Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States

This article deals primarily with stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians. For other Asians, see Stereotypes of Asians. For simplicity, we will denote East Asians and Southeast Asians by Asian.

Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians are ethnic stereotypes that are found in many Western societies. Stereotypes of Asian people, specifically East Asians and Southeast Asians, like other stereotypes, are often manifest in a society's media, literature, theater and other creative expressions. In many instances, media portrayals of Asians often reflect the dominant Eurocentric ideas of them rather than their actual customs and behaviors. However, these stereotypes have repercussions for Asians and Asian immigrants in daily interactions, current events, and governmental legislation. Asians have experienced discrimination and have been victims of hate crimes related to their ethnic stereotypes.

Orientalism, mysticism and exoticism

According to Edward Said, orientalism refers to the way that the West interprets or comes to terms with their experiences and encounters with the Orient, or the East. Said claimed that "the Orient" was a European invention to denote Asia as a place of exoticism, romance, and remarkable experiences, and also as a conception to contrast with Western civilization.

The effects of orientalism in Western cultures include an "othering" of Asians and Asian Americans; their cultures and ways of life are seen as being "exotic" and novel, in direct contrast to "normal" Western customs. While Western cultures are capable of changing and modernizing, Asian cultures are seen as being ancient, static, and entrenched in the past. Western cultures stereotype Asian cultures as being very superstitious, spiritual and mystical, and full of ancient wisdom. This is manifested by countless fabricated supposed ancient Chinese sayings by Confucius and other ancient wise Asian men found in numerous American novels, movies, and websites, and by the widespread popularity of fortune cookies in North American Chinese restaurants catered to Western customers that supposedly predict the future or dispense sage-sounding advice. Other examples of Asian culture as novelty in Western cultures include the Chinoiserie fad during the 18th century, the trendiness of Asian motifs, and the popular choice of Chinese characters as tattoo designs despite unfamiliarity with the language. Historically, America's Chinatowns have held a place in the American imagination as a mysterious sketchy place of opium dens, gangs, and foreign speech.

In the musical comedy Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mrs. Meers, a White woman pretending to be Asian claims that soy sauce is capable of magically removing stains, one of the "mysteries of the Orient." The lyricist of the musical Miss Saigon deliberately makes the Vietnamese prostitute's lines "mystical and obscure," giving her nonsensical lyrics steeped in mysticism like "paper dragons in the sky" and "You are sunlight and I moon/joined by the gods of fortune."

Stereotypes of Exclusion

"Yellow Peril"

1899 editorial cartoon with caption: "The Yellow Terror in all his glory."

Main article: Yellow Peril

The term "Yellow Peril" refers to an American fear, peaking in the late 19th century, that a large number of Asians would immigrate to the United States and fill the country with a foreign culture and speech incomprehensible to those already here, and take jobs away from Americans. During this time, numerous anti-Asian sentiments were expressed by politicians and writers, especially on the West Coast, with headlines like "The 'Yellow Peril'" (Los Angeles Times, 1886) and "Conference Endorses Chinese Exclusion" (The New York Times, 1905) and the later Japanese Exclusion Act. The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of Asians because they were considered an "undesirable" race. Australia had similar fears and introduced a White Australia policy, restricting immigration between 1901 to 1973, with some elements of the policies persisting to the 1980s. Similarly, Canada had in place a head tax on Asian immigrants to Canada in the early 20th century; a formal government apology was given in 2007 (with compensation to the surviving head tax payers and their descendants).

Perpetual foreigner

Throughout America's history, Asian Americans have been conceived, treated, and portrayed as perpetual foreigners; unassimilable and inherently foreign regardless of citizenship or duration of residence in America. This is evident through government actions such as Takao Ozawa v. United States and the Chinese Exclusion Act (United States), and statements made in the nation's literature and periodicals. A statement made by Justice Harlan in the 1897 court case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark explicitly illustrates this stereotype of Asians in saying that Asians are "strangers in the land" who are "incapable of assimilating".

In 2005, when visiting Sydney in Australia, Prince Charles asked an Asian man: "Are you from China?" The Daily Telegraph reported the man replied in a broad Australian accent: "No, I'm from just up the road, actually." The Sydney Morning Herald further commented that the question was inappropriate to be asked by the country's future monarch in a country which had an important Chinese Australian population for more than a century.

