is refused by Joyce. Lin then discloses his real identity, as a “straight-up American” adopted when he was young and grew up in the US, and admits that to satisfy his yearning for fame, he has taken advantage of his racial identity and created fake stories (C. Chen 2015, 58). Unsurprisingly, he is not from China but was born and raised in Los Angeles with an Anglophone name, Venice Beach, which caused waves of laughter from the audience. After that, all three characters hug together, and Lin acknowledges his true intention, which is to take advantage of his Chineseness to “be part of the cultural elite” (C. Chen 2015, 58). Then, the three characters bow to the audience, which ends the act. Although trapped in his fabrication, Lin Bo had to continue to reaffirm his story to retain the recognition and popularity provided by the identity he assumed. Because of the “truthfulness” of the story, the audience will be more inclined to believe in the narrative and confirm their stereotypes based on their satisfying expectations (Preston 2015). Lin Bo finally admits that he is not Chinese but an American-born Chinese who, ironically, has never been to China. The harsh plot reversal transforms Lin from a sympathetic dissident artist to a hypocritical liar and demolishes the previously established characterization. Prior to his confession of fabrication, to complete his story, he always utters a verbal quirk like “very well” before responding to Joyce’s or Bob’s questions. The repeated verbal quirk deterritorializes his description of his experience and serves as a notice for the audience to arouse doubt about the authenticity of his personal history. However, after admitting his plan to gain fame by designing a miserable story in Chinese jail, 165 Lin looks discontented and depressed, and he recollects his usual way of speaking and no longer needs the verbal idiosyncrasy to conceal his true intention. 5.2.3 Doubt and Negation: Deterritorializing the Fantasy In Act Three, during a conversation about the Mike Daisey scandal between Wang Min, a Chinese American artist, and the curator of an art gallery, Wang points out the media’s two-sided mission: while it seeks theatricality to produce narratives that confirm the public’s prejudices in order to entertain them, it is also obsessed with probing the incident to test the authenticity of the narrative instead of showing the whole picture more critically and objectively. As a result, the kernel of the truth in Chinese factory incident spread by Mike Daisey, i.e., the actual working condition of the workers, is lost in the process of producing and challenging the narrative.35 Wang’s insight pinpoints the prime contradiction of the media and other channels for communication and announcements: it is not easy to report the verified facts of the incident and to guarantee its audience’s loyalty at the same time. Therefore, Mike Daisey’s story signifies a style for stories based on truthful facts with adaptations, which not only presents the news but also smuggles out cultural frameworks that have been prevalent in society to gain more coverage. In a way, the territorialization of the story mode prevents the audience from caring for or challenging the facts per se and sets up a slippery slope for them to fall into emotional empathy instead of intelligent judgments. To refocus on the truth-finding journey, it is necessary to deterritorialize and estrange this style to allow for further consideration of the facts. 35 In my interview with Chen, he mentioned that he had conversations with other Asian American theatre artists about Mike Daisey and plagiarism. Chen states that the real issue—workers conditions in China—is lost in the mix. Apart from the discussion about western navel gazing, he is also keen to scrutinize what history has been unlocked. 166 In the third act of Caught, Wang notes that the kernel issues tend to be ignored in the mediated discussions that aim to accommodate a larger audience, and the tit-for-tat discussion between her and the curator lures the spectators to confusion and disorientation. The discussion becomes a game that is likely to distract its participants and audiences from probing the issue and, as a form itself, to lose them in the obscure process. This section will explore the function of discussion in clarifying and mediating cultural topics by examining the third and fourth acts as well as the short denouement of Caught. Set in a venue for a talk show, the curator and Wang Min are dressed in casual costumes. In the beginning, Wang Min speaks with a choppy Chinese accent, which is considered a typical “characteristic” of Chinese immigrants whose opinions on China will be regarded as authentic. However, later she loses her accent and talks fluently, which shatters her disguise as a new immigrant and leaves the impression that stereotypical marks do not guarantee racial “authenticity” but may forge a pseudo-identity that introduces partial or adapted facts about Chinese people to appeal to emotions. During their conversation, Wang Min is discouraged by the curator’s failure to understand her concepts and definitions of certain terms, so her response to the curator triggers laughter from the audience: when the curator talks about appropriation, Wang Min replies with a wistful “Ah”; she puts her hand on her head and then holds her chin as if attempting to imply to the curator that they are discussing unrelated issues; she drinks water to cover her embarrassment; and she keeps negating the curator’s expressions. Wang challenges the curator’s gullibility about different cultures by informing the curator of a fictitious narrative that Wang fabricated at random moments ago, which the curator takes seriously. Wang propels the conversation to a doomed end by negating concepts concerning political discourse, cultural strategy, and 167 interpersonal connections, which nullifies the previous narratives and robs the base of specious ideas. After several rounds of debate, the curator collapses, accuses Wang of misleading her, and intends to leave because of the unbearable humiliation. Wang Min hands her a brown bag for her to vomit in, then turns to the audience to introduce her understanding of the intention and standard of truth. The curator covers her ears and shakes her head, resisting listening to Wang Min’s instructional speech. Wang Min walks to the curator, but the curator turns her head to the audience to avoid contact. The act ends with the curator picking up the bottled water and the brown bag and leaving the stage. To investigate Wang Min’s strategy to disrupt the aspiration to link the notion of China or Chinese to an ostracized and prescribed image, an analysis of the pattern of Wang’s language and manner is necessary. During the dialogue about Mike Daisey’s scandal between Wang Min and the curator, Wang negates the curator’s personal, if not purposeful, interpretation of “a chain of appropriation” and Wang’s expressions by repeating “It is not a matter of…” or “No, that is not what I’m saying” or “No. This is not what I am saying at all” over a dozen times in the short interview (C. Chen 2015, 62, 63, 64, 66). This repetitive pattern creates a frustrating experience for both the curator and the audience because