David Henry Hwang

David Henry Hwang

David Henry Hwang is a Tony Award-winning American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor. He was born in Los Angeles, California to Henry Yuan Hwang, a banker, and Dorothy Hwang, a piano teacher. The oldest of three children, he has two younger sisters. He received a Bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University and attended the Yale School of Drama, taking literature classes. He left once workshopping of new plays began since he already had a play on in New York. His first play was produced at the Okada House dormitory at Stanford after he briefly studied playwriting with Sam Shepard and María Irene Fornés.Hwang's early plays concerned the role of the Chinese American and Asian American in the modern day world. His first play, the Obie Award-winning FOB, depicts the contrasts and conflicts between established Asian Americans and "Fresh Off the Boat" newcomer immigrants. The play was developed by the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and premiered in 1980 Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. Papp went on to produce four more of Hwang's plays, including The Dance and the Railroad, which tells the story of a former Chinese opera star working as a coolie laborer in the nineteenth century, and the Drama Desk Award-nominated Family Devotions, a darkly comic take on the effects of Western religion on a Chinese family. Those three plays added up to a "Trilogy of Chinese America" as the author described. After this, Papp also produced the show Sound and Beauty, the omnibus title to two Hwang one-act plays set in Japan. At this time, Hwang started to work on projects for the small screen. A television movie, Blind Alleys, written by Hwang and Frederic Kimball and starring Pat Morita and Cloris Leachman, was produced in 1985 and followed a television version of The Dance and the Railroad.In 1996, Hwang wrote his play  Trying to Find Chinatown which deals with issues of racial identity by pitting an Asian street musician against a Caucasian man who claims Asian American heritage.

SUMMARY

The one-act play Trying to Find Chinatown describes an encounter between Benjamin, an ethnic Caucasian who considers himself Asian, and Ronnie, an ethnic Asian who knows little about his Asian heritage. Benjamin, adopted into a Chinese-American family, is trying to find his father’s birth house in New York’s Chinatown. He stops to ask Ronnie, a street musician playing a violin, for directions, assuming the Asian man would know his way around Chinatown. When Benjamin refers to Ronnie’s instrument as a “fiddle,” Ronnie is insulted and calls Benjamin a hick. Benjamin berates Ronnie for not knowing much about his cultural heritage. Ronnie returns with a passionate defense of American musical heritage, referencing both African and European elements. When Benjamin finally reaches his father’s home, he is ecstatic to find himself completely immersed in Chinese culture and recollects the struggles of his immigrant family. Hwang’s play points out that one’s racial identity is often based not on skin color, but on connections.

Race

The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics (which usually result from genetic ancestry). Your race is determined by how you look.

An example of race is brown, white, or black skin people  from various parts of  the world

Ethnicity

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a population group whose members are identified on the basis of common nationality or shared cultural traditions. Your 

ethnicity is determined based on the social and cultural groups you belong to

An example of ethnicity is German or Spanish ancestry or Han Chinese (regardless of race) 

Members of an ethnic group share certain language, heritage, religion  beliefs, values,and customs

You can have more than one ethnicity but you are said to have one race.

You can identify ethnically as Irish and Polish, but you 
have to be essentially either black or white

Race and ethnicity can obviously overlap, but they are distinct. For example, a Japanese-American would probably consider herself a member of the Japanese or East Asian race, but, if she doesn't engage in any of the practices or customs of her ancestors, she might not identify with the ethnicity, but might instead consider herself to be American.

  What Shape our Identity?

   Personal identity is considered by many to comprise of many facets and has a huge range of definitions. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines personal identity as ‘consisting of what makes you unique as an individual and different from others, the way you see or define yourself, or the network of values and convictions that structure your life’, (2010). Ultimately this means that each person holds unique beliefs, ideals or values that impact on how they represent themselves and how they conduct themselves in society. Yet people are continually growing and changing.

        The ideals and way in which you view yourself may change as you age or progress through life. Just as time influences you, so will your experiences both present and past. If change is a consistent factor then the argument of individuals’ beliefs or values would change to match. How does a given person make decisions related to what they believe in, what they will stand up for and how they will live their life? Perhaps from family influences, yet it may also be from the experiences you have had previously.  Therefore, what shapes your beliefs or perhaps your whole identity is the experiences you have, and your ability to recall these events.