Racial triangulation theory

According to political science professor/author/scholar Claire Jean Kim, Asian Americans have been racially triangulated in American society in relation to America's preexisting deeply-rooted black-white bipolar racial dichotomy. This theory is the intersection of the model minority stereotype and the Perpetual Foreigner stereotype. In America's preexisting system of racial valorization, whites have been considered the dominant "superior" group, while blacks have been considered a subordinate "inferior" group, often stereotyped as being lazy, cultureless, and primitive throughout American history. Within this spectrum of racial valorization, the dominant group has valued Asian Americans as being "superior" to blacks, and are stereotyped as being a hard-working intelligent people (model minority) having an ancient venerable culture, but still "inferior". However, in the other dimension of this theory, both whites and blacks, regardless of valorization, are considered to be "insiders" to American culture; thoroughly assimilated and native to America. Asian Americans, on the other hand, despite their "superior" valorization by the dominant group in relation to other minorities, are still considered to be unassimilable perpetual "foreigners," inherently fixed in their own exotic Asian cultures and unable to adapt to American ways.

Model minority stereotype

Main article: Model minority

File:Mmodel.jpg

Cover of Newsweek (April 1984) featuring an article about the supposed success of Asian American students, illustrating the "model minority" stereotype.

Asian Americans have also been stereotyped as a "model minority"; that is, positive traits are applied as a stereotype. Asians are seen as hardworking, politically inactive, studious, intelligent, productive, and inoffensive people who have elevated their social standing through merit and diligence. This label is given in contrast to other stereotypes which often accuse minorities of socially unwelcome traits, such as laziness or criminal tendencies.

However, Asian Americans believe the model minority stereotype to be damaging and inaccurate, and are fighting to dispel this stereotype. Scholars, activists, and most major American news sources have started to oppose this stereotype, calling it a misconception that exaggerates the success of Asian Americans. According to those trying to debunk this belief, the model minority stereotype alienates Asian Americans from other minorities and covers up actual Asian American issues and needs that are still not properly addressed in America today. For example, the widespread notion that Asian Americans earn higher-than-average income obscures issues such as the "glass ceiling" phenomenon, in which high-level managerial or executive positions are only seen but not reached, and the fact that Asian Americans must acquire more education and work more hours than their white counterparts to earn the same amount of money. The "model minority" image is also seen as being damaging to Asian American students because their assumed success makes it easy for educators to overlook Asian American students who are struggling academically.

The model minority stereotypes also hurts statistically underperforming Asian groups, such as the Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian youths whose dilemma is masked by the more publicized successes of the larger middle-class East Asian population of youth descended from the wave of professionals who emigrated to America during the 1960s. For example, 25.2% of Asian Americans over age 25 hold a bachelor's degree compared to only 15.5% of the general American population, thus giving the impression of Asian American success. However, only 6.9% of Cambodians, and 6.2% of Laotians in this age group in America hold bachelor's degrees. Despite this stereotype of supposed Asian American success, there is a high 80% unemployment rate among the Hmong Americans and other Asian Americans groups from refugee backgrounds.

Archetypal Asians in American fiction

Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan are two important and well-known fictional Asian characters in America's cultural history. Both were created by white authors, Sax Rohmer and Earl Derr Biggers respectively, in the early part of the 20th century. Fu Manchu is a sardonic, intelligent, yet evil Chinese murderer with plots of world domination, an embodiment of America's imagination of a threatening mysterious Asian people. Charlie Chan is an apologetic submissive Chinese-Hawaiian detective who solves cases while politely handling the many racist insults hurled at him by white American characters, and represents America's archetypal "good" Asian. Both characters found widespread popularity in numerous novels and films, and therefore have pervaded the American consciousness with stereotypes of Asians.

Fu Manchu: "Evil" Asian

Main article: Fu Manchu

File:1965FaceofFuManchu.jpg

Promotional poster for 1965 film The Face of Fu Manchu.

Thirteen novels, three short stories, and one novelette have been written about Fu Manchu and Sir Denis Nayland Smith, the British agent determined to stop him. Millions of copies have been sold in the United States with publication in British and American periodicals and adaptations to film, comics, radio, and television. Due to his enormous popularity, the "image of Fu Manchu has been absorbed into American consciousness as the archetypal Asian villain." In The Insidious Doctor Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer introduces Fu Manchu as a cruel and cunning man, with a face like Satan, who is essentially the "Yellow Peril incarnate".

Sax Rohmer inextricably tied the evil character of Fu Manchu to the entire Asian race as a manifestation of the yellow peril, attributing the villain's behavior to his race. Rohmer also adds an element of mysticism and exoticism to his portrayal of Fu Manchu. As Fu Manchu contrives elaborately creative and cruel methods of murdering his victims, he often uses supposedly Asian methods or elements in his murders such as silk rope. It is also important to note here that despite Fu Manchu's specifically Chinese ethnicity, these elements are pan-Asian, again reinforcing his portrayal as a representation of all Asian people. Blatantly racist statements made by white protagonists such as: "the swamping of the white world by yellow hordes might well be the price of our failure" again add to Asian stereotypes of exclusion. Fu Manchu's inventively sardonic methods of murder and white protagonist Denis Nayland Smith's grudging respect for his intellect reinforce stereotypes of Asian intelligence, exoticism/mysticism, and extreme cruelty.

