Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jewel Edwards
Washington, DC – On Sunday, June 23, Eastern Law gave a talk titled Place, Identitiy, and the Makings of Culture at Chinatown’s Chinese Community Church. Law is working with residents to dispel the stereotype that D.C.’s Chinatown is an inauthentic, over-commercialized space.
The talk, part of a larger series of Talk Story events hosted by Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), allowed residents of Chinatown to express their grievances about how outsiders perceive Chinatown.
Law says that contrary to popular belief, Chinatown is authentic because it possesses an undeniable sense of place.
What makes place? Law explains, “You need people, you need space, and as those two interact, they create artifacts like architecture.” The Friendship Archway that spans H and 7th streets is an example, Law says, of such an artifact. “Over time, that creates history. All those things create place. Chinatown has those things, but people still say Chinatown isn’t authentic. The problem is people just don’t engage with that history.”
According to Law, while culture is very internal, place carries with it a sense of belonging to a broader cultural tradition. “There can be a lot of Chinese people in one place, but that doesn’t make it a Chinatown. It takes place,” says Law.
Law gives an example of a woman who is frustrated by outsiders who fail to recognize that Chinese people even live there. With rising costs, she has little time or effort left to devote to creating a more authentic-looking place. “She gets really discouraged because they are just fighting to exist. There are Chinese people there, but no one focuses on that.”
Meta Yee, 61, echoes that woman’s sentiments. Yee’s family has lived, owned, and worked in Chinatown since the mid 1930’s, and still owns two small buildings in Chinatown. “We won the fight to keep Chinatown from being relocated but we lost the war to be able to afford to stay,” Yee says.
During his presentation, Law spoke with residents about the history of D.C.’s Chinatown and the series of advocacy wins residents brought about in order to cement its presence and create place, despite various setbacks.
“There’s a perception that the Chinese aren’t very assertive. But, man, the D.C. Chinese fought tooth and nail for everything they got,” says Law. From winning the battle to have the first convention center pushed back to H and 9th streets, rather than right in the midst of Chinatown, to pushing for legislation to have Chinese characters placed on every shop sign built within its vicinity, residents of Chinatown have won a series of victories to preserve remnants of the Chinese culture that belie claims to its inauthenticity.
Still, with the encroachment of corporate stores like Urban Outfitters, chain restaurants and rising costs that threaten to price residents out, Law says that more Chinese artifacts are needed, as Chinatown shrinks and commercialism in the area grows. “What’s lacking now is artifacts. You have more and more artifacts created purely for the purposes of marketing by corporations.” To that end, Law says that residents are currently discussing building an Asian American Cultural Center near the Chinese Community Church. “It’s about creating place again for the Chinese,” says Law.
A first step in addressing the authenticity issue in DC Chinatown, the talk gave some residents inspiration for reclaiming public perception of authenticity many feel it has lost. “It gave me hope that some people can see that Chinatown has value,” says Yee. “A few of us still exist behind the facades which developers and politicians have covered and overwhelmed us with.”