it continues to break the flow of dialogue and denies understanding of Wang’s opinions. Deleuze and Guattari offer their insights on this particular syntax. For Deleuze, language serves as the medium for concepts, categories, and order, and plays an essential role in territorialization (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, 75-76). To be specific, the categorization delivered by language accords with cultural values that appoint the concepts and identities that serve to confine individuals. Deleuze divides the application of language into three dimensions: denotation/indication, manifestation, and signification, the common ground of which is that they present the language as a stable structure. According to 168 Deleuze, denotation/indication is “the relation of the proposition to an external state of affairs (datum)”: a proposition denotes an external state of affairs that it attempts to specify, and the connection between this proposition and the external state of affairs it relates to is a denotation/indication (Deleuze 1990, 12). In comparison, manifestation “concerns the relation of the proposition to the person who speaks and expresses himself”: apart from the external state of affairs, the proposition also exhibits the related beliefs and desires of the person who is expressing the proposition. Signification poses the question of “the relation of the word to universal or general concepts, and of syntactic connections to the implication of the concept”: a proposition can serve as the premises of a conceptual implication that is able to refer to it (Deleuze 1990, 13-14). The elements of denotation/indication, manifestation, and signification altogether establish a stable relationship between the subject and its meaning, which enables a recognizable, understandable, and imaginable space. Therefore, language territorializes the space as an orderly one with its built-in logic, and the subject must conform to the logic of language to construct characteristics in the future to fulfill promises the subject made in the past. However, the language’s homogeneous and stable structure prevents it from generating creative meanings. To solve this problem, Deleuze generates a new strategy – stutter – to deterritorialize language (Deleuze 2017).36 It does not imply an individual’s speech disorder, but a deviation from the standard grammar so that a stable relationship or connection between propositions, meanings, senses, and subjects is jeopardized. Deleuze and Guattari state that the strategy “carves out a kind of foreign language within language” rather than “the bad translation of a 36 There are two translations for the original French word “bégaiement,” which are stuttering and stammering, but the former is adopted by most scholars, so this thesis uses stuttering as the English equivalence to its French origin. 169 foreign language” that challenges popular knowledge. In this case, “language is no longer defined by what it says, even less by what makes it a signifying thing, but by what causes it to move, to flow, and to explode” (Deleuze and Guattari 1977, 133). The most significant influence of the “minoritarian” language is that it breaks through its conventional restraints and stabilized structure. As mentioned above, the language functions through constant repetition and consolidates its usage during the inheritance of the traditional culture, which calls for generations to repeat the practice of their cultural predecessors. Deleuze believes that to escape from this solidified usage of language, one needs “a new word” to express the concept, or “an everyday word that it gives a singular sense” (Deleuze 1995, 32). This unique way of using language is the exact sense of Deleuze’s “stuttering”: the application of language is no longer a replica of the content but a creator of new meanings and a manufacturer of new connections. A Thousand Plateaus highlights their appreciation of and preference for deterritorialization produced by creative ways to connect language and text to novel and special matters. Specifically, their comment on Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” provides a proper example of stuttering, which deterritorializes the traditional structure of language: Deleuze considers a repeated sentence pattern in the novel “I would prefer not to...” as a “formula that drives everyone crazy” (Deleuze 1997, 68). Deleuze believes that this sentence structure is not problematic in terms of grammar and syntax, but the “not to” that ends the sentence abruptly leaves various possibilities to determine the object it rejects and bestows the character with “a radical, a kind of limit-function” (Deleuze 1997, 68). The peculiar rendering of language challenges the traditional consensus on the usage of language, as Deleuze points out that this “soft, flat, and patient” murmur “by forming an inarticulate block, a single breath” is unusual for the supposed usage of language but “it has the same force, the same role as an 170 agrammatical formula” (Deleuze 1997, 68). The “stuttering” of the language system that appeared in this discourse marks the rupture of the usage of traditional language, which leaves no room for the traditional language system to establish a proper logic or connection but to be trapped in this “stuttering” scenario. In fact, for Deleuze, while the “stuttering” resembles a poorly translated foreign language fragment in terms of form, it “carves out a kind of foreign language within language” (Deleuze 1997, 71). This diversification of language style “becomes intensive, a pure continuum of values and intensities” (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, 98). Using Deleuze and Guattari’s “stuttering” theory, I argue that Wang questions the habitual construction of an unfamiliar culture by media and challenges trust in “authoritative” narratives by denying the curator’s understanding of her ideas and his tendency to reinforce the pre-existing cultural framework through similar means. In other words, when Wang says, “It’s not a matter of...” or “No, that is not what I’m saying,” she transcends the usage of traditional language, rejects the discursive function of language, and no longer sees herself as part of the homogenized language environment around her for identification. Thus, her stuttering breaks the usual process of communication and comprehension between individuals and leads the conversation to a more metaphysical realm. The last act happens in Lin and Wang’s lounge room, which is placed on the spot of the cell simulation in the first act, where Lin Bo and Wang Min, in casual costumes and positions, are sitting on a sofa looking at their phones, respectively. In the meantime, they eat food from McDonald’s and chat intermittently. There are fast food boxes and drinks on the floor, and the style of life confirms their Americanness. Wang asks Lin to look at her phone, and they both laugh. Their mundane lives do not reveal any of their traces in the previous performances, which casts doubts about the authenticity of their identities and narratives. 