oppression

Distasteful Canadian Media takes a stab at Chinese Athletes.

Submitted by Edwin on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 21:47

Halfpipe gold medallist Xuetong Cai of China is flanked by compatriots Zhifeng Sun (left), silver, and Xu Cheng, bronze as they stand on the podium at the FIS snowboard world cup Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 in Stoneham Que. (CP) Source: CIV

We knew during the Beijing Olympics the media took every opportunity to mock the Chinese Athletes just about anything they could find.

When it comes to talking about Chinese athletes, it seems like every article must reemphasize the words 'government-funded', 'state owned', and rather acknowledging the concept of dedication, hard work and discipline as athletic qualities in the Chinese they prefer to call it 'cultural oppression' or even 'inhuman torture'.

The same rhetorical defamation recycles itself again and in the 2010 Vancouver Winter games the media has taken another stab at it.

Happy 'Fear Mongering' New Year - The States of Combustion

Submitted by Edwin on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 21:37

In this new year of 2010 I hope everyone can continue to be optimistic as this ever struggling economy still has a heart beat, although we have been told our economies have recovered our wages are still just as terrible ( I think not ). There is still no excuse for not making the best of what we have and we should continue to strive for new heights.

In the past, this website had primarily worked on with publishing Asian related content, intelligent opinions, informative articles and any positive Asian media.

This year there will be a slight adjustment to the style of posting, usually we would publish news without actual commentary but as of today we will be adding in our 2 cents worth to everything post. Ideally would like to throw topics in the air and have people take it upon themselves to think about issues.

We'll try to remain objective about each issue.

The first fear mongering article I've come across since the beginning of this new year sums up all the forecasts of "experts" panic stricken and fear mongering media who can only see this world burning in hell.

26 Asian Students Attacked at Philly High School

Submitted by Edwin on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 14:22

To the people who thought racism was a thing of the past and no longer exists in the 21st century.... you are dead wrong. Some of us probably live in the nicer places in the country with some good multicultural friends but the people in the next town/city may not be so friendly.

To all my other dearest Asian Brothers, Sisters, Families, Civil Rights Advocacy groups, Asian Activists in western countries. We know racism is very much alive and it comes in all shapes and forms in mainstream society.

While we continue to experience it's reoccurring unpleasantness and Deja Vu's, I am all convinced we are still living as second class citizens and are still sunjected to different forms of racial oppression.

Ancient Taoist once believed the driving universal life principles are found in Yin and Yang, nature will seek neutrality and find balance between interchangeable opposing forces. Though my analogy might sound a little ancient in the philosophical works but you would eventually understand my point in our society at present.

One of the dumbest things you can do is pay to be insulted

Submitted by devinmei on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 21:29

AA E-Zine - One of the dumbest things you can do is pay to be insulted, yet many Asians and Asian Americans do it on a regular basis. Both Asians and Asian Americans indiscriminately pay to see movies. Movies that constantly depict them in stereotypical roles, martial arts masters, accented untrustworthy foreigners, sneaky dragon ladies, terrorists, or evil gangsters, exotic, submissive sex objects, asexual, or chauvinistic Asian men and Asian women who exclusively date White/Black men (as depicted in media), or who are oppressed.

The Exclusion of Asian Canadian Studies: Marginalization of Academia

Submitted by Edwin on Sun, 05/17/2009 - 20:18

Historical methodology - Although the term “Asian Canadian” has been in use in research since the 1970’s, it has been surprisingly lacking in academia. While universities and colleges throughout North America and the rest of the world have academic programs in interdisciplinary topics as Nineteenth Century Studies, American Studies, Critical Studies in Sexuality, and Asian American Studies, there has yet to be any academic program or degree that specializes in “Asian Canadian Studies.”

Cultural Legacy

Anime & Comic 'whitewashing' is the adaptation by Hollywood

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 13:13

From The Face of the Other by Matt Thorn

I have given presentations on manga to Western audiences many times, but regardless of the particular themes of my talks, when the floor is opened up for discussion I am invariably asked the same question: “Why do all the characters look Caucasian?” You may have asked yourself the same question.

