I wanted to share with you two main ideas for you to consider as you dive into the world of The Chinese Lady.
First, is the long history of marginalized bodies that were put on display in 19th century America. As you may have heard, Afong Moy, the protagonist of this story was the first woman of Chinese descent to be toured as what was called a “living curiosity,” a term used to describe people or objects shown in exhibitions for entertainment or educational purposes. She was displayed in a manner that emphasized her “exotic” heritage-wearing long Chinese silk gowns and intricate jewelry, and performing tasks like embroidery or playing the Chinese zither. This display of “living exhibits” was popularized by people like P.T. Barnum who monetized the display of non-Western bodies and produced the image of them as foreign. Other infamous living exhibits included Sarah Baartmann, an indigenous Khoekhoe woman who was displayed in European circuits under the name “Hottentot Venus.” Both Moy and Baartmann fascinated audiences but they were also feared by them. Here, the playwright Lloyd Suh plays with theatrical conventions of putting bodies on display to ask how we look at bodies on stage and how we perceive them to be different or similar to us.
Second, as the first woman of Chinese descent to arrive in the US, Moy was part of a longer complicated history of immigration that has resonance in today’s world. As Moy toured the US during the mid-19th century, Chinese immigration to the US increased largely driven by the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) and an increased demand for laborers to construct the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s, however the large majority of these immigrants were male. While her exhibit did educate American audiences about Chinese culture, it also solidified racial and cultural stereotypes that often portrayed Chinese people as a perpetually foreign monolith. These negative stereotypes and anti-Chinese sentiment that was on the rise due to labor competition particularly in places like California resulted in the passing of The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which barred immigration of Chinese people to the US and made it nearly impossible for Chinese immigrants to become naturalized. It was the first legislation in history to restrict immigration based on nationality, and it remained in law for eighty whole years until it was officially lifted by the Immigration Act of 1965, which for those who are doing the math, was only sixty years ago. These recent histories therefore ask us to consider how arts and culture can have lasting impacts on social worlds, particularly as we continue to learn about one another. I hope you’ll keep these histories in mind as you encounter the story of The Chinese Lady in today’s world.
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