171 Then, in the middle of their discussion about the interview and the variety show in the previous two scenes, Wang claims that she and the legendary Yu Rong have been a couple for five years. While Lin trusts Wang, at that moment he is utterly surprised, and then he realizes that Wang has designed the story to test the standard of trust and the authenticity of truth. Therefore, Lin, in response, states that he is the one who has been with Yu Rong as a couple for five years, and both laugh hysterically while continuing the conversation. Wang sits on the floor and laughs out of breath. Then, both calm down and begin to discuss the hypothesis that they were both Yu Rong’s partners, which leads them to call each other liars loudly. Their discussion of Yu Rong, as if Yu Rong were a real figure in China, and Yu Rong’s hypothetical intimate relationship with them further problematizes the criteria for perception and truth.37 The reliability of trustworthy figures is questioned, as is that of oneself (Newmark 2018). In this sequence, the identity and its recognition of each character are obliterated repeatedly, and the core value of the play – to bring about focus on the journey of pursuing truth – is lost in the disguise of disputes between politics and mentalities. After that, Lin grabs his brown coat and stands up, walking back and forth before he returns to the sofa and slams the sofa arm forcefully. He passes his phone to Wang Min and uses the coat to wrap himself. Lin, upset, uses his left hand to wipe his tears while reading the words left by Yu Rong before he died, and Wang covers her mouth and listens with a sad face. At last, they 37 In my interview with Chen, he mentions that one podcast considers the fictional character Lin Bo as a real person and the first act as a preshow speech for the performance, which echoes Chen’s major debate in the play about the perception and truth. He also talks about the emotional/intellectual purpose, or the foundation/skeleton of the play: meticulously setting up expectations to mimic an actual person’s schema in their brain and state of mind and then yanking it away. In short, he intends to build a scenario and then smash it. In the play, this intellectual journey tentatively ends with a social commentary by a [the? Which?] couple, indicating personal relationships and how to trust the perception of other people. 172 hold hands, stare at each other, and stand up simultaneously. Wang wipes her tears and walks out of the living room. The act ends with a frozen tableau in the living room with Wang’s smile and Lin’s solemn face. In the denouement, Wang Min and Lin Bo introduce the origin of this show and expect the audience to visit again before they leave the stage. Then the stage manager comes onto the stage to announce the official ending of the show. In our interview, Chen said that the message of the play is a matter of journey to keep an active, open, and searching frame of mind, and it is not a matter of end goals or ending. The media often offers definitive stories and crystalizes things in people’s minds, like the perceptions of others who are in their media-sphere. It is a part of the journey that one must take, including the reality of culture.38 However, since the 2010s, with technological advancement, the reception of information relies much more on media, and various mediated messages about the same incident offer adequate sources to examine the fact, but it consumes more time and energy to screen the sources before obtaining a closer view of the fact. Chen’s assertion does not negate the value of the media but calls for awareness to discern and deconstruct the information to understand the causal relationship between reality and the mediated message. The performance reviews of Caught and interviews with the playwright reveal that the hunt for authenticity and truthfulness is the main purpose of this production, but it leaves an open ending for the audience to ponder rather than offering a clear method for judging truth among stories. In the New York Times’ review of Caught, Diep Tran asserts that Christopher Chen has transcended the issues in China or struggles with identities and instead focused on challenging 38 Interview with Christopher Chen. [September 1, 2020] 173 and scrutinizing the credibility of (mis)beliefs and thinking twice before drawing a conclusion (Tran 2016). Tran’s comments echo Chen’s original objective to drag the focus back to the issues reflected in artworks instead of prompting ideological opposition. In the Singapore Repertory Theatre’s interview with Christopher Chen, he states that Caught examines the hidden patterns beneath socio-political and psychological systems as well as the power dynamics. He also explores the concept of perception by breaking the “frame around every fact,” which lays the foundation for worldviews and conceptions of authenticity ("Playwright Christopher Chen Shares How His Identity Influences His Writing" 2019). In her review, Marissa Wolf points out the issue of the “authenticity of voice,” i.e., how to determine whether a person has an objective opinion on Chinese authority, Chinese artists, and the repression of the artists in Caught, but Chen answers that he does not intend to use his play to define anything but rather to invite the audience to question and challenge themselves about their predominant thoughts on authenticity through confronting the political factors as well as the characters themselves. Seeking authenticity through constant questioning, Chen concludes that authenticity is ephemeral and the search is a lifelong process (Wolf 2016). 5.3 Transformation of Cultural Frameworks on an Intercultural Stage Close to the end of Caught, Lin Bo reads Yu Rong’s writing about frustrations derived from the endless search for truth, which provokes thoughts on not only the stories told in the previous three acts but also mediated information about China and the Chinese. David Henry Hwang commented on Chen’s play in an interview with the latter: “It helps us, when we are faced with stories and news coming out about China, be more conscious of the lens through which we’re viewing it, our preconceptions and our baggage” (Tran 2016). Due to the political paradigm shift mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, it is obvious that the mediated image of each nation 174 in their counterpart has become more selective and even distorted. Moreover, the same incident can be interpreted oppositely to influence people in their nation, so it requires more intelligence and discernibility to pursue truth. The increasing difficulty of discovering truth parallels the transformation of cultural frameworks during the same period. For Chinese American theatre before the 2010s, represented by Lin Bo’s story and the curator’s approach, the projected truth aims to establish a pancultural framework that, while calling for sympathy for the horrible happenings in China on the surface, in reality reinforced the cultural hierarchy to further denounce Chinese culture. Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to a Student Revolutionary, discussed in chapter three, is a good example. To avoid the embarrassment epitomized in Caught’s second act, when the editor reveals that Lin Bo’s story is fabricated, and the third act, when the curator accuses Wang of misleading her off-topic, Chen points out the adverse effects of the media in Caught that prevaricate the truth-seeking and shift the focus on emotional appeals. Consequently, the media replaces the pancultural framework with the intercultural framework to create bilateral demarcations and strives to fulfill its purposes. The cultural contacts and connections between Lin and the editor, Wang and the curator, and Wang and Lin produce contrasted group images between Chinese people and Chinese Americans that are affected by divergent cultural nurture. According to Appadurai, the ideoscape mainly refers to those fields or places where literary discourse relates to specific social power relations and power structures, so the shift of cultural frameworks in performances reflects and influences power struggles between individuals and nations. For Joyce and the curator, the emotional shift from sympathy and righteousness to wrath and derangement does not indicate irrationality but reveals their defeat in the ideological battle. In the last act, the conversation between Lin and Wang about their common acquaintance Yu Rong builds a link 175 between the Chinese Americans and a Chinese person, and their capricious reactions to each other about Yu Rong’s life and preferences specify their mixed feelings about their Chinese counterpart and imply their similarity with Joyce and the curator when it comes to a remote culture. 176 Chapter 6: Conclusions Since 2020, the Covid 19 pandemic has affected performance-related industries (and beyond), creating a considerable obstacles for theatre artists to create and produce their pieces, and preventing audiences from enjoying performances. According to a chart entitled, “Establishments that experienced a government-mandated closure during the pandemic,” published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2020, 48% of “[a]rts, entertainment, and recreation” establishments experienced a government-mandated closure during the pandemic, which led to the unemployment of over one million workers (Statistics 2021). In response to public health concerns and government regulations, many theatres have had to close their doors or drastically reduce their capacities. This has led to a loss of revenue for many theatre companies and the cancellation or postponement of many productions. The pandemic has also highlighted existing inequalities in the theatre industry, particularly in terms of access and representation. This dramatic turning point reminds me of the transitions in Chinese American theatre over the past few decades. To explore how pancultural, intra-ethnic, and intercultural frameworks have been manifested and operationalized in Chinese American theatre between the 1980s and the 2010s, it is important to understand the historical and social contexts that shaped the experiences of Chinese Americans during this time period. As noted by Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong, Chinese Americans face significant challenges and discrimination in the US, particularly in relation to immigration policies and stereotypes perpetuated in popular culture. Wong argues that Chinese Americans have often been portrayed as “perpetual foreigners” in American theatre, which has limited their opportunities for cultural expression and representation (S.-l.C. Wong 1993, 79). 177 The four case studies included in this thesis showcase the application of cultural frameworks that not only direct the characters’ behaviours in performances, but also influence concepts of Chinese American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s. These frameworks provide insight into how cultural identity, historical context, and social dynamics are woven into the narratives, shaping the portrayal of Chinese American experiences on stage. The evolving nature of these frameworks over the decades reflects broader shifts in societal attitudes, as well as the changing landscape of cultural representation within the theatre, ultimately contributing to a richer, more nuanced understanding of Chinese American theatrical expression during this period. Chinese American theatre has struggled with reception and representation in the larger theatrical landscape. Historically, Chinese American theatre has been marginalized and overlooked in mainstream theatre, with limited opportunities for funding, production, and recognition. This has led to a lack of visibility and representation of Chinese American experiences on stage. In response to these challenges, Chinese American theatre artists have developed unique strategies for expressing their cultural identities and challenging dominant cultural frameworks. For example, as noted by scholar Esther Kim Lee, many Chinese American theatre artists have used traditional Chinese performance styles, such as opera and puppetry, as a means of reclaiming their cultural heritage and challenging stereotypes. In recent years, there have been efforts to address this imbalance, with organizations such as the Asian American Performers Action Coalition advocating for more representation of Asian American stories and artists in the theatre industry. Additionally, the rise of independent theatre companies and festivals dedicated to showcasing Asian American voices has provided more opportunities for Chinese American theatre artists to have their work produced and seen (E.K. 178 Lee 2006, 42-74). Inspired by the Asian American Movement, the Third World Movement, and the antiwar movement in the late 1960s, the Chinese American theatre led by David Henry Hwang and Frank Chin in the 1970s reflected the acknowledgement of racial discrimination against Chinese, together with other minority groups, as well as a tendency to form an alliance to combat such discrimination (E.K. Lee 2006, 1-2; William 1993, 42). This first impression was gradually refreshed by the emerging playwrights in the 1980s with their new discussions on identity crisis and intra-ethnic relationships. In other words, the 1980s witnessed the gradual shift of topics reflected in Chinese American theatre from struggles against racial discrimination to the contemplation of identity formation and affinity through the presentations of intra-ethnic (mis)understandings and confrontations. The Chinese elements in the Chinese American theatre in the 1980s were often portrayed as people with an unsophisticated understanding of or illusions about the US and a strong sense of traditional or political legacy inherited from China. In contrast, the Chinese American characters that have been exposed to American culture through their lives show preference for the Europeanized culture over the Chinese traditions and are embed in the cultural spectrum where the Chinese culture remains on the periphery. The self-recognition as a member of the Europeanized Americans versus the public reception as a Chinese poses an obstacle for Chinese Americans to clarify their cultural identity in the US. The examination of specific exhibitions and mechanisms of cultural frameworks in Chinese American theatre highlights the ongoing struggles faced by Chinese Americans in the US, as well as the innovative strategies employed by Chinese American theatre artists to express their cultural identities and challenge dominant hegemony. From the 1980s onward, Chinese American theatre has demonstrated diversified