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Chinatown Children During World War Two in the Jade Peony a Journal

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Chinatown Children During World War Two in the Jade Peony a Journal Chinatown Children during World War Two in The Jade Peony Zhen Liu Shandong University (China) [email protected] A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies ISSN 2254-1179 VOL. 7 (2018) pp. 25-35 • ARTICLES 6ƮƛƦƢƭƭƞƝ $ƜƜƞƩƭƞƝ 29/05/2017 26/01/2018 .ƞƲưƨƫƝƬ Asian Canadian literature; Chinese Canadian literature; Canadian literature $ƛƬƭƫƚƜƭ In The Jade Peony (1995) Wayson Choy captured vividly the lives of three children growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s when the Depression and the Second World War constituted the social backdrop. In the article, I argue that the Chinatown residents exemplify WKHW\SHRIYXOQHUDELOLW\GH¿QHGE\-XGLWK%XWOHUDVXSDJDLQVWQHVVDQGHVSHFDLOO\WKHFKLOGUHQ LQWKHQRYHOVXIIHUIURPDJUHDWHUYXOQHUDELOLW\DVWKH\DUHFDXJKWXSLQWKHFURVV¿UHRIERWKVLGHV *URZLQJXSLQWZRFRQÀLFWLQJFXOWXUHVDQGUHVWULFWHGWRWKHOLPLQDOFXOWXUDODQGSK\VLFDOVSDFHWKH children are disorientated and confused as if stranded in no man’s land. More importantly, in their serious struggles, the children show great resilience and devise their own strategies, such as for ming alliance with others, to survive and gain more space in spite of the many restraints imposed on them. 5ƞƬƮƦƞƧ En The Jade Peony (1995) Wayson Choy captura vívidamente las vidas de tres niños que crecen en el Chinatown de Vancouver durante las décadas de 1930 y 1940, con la Gran Depresión y la Segunda Guerra Mundial como telón de fondo social. En el artículo, argumento que los residentes HQ&KLQDWRZQHMHPSOL¿FDQHOWLSRGHYXOQHUDELOLGDGGH¿QLGDSRU-XGLWK%XWOHUFRPR³XSDJDLQVW ness”(2) y especialmente, que los niños en la novela sufren una gran vulnerabilidad al estar atra pados en medio del fuego cruzado mantenido por ambos sectores. Ya que crecen en dos culturas HQFRQÀLFWR\UHVWULQJLGDVDOHVSDFLROLPLQDOFXOWXUDO\ItVLFRORVQLxRVHVWiQGHVRULHQWDGRV\FRQ fundidos como si hubieran sido abandonados en tierra de nadie. Sobre todo, en sus serias luchas, los niños muestran una gran resiliencia y trazan sus propias estrategias, como formar alianzas con RWURVSDUDVREUHYLYLU\JDQDUPiVHVSDFLRDSHVDUGHODVPXFKDVUHVWULFFLRQHVTXHVHOHVLPSRQH 26 [2254-1179 (2018) 7, 25-35] In The Jade Peony (1995) Wayson Choy captured vividly the lives of three children WKHWZRFRPPXQLWLHV&KLQHVHDQG-DSDQHVH&DQDGLDQVZHUHQRWDOOLHVDWWKDWWLPHEXW growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s when the Great enemies, competing for opportunities and for space.2 Depression and the Second World War constituted the social backdrop.1 I argue that in the ,Q³3UHFDULRXV/LIH9XOQHUDELOLW\DQGWKH(WKLFRI&RKDELWDWLRQ´-XGLWK%XWOHUGH¿QHV book the children are uniquely vulnerable as they are caught up in wars on many fronts: vulnerability as: &KLQDLVDWZDUZLWK-DSDQ&DQDGDVHQGVWURRSVWRWKH(XURSHDQEDWWOH¿HOGVWKHLUVXUYLYDO space, Chinatown, is surrounded by hostility as the larger society does not recognise the ZKHQ ZH DUH XS DJDLQVW DQRWKHU SHUVRQ RU JURXS ¿QG RXUVHOYHV LQYDULDEO\ OHJLWLPDF\RIWKHLUH[LVWHQFHPHDQZKLOHWKHVHFRQGJHQHUDWLRQFKLOGUHQDVGHSLFWHGLQ joined to those we never chose, and must respond to solicitations in