The Glittering Ghetto Revisited - Revision history

Ccarlsson at 06:21, 17 January 2024

2024-01-17T06:21:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:21, 16 January 2024
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	The experience of the old quarter lingered with Arnold Genthe, the famous photographer of Chinatown, and when he visited the rebuilt neighborhood in the 1910s and 20s, he was not fooled by its new, tourist-friendly glitter. He searched for the remnants of Old Chinatown, details that would confirm the logic of his recently anthologized photographs. He observed:		The experience of the old quarter lingered with Arnold Genthe, the famous photographer of Chinatown, and when he visited the rebuilt neighborhood in the 1910s and 20s, he was not fooled by its new, tourist-friendly glitter. He searched for the remnants of Old Chinatown, details that would confirm the logic of his recently anthologized photographs. He observed:

	''On brilliantly illuminated streets, smoothly asphalted, filled with crowds in American clothes, stand imposing bazaars of an architecture that never was, blazing in myriads of electric lights. Costly silk embroideries in gaudy colors, porcelains of florid design, bronzes with hand-made patina, and a host of gay Chinese and Japanese wares which the wise Oriental manufactures for us barbarians, tempt the tourist to enter, while inside cash-registers and department-store manners, replacing abacus and old-time courtesy, indicate up-to-date methods. In one store the Chinese owner even wears a proud tuxedo. Yet even today, in these warehouses of quite modern Oriental art, as well as in the modest store of the small dealer next door, may the patient searcher discover a precious bit of lacquer, a charming piece of brocade'' (Genthe 1912, 206).		<blockquote>''On brilliantly illuminated streets, smoothly asphalted, filled with crowds in American clothes, stand imposing bazaars of an architecture that never was, blazing in myriads of electric lights. Costly silk embroideries in gaudy colors, porcelains of florid design, bronzes with hand-made patina, and a host of gay Chinese and Japanese wares which the wise Oriental manufactures for us barbarians, tempt the tourist to enter, while inside cash-registers and department-store manners, replacing abacus and old-time courtesy, indicate up-to-date methods. In one store the Chinese owner even wears a proud tuxedo. Yet even today, in these warehouses of quite modern Oriental art, as well as in the modest store of the small dealer next door, may the patient searcher discover a precious bit of lacquer, a charming piece of brocade'' (Genthe 1912, 206).</blockquote>

	Genthe is quite specific about the new Chinatown's faults: its fabricated architecture, utterly clean pavement, carefully offered commodities, consumer-driven etiquette. We sometimes think that it is only through our careful hindsight that Chinatown's early artificiality can be named; but as Genthe's testimony will evidence, some contemporaries easily recognized the fabrication. They may differ from us in that some of them held the belief that a truly authentic quarter lay beneath the rubble, palimpsestic in the alleys and corners. In Genthe's case, the past was observable in lacquered bits and brocaded pieces--ironically, in the fragments of an earlier consumer culture...		Genthe is quite specific about the new Chinatown's faults: its fabricated architecture, utterly clean pavement, carefully offered commodities, consumer-driven etiquette. We sometimes think that it is only through our careful hindsight that Chinatown's early artificiality can be named; but as Genthe's testimony will evidence, some contemporaries easily recognized the fabrication. They may differ from us in that some of them held the belief that a truly authentic quarter lay beneath the rubble, palimpsestic in the alleys and corners. In Genthe's case, the past was observable in lacquered bits and brocaded pieces--ironically, in the fragments of an earlier consumer culture...

Ccarlsson: added photo

2024-01-17T06:20:12Z

added photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:20, 16 January 2024
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	'''Arnold Genthe image of Chinatown in the 1920s'''		'''Arnold Genthe image of Chinatown in the 1920s'''

			[[Image:Chinatown circa 1900 wnp27.6042.jpg\|800px]]

			'''Chinatown, c. 1900.'''

			''Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp27.6042''

	The experience of the old quarter lingered with Arnold Genthe, the famous photographer of Chinatown, and when he visited the rebuilt neighborhood in the 1910s and 20s, he was not fooled by its new, tourist-friendly glitter. He searched for the remnants of Old Chinatown, details that would confirm the logic of his recently anthologized photographs. He observed:		The experience of the old quarter lingered with Arnold Genthe, the famous photographer of Chinatown, and when he visited the rebuilt neighborhood in the 1910s and 20s, he was not fooled by its new, tourist-friendly glitter. He searched for the remnants of Old Chinatown, details that would confirm the logic of his recently anthologized photographs. He observed:

Ccarlsson at 05:55, 14 September 2017

2017-09-14T05:55:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:55, 13 September 2017
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	In this case, the "Orient" was increasingly subject to the historical momentum of west coast capital, and its main features were best glimpsed, as Genthe observed, in a culture of mass produced objects "that never was." A whole subculture of abjection was construed in order to naturalize the increasing commodification of an ethnic neighborhood and culture and its attendant anxiety. Glitter Chinatown could never be allowed to exist legitimately, a hollow shell ''without'' a hidden culture. It could not readily become a ''mere'' simulation, an object of the tourist's fancy. The Chinese themselves must be held responsible for capital's ruthless colonization.		In this case, the "Orient" was increasingly subject to the historical momentum of west coast capital, and its main features were best glimpsed, as Genthe observed, in a culture of mass produced objects "that never was." A whole subculture of abjection was construed in order to naturalize the increasing commodification of an ethnic neighborhood and culture and its attendant anxiety. Glitter Chinatown could never be allowed to exist legitimately, a hollow shell ''without'' a hidden culture. It could not readily become a ''mere'' simulation, an object of the tourist's fancy. The Chinese themselves must be held responsible for capital's ruthless colonization.

