1984.002.001 Interview with Alice and Jip Chun for Eat a Bowl of Tea

 

This interview with Alice and Jip Chun, conducted by Ernest Abuba on August 21, 1984 for the Chinatown History Project, discusses Louis Chu’s novel Eat a Bowl of Tea as adapted for stage by Ernest Abuba. Alice Chun worked with Chinese-speaking patients as a public health nurse employed by the Community Service Society. Jip Chun came from a transnational merchants’ family with early roots in New York Chinatown. In the interview, Abuba asks Alice and Jip to help provide a general Chinese cultural perspective or their own perspective on situations and characters presented in the novel or play such as Ben Loy’s acceptance of an illegitimate son, his father Way Gay’s feelings about this, why Way Gay would be upset at his son for visiting prostitutes when he himself did so, the strong female character of Jung Shee, and women being abused. Alice and Jip bring their personal experience and knowledge to bear in discussing the actual instances of prostitution, venereal diseases, sterility, infidelity, illegitimacy, and domestic abuse in postwar Chinatown society. Overall, they paint a picture of how relationships and family dynamics on both sides of the Pacific were directly shaped by extended family separation and gender imbalances resulting from Chinese Exclusion. In the conclusion, they discuss what they perceive might be a large generational or cultural knowledge gap that perhaps renders Chinese customs and practices of the past as represented in the play or novel as foreign or not easily understandable to younger audiences inculcated in contemporary, westernized norms.

0:00 - Introduction, Abuba asks Alice why Chinese sons would accept an illegitimate child, rural areas need children to help with farming, if wife unable to bear son husband would take additional wives or adopt son, the importance was not whether they themselves had that child but rather that there was a son in the family, Abuba asks whether illegitimate son brought shame to the grandfather, men separated from family and as result there were lots of venereal diseases and men would become sterile

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4:11 - Abuba asks why father in book upset at son for visiting prostitutes, Chinatown bachelor society was very active area for prostitutes, there were Chinese prostitutes, black and hispanic prostitutes pushed white prostitutes out, would work the apartments and code which had families, in play and novel father very upset about illegitimate child, Abuba asks what if it was a girl child, Alice explains it would be looked at as wife not only committed adultery but girl also a burden

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9:16 - Abuba returns to venereal diseases and asks how pervasive it was, Alice says many doctors who were treating them did not report, Abuba asks about the men becoming sterile, Jip says was widespread and suggests talking to Dr. Lu/Liu and Dr. Kao, Alice explains that due to Chinese Exclusion there were not enough women, men took on temporary or long term partners, only took sons when returned to China, wife in China would accept the sons because she had been barren due to husband not being there

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12:34 - Abuba asks about parable of Chinese eating a bowl of tea and whether Jip as a Chinese man believes eating Chinese herbs can cure impotency, Jip questions what type stage or variety of potency, Alice thinks impotency has psychological factor and if believe in its efficacy can have some effect, interviewer explains that in novel the son has these psychological problems as well as syphilis and gonorrhea, was there a belief that taking this herb will cure syphilis etc., Jip and Alice answer yes

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15:45 - What Abuba tried to portray with role of Jung Shee, asks Alice if she encountered such women, asks if Alice came across women being abused, she only came across in last few years, usually older women, asks if Jip heard from men about abusing their wife, responds that it was not like today with equal rights, not physical abuse but woman had role and took what she needed to take, Abuba says he is married to a Chinese woman and gets confused about stereotype of the submissive Chinese woman

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20:52 - Discussion about relationship between father and son, today fatherhood standards different, viewing from present period but play takes place in 1949 and customs date from before that, perhaps need explanations in the play, interviewer asks about Mei Oi and why a Chinese woman would decide to keep an illegitimate child, not spoken off openly but women do run away, women and girls who sell themselves and work as prostitutes, infidelity cases, women who play mahjong considered loose women

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30:34 - Jip thinks there is cultural knowledge gap between play and audience, gives example of eating a cup of tea, not tea drunk socially but a medicinal tea, literal translation loses meaning, Abuba hopes play can explain itself and those not of the culture can be educated, Alice thinks play appeals to her generation, Abuba thinks younger audiences do not understand, Alice thinks we are most familiar with the Pearl Buck story, Abuba talks about taking 23 years to resolve conflict with his father

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