Chinaman Music

Richard Hsu and Steven Song

John Chinaman according to Moon is the equivalent of a Jim Crow for blacks. “He” embodies the stereotypical Chinese immigrant; but more importantly he is the complacent representation of the Chinese immigrant that can be criticized and abused (in the music) with all the gripes and complaints that the white population has against the Chinese.

In this song, John Chinamen is seen—as a virus or bacteria invading a healthy cell in the body. The extended lyrics also show how John Chinaman is a pest to those around him like in the gold mines. John Chinamen is also seen a “leech,” living off the fruits of the land—and in the last stanza, is threatened to not do anything to ruin what America stands for.
Its appearance in the Irish song book shows the integration of Chinese motifs and representations in the predominately white society—and music. However, by being in such a visible medium, these innaucrate and often racist views of Chinese immigrants become engrained in the minds of Americans as well as society. This creates the push towards exclusionism of Chinese, and Asian immigrants.

The historical context of the song appearing in an Irish song book is important because many Irish Americans were angry at the Chinese for crowding the job market and taking the jobs they felt belonged to them. More specifically, because of the labor laws at the time, male Chinese were forced to take jobs as clothing washers, a job held typically by Irish women. So the negative portrayal of the Chinese makes sense economically because the Irish wanted to paint the image that the Chinese were inferior.

The Geisha song IS a yellowface performance. According to Moon, who would also agree with us, the singer uses a high-falsetto voice. Speaks in gibberish that makes no sense—musical intruments also are used like the gong and random concerto of noises that don’t really go together—symbolizing the “noise” that Americans view Chinese music as. Moon would also point out how during the non-gibberish parts of the song, when the performer were using English, it still had undertones of mocking the way the Chinese speak. This manner of speech is still a stereotype that exists today.