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Chin shares views
By Lyndsey Shinoda
On-line Forty-Niner
Students in Tim
Caron's 20th Century American Literature class were surprised
Wednesday afternoon when renowned Chinese American author
Frank Chin popped in to speak about his dissent with the novel
the students are reading, "Woman Warrior," by Maxine
Hong Kingston.
Jonah Ewell, a
senior English major, was assigned to do a contextual presentation
on Chin's work as part of the study of the fiction novel for
Caron's class. While researching Chin on the Internet, he
made an interesting discovery.
"I searched
Google, and found him there, including his name and phone
number," Ewell said.
Chin, 61, who resides
in Los Angeles, said he was taken aback when Ewell took the
initiative to call him.
"He just phoned
me. He surprised me because he seemed to know some of my work,"
Chin said. "I had nothing to do. I thought it would be
interesting."
Chin, who graduated
from UC Berkeley with a degree in English, has written many
books on Asian Americans, produced a documentary film and
founded an Asian American Theater Workshop in 1973. Chin is
currently writing a book on Japanese American war resisters
called, "Born in America."
He spoke to the
class about Chinese representation in literature.
"We have Chicano
magazines, black magazines, critics, and filmmakers, but no
Chinese magazines," Chin said. "The Chinese magazines
that we do have don't even use Chinese writers.
"It's not
your fault. It's our fault, us Chinese. We think so little
of ourselves, we don't think we're worth reading."
Criticism of Kingston's
work, including the segment in "Woman Warrior" called
"White Tiger" that tells the story of Fa Mu Lan,
abounded during Chin's lecture.
"The only
thing wrong with Kingston is she's a fraud," Chin said.
He went on to say
that Mu Lan, the inspiration for the Disney movie, "Mulan"
is a real children's poem that everyone in China reads and
knows. Mu Lan was a fictional heroine of China associated
with several different time periods, Chin said. He explained
that the Chinese know and value Mu Lan.
"Fa Mu Lan
inspired Chinese women to join the army. But Kingston's Fa
Mu Lan is a victim ? a victim of men," Chin said. "That
is the crux of my quarrel with her."
The class listened
intently to Chin's views, and Caron interjected by telling
him that the majority of the students disliked "Woman
Warrior" anyway.
"I had read
Mr. Chin's work in graduate school," Caron, an associate
professor and assistant chair of the English department, said.
"But I was excited that Jonah came out and found him.
Mr. Chin has been instrumental in providing a history of Asian
American literature. It was a privilege to have him in class."
Chin also touched
on the current situation in America and what will be done
if we go to war, comparing it to the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II.
"When I faced
going to a concentration camp because of my race, who was
going to defend me?" Chin asked the class. "You
are of draftable age. Sooner or later, as this war goes on,
they're going to come knocking at your door. If you're in
a concentration camp and they want you to go, would you go?"
Senior English
major Josh Burns was enthralled by Chin's appearance.
"I thought
he raised some really interesting points about who we are
as Americans and the identity of Americans, and what makes
us American," Burns said.
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