			[[Image:Grant-St-Chinatown 20170725 144723.jpg]]

			'''Grant Street in Chinatown, 2017, a fully touristified zone.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	This might seem to constitute a hopeful picture of Chinatown's history, at least from the point of view of the Chinese, since it offers the possibility that an alternative history--one more or less based on the quarter's hidden lives--had always existed as an absent (and necessarily absent) impelling force. It is sufficiently grim, however, in that the alternative history is nothing but a touristic fabrication, too. Chinatown's underground was only representable as a nexus of desire and loathing.		This might seem to constitute a hopeful picture of Chinatown's history, at least from the point of view of the Chinese, since it offers the possibility that an alternative history--one more or less based on the quarter's hidden lives--had always existed as an absent (and necessarily absent) impelling force. It is sufficiently grim, however, in that the alternative history is nothing but a touristic fabrication, too. Chinatown's underground was only representable as a nexus of desire and loathing.

Ccarlsson: fixed navigation for new page name

2013-01-08T05:19:00Z

fixed navigation for new page name

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:19, 7 January 2013
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	[[Chinese Nationalism \| Prev. Document]] [[~~Dreadful California~~ \| Next Document]]		[[Chinese Nationalism \| Prev. Document]] [[Rexroth's Old Chinatown \| Next Document]]

	[[category:Chinatown]] [[category:Chinese]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1930s]]		[[category:Chinatown]] [[category:Chinese]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1930s]]

Ccarlsson: moving image to Rexroth's Chinatown page

2012-08-14T20:53:13Z

moving image to Rexroth's Chinatown page

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:53, 14 August 2012
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	We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .		We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .

	~~[[Image:Chinatown-street-with-Rice-Bowl-at-Ewing-Field-advert-bef-Feb-12-1938-courtesy-Jimmie-Shein.jpg\|720px\|thumb]]~~

	~~'''Chinatown street with banner advertising a February 12, 1938 benefit at Ewing Field.'''~~

	~~''Photo: Courtesy of Jimmie Shein''~~

Ccarlsson at 06:47, 1 August 2012

2012-08-01T06:47:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:47, 31 July 2012
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	[[Image:Chinatown-street-with-Rice-Bowl-at-Ewing-Field-advert-bef-Feb-12-1938-courtesy-Jimmie-Shein.jpg\|720px\|thumb]]		[[Image:Chinatown-street-with-Rice-Bowl-at-Ewing-Field-advert-bef-Feb-12-1938-courtesy-Jimmie-Shein.jpg\|720px\|thumb]]

	'''Chinatown street, February 12, 1938~~, advertising a~~ benefit at Ewing Field.'''		'''Chinatown street with banner advertising a February 12, 1938 benefit at Ewing Field.'''

	''Photo: Courtesy of Jimmie Shein''		''Photo: Courtesy of Jimmie Shein''

Ccarlsson at 06:47, 1 August 2012

2012-08-01T06:47:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:47, 31 July 2012
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	We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .		We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .

			[[Image:Chinatown-street-with-Rice-Bowl-at-Ewing-Field-advert-bef-Feb-12-1938-courtesy-Jimmie-Shein.jpg\|720px\|thumb]]

			'''Chinatown street, February 12, 1938, advertising a benefit at Ewing Field.'''

			''Photo: Courtesy of Jimmie Shein''


	[[Chinese Nationalism \| Prev. Document]] [[Dreadful California \| Next Document]]		[[Chinese Nationalism \| Prev. Document]] [[Dreadful California \| Next Document]]

	[[category:Chinatown]] [[category:Chinese]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1910s]]		[[category:Chinatown]] [[category:Chinese]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1930s]]

Lisaruth at 00:38, 5 August 2011

2011-08-05T00:38:01Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:38, 4 August 2011
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	'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''		'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''

	''by Anthony W. Lee, excerpted from ''Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture, A City Lights Anthology'', 1998.''		''by Anthony W. Lee, excerpted from ''Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture'', A City Lights Anthology, 1998.''

	[[Image:chinatwn$chinatown-1920s.jpg]]		[[Image:chinatwn$chinatown-1920s.jpg]]

Lisaruth at 00:36, 5 August 2011

2011-08-05T00:36:30Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:36, 4 August 2011
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	'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''		'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''

	''by Anthony W. Lee''		''by Anthony W. Lee, excerpted from ''Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture, A City Lights Anthology'', 1998.''

	[[Image:chinatwn$chinatown-1920s.jpg]]		[[Image:chinatwn$chinatown-1920s.jpg]]
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	We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .		We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some Chinese, like the painter [[Yun Gee and the Chinese Revolutionary Artists' Club \| Yun Gee]] and his cohorts, held quite similar views--that Glitter Chinatown was a tenuous putting-into-place of another, replacing image and that it did in fact produce a fantasy of the "real" lives of its citizenry. The singular difference may have been the worry that both halves of that equation--the tourist world and the representation of an unsanctioned subculture--were all that the new Chinatown seemed to amount to. . .

	~~--''by Anthony W. Lee,'' excerpted from ''Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture, A City Lights Anthology'', 1998.~~

Ccarlsson: Protected "The Glittering Ghetto Revisited": finished essay [edit=sysop:move=sysop]

2009-01-02T08:11:29Z

Protected "The Glittering Ghetto Revisited": finished essay [edit=sysop:move=sysop]

← Older revision	Revision as of 01:11, 2 January 2009
(No difference)