The Double-oppression and the Identity Crisis of the Early Chinese Canadian Women

College of Foreign Languages and Cultures,Sichuan University,Chengdu,China

Officers College of PAP,Chengdu,China Email:puyazhu@126.com

[Abstract]The identity of the early Chinese Canadian women was collective,typical but always ignored.From the critical perspective of Postcolonial Feminism,this paper focuses on the character of“Mother”in Wayson Choy’s Paper Shadows:A Chinatown Childhood to explore the forgotten history and identity crisis of the early Chinese Canadian women.

[Keywords]Identity Crisis; Early Chinese Canadian Women; Paper Shadows:A Chinatown Memoir;“Mother”;Postcolonial Feminism

Introduction:The Historical and Cultural Review

The history of the early Chinese Canadians is the one full of humiliation and discrimination.Lagging far behind the history of the Chinese in Canada,Chinese Canadian literature formed around the 1970s when the literate second generation of Chinese Canadians began to concern their ancestors’and their own identities.Deeply influenced by the historical and social complexity,Chinese Canadian literature is full of such expression characterized with collective or individual experience as well as identity quest.In addition,the Chinese Canadian writers undertake the responsibility and aspiration of breaking the community’s collective silence,writing their own history and stories in Canada by using English,the dominant language.

The“Chinese Canadian”is a collective term to refer the Chinese immigrants living in Canada entitled to Canadian citizenship,while this term was not used by the media until 1945 and without women into consideration either.In actuality,against the background of the patriarchic domination and anti-Chinese racism,the identity of the early Chinese Canadian women deserves deep concern and study because“under institutional racism,Chinese people have undergone much suffering,which is especially true with Chinese Canadian women for their being both ethnically Chinese and sexually women”(Xie,2002,p.9).The Governor General’s Award winner Wayson Choy’sPaper Shadows:A Chinatown Childhood,is a reliable and suitable book to construct the real identity of the early Chinese Canadian women.This memoir reviews the real history and life of the early Chinese Canadians in Chinatown from the eyes of a child.“Mother”is the protagonist in the memoir,representing the Chinatown’s women during that period.The significance and necessity to understand history by studying Chinese Canadian literature is stated as:“Without examining the historical conditions under which the Chinese in Canada have survived as community,the study of Chinese Canadian literature as a minority discourse becomes totally groundless”(Chao,1997,p.15).Similarly,to reveal the real history and decode the cultural connotation,the literary works offer the contextual material for research.

The history of Chinese immigration to Canada could trace back to around 153 years ago when the first group of Chinese came to British Columbia with the“gold rush”.Then a wave of Chinese immigrants landed on Canada between 1881 and 1885 for the construction of Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR).Though Chinese laborers contributed a lot for the CPR British Columbia section,the key part uniting the whole nation and forming the present Canada,they did not get respect and honor they deserved.Even worse,they were unequally treated,getting the lowest wage as the“coolie laburers”and faced various discrimination such as marginalization,imposing of head tax,deprivation of citizenship and a series of Chinese exclusion policies.This discriminatory history cannot be simply attributed to the assertion that the Chinese lacked the adaptability or assimilation to the alien culture.Actually,the Chinese’s“marginal position in Canadian society was a consequence of institutional racism”(Li,1988,p.4).“The Chinese could not be assimilated into Canadian society because they were never allowed to be assimilated”(Li,1988,p.4).

Institutional racism is“systematic discrimination against some minority groups”(Xie,2003,p.23).Both institutional racism and colonialism refer to the discrimination or oppression against the minority or the inferior groups by the majority or superior groups which occupy the mainstream.The general results are the ethnic superiority or ethnocentrism and cultural hegemony.Mainly because of institutional racism of the mainstream,the pioneering Chinese had to live together to sustain survival and ensure their security in the alien nation.Besides,just due to the racial marginalization,the Chinese were confined to the ethnic enclave.Thus,the ethnic community in which the early Chinese immigrants lived became the so-called Chinatown.

