Big trouble in little China
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 25, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Illustration by ERICA PINTO/Daily Bruin
By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Contributor
Underneath the glitzy souvenir shops and chop suey restaurants
filling the streets of Chinatown, lies a culture labeled with
deceptive stereotypes.
Frank Chin’s play, “The Year of the Dragon,”
opening Jan. 31 at the David Henry Hwang Theatre, peels back the
surface of this world and examines the more substantive matter
underneath.
“The Year of the Dragon” revolves around the Engs, a
first-generation Chinese family. Fred Eng, the father, is a San
Francisco Chinatown tour operator. To keep himself in business he
plays up to the Asian stereotypes he despises because tourists
assume they are normal.
“It’s a tragedy, what happens to my character
(Fred), because he is unable to come to terms with racism in
America,” Keone Young said in a recent interview. “My
character really wants to be seen for who he is, and he goes
through that struggle the whole play.”
Fred’s father is dying and wishes to have an Eng family
reunion before he passes away, which includes summoning a secret
wife that Fred’s father had from China, China Mama. To add to
the drama, Fred’s sister, who has been working toward a
college degree in Boston, is bringing a white husband with her to
San Francisco. Lastly, Fred’s little brother Johnny is
beginning to get involved with the gang life.
“The Year of the Dragon” operates on several levels.
Deeper than the basic plot, the story is truly about struggles: the
struggle of a man living in a country that views him from one angle
based on stereotypes, and the larger struggle of an entire culture
within that country that holds the same stereotypes.
“(“˜The Year of the Dragon’) shows you the
dilemma of the Chinese people and what can happen to us,”
Young said. “It can be very negative or very positive, but it
questions the audience, “˜Where would you go from
here?'”
The performance displays a world within a world; a community
underneath the sights of Chinatown that visitors and tourists see.
Young pointed out that often, people never see the real
Chinatown.
“What really happens behind the restaurants, chop suey
shops ““ tourist stuff ““ is the real life in
Chinatown,” Young said. “It’s quite different
from the (stereotypical) stuff that most people know.”
Bringing up current Asian American issues, the play serves as an
intermediary between Chinese culture and the rest of the world.
Young mentioned that many serious ideas are examined in the
production.
“What is real Chinese American versus what is imposed upon
us ““ the stereotypical “˜Chinaman,’ that concept
of Orientalism, is examined,” Young said.
“In (show) business, they still consider (Asians) foreign
in America,” Young continued. “Watch the movies, watch
TV, you still see “˜Crouching Tiger,’ Jackie Chan, Jet
Li, we’re still being defined as foreigners in our own
country.”
Through the play, the audience is able to see inside a family in
a way they normally would not be able to do.
“You never really see an “˜ethnic’ family in
major motion pictures,” said Mako, director of the play.
Mako pointed out that the implications of Fred’s actions,
to maintain the Chinese stereotypes, were not beneficial to the
rest of his family.
“Fred Eng has an identity crisis,” Mako said.
“When (he) takes one wrong step, it creates disintegration of
the family unit.”
First premiering in 1974, “The Year of the Dragon”
reexamines the stereotypes and issues of the ’70s in ways
that are new and fresh. Mako, who also directed the 1974 version,
held readings of the play with Chin to decide if they should modify
it for a contemporary interpretation.
“At times we thought that updating it would be required,
but after we listened to it, Frank and I agreed that the issues in
the 1970s are ones we still face,” Mako said.
Some members of the original cast were brought back to play in
the second version. One of them, Shizuko Hoshi, said that the play
has improved since 1974.
“We understand the play at a deeper level, 25 years
later,” Hoshi said of the returning actors.
“The Year of the Dragon” hopes to not only break
stereotypes of Chinese Americans, but to introduce audiences to
many of the realities they face.
“I think people would like to see a part of America that
they wouldn’t normally see, that they wouldn’t know
about,” Young said. “So that little Tokyo or Chinatown
isn’t just a place to go and eat or do shopping, but a place
where ordinary people live.”
THEATER: “The Year of the Dragon”
runs Jan. 31 through Feb. 25, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.,
and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the David Henry Hwang Theater,
Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St. (formerly San
Pedro St.) in downtown L.A. Prices are $30, $25, $20. For student,
group, senior rates call (213) 625-7000. $15 rush tickets one hour
before showtime, based on availability. For info. or tickets call
Tele-Charge at (800) 233-3123.