Donnie Yen and upcoming movies

Submitted by Edwin on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 16:13

Director Gordon Chan is planning a new kung fu movie about Chen Zhen, the character famously portrayed by Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY and later by Jet Li in FIST OF LEGEND, and he wants Donnie Yen in the lead. So far, Yen has informally agreed to take on the role, which would actually be the second time around after starring in the hit ATV series FIST OF FURY (1995).

Chen Zhen and his fight against Japanese oppression in Republican-era China was actually a fictional creation of writer-director Lo Wei who based the character on an obscure real-life student of martial arts master Huo Yuan-jia, the same master portrayed by Jet Li in FEARLESS.

"We all know that Huo Yuan-jia has a disciple, his name and status," said Chan. "But no one knows exactly what kind of person he is."

It will be interesting to see if Chan chooses a more historical approach that tries to reveal the real person behind this character or if he intends to reinvent the character for modern audiences. Either way, if Yen ends up in the role, it will definitely be worth watching.
News from Kungfu Cinema

Related news

Vanishing Son By Amy Kashiwabara (paper)

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 20:04

Vanishing Son: The Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation of the Asian-American Man in American Mainstream Media
By Amy Kashiwabara.
University of California, Berkeley.

"He's handsome. He's tough. He's worth millions. He's Asian American. (Learn his secrets inside.)" Thus begins a mailer advertising Transpacific Magazine, directed at a young and supposedly very mobile new class of Asian-Americans. Next to these words, Russell Wong appears, elegantly dressed in a tuxedo. He is meant to represent the minority that made it big, who has arrived as a powerful force in American and global life. Yet the secrets that lie behind Russell Wong are not his alone. If he represents the success of Asian men in becoming mainstream in America, he also represents their failures and their history.

The history of Asian-American men in mainstream media is largely found in the visual medium of the motion picture. Asian-Americans can be found in the very first black and white silent shorts of the late nineteenth century and in films of every successive decade. Sometimes these characters were more popular, sometimes less. Sometimes they had large roles, sometimes the most minute. Sometimes they were played by actual Asians and sometimes by Whites in yellowface. But whatever the means, Hollywood has consistently produced some version of Asian and Asian-American men to present to the American public.

The Invisibility of Asian-American Scholars

Submitted by visitors on Sat, 02/28/2009 - 20:38

By Frank H. Wu | For the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://yellowworld.org/academia/226.html

While we can probably all cite at least one or two respected Asian-American scholars, they are hardly household names. No Asian-American professors have intellectual influence that extends far beyond their campuses. No Asian-American television commentator regularly analyses the crises of the day. No Asian-American columnist's nationally syndicated views reach the heartland. No Asian-American activist of any prominence can be relied on to respond to anti-Asian-American bias -- or can count on being offered a forum for doing so. Nor are there periodicals dedicated to Asian-American conversations but possessing crossover appeal -- read by those who do not hold doctorates or who claim other forebears -- like Commentary and Tikkun, or the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, and the defunct Emerge.

Public intellectuals have always been marked by notions of racial or ethnic identity, whether they sought to impose restrictions on others or escape from the limits set on them.

Hegemonic Harvard and omnipersent Oxford: Western Dominance in the Global Organization of Higher Education

Submitted by visitors on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 14:57

Hegemonic Harvard and omnipersent Oxford: Western Dominance in the Global Organization of Higher Education

JAMES JF FOREST , P H.D. Assistant Dean, Academic Assessment and Assistant Professor, Political Science United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 james.

A Paper For Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association Montreal, Canada March 17-20, 2004

The views expressed are those of the author and not of the Department of the Army, the U.S. Military Academy, or any other agency of the U.S. Government.

The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Strategic Studies Institute in funding research for this paper Abstract Universities worldwide stem from a common model. Even in India and China, which have their own rich traditions of advanced learning, modern universities are Western in origin.