Charlie Chan: "Good" Asian

Screenshot of television program starring fictional Chinese-Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan.

Main article: Charlie Chan

Charlie Chan, a fictional character created by author Earl Derr Biggers, has been the subject of 10 novels (spanning from 1925 to as late as 1981), over 40 American films, a comic strip, a board game, a card game, and a 1970s animated television series. In the films, the role of Charlie Chan has almost always been played by white actors (namely Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Roland Winters) in "yellowface."

In stark contrast to the Chinese villain Fu Manchu, Asian American protagonist Charlie Chan represents the American archetype of the "good" Asian. In The House Without a Key, Earl Derr Biggers describes Charlie Chan in the following manner: "He was very fat indeed, yet he walked with the light dainty step of a woman. His cheeks were chubby as a baby's, his skin ivory tinted, his black hair close-cropped, his amber eyes slanting." Charlie Chan speaks English with a heavy accent and flawed grammar, and is meticulously polite and apologetic. After one particular racist affront by a Bostonian woman, Chan responds with exaggerated submission, "Humbly asking pardon to mention it, I detect in your eyes slight flame of hostility. Quench it, if you will be so kind. Friendly co-operation are essential between us." Bowing deeply, he added, "Wishing you good morning."

Because of his emasculated, unassertive, and apologetic physical appearance and demeanor, Charlie Chan comes off as non-threatening to mainstream audiences despite his considerable intellect and ability as an Asian American man. He holds none of the daring, assertive, or romantic traits typically attributed of white fictional detectives of the time. Instead, Charlie Chan's successes as a detective are in the context of proving himself to his white superiors or white racists who underestimate him early on in the various plots. His character also perpetuates stereotypes of orientalism as well, as he quotes supposed ancient Chinese wisdom at the end of each novel, saying things like: "The Emperor Shi Hwang-ti, who built the Great Wall of China, once said: 'He who squanders to-day talking of yesterday's triumph, will have nothing to boast of tomorrow.'"

Stereotypes of Asian men

Emasculation and effeminacy

Historically, Americans have thought of Asian men as feminine and emasculated since the mass immigration of Chinese men to the United States to build the transcontinental railroad during the mid-1800s. The primary reasons for their emasculated image included the physical appearances of these laborers, and the fact that they did what was considered to be "women's work." These workers were as a group shorter than the average American man, sported long queues, and sometimes wore long silk gowns. Because Chinese men were seen as an economic threat to the white workforce and laws were passed that barred the Chinese from many industries, the only jobs available to the Chinese of the time were jobs that whites deemed "women's work" (i.e., laundry, cooking, and childcare). In the press, Asian men were constantly compared to white women.

Joan Kee observes that "Asian American male sexuality has long entailed a discourse of nothingness." Instead, according to Sheridan Prasso, Asian men in film have with little exception been portrayed as "small, sneaky, and threatening... spineless, emasculated wimps" with small penises, or "incompetents" who always lose when "faced with white man's superior strength or firepower." For example, in American films Kill Bill, Payback, and the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), entire inept Asian male fighting forces are immobilized by a white man (or white woman in the case of Kill Bill).

The recurring image of the Asian male as a "sexually impotent voyeur or pervert" has pervaded television and film throughout American history. Examples include Mickey Rooney in "yellowface" as the bucktoothed Japanese landlord who sneaks peeps at Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, or the nerd Long Duk Dong from John Hughes's 1984 adolescent classic Sixteen Candles whose every entrance is accompanied by the clash of a gong.

Even action movies like Kiss of the Dragon (2001), or The Replacement Killers (1998) which contain Asian male protagonists deny the Asian male characters romances with the white women whose lives that they save. Instead of the kiss usually granted to the white male protagonist, the rescued white woman only gives the Asian action hero a hug or a grateful obligatory "thank you" kiss; there is almost never a relationship between the characters even if there is romantic tension.

Predators of White women

File:Propaganda jap2.jpg

American anti-Japanese propaganda poster from World War II depicting a Japanese soldier threatening a white woman.

Asian men have been portrayed as threats to white women in many aspects of American media. Depictions of Asian men as "lascivious and predatory" were common at the turn of the 20th century. Between 1850 and 1940, both U.S. popular media and pre-war and WWII propaganda portrayed Asian men as a military and security threat to the country, and therefore a sexual danger to white women since a woman's body traditionally symbolizes her "tribe's" house or country in Western cultures. In the 1916 film Petria, a group of fanatical Japanese individuals who invade the United States attempt to rape a white woman.

Misogynists

Another stereotype of Asian men is that they are misogynistic, insensitive and disrespectful towards women. They are commonly referred as male chauvinists. This stereotype originated from Asian media that portray Asian men as sexist.