The early Chinatown was labeled with all sorts of negativities:opium-smoking,prostitution,gambling and was despised as the second-class citizens’ghetto.These negative stereotypes of Chinatown,however,“were not products of a traditional culture:they were the results of racial oppression and societal alienation”(Li,1988,p.4).The stereotype led to two consequences:it strengthened the dominant group’s isolation and hostility towards the Chinese; the Chinese enhanced their sense of ethnicity and became more Chineseness.As the anti-Chinese discrimination became fierce,the government put various laws or policies into enforcement to restrict the Chinese emigrants to Canada.Between 1885 and 1923,the head tax imposing on the Chinese immigrants soared from$50 to$500.Then the Canadian government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1923.Due to this act,all Chinese emigrants from mainland China were refused only except for the families of the merchants and diplomats till the discriminatory law was revoked in 1947.These strict restriction laws resulted in the segregation of the Chinese men in Canada from their wives and children.And the most serious consequence is the extreme imbalance of sex ratio in the Chinese Canadian communities.This harsh reality then produced many“paper families”,“paper wives”and“paper children”.Actually,in the early Chinatown,the“paper families”were the open secret for all the Chinese.Gradually,the false and twisted relations replaced the real family and social relations and transformed the real history,burying them in the untouchable deep soil.

Choy’s family was just in the case.Choy himself is not the biological son of his parents and the“Mother”is a“paper bride”.Regardless of the huge danger and sacrifice,the economic poverty and the political instability were the core driving the Chinese to come to Canada for survival.Yet,because of the imperialist aggression against mainland China,the Chinese in Canada were still oppressed and isolated as the undesirable citizens.Through the close reading and analysis of“Mother”as a representative,the identity of the early Chinese Canadian women can be classified into two aspects:the poverty and the power.These two features are contradictory while coexisting.

The Poverty of the Early Chinese Canadian Women

The“poverty”for the early Chinese Canadian women is of double-meaning displayed through“Mother”.First,it refers to the poor economic situation.The early Chinese Canadian women were originally reluctant to come to Canada due to the severely domestic economic situations.After the landing,they had to face the racial discrimination and oppression from the dominant group,being confined within the isolated ethnic enclave.Even worse,they never got rid of the economic poverty as expected because most of them did not have jobs or any other incomes.So they had to rely on their husbands or the family support.

In this memoir,although“Mother”had a job in a sausage factory,the income was too low to sustain the family’s life,so she had to rely on Father who was a cook on a Canadian Pacific steamship liner.It was a common thing that“Father went away to do a three-week shift for the CPR,leaving Mother to unpack,and to clean up the mess”(Choy,1999,p.20).The continuous hard work,however,still could not relieve their burden.Wayson Choy wrote,“I never thought of my parents as a working-class,no-citizenship family,despite the fact that they were each working long hours and earning only wage”(Choy,1999,p.52).

In the mid-nineteenth century,the first generation of Chinese Canadians came to British Columbia from California for gold rush.Most of them were from Guangdong,China.At that time,Guangdong suffered from the poverty resulted from the population expansion.“Between 1787 and 1850 Guangdong’s population almost doubled from sixteen to twenty-eight million,yet no agricultural innovations emerged to increase the food supply”(Yee,1988,p.9).Besides of the economic depression,Chinese people were tortured by the political upheavals,so some Chinese chose to ship to America to make living.In the latter half of the nineteenth century,Chinese emigrants moved northward to Canada,contributing to the construction of the British Columbia section of the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR).While most Chinese women stayed in the mainland.This was partially to ensure that the men would continue sending money back to support the lives of the whole family,and also because of Confucian values,which stress the clan system and stability.Born in a village in Guangdong,Choy’s Mother’s sailing voyage to Canada was arranged by her family as she promised to support the whole family’s life by sending remittances back.As a“paper bride”,“Mother”got the rare opportunity and risked a lot to land on Canada.