languages WKHERRNDUHFRQVWDQWO\LQWLPLGDWHGDQGEHOLWWOHGE\WKH¿UVWJHQHUDWLRQLPPLJUDQWVZKR we may not understand or even wish to understand. This happens, for deem themselves to have better cultural capital and do not hesitate to use it to keep the instance, at the border of several contested states but also in various moments later generations in their places; and lastly, the children also engage with personal wars RI JHRJUDSKLFDO SUR[LPLW\²ZKDW ZH PLJKW FDOO ³XS DJDLQVWQHVV´²WKH UHVXOW while growing up, encountering sexism, awakening sexuality and cultural confusion. We of populations living in conditions of unwilled adjacency, the result of forced see the children are disorientated and confused as if stranded in no man’s land trying to HPLJUDWLRQRUWKHUHGUDZLQJRIWKHERXQGDULHVRIDQDWLRQVWDWH VRUWRXWLGHQWLW\LVVXHVDQG¿QGDZD\WRVXUYLYHJHQHUDWLRQDOFRQÀLFWV0RUHLPSRUWDQWO\LQ their serious struggles, the children show great resilience and devise their own strategies Indeed, we see Chinatown residents in the novel exemplify this type of vulnerability as their to grow up in spite of the many restraints imposed on them. community is under threat, surrounded by the hostile wider Canadian society and adjacent In the sequel, All that Matters (2004), Choy explains that the Chen family came to the unsympathetic Little Tokyo. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Chinatown is also located in to Vancouver in 1926 because of famine and civil wars in China. They came to settle in DPXOWLUDFLDODQGGLYHUVHFRPPXQLW\ZKLFKFRXOGZHOOH[HPSOLI\WKHQRWLRQRID³FRQWDFW Chinatown in Vancouver, along with the many bachelor male labourers who were forced to zone”.30DU\/RXLVH3UDWWGH¿QHVWKHFRQWDFW]RQHLQKHUImperial Eyes DV³WKHVSDFHRI remain in Canada as they could not afford the passage home. Alena Chercover observes: imperial encounters, the space in which peoples geographically and historically separated ³'LVHQIUDQFKLVHG RVWUDFL]HG DQG H[SORLWHG E\ WKH KRVW QDWLRQ HDUO\ &KLQHVH VHWWOHUV come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving clustered in the less desirable periphery of Vancouver. This space then became known FRQGLWLRQVRIFRHUFLRQUDGLFDOLQHTXDOLW\DQGLQWUDFWDEOHFRQÀLFW´ )RU3UDWWWKHFRQWDFW as ‘Chinatown’” (6). This ghettoised Chinatown, to a certain extent, provides shelter and zone is propitious to producing literate art forms. However, Renisa Mawani, in Colonial cultural space for its residents. However, its isolation and independence are only delusive, ProximitiesGUDZLQJXSRQ*XKD+LQGHVVDQG+RPL%KDEKD¶VWKHRULHVDERXWWKHFRORQLDO EHFDXVHLWLVIDUIURPZKDW0DU\/RXLVH3UDWWGH¿QHVDV³VDIHKRXVHV´ZKLFKSURYLGHV FRQWDFW]RQHEHLQJDSODFHRIIHDUDQGDQ[LHW\H[SODLQVWKDW³1RPDWWHUKRZDPELJXRXV ³VRFLDO DQG LQWHOOHFWXDO VSDFHV ZKHUH JURXSV FDQ FRQVWLWXWH WKHPVHOYHV DV KRUL]RQWDO and unfounded these apprehensions, the uncertainty and contingency of colonial contacts homogenous, sovereign communities with high degrees of trust, shared understandings, and their potentially destabilizing effects often engendered illiberal reactions from colonial temporary protection from legacies of oppression”. Indeed, although the residents took administrators and bureaucrats, including discipline, force and violence” (14). Thus, Chinatown as a safe zone for themselves, thinking they could be at home within it, it was %XWOHU¶VGH¿QLWLRQRIWKHYXOQHUDELOLW\RISHRSOHZKRDUHIRUFHGWROLYHLQSUR[LPLW\WRRWKHU VHHQ E\ RXWVLGHUV DV D FRQVSLFXRXVO\ XQUXO\ VSDFH7KH VHOIVHFOXGHG &KLQDWRZQ ZDV groups in a contact zone could also be understood from the perspective of the dominant subject to the surveillance of the wider society, and maintained rather tense relationships SRZHU7KH\DOVRGRQRWOLNH³LQWLPDWHSUR[LPLWLHV´ 0DZDQL DPRQJVWGLIIHUHQWUDFHVGXH ZLWKWKHLUQHLJKERXUVVXFKDVWKH-DSDQHVH&DQDGLDQV:LWKKLVWRULFDOJUXGJHVEHWZHHQ 2 This changed in a later period than in the novel in the 1970s when different ethnic minorities united XQGHUWKHEDQQHURI³$VLDQ&DQDGLDQ´ 3 Moreover, in Colonial Proximities5HQLVD0DZDQLWKHRUL]HV%ULWLVK&ROXPELDDVDFRQWDFW]RQH 7KHDXWKRU&KLQHVH&DQDGLDQ¿FWLRQLVW:D\VRQ&KR\VHFRQGJHQHUDWLRQZDVERUQLQ9DQFRXYHU ZKHUH³DSODFHRUUDFLDOPL[WXUH²DSODFHZKHUH(XURSHDQVDERULJLQDOSHRSOHVDQGUDFLDOPLJUDQWV in 1939. He currently teaches at Humber College in Toronto. According to his autobiography Paper came into frequent contact, a conceptual and material geography where racial categories and Shadows, Choy was born and raised in Chinatown in Vancouver before the family moved to Ontario UDFLVPVZHUHERWKSURGXFHGDQGSURGXFWLYHRIORFDOO\FRQ¿JXUHGDQGJOREDOO\LQÀHFWHGPRGDOLWLHV ZKHUHWKH\UDQD¿VKDQGFKLSUHVWDXUDQW of colonial power” (5). A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies 27 WRWKHIHDUDERXW³UDFLDOKHWHURJHQHLW\´ZKLFKLVVHHQDVDWKUHDWWR³UDFLDOSXULW\´DQGZLOO :RQJ6XNDQG,VWD\HGODWHWRFDWFKWKHQHZVUHHO&KLQDZDVDWZDU¿JKWLQJ XQVHWWOHDQGEOXUWKH³UDFLDOWD[RQRPLHVDQGERXQGDULHV´XSRQZKLFKOLHWKH³ELRSROLWLFVRI WKH-DSDQHVHLQYDGHUV:RQJ6XNOLNHGWRVWDUWWKHFODSSLQJZKHQHYHU&KLDQJ VWDWHUDFLVP´ 7KHUHIRUHLWLVQRWKDUGWRLPDJLQHWKHWHQVLRQLQHDUO\WZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\ .DLVKHNDSSHDUHGRQWKHVFUHHQ7KHQZHZRXOGDOOKLVVWKHHQHP\LIWKH\ Chinatown with the mutual mistrust and repulsion. showed up, especially if General Tojo marched into view, or if we saw the I argue that the children in the novel suffer from such vulnerability as they are not ZHVWHUQGUHVVHG-DSDQHVHJRLQJLQDQGRXWRIWKH:KLWH+RXVHFKDWWHULQJ RQO\XSDJDLQVWWKHZKLWHVRFLHW\EXWDOVRVHHQDV³HQHPLHV´RU³WUDLWRUV´ZLWKLQ&KLQDWRZQ away with the Americans. If enough Chinatown people were there, the hissing ,WFRXOG EH VDLG WKDW WKH\ DUH FDXJKW XS LQ WKH FURVV¿UH EHWZHHQ WKH WZR VLGHV ,Q WKH ZDVDVORXGDVWKHFODSSLQJ*URZQXSZKLWHSHRSOHFODSSHGHYHU\WLPHWKH\ novel, Meiying, the youngest brother Sekky’s babysitter is asked why she knows so much saw President Roosevelt, Chinatown people booed every time they saw the DERXW WKH ZDU WR ZKLFK 0HL\LQJ DQVZHUV ³$UHQ¶W ZH DOO DW ZDU"´ Jade 261). Indeed, -DSDQHVHDQGFKLOGUHQFKHHUHGHYHU\WLPH0LJKW\0RXVHVKRZHGXS,DOZD\V Choy suggests that though no battles took place on Canadian territory during the Second looked forward to the Petunia Pig cartoons and Only the Shadow Knows World War, people in Chinatown during the period were at war on different fronts, as mystery serial. (Jade 45) SDWULDUFKDO RSSUHVVLRQ UDFLDO GLVFULPLQDWLRQ DQG FXOWXUDO FRQÀLFW WXUQHG SHRSOH DJDLQVW HDFKRWKHU$PLGVWVXFKFRQIXVLRQVDQGFURVV¿UH&KLQDWRZQEHFRPHVDEDWWOH¿HOGIRU With the war as the backdrop of their daily life, the tensions between people of different WKHFKLOGUHQ7KHZDULVQRWRI¿UHDQGVPRNHEXWRIUDFLVWDWWDFNVDQGGLVRULHQWDWLRQLQ
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