From: jimmy@clipper.ingr.com (Jimmy Blair)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: stuff
Summary: "China Girl" clarification
Keywords: Asian-Americans
Date: 21 Dec 92 21:29:12 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Intergraph Advanced Processor Division - Palo Alto, CA

In article <1992Dec14.202428.8697@nynexst.com>, clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu) writes:
> In article <1g90ceINN90k@agate.berkeley.edu> chrchan@soda.berkeley.edu (Christopher Chan) writes:
> >In article <1g8scjINN880@agate.berkeley.edu> judyy@ocf.berkeley.edu (Judy Y. Tseng) writes:

	[ lotsa stuff deleted ]
> 
>   I also have private juicy discussions about these stereotypes and
>   how I hate them and how the pickup line guaranteed to turn me off
>   is "Oh I just love Chinese girls." said in a leering tone.  My response
>   is "That's great, there are about 1/2 billion minus one to choose from."

	Good line.  Everybody wins!

>   I'm one person who hates being viewed as a "China doll", "Asian fetish".
>   I also got flamed for saying that I hated that David Bowie song "China
>   Girl", and that I find it insulting that they'd play it on TV whenever
>   they're doing some documentary on travel to China...
> 

	And now for the main course.  "China Girl" has been around for
	so long that it has probably been addressed, but in case it
	hasn't I'll mention a little about it.  Although David Bowie
	popularized the song, it was written by Iggy Pop in the late
	70's and appeared on his album "The Idiot".  Iggy's version 
	has a dark, sinister sound which is typical of everything
	on that album and is appropriate for "China Girl" in particular.
	The meaning of the song is in the bridge section, which is
	where you usually find it in most well-crafted pop songs, and
	is continued in the final verse.  The bridge begins with
	"I stumble into town just like a sacred cow, visions of
	swastikas in my head, plans for everyone".  The major point
	of the song is 'beware the white savior', not 'china girl so
	sweet and pretty'.  Most listeners just bite the hook "oh oh
	oh oh, little china girl".  Incidentally, that part was added by Bowie, 
	as well as the Japanese motif accompaniment.  Bowie 
	sugar-coated the song and made it a hit, which sets
	it up to be bashed and easily misinterpreted.  In my
	opinion, the song is really brilliant because it does
	a good job of expressing a complex set of feelings of
	a white male dating an Asian female.  To summarize my
	read of the song:

	The white saviour attitude is ultimately destructive 
	of both parties and a relationship with that at the
	core really sucks.  On the other hand it is difficult
	for both parties to extract themselves from it because
	the male is getting a massive ego stroke and the female
	gets her fairy tale prince.
	
	That's the personal side.  The song is also political -- a
	criticism of exportation of American culture via
	military and/or economic means. That's really the main
	point of the song, but if it wasn't expressed in terms
	of personal relationships, it would be rather like
	singing about architecture, wouldn't it?

	Whew! I just had to get that offa my chest.
 
>   be rejected because of lousy stereotypes, than to be desired for the
>   wrong reasons.  The latter is definitely more insidious, because you
>   cannot separate the wheat from the chaff.

	Is this masochism or what?