think the point is that french/italian ppl are also a minority in australia
― teaky frigger (darraghmac), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:52 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, but being a white person of european descent in a country consisting largely of the same typically makes a huge difference.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:56 (twelve years ago) link
french/italian ppl were never 'coolies'
when china takes over the world it may ultimately become 'okay' to do ching-chong stuff, but it's going to be a long while
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 23:57 (twelve years ago) link
there's a Wing Wong Chinese Takeout somewhere around here.
― tinker tailor soldier sb (silby), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
hey don't look at me this is AA's 'idgi' igi
― teaky frigger (darraghmac), Monday, 30 January 2012 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
okay, and that makes chinese people not a minority in australia because...?
I didn't say that, and it's not even the point I was making
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:22 (twelve years ago) link
then what point were you making?
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
do chinese people face discrimination in australia?
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
australians never discriminate against non-whites they are too polite
― tumblring dice (crüt), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:26 (twelve years ago) link
btw I accept that I didn't explain myself properly but please understand that I'm not supporting or even defending nasty race jokes. My point was expressly (but stated badly) that the response to various types of racial 'humour' can come from that person's idea of what constitutes a minority, and that I find it woefully depressing that e.g. a nation of 1.2bn people is still viewed as a racial minority by so many in the west etc etc. Yes I know representation of Chinese genealogy in Australia/America is rah rah % or whatever.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:30 (twelve years ago) link
australia is disgustingly racist fyi, look at our political agenda on any given day
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:31 (twelve years ago) link
uh, would just like to point out that being a racial minority in a western country has no relationship at all to the country from which that person came. I accept, though, that you weren't making that observation from a bad place. I looked it up, and according to wikipedia, chinese people only make up 3.5% of australia's population.
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:33 (twelve years ago) link
i'm not trying to poo on you, but . . . no matter how many chinese ppl there are in the world, they are minorities in anglo-saxon countries and have historically not been treated particularly well by said caucasians there (or even at home).
at any rate, there are probably better barometers of progress than acceptance of racial joeks in polite company.
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:36 (twelve years ago) link
(i know you know this, i just think your original statement was put awkwardly)
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:37 (twelve years ago) link
mookie, I do understand and I completely agree with you. I'm genuinely sorry for making my point so badly.
re australian race relations: remember that sydney erupted against people of lebanese descent a couple of years ago. basically if you're not white anglo in australia you're regarded by scores of southern cross-tattooed thugs as unwelcome.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:39 (twelve years ago) link
xp yeah
I was joking :)
― tumblring dice (crüt), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:41 (twelve years ago) link
canadians, however . . .
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:42 (twelve years ago) link
if you think that's bad, you should see how the kangaroos treat those of british descent
― mh, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:54 (twelve years ago) link
anyway the worst part about that sign is that it's a "chinese-japanese" restaurant. ming is not a japanese name afaik and chinese and japanese food only share very superficial similarities!!
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 00:56 (twelve years ago) link
I think that's how the restaurant sells itself tho? and I'm guessing it's owned by chinese people?
― iatee, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
hmm
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mings-restaurant-washington
I guess by 'japanese' they just mean 'sushi'
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:25 (twelve years ago) link
round-eyes are easily fooled about the differences between various east asian ppls
a certain type of (american) customer would avoid such an amalgamation; another type would be all like 'this place has asian food covered amirite'
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
my mother still thinks greeks and italians are identical and interchangeable
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:30 (twelve years ago) link
also maybe I DIED and dc ilxors may disagree, but dc 'chinatown' is pretty disney-fied
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:31 (twelve years ago) link
chinatowns will all prob get increasingly disney-fied as chinese immigration dies down in the future
― iatee, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 01:33 (twelve years ago) link
i ate here when i was on maui last weelend:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/asian-cuisine-and-sports-bar-kahului
― ⚓ (gr8080), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 02:11 (twelve years ago) link
In most US cities, Chinatowns are just relocating out of the previously cheap city centers to newly cheap suburbs, but the city still wants an area to have a Chinatown identity (good for tourism & neighborhood branding!). This leads to very questionable things like a Hooters being required to have a Chinese translation of their sign, as though that will keep the area's former spirit alive somehow.
