 than 92 percent of the population from one ethnic group (the Han). On paper, the separatist Uighurs should not affect China as a whole, but a defining theme of Chinese history is the government’s fear of political instability. See CHINA; TAIPENG REBELLION; TIANANMEN SQUARE; TIBET.
Dalit (capitalized) is a more respectful and current term for castes once called “untouchables.” M.K. Gandhi coined the term Harijan (“children of God”) to refer to these castes. See CASTE SYSTEM; GANDHI; HINDUISM; INDIA.
A part of Imperial China until the 10th century, Vietnam was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. A war against the French led by Ho Chi Minh resulted in their expulsion in 1954, but not Vietnam’s independence. A simmering civil war between the Communist North, led by Ho, and the Western-leaning South drew in the United States in 1959. The shadow war expanded into war in 1965. After nearly 60,000 American dead, more than 300,000 South Vietnamese dead, and more than 1 million North Vietnamese dead (with uncounted millions of civilian deaths), the United States withdrew in 1975. The Communist North united the two halves. A significant migration of Vietnamese refugees began in the late 1970s and lasted into the mid-1980s. Tensions persisted between the former enemies and normal diplomatic relations were not reestablished until 1995. About the size of New Mexico. Capital: Hanoi (South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon, is now called Ho Chi Minh City). Languages: Vietnamese, English, French. Faith: None (81 percent), Buddhist (9 percent), Roman Catholic (7 percent) and others (1999 estimate). Population: 92 million. Proportion of population younger than 15: one-quarter. Ethnic groups: Viet (86 percent), Tay (2 percent), Thai (2 percent), Hmong (less than 2 percent) and others (2009 estimate). (Source: World Factbook.) See also INDOCHINA; THAILAND; VIETNAMESE SLURS.
Virtually unknown in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, Vietnamese restaurants grew in number with the end of the Indochinese wars in the 1970s. Similar to but distinct from Thai cuisine (they both use lemongrass, a tropical grass that yields an aromatic oil). Cuisine favors fresh ingredients and minimal use of oil. Vietnamese spring rolls aren’t fried, for example but are folded in rice wrappers. Like Indian cuisine, Vietnamese cooking has a long vegetarian tradition.
Typically family name first, personal name last. On second reference, personal name is sometimes used. But in the United States, Western word order common.
A legacy of the Vietnam War (1959-1975). See GOOK; SLANT: SLOPE.
Officially known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, it allowed Asians to apply for citizenship but set immigration quotas from each Asian country at only 100 annually. Liberalization of this law, in 1965, allowed the first large-scale migration of Asians into the United States in the 20th Century. See also ASIAN EXCLUSION ACTS; CHARLIE CHAN; ETHNICITY, mention of; EXOTIC; FU MANCHU; IMMIGRANT; ILLEGAL ALIEN; ILLEGALS; YELLOW PERIL; YELLOW SKIN.
“WHITE MAN’S BURDEN”:
An 1899 poem written by Rudyard Kipling about the American role in the Philippines, which became an American colony following the Spanish-American War (1898). The poem begins: “Take up the White Man’s burden– / Send forth the best ye breed– / Go bind your sons to exile / To serve your captives’ need; / To wait in heavy harness, / On fluttered folk and wild– / Your new-caught, sullen peoples, / Half-devil and half-child.”
See ASIA, use and abuse of images of; ASIA, perception of; COLONIALISM; IMPERIALISM; STEREOTYPES.
Archaic, possibly anti-Semitic rather than anti-Asian. Refers to the “Yellow Kid,” a young boy from a cartoon strip popular in New York tabloids of the 1890s and, thus, synonymous with tabloid sensationalism. The boy wore a yellow nightshirt. He was Eastern European, possibly Jewish, and was bald because his hair had been shorn because of lice, a common sight in Lower East Side tenements.
Avoid, a slur. An imagined invasion of the United States at the beginning of the 20th ce