“The Stage on Which the Whole East is Confined”: Asian American Racial Construction in Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman

Abstract

Of medias in conversation with the construction of “Asian American” identity, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman explores these identity politics and proximity-based power in association with Whiteness through questions of racial essentialism; power dynamics; gender dynamics and Ornamental womanhood as outlined by Ann Anlin Cheng’s Ornamentalism; systemic power structures in relation to Whiteness; and what it means to be “American” at all. This study is organized in three sections: the history of Asian American racialized identity and “Othering” from the 1960s and analysis of Asian American identity and Ornamental Womanhood as seen in Yee’s Wong family, “J”, and “The Chinese Woman”, and the reality of identity within construction. The analysis begins with the narrative dichotomy between Desdemona Wong and Kim Lee Park and contextualizes them through Ornamentalism. Subsequently, the gender construction of the  male characters “J” and Ed Wong as well as the female characters portrayed by “The Chinese Woman” is analyzed. Finally, the play’s understanding of proximity to Whiteness as survival in the United States is explored, as well as moments of alignment and subversion within the play. This study seeks to understand Asian American identity as outlined within Yee’s play, and contextualize it in the larger context of identity construction within the United States.