Virginia Woolf once said,“Women are poorer than men because-this or that”(Woolf,1929).Chinese Canadian women’s economic poverty was resulted from two major reasons.The first is the deep influence of the Confucianism tradition.In Chinese people’s traditional concept,the husbands have the absolute authority to control all the family properties even their wives are included.Most Chinese women just followed their husbands to come to Canada.Although Chinese women usually stayed at home to look after the family,“Mother”had a job in a sausage factory.She had to support her family and send remittances back to China,thus being deprived of the right to manage her own money.Even added up with Father’s income,the whole family lived harsh life,only moving into a cheap house on Keefer Street.Another reason is due to illiteracy.Besides the segregation of the dominant group,language restricted those women from contacting the outside world.When facing their children,most of whom mastered English,they felt more isolated.Like Mother,her“response to English speakers were limited to‘Thank you,’‘No,thank you,’‘Yes,’‘No,’or a blank fixed smile if the English words came too quickly at her”(Choy,1999,p.21).Lacking of the language skill,they were forever confined within the small communities,which strengthened their economic poverty.

The second meaning of“poverty”refers to spiritual insecurity and lack.Most Chinese Canadian women were not only isolated due to the language barriers,but were oppressed by the double burden due to sexuality and institutional racism.In Chinese traditional culture,women were inferior to men,which was still the same in the early Chinese Canadian communities.Besides,Chinese were looked down upon by the white people because of the institutional racism.In the book,some plots reveal the inequality in that period like the imposing of Head Tax,the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 and the white man’s assault towards Garson,Choy’s bosom friend.Choy wrote that what“Mother”feared most is called bak kwei-a white man’s ghost.“Dai Yee and Mother both knew that our Keefer Street house was possessed.Our house had a bak kwei,a ghost from the second category-a white man’s ghost,an apparition full of spiteful trickery”(Choy,1999,pp.31-32).For“Mother”,a white man’s ghost(bak kwei)meant a curse,a nightmare,and even sometimes provoked“Father”to turn into a demon when Father got a wrath.Her horrible feelings were because of the insecurity under the racial discrimination.The third reason lays in the sexual oppression.Choy’s“Father”worked“on one of his frequent alternating three-and five-week stints as a cook on a Canadian Pacific steamship liner”(Choy,1999,p.8).When“Father”was out,“Mother”would feel a kind of insecurity and emptiness.“During the war years,Chinatown women who were left alone commonly feared strangers appearing at their front doors,especially at night”(Choy,1999,p.20).To kill time,“Mother”got accustomed to neighboring entertainment like gossiping and playing mahjong with other ladies and watching Chinese operas.“With her lady friends,Mother always stayed until midnight”(Choy,1999,p.47).The lack of security and love stimulated those women to find ways to have some comforts but sometimes these touched off the family fight.One fierce fight between“Father”and“Mother”reinforced her fear and desperation of because she thought there was a bak kwei tricking her husband and driving him mad.

The Power of the Early Chinese Canadian Women

The early Chinese Canadian women did face more challenges in that extremely complicated historical and social context.They not only were restrained under the Confucian clan system but also faced the racial hostility and isolation in a totally strange environment.However,the traditional Chinese culture was gradually transformed and reshaped in the heterogeneous culture.Peter S.Li stressed that instead of the persistence of the traditional Confucian culture transplanted from mainland china,the Chinese culture in Canada“was a new Chinese-Canadian culture that reflected both the experiences of the past and the challenges of the present”(Li,1988,p.4).Chinese immigrants struggled for survival and countered the discriminatory racial oppression in the early emigration period.Meanwhile,those hardships shaped their sense of identity.The early Chinese Canadian women also evolved their identity to adapt to the environment.They refused to sustain the attitude of obedience.Oppositely,they fought with the feelings of isolation and struggled in the alien society.In that period,the Chinese Canadian women chose to become brave and strong as men.No matter in family or community,they acted confidently as men.

