Listenning response

By: Huong Pham

John Chinaman, according to Moon, is the Chinese version of Jim Crow or Zip Coon. A figure that in the eyes of Americans at the time personified the inferiority of an immigrant group. Chinaman had a different religion, ate different foods, and was not good at English. From this description of the Chinaman, people wrote songs that kept reminding people of the differences and denying any prospect of the Chinaman ever integrating with the American people. This is evident in the song, "John Chinaman, My Jo". The first two stanzas of the song speaks of how many Chinese immigrants came to America during the 1850s and 60s. The singer seems almost resentful that so many are coming which mirrors the attitude that some Americans believed that the only reason the Chinese were coming was to steal all the gold from the gold rush. The next stanza seems to be praise for the Chinese who have somewhat integrated into the American way of life but then all of the sudden in the last stanza, the singer warns the John to not abuse the freedoms that he has as if to say, "We may put up with you, but we can still put you out whenever we like because this is our country." I was lulled into a sense of ease when I first listened to the song but then was rudely awakened when I heard the last stanza as it is a clear warning to the Chinaman and juxtaposes the sweet melody with its harsh message.

In reading the lyrics to the Irish song, "John Anderson, My Jo", it seems much more hopeful and sends a message of, "We will get through this together." Like Chris mentioned, the Irish potato famine was happening when this song was written and many of the Irish were emigrating to America at the same time as the Chinese. They would have felt just as outcast and Americans were just as inclined to not want to lose their jobs to a different group of foreigners.

As for the performance of "The Geisha, Chin Chin Chinaman", I would say that Moon would most definitely call this a Yellowface performance. Like the use of the term "Chinaman" was similar to "Jim Crow", the term "yellowface" was reminiscent of the term "blackface". Yellowface became a way for performers to inscribe stereotypes of inferiority on the Chinese. As Moon says, the yellowface performers borrowed from "Ching a Ring Chaw" which lumped the Chinese into the lower class along with African Americans.