perspectives on Chinese and Chinese Americans, 179 but the series of social hierarchies has somehow reached the same end, which further underpins the estrangement between the Chinese Americans and the Chinese people. It is a predictable result because of not only their disparate realities but also the combination of external and internal confirmation and reinforcement of the difference through conceptual distancing that prevents the possibility for the Chinese Americans and Chinese people in China to deconstruct the hierarchy and reach a feasible connection that may provide an alternative solution to the identity crisis and multichannel access to a more comprehensive knowledge of each other. As noted in the first chapter, Chinese American theatre from the 1980s through the 2010s was regarded as both a location for political protest and intercultural connection and a space for adhering to the dominant culture. To illustrate the prominent cultural frameworks leading the plays’ characters’ paths and interactions, I have borrowed theories on Asian American theatre and intra-ethnic theatre to categorize and clarify the principal cultural frameworks revealed in the plays and performances discussed in the subsequent chapters. To set up a proper frame for case studies in chapters two to five, I have introduced Jacqueline Lo and Helen Gilbert’s model for cross-cultural theatre to describe multicultural, postcolonial, and intercultural theatres. Among the different types of theatre, they divide intercultural theatre into three subcategories, namely transcultural, intra-ethnic, and extracultural, to form a model for interculturalism that considers the sociopolitical context (Lo and Gilbert 2002, 31-49). Consequently, I have divided the major cultural frameworks that appeared in Chinese American theatre in the 1980s and 2010s into three groups, namely, pancultural, intercultural, and intra-ethnic frameworks. These types of cultural frameworks do not follow a chronological order but emerge and function simultaneously to justify the characters’ behaviours and responses in the four plays discussed in the later chapters. 180 Through the exploration of different cultural frameworks, I have discovered a double interpellation in the process of producing Chinese American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s: On the one hand, as subjects, the characters in the plays construct an illusion in which their response to their concerned issues is interpellated by their positions; on the other hand, regarding these four Chinese American plays and performances, I have elucidated the relationship between cultural frameworks rooted in socio-political and cultural occurrences and guiding principles embraced by the Chinese American theatre artists who have been interpellated by the formidable influence of the dominant culture. This is due to the fact that theatre, as a component of media, turns a passive audience member into a “spectatorial subject” who is subject to the dominant narrative presented on stage. In this case, cultural frameworks and their representative, theatre, shape an illusory relationship between individual members of the Chinese American community and protrude their discrepancies so as to further divide this minority group according to their different intrinsic interests in the disguise of multiculturalism. Thus, the popular focus on the intercultural struggle to rectify the injustice that the minority group has suffered is replaced by a deconstructive and intra-ethnic reflection so that the authority’s legitimacy and solidarity can be further enhanced. To articulate a detailed discussion on the cultural frameworks reflected in Chinese American theatre from the 1980s to the 2010s, I have analyzed four plays written by playwrights of Chinese ancestry and born and raised in the US in the subsequent four chapters. Based on the script and performance analyses, a clear trajectory of the shift of cultural frameworks in the Chinese American theatre in chronological order is presented: dating from the 1980s, David Henry Hwang’s FOB demonstrates an intra-ethnic framework that has replaced the past major theme of fighting against racial discrimination. Hwang’s FOB examines difficulties in intra-181 ethnic communications between first-generation Chinese immigrants and their American-born offspring. Instead of emphasizing the fight against racial discrimination, FOB focuses on the conflict between traditional Chinese culture and American values by delineating realistic and dramatic battles that reconcile Steve’s, Dale’s, and Grace’s cultural identities and challenge the essentialist ideas of cultural identification through its investigation of these intra-ethnic conflicts. The performance reveals that a person’s cultural identity is molded by a complex interaction of the social context and historical legacies, and the cultural identification can be manipulated for exclusion or collaboration. In this respect, FOB can be considered an illustration of an intra-ethnic framework that places more emphasis on internal conflicts and tensions than on the fight against oppression outside the ethnic group and advocates for a more nuanced understanding of cultural identity. In chapter two, I have introduced the immigration history of Chinese to the US from 1943 to the 1980s. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, and most of the quota for Chinese immigrants was used up by people from Hong Kong and Taiwan, who were recognized as representatives of the Chinese Americans in the 1980s. David Henry Hwang’s FOB reflects this trend since all three characters are from either Hong Kong or Taiwan: Steve is a new immigrant from Hong Kong; Grace has emigrated from Taiwan to the US for over ten years, but she has a deep roots in Chinese culture; Dale, Grace’s brother, is an American-born Chinese. Although they share a similar ancestral background, their conflicts due to different cultural and political affinities reveal typical recognitions of identity and attitudes towards stereotypes in the 1980s. Steve inherits the fighting spirit from the 1970s, the period the play is set in, to impel Chinese Americans against hostility and oppression in the US. However, fully assimilated to the dominant American culture, Dale depicts a more antagonistic attitude towards new Chinese 182 immigrants, not only because of the new immigrants’ lack of identification with the local culture, but also their better-off economic status and industrious spirit. Grace, as a bridge connecting the two cultures as well as the two characters mentioned above, challenges Steve at first but reconciles with him in the end, which offers a promising path for the Chinese Americans to follow if they wish to build stronger bonds within their community. In contrast to the hostility between Steve and Dale, which stems from a sense of disappointment and hopelessness, this reconciliation between Steve and Grace emphasizes the importance of history and tradition in uniting the Chinese American community in the hopes of forming a unified value and voice to resist unfair treatment when dealing with intercultural communications. In the same process, a Chinese American identity can be formed through common practices. However, without