The Joy Luck Club is particularly consistent with this racial cliché because it portrays Chinese culture (especially Chinese males) as being negative and restrictive to the freedoms of Chinese females. Many Asian Americans (particularly Chinese Americans) were offended by the negative portrayal of Asian men in this film. Such screen portrayals are consistent with the restriction and/or absence of Asian American masculinity in the western media.

Stereotypes of Asian women

Hypersexuality

See also: Asian fetish

Asian women have been portrayed as aggressive sexual beings. Western film and literature has promoted stereotypes of Asian women, such as depicting Asian women as cunning "Dragon Ladies", as servile "Lotus Blossom Babies", "China dolls", "Geisha girls", war brides, or prostitutes. Japanese media have also at times sensationalistically promoted the stereotype of Japanese women overseas as "yellow cabs". UC Berkeley Professor of Asian American Studies Elaine Kim has argued that the stereotype of Asian women as submissive sex objects has impeded women's economic mobility and has fostered increased demand in mail-order brides and ethnic pornography.. Staci Ford of the University of Hong Kong concluded that stereotypical depictions of women in general created by sexist white men continue to haunt movies even though they now have a disguised form.

The "China Doll" stereotype

According to author Sheridan Prasso, the China doll stereotype and other variations of this submissive stereotype exist in American movies: "Geisha Girl/Lotus Flower/Servant/China Doll: Submissive, docile, obedient, reverential (including Asian men as effeminate, servile); Vixen/Sex Nymph: Sexy, coquettish, manipulative; tendency toward disloyalty or opportunism; Prostitute/Victim of Sex Trade/War/Oppression: Helpless, in need of assistance or rescue; good-natured at heart."

Gwen Stefani's adoption of this component of Japanese culture drew criticism from Mihi Ahn at Salon.com, and others who feel that Stefani has stripped Japanese street fashion of its authenticity and created yet another example of the 'submissive Asian female' stereotype. Stand-up comic Margaret Cho has labeled the Harajuku Girls as a "minstrel show" that reinforces ethnic stereotypes of Asian women.

Stereotypes of physical attributes

Ethnicity-specific stereotypes of physical appearance exist as well. For example, during World War II in America, efforts were made to distinguish "enemy" Japanese from "friendly" Chinese solely by physical appearance (as seen in wartime Life Magazine article [5]), thus leading to further stereotyping and the attribution of physical traits to each group. Asian men are also stereotyped to have small genitals. [6] Asians are also stereotyped to be capable martial artists. [7]

Marginalization

Exclusion from leadership positions, lack of leadership ability

Some think that American businesses will fail when Asians own them because they are stereotyped to lack some skills such as creativity, abstraction, analytical thinking, divergent thinking, lateral thinking, critical thinking and thinking outside the box to keep businesses running. Also there are stereotypes of Asians lacking leadership, verbal and management skills.

A survey showed attitudes of white views of Asian CEOs: 7% of Americans would not want to work for an Asian American CEO. This is in contrast to 4% for an African American, 3% for a woman and 4% for a Jew.

23% of Americans are uncomfortable voting for an Asian American to be President of the United States. This is in contrast to 15% compared with an African American candidate, 14% compared with a woman candidate and 11% compared with a Jewish candidate.

Poor English skills

In many American movies, television shows, and theatre productions, Asian characters have been represented as speaking English poorly, with amateur mistakes or caricaturish accents. Examples include the accent of the Chinese exchange student in Sixteen Candles, "Long Duk Dong". In the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mickey Rooney in "yellowface" plays the bucktoothed Japanese neighbor who constantly yells at the protagonists in broken English for being too noisy. On television's Mad TV, a comedy sketch series, Miss Swan, a clueless Asian manicurist played by Alex Borstein, is a recurring character who is portrayed as communicating ineffectively due to her language barrier, and use of broken English.

See also

• Orientalism
• Asian fetish
• Chinabounder
• Sex crimes against Asian women in the United States
• Model minority
• Asian pride
• Pan-Asianism
• Yellow Peril
• Stereotype threat
• Racial profiling
• Stereotypes of Eurasians
• Ching Chong
• Chinaman
• Chinese Exclusion Act

External links

• Model Minority.comAsians in entertainment and stereotypes.
• Asian-NationAnti-Asian Prejudice & Racism
• Black Racism Article about blacks against Asians.
• AllLookSame An educational online quiz which tests the taker's ability to differentiate persons of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean origin.
• "The Rosie O'Donnell Ching Chong Song" by Bobby and the Yellow Perils. A satirical analysis of anti-Asian slurs and hypocrisy among high-profile entertainment figures, with particular attention devoted to the 2006 Rosie O'Donnell "ching chong" incident.