Examples of Yellowface

By Cera Chen

According to Moon, John Chinaman is a character that appeared in various forms of entertainment, notably songs. He was a stereotype of the Chinese male population and was used to emphasize the differences between American and Chinese men. He is portrayed in a negative light in the song “John Chinaman, My Jo.”

The song is based off of “John Anderson, My Jo,” which is essentially about how the female narrator loves John Anderson. There is a sexual undertone to the song as conveyed by such lines as “And we’ll sleep thegither at the foot.” However, in the John Chinaman version, the term “Jo” becomes less endearing and is used in a more demeaning manner. There are no sexual connotations in the second version and the narrator does not express her love for John.

Instead, the narrator suggests that John Chinaman needs to leave before his people out number “us poor Yankees.” The negative connotations associated with such words as “invade” supports Moon’s idea about how some of these songs conveyed that Chinese people did not belong in America. The use of the word “tail” in reference to John Chinaman also supports another one of Moon’s points about demasculinization of the Asian male. In this case, it is also slightly dehumanizing as well.

The fact that this song appeared in the Conner’s Irish Song Book in 1868 suggests that this was during a time when both Chinese and Irish peoples were discriminated against. Also during this time, both groups worked on the railroads and there was competition between the two to get jobs. As a result, both groups were probably prejudiced against each other. This song displays some of that animosity since it was originally an Irish song that became a satirical one. Also, it was published in an Irish Song Book, so it was probably an Irish person who re-wrote the lyrics.

The clip of “The Geisha” is a yellowface performance in that it mocks the way that Chinese people talk, sing, etc. Moon would describe the language in this piece “pidgin English and gibberish.” It is almost impossible to discern what the performer is saying, but he does add some English words. When the performer speaks, he does so using a Chinese accent, using certain consonants instead of others. He also uses certain intonations that might be from Chinese and rhythmically attempts to imitate the language as well.

When the performer begins singing, both he and the accompanying instrument sing in pentatonic scales, a reference to music in Asia. Also, the performer sings one or two lines imitating the way that Chinese opera singers sing with a high falsetto and slides.

I feel that this performance’s purpose is to satirize the way that Chinese, or Asian, people speak and their culture, which was what yellowface was all about.