Steve’s surrender to Grace’s fictional education against Steve’s obtrusive impulse to impose his mentality on his compatriots, this resolution is achieved. In other words, the sacrifice of opportunities for both parties to share hardships and deconstruct the kernel of their confusions will store up problems in the future since the intra-ethnic prejudices will keep their disparities that prevent the fluidity of identity and convert intra-ethnic communications to intercultural confrontations. Dale’s unvaried despisement of Steve in FOB does not only stay on a personal level but may epitomize an agreed recognition of Chinese immigrants at that time. Therefore, although they share the same ancestral root, the onset of relationships between the Chinese American and the Chinese characters in Chinese American theatre in the 1980s was considered more intercultural since they were mutually exclusive and irreconcilable. However, as indicated in both FOB and Letters to a Student Revolutionary, the characters’ endeavour to convert the relationship from that of the intercultural to that of the intra-ethnic did make a difference 183 temporarily and seemed to have offered a possible solution to the problem. These impacts are ephemeral because the characters suppress or assimilate specific aspects of their identities to conform to a concurred norm. In FOB, Steve ascertains his Chinese heritage but still struggles with cultural alienation in the US. In Letters to a Student Revolutionary, Karen’s enthusiasm for political aspirations vanishes as a result of its violence and repression. The efforts made by the characters in both plays to transform their intercultural relationships into intra-ethnic ones highlight the difficulties and intricacies of identity formation and cultural integration. In FOB, Grace attempts to mitigate the battle between Dale and Steve and offers a contact zone for both of them to gain a further understanding of each other and achieve a possible reconciliation. Both Dale and Steve set aside their preoccupied viewpoints temporarily and tried to bridge their distance by linking their shared ancestry. However, due to opposite interests, Dale is not able to totally forgo his self-proclaimed superiority towards Chinese immigrants, and Steve keeps clinging onto his cultural and economic bonds. The incompatibility between them eliminates the possibility of transforming their relationship into an intra-ethnic one. Moreover, Dale’s closing speech, which is identical to the one he delivered at the beginning of the performance, proves that his stereotypical concepts of new Chinese immigrants have never changed, and Steve leaving the stage with Grace prevents the two groups, i.e., new Chinese immigrants and American-born Chinese, as represented by Steve and Dale, respectively, from resigning their intentions to regain communication with regards to the same ethnic roots. By the end of the 1980s, with more focus transferred to mainland China, which was undergoing dramatic changes, the attempt to reconnect Chinese people and Chinese Americans is described in Elizabeth Wong’s Letters to A Student Revolutionary. In it, Elizabeth Wong adopts 184 a pancultural framework to cover up the building of an intra-ethnic hierarchy in which the Chinese people in China are constructed as victims of double oppression, both politically and economically. In the play, Wong examines the bond between Karen and Bibi, who share the same cultural heritage but reside in separate nations, and how their disparate cultural backgrounds and values affect their concepts of intimate relationships and political advocacy. The communication between the two individuals contrasts their experiences and highlights their cultural roots, which reflects the complexity of cultural identification in distinct cultural and political contexts as well as different values and beliefs. When facing pressure and repudiation from members of other cultures, the intra-ethnic disparities mentioned in the previous chapter diminish, but the lack of identification with a shared culture still hinders intra-ethnic compatibility. Wong sets her play in China in 1989, when the Tiananmen incident disrupted the letter communication between the protagonists Bibi in the US and Karen in China. As a Chinese American, Bibi exemplifies the conflict between her Chinese ancestry and her American cultural identity and battles with feeling alien in both societies. As a Chinese revolutionary, Karen personifies the conflict between political norms and domestic responsibilities. The exchange of letters propels Bibi and Karen to trivialize the cultural uniqueness and align with each other’s political pursuits, but the almost-achieved intra-ethnic understanding is interrupted by the Tiananmen Square tragedy, and Bibi’s unilateral sympathy for Karen reiterates Bibi’s pancultural mindset at the beginning of the play. At first, the opposite cultures set up an imbalance of power, urging both parties to yearn for assimilation to the dominant culture in the US, where Bibi resents the rigid and monotonous culture in China and Karen aspires to embrace the consumerism and freedom in the US. However, after Bibi’s experience at the immigration office, she realizes that she shares the same foreignness with 185 Karen when they step into the contact zone with other ethnic groups. Besides, this intercultural encounter convinces Bibi of the fluidity of identity despite their origins, and she begins to challenge her unexamined lifestyle, as Bibi believes that Karen’s revolutionary spirit will make a difference. However, wrapped in the revolutionary movement, Karen starts to detest Bibi’s choice for “bourgeois liberalism,” which shifts the concept of democracy and freedom to capitalism, and is more motivated to strive for her goals. But the ending of the play, which portrays the chaos in Tiananmen Square on June Fourth, 1989, exposes that Karen, compared to her organic desire for personal affections, is not an unyielding supporter of revolution, and it implies that even if Karen succeeded in her revolution, she may be lost in the confusion when she faces similar issues as Bibi does. Therefore, intercultural disagreements catalyze reconsiderations within the same culture, and it is similar ideals and concerns about the social mechanisms that define people’s beliefs that lay the necessary foundation for intra-ethnic understanding of Chineseness. Both Bibi and Karen have made progress respectively in understanding each other and the cultural buttress behind them. Bibi refreshed her recognition of Chinese people after she had intellectual exchanges with Karen and understood that it was not the economic or political conditions but the pursuit of individualism versus collectivism that differed between the Chinese people and Chinese Americans. But the solution is more based on a pancultural framework that recognizes and perpetuates the cultural and social imbalance and offers a unilateral almsgiving option to settle the differences. In this case, the core conflicts between the Chinese Americans and the Chinese people in the performance, i.e., cultural clashes and their consequent stereotypes, are shelved instead of being solved. Accordingly, both parties may achieve a 186 provisional