ges building the transcontinental railroad. “Chinaman’s chance’’ means no chance at all, and implies injury or death. See also CHINK; GOOK; SLANT; SLOPE; VIETNAMESE SLURS.
Arguably, the equal of French cuisine. China is 4,000 years old or more, about the land mass of the United States, and has four times the number of people. It can take years for a Chinese chef to gain proficiency and decades (if ever) to gain a modest acumen. There are at least eight traditions in Chinese cuisine, of which three are widely known in the United States. Crudely, at least in the American experience, they can be remembered as Hot (Hunan), Spicy (Sichuan) and Original Recipe (Cantonese). Cantonese cuisine comes from Guangdong province in southern China. Many Westerners think of Cantonese food as Chinese food. Cantonese residents were early American immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. Beef, pork, and chicken predominate, and lamb and goat are rare, unlike Chinese cuisines in the North and West. Steaming and stir-frying are common techniques. Sichuan (also spelled Szechuan and Szechwan) cuisine comes from the Sichuan province of southwestern China. It uses Sichuan peppercorn, sesame paste, ginger and other ingredients. Sichuan in China is called “heavenly country.” Much like Lyon in France, it is known for the richness of its agriculture. The best-known dish is Kung Pao Chicken, but Sichuan cuisine itself has many variations and no one style. Hunanese is also commonly found in the United States, especially in cities with large Asian populations. Hunan cuisine comes from the Xiang River region, in western Hunan Province in China. Hunan cuisine is known for its deep color and eye-watering levels of chili. On appearance, it is often oily. Common techniques include stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising and smoking. As in French cuisine, there is no one reference work for Chinese cuisine.
Caution. Can be racially charged. Legend has it that the first Chinese laundry was opened in 1851 in California by a failed Chinese miner. Inexpensive to open and posing no competition to white-owned businesses, Chinese hand laundries proliferated, peaking in 1940, with more than 5,000 laundries in New York City alone. In California, Chinese were once permitted to own only restaurants and laundries. The Chinese laundry declined sharply with the introduction of coin-operated laundromats.
Typically family name first (as in “Smith”), personal name second (as in “John”). Many Chinese Americans, however, change the word order to conform to Western practice. They also often adopt Western names in addition to traditional names. Personal names consisting of two words (one word is typically a generational name) are sometimes hyphenated. Check to see if the interview subject prefers a hyphen. Rules for married women adopting their husbands’ names are often elaborate. (Taiwan, consisting mainly of ethnic Chinese from the mainland, follows Chinese naming rules.) See also SOUTH ASIAN NAMES; TAIWAN; and individual countries.
Avoid. A slur. Similar to Chink. See also CHINAMAN; FOREIGN-NESS; GOOK; ORIENTAL; SLANT; SLOPE; VIETNAMESE SLURS; YELLOW PERIL; YELLOW SKIN.
Avoid. A slur. Similar to Chinaman. Avoid phrases such as “chink in the armor” — despite its original non-racial connotation — that call to mind the slur. See also CHINAMAN; CHING-CHONG; FOREIGN-NESS; GOOK; ORIENTAL; SLANT; SLOPE; VIETNAMESE SLURS; YELLOW PERIL; YELLOW SKIN.
The European Age of Exploration that began in the 16th century led, for good and ill, to the subjugation of less technologically advanced peoples as European colonies. Many, but not all, of the countries of Asia have been part of European empires, often Dutch and British. (France played a similar role in the Middle East; Belgium in Africa; Portugal and Spain in North and South America.) One consequence of World War II was the rapid shedding of empire in the late 1940s, climaxing globally in the 1960s. See also IMPERIALISM; PHILIPPINES; RACISM, history of; RACISM, scientific; THIRD WORLD; “WHITE MAN’S BURDEN”; YELLOW PERIL; YELLOW SKIN.
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