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