coexistence, but at the cost of compromising the Chinese idiosyncrasies in the characters. Bibi’s pancultural solicitude for Karen hints at the existence of an uneven power dynamic between the Chinese Americans and the Chinese people, but it also estranges the influence of cultural inceptions and reviews the intra-ethnic links. The appearance of an image of China and Chinese people different from the political movements in Chinese American theatre did not become prevalent until the beginning of the new millennium, but it was the 2010s that marked a distinct alternative to its previous counterpart. The 2010s observed another shift in focus of the Chinese American theatre from efforts to unravel the identity crisis and bridge the intra-ethnic gap, and the focus expanded to more temporal- and spatial-specific issues happening in China because of the transformation of China’s sociopolitical environment and the US’ cultural and political landscape in the 2010s. Apart from the two plays covered in the fourth and fifth chapters, the emergence of plays addressing current social and political problems in China during this time is one of the most important developments in Chinese American theatre. For instance, Steve Cosson’s The Great Immensity (2014) expresses concern about environmental deterioration and climate change in China, and Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman touches on cultural appropriation and newly-fashioned labels for Chinese immigrants. This shift to more specific and heated topics in China reflects American audiences’ growing interest in Chinese politics and culture, as well as the growing significance of elements with regard to China in Chinese American theatre. Additionally, it demonstrated a rising desire among Chinese American playwrights to refer, in their works, to the latest problems and difficulties China is currently experiencing, such as political dissent and workers’ welfare, rather than just concentrating on issues pertaining to identity and integration. However, it does not 187 negate the fact that Chinese American theatre continues to examine ethnic hybridity and identity. The complicated connection between Chinese Americans and their cultural legacy, as well as problems of racism, gender, and power, have been explored in plays like Yellow Face (2007) by David Henry Hwang and The Chinese Lady (2018) by Lloyd Suh. Although more Chinese American plays covering a wide spectrum of topics have been written and performed in the 2010s, and the description of reality in China becomes more accurate and vivid compared to the 1980s, the stories told in those productions cannot escape the tendency to alienate the setting, and the major conflicts of the stories are attributed to the sufferings of Chinese people as a result of political persecution and historical legacies of oppression. As seen in The World of Extreme Happiness, the lenses employed by the playwright reinforce the western narrative that reshapes the relationship between the Chinese Americans and the Chinese people as intercultural rather than intra-ethnic, which discloses the fundamental difference between people of Chinese ancestry growing up in the US and those growing up in China in a way that makes the former group Americans first since they are more steeped in American culture. This fact observed by the playwright reveals an obstacle to a comprehensive understanding of each other, given the disparate frameworks nurtured in contrasting cultures. Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s The World of Extreme Happiness further focuses on the distorted historical and political background in China to enlarge the distance between Chinese Americans and Chinese people in China due to their distinct environments and standards for human rights. Cowhig addresses the influence of economic globalization and capitalism on Chinese society and poses crucial queries about the cost of economic advancement in China. The rapid growth in China after the Chinese economic reform since 1978 has transformed China from an underdeveloped country to the second largest economy in the 2010s at the cost of the well-188 being of migrant workers, which draws more attention to mainland China in contemporary Chinese American theatre. Focusing on Foxconn suicides in the beginning of the 2010s, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig applies her Chinese American lens to express her political disinclination against the bizarre ecology in Chinese factories and to show her pancultural empathy towards Chinese people suffering from gender and political oppressions. With a clear understanding of the fast-growing China from the 1990s to the 2010s, Cowhig dramatizes peasant labor exploitation in metropolitan China by describing the tragedy of a girl who migrated from rural China to work in Shenzhen, one of China’s special economic zones. In this chapter, I studied the cooperation and conflicts between Sunny and her colleagues, her parents, and her brother Pete, respectively, to discern the influence of various cultural frameworks on the characters’ reactions to oppressions and others’ efforts to counter oppressions. Since birth, Sunny has been surrounded by people adhering to the doctrine of utilitarianism: her parents almost dumped her in a pail to die just because she was a girl; her boss intends to ridicule and intimidate her from getting promotions; her colleague collapses when Sunny snaps the opportunity to deliver a speech in Beijing. However, the relationship between Sunny and Pete denotes Cowhig’s intra-ethnic view of China. Sunny, as a self-taught and industrious female, undertakes numerous oppressions, discriminations, and unfairness but wishes to spare no effort for her dream; Pete, on the other side, drops out of middle school for work but cannot secure stable jobs and often gets humiliated by “city people.” His rural background and lack of education forbid him from getting accepted by urban dwellers, which reminds Sunny of her previous sufferings and urges her to express her rebellious ideas against the division between urban and rural China when delivering the speech designed to cover up the news about 189 employees committing suicide to improve the public reputation for her company. In this case, the author’s twofold cultural framework is apparent: on the one hand, Cowhig articulates her compassion for Sunny and the migrant workers she represents; on the other hand, Cowhig brings about her insight on the intra-ethnic connections within the Chinese Americans by creating an analogy highlighting vulnerable groups in an unfavorable environment struggling for desired justice, which echoes the effort to redress previous institutionalized discriminations against Chinese Americans that prompts the US government to apologize for the Chinese Exclusion Act. Sunny is a young girl from a low-income rural household who yearns for a better life in the city, but the city life does not match her expectations and brings about prejudice and abuse. Her efforts to chase her goal are at odds with those in power in the company she works at, and her attempt to object to the malevolent system ends in tragic torture and her death. Throughout the course of the play, Cowhig poses significant questions