The relationship between the Chinese Canadian women’s poverty and power is dialectical.No matter whether the women really loved their husbands and family,they did sacrifice and contribution to the family without any complaint.As the conclusion made in the interview about the early Chinese Canadian women,“They were forced to deal with the double burden of racism and sexism in a white and male-dominated society”(Gin Guo,1993,p.20).Whether they were willing to bear the burden or not was not significant.What really matters is that they overcame the hardships by the means of their sacrifice and contribution.As“Mother”in the case,the Chinese women of the early Canadian Chinatown not only worked like their husbands but also shared family responsibilities.The double work load and institutional racism seriously limited the women’s social life.Then the sense of equality encouraged them to get more involved in the community life.A fight happened between Choy’s parents over“Mother”staying all night outside with the son to play mahjong.The resistance of“Mother”symbolized the awakening of the Chinese women’s identity.

“By the early 1980s,feminists of color had begun to seriously rethink the masculine-oriented demands of cultural nationalism and race loyalty under whose terms they had come to political consciousness”(Hedrick and King,2002).Although these words focused on the dark-colored women,Chinese Canadian women also had the sense of cultural nationalism and race loyalty.“Mother”owned all the good qualities of the Chinese traditional women’s like being hard-working,patient,tolerant and strong-minded.Most important,she was loyal to the family.She played a qualified role as a wife,a moth,a daughter-in-law and the family backbone.

Every time when“Father”losing his temper,“Mother”always tried to make explanation in a reasonable way or keep silent.She also comforted her son and protected him from violence.In addition,“Mother”took care of the sick Grandfather with full respect and love till he passed away.During the war time,she helped the church to do the donation work on the street and was thoroughly alert to protect the family from any danger.All these descriptions about“Mother”conform to what Virginia Woolf called“androgynous vision”which means“full balance and command of an emotional range that include male and female elements”(Zhu,2001,p.238).The Chinese Canadian women during that time were vulnerable and even timid as the result of long-term restriction of the Confucian tradition.While this tradition also cultivated some precious qualities as determination,courage and loyalty.All the life hardships and bitterness enabled these women to be as strong as men,sometimes even stronger than men.This change was so natural that the women themselves had no awareness of that.“For Woolf,as for Freud,unconscious drives and desires constantly exert a pressure on our conscious thoughts and actions”(Zhu,2002,p.234).The masculine power is added to the image of the Chinese Canadian women“to alter the stereotyped visions of women,female characters are depicted as strong,active heroes rather than passive sidekicks to the great male protagonist”(Green & LeBihan,1996,p.235).

Conclusion

Chinese women in the early immigration period were poverty-stricken,suffering from both racial and sexual discriminations.Although those women were almost confined to the Chinatown,they still endured the racial bias and attacks.They were not only discriminated as the inferior citizens but also regarded as the“other”of the“other”due to the sexual despise.In addition,Chinese patriarchic values brought them huge pressure.In Canada’s Chinatown,the old traditions still remained.In that circumstance,the immigrant women were heavily oppressed by their husbands and mothers-in-law.

However,it’s the identity crisis caused by racial and sexual double-oppression that provides an impetus for the women’s identity awakening and offers them power.Also,the cultural clash resulted in their confusion and perplexity on identity with the influence of the feminist enlightenment.Like Mother,her quest for identity lies in her request for the equal racial status and anti-sexual resistance within the Chinatown.

To learn from the pioneer Chinese Canadian women and to understand their poverty and power are helpful for the contemporary Chinese Canadian women.“Recognizing the power of their voice and vision,women of color enter the twenty-first century mobilized against silence,lack and absence”(Hedrick&King,2002).In the modern Canada,Chinese women own equal education and job opportunities as men.The image of Chinese Canadian women has been thoroughly reversed,being no longer illiterate,mute and meek.They are enhancing their masculine power to deal with all the challenges.Only by carrying forward the good qualities and drawing lessons from the predecessor’s experience can the contemporary Chinese Canadian women live better and more colorful life.