URL: https://www.google.com.eg/amp/s/libfib.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/what-shapes-your-personal-identity-3/amp/

identity Asian-American speaker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pUtz75lNaw

stereotypes

Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States

The coolie

The "coolie" stereotype originated with Chinese laborers in the 1850s to prevent the Chinese people from entering the skilled trades. The lowest-paying unskilled jobs were called "coolie labor".   

             The submissive doll               

The Chinese women are expected to be obedient, submissive and quiet. They should be helpless and as wives they should not have an opinion in their houses. In most of the American movies they are represented as submissive Chinese dolls who are cute and quiet. 

The laundry man

The laundry job was an undesirable job to the white man.It was an opportunity for the Chinese to work as laundry men. In the picture there is also physical stereotypes, the long hair and the slant eyes. This advertisement also mocks the Chinese English accent. 

The model minority

Model minority stereotype originated in the 1950s as a representation of successful assimilation of Asians. that means that they should be intelligent, and hard workers. Although this stereotype is a positive one, it overlooks their problems. 

The humble waiter

Asian people, who work as waiters, are stereotyped in some places as being humble and well-mannered. They respect the low and work hard. Their problems are overlooked and they are all molded as if there are no individual differences between them but rather they are all identical in appearance as well as in manners.

                 The Gook

The Gook stereotype is originated with the US. military during the Korean war as a genetic term for Asians and it became more popular during the Vietnam war. A Gook is an invisible and powerful enemy with super human endurance and ability to absorb punishment.

The oriental houseboy 

                                                                                                                                            

The oriental houseboy is typically a male domestic worker or personal assistant who performs cleaning and personal chores.

Character analysis

Benjamin

Benjamin Wong is a Chines-American adopted by Chinese parents. He is blue eyed and blond haired Caucasian searching for Chinatown because he wants to explore his roots. Through his conversation with Ronnie, it is revealed that Benjamin refuses to be judged by his genetic heritage alone. He understands how people are stereotyping each other and he describes his society as “a society wedded to racial constructs which constantly forces (him) to explain (his) very existence.” This is because people judge others by their appearances. As a Caucasian, he is stereotyped, genetically, as being an American so he needs to explain his roots and real identity to everyone he meets. Benjamin takes pride of his roots and ancestors. He likes daily life of his parents and the community where he comes from.

Ronnie

Ronnie is an Asian-American. He is a Chinese by genetic heritage which gave him slant eyes and yellow skin. He is a violinist and through his conversation with Benjamin he admits that he derives his identity from the music, specifically jazz and rock and roll. Music means to him more than anything else even more his Chinese roots. A violin note moves him far more than the Chinese music. He is deeply angry inside because the stereotypes that people impose on him and on the Asians as a whole. They marginalize them, obliterate their accomplishments from the history books, objectify their females sexually, exploit their workers, ignore their high rate of mental illness and tuberculosis, describe them as “ they all look alike,” and think of them as drug dealers. He recognizes that he is racially Chinese but he is not content.

Chinatown

Chinatown in New York City

Visiting Chinatown in Manhattan New York can be a delight to anyone who enjoys food, culture, entertainment, and shopping. Not only can you browse through the street markets and shops; you can also visit a restaurant or two with the cultural Chinese food you came to enjoy. There are a number of restaurants to choose from, as well as gifts to take home from the market. 

New York’s Chinatown conveniently located right next to Little Italy on Manhattan Island is one of the oldest and largest Chinatown’s outside of Asia. It is one of the largest surviving ethnic Chinese communities that are still operating with as many Chinese residents as others. There are a number of landmarks in Chinatown that tourists or locals can go to see when weather prevails. Chinatown, along with Little Italy in New York was listed in a historic district on the National Register of Historical Places in 2010.

There are a number of cultural activities that occur throughout the year that residents partake in. They invite guests who come for a visit to enjoy the activities with them as well. If you want to try a new dish then Chinatown might be the best place to go. Not only do they serve a special platter of Garbage Fish, but they also can whip out dishes that you have no idea what is in them but pleasing to your taste buds nevertheless. They never cease to provide the tourists with something new, and old to their culture.

If you would like to learn a little more about Chinese remedies, stop by the Pharmacies to grab some of their special herbs. If you enjoy history, you will find that New York’s Chinatown is rich in history, culture, and civilization. It has fun for all ages. It does not matter if you’re going with the family, or out for some fun alone, there is something for everyone at Chinatown. Whether you’re in Chinatown for fun and relaxation, or to stop to grab a bite to eat, there is always something exciting going on that might grab your attention.

from:http://new-york-chinatown.info/