about the place of the individual in a culture that places more value on social status and economic success than on fundamental human rights, where women suffer more from poverty and discrimination in patriarchal society. Although there is no direct connection to the Chinese Americans, the insight voiced by Sunny underlies the statement that although the new millennium opens more windows to a more comprehensive and authentic presentation of China, the discrepancy between Chinese people and Chinese Americans keeps growing. However, Christopher Chen pinpoints in his play Caught that in the debates about and observations of China is important not to focus on the political oppressions amplified by various types of media but to locate the exact issues used as elements in the storytelling process, e.g., the prosecution of political dissidents and the disregard for brutal working conditions. Chen’s call for a refocusing on the matter in question indicates not only a more sensible method to articulate 190 topics that are not restricted to a specific time and locale, but also an approach to digesting contemporary Chinese American theatre without prevaricating about the truthfulness of the embedded story or lumping the injustices to attribute to the criticism of the harsh political system. Although there is no consensus on reasons that increase the distance between Chinese and Chinese Americans, media plays an essential role in mutual understanding. In the meta-theatrical exploration of truth, art, and authenticity in Christopher Chen’s Caught, the performance of and the conversation between Lin Bo and Wang Min disclose that the representations of China or Chinese people, such as Mike Daisey’s story about Foxconn, could be forged by the dominant culture to disorient their audiences in this cross-cultural encounter. Chen focuses on cultural appropriation and the power dynamics inherent in cross-cultural interactions by exemplifying Lin’s case to show that non-Western artists are often recognized without being understood clearly, and the political and cultural context in which they produce their artworks is somewhat overlooked. Lin engages the journalist in the obsession of finding the “truth” by fabricating his own story based on his own presumptions and prejudices. Generalizing the Chinese artists with dissident characteristics without checking the authenticity of their mediation of China contributes to divisions among Chinese Americans, so Chen challenges audiences to question their predominant concepts of truth in intercultural communications. Although criticizing political oppression in the People’s Republic of China is a popular topic in contemporary Chinese American theatre, in Caught, Christopher Chen pinpoints that it is the scrutinization of the core issues reflected in the works that deserves more attention compared to general critiques that engender a biased impression of China based on a partial description of the matter. To lead the audience on his path, Chen designs three sequential but independent 191 events to showcase the truth-seeking path. He introduces the fact that Lin Bo, a Chinese American craving fame, describes his imprisonment for his imagined protest as if he were a political dissident in China. However, when a journal editor discloses his lies, Chen invites reexamination of mediated messages from unfamiliar worlds. Then, a fierce debate between a Chinese artist, Wang Min, and a curator over the American monologist and actor Mike Daisey’s report on the radio program This American Life, about Foxconn’s workers committing suicide in the factory in Shenzhen, further demonstrates the limitation of media, which aims to entertain its audience by reaffirming their prejudices and gathering evidence to support its narrative instead of providing context and other perspectives of the events in its coverage. Interestingly, during the debate, Wang keeps negating the curator’s attempts to impose predetermined beliefs, which annoys the curator, who cuts off the conversation. The last event in the play creates an indeterminate zone in which Lin and Wang discuss their common friend, a Chinese political dissident, to start a new truth-seeking journey that allows the audience to process the information they receive. By questioning the trustworthiness of intelligent sources, Chen does not simply aim to criticize the interest-oriented media but also to attract attention to the mediated issues being investigated with the audience’s own discretion. Chen applies the tense intercultural relationship between Chinese and Americans as context for the inclination towards distortion of information for the interest of the media but does not base his truth-seeking journey on specific cultural frameworks. He notices and ridicules the Chinese American lens for inspecting people residing in China in order to create cases to explain his governing thought of pursuing truths instead of confining topics within the Chinese American community. As a reflection of social existence, contemporary Chinese American theatre has undergone a significant paradigm shift since the 1980s, mainly focusing on pancultural concerns 192 instead of resorting to intra-ethnic and intercultural frameworks. While challenging dominant cultural frameworks and assumptions about race, culture, and identity, the four plays and their performances challenge not only the intra-ethnic framework by showcasing characters with different experiences and beliefs about their cultural identity, but also the intercultural framework by questioning the ways in which dominant American culture influences and shapes the experiences of Chinese Americans. In addition, these theatrical works present nuanced and complex portraits of Chinese cultures and question the assumptions and stereotypes that underlie western conceptions of China and Chinese culture. Between the 1980s and 2010, Chinese American theatre underwent major shifts in terms of the topics and the theatrical approaches. The assimilation, identification, and experiences of Chinese immigrants and their offspring were the main topics of Chinese American theatre in the 1980s. The tension between Chinese and American cultures and the battle to resolve conflicting cultural identities were depicted in plays like David Henry Hwang’s FOB in naturalistic dialogue and settings. In contrast, Chinese American theatre in the 2010s has expanded its focus to include a wider range of social and political issues. Plays like Christopher Chen’s Caught explore issues such as cultural appropriation, censorship, and political oppression. The complexity and fracturing of modern society are frequently reflected in the plays of the 2010s through more experimental techniques, including non-linear plots, surreal imagery, and multimedia components. In addition, over the past thirty years, there have been major changes in both the creation and reception of Chinese American theatre. 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Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Theatre
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Liu, Siyuan, 1964 November 7-
An analysis of contemporary Chinese American theatre from 1980s to 2010s in pancultural, intercultural, and intra-ethnic frameworks
Text