There are a ton of Chinese/Japanese, Thai/Japanese, Korean/Japanese etc. restaurants here - in all cases it just means it's a restaurant of whatever nature plus sushi, in part because there's a very small Japanese community here but a much higher demand for crappy sushi.
The underlying issue with the sign is that while the while the use of a chop suey font is relatively benign and has a history of use in Chinatowns over the last century, it really shouldn't be held up as an example/template by a local planning body. While not the harshest stereotype in and of itself, it's often been partnered with stereotypes as a way of emphasizing a generic otherness, for example:http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/greenoahu/movies/long-duck-dong-1.gif
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:19 (twelve years ago) link
I think all the decent "chinatowns" I've been in have had larger concentrations of non-Chinese people than Chinese people, really.
― mh, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:27 (twelve years ago) link
what chinatowns have you been to?
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:30 (twelve years ago) link
Melbourne's Chinatown is real and overwhelmingly authentic
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:31 (twelve years ago) link
Not very many now that I think about it?
― mh, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:34 (twelve years ago) link
is an authentic chinatown authentically chinese or authentically chinatownish?
― iatee, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:35 (twelve years ago) link
Chicago's was more Chinese than I give it credit for. Montreal had a strong Vietnamese presence (lol french speaking?) x-p
iatee otm about "authentically chinatownish"
― mh, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:36 (twelve years ago) link
i have a friend who used to waitress for PF Chang's, and apparently during training they provide you a prepared response to customers who ask why no one who works there is asian
― if you ever leave me peggy, leave some propane at my door (zachlyon), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:38 (twelve years ago) link
"if a customer asks this, make sure to tell them they're fat..."
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:39 (twelve years ago) link
Melbourne's is a lot like the older parts of HK, so authentic in that way
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:44 (twelve years ago) link
i always felt like the best food in philly's chinatown was vietnamese. in fact, i'm pretty sure it was.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:45 (twelve years ago) link
now i want vietnamese food. i'm hungry again...
scott the best vietnamese in philly is on washington ave around 11th street, also on 6th
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:46 (twelve years ago) link
montreal's chinatown was really small, like one block, from what I remember of my visit there
― dayo, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:47 (twelve years ago) link
i haven't been in philly in so long! since i moved. which is like 8 years now. which i can't believe. 9 years even! holy smokes. but the restaurant called Vietnam in chinatown was one of my favorite restaurants in the city and i never had chinese that equalled it there. and there was another good place too but i forget the name.
things have probably changed though...i can't believe it was that long ago.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:54 (twelve years ago) link
i've been on ilx for 9 years. that's what that means. holy toledo. that's crazy too.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:55 (twelve years ago) link
10 years in june! i checked. i should have a party. by myself.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:58 (twelve years ago) link
and cry...
seattle's "international district" (chinatown) is basically pan-asian, but it's large, active and gots lots of good chinese restaurants. and people.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:04 (twelve years ago) link
it'll be 10 years in August for me. and I'm only 24. :/
xpost
― tumblring dice (crüt), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:06 (twelve years ago) link
Chicago's "New Chinatown" (on Argyle Street) is actually mostly populated by Vietnamese and Thai people.
Regular Chinatown is on the South Side, and I think most of the Asian people there are Chinese.
I don't know why they call the one up north "Chinatown," "New" or otherwise, except maybe...racism?? (I went with the name "Little Saigon" which is another name for it.)
― garbage corn fan (Je55e), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:10 (twelve years ago) link
http://gawker.com/5880712/president-asked-to-dance-a-jig-by-random-internet-person
― dave cool, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 04:32 (twelve years ago) link
this will be annoying but:
" Jewish but (GOOGLE:NOPE)NOT Semitic: AntiSemitism" a verbal(GOOGLE:NOPE) weapon to hide Zionist crimes and save Zionist reputation.(GOOGLE:NOPE) This word "Antisemitism"(GOOGLE:NOPE) is extensively used by only the Zionist Jews. This has become a (GOOGLE:NOPE)verbal weapon to save their name and hide their war crimes."
so craftie , i am in awe.
― Sébastien, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 06:09 (twelve years ago) link