Content warning: this article discusses racism and violence, which will be disturbing for some readers.

We’ve all seen it- the leg slit that goes up to the hip bone, the cut out that strategically exposes cleavage- with a dragon and presumably the Chinese character for the mythical animal patterning the fabric. Sometimes it might be a shiny “Oriental” brocade. The colours are so vibrant and the fit is so flattering- should you buy it? Is it culturally insensitive? Before we answer this question, there are some things you should know.

During the Qing Dynasty, China’s perceived existential threat to European hegemony was used to justify its colonisation. During the Gold Rush, the United States dubbed mass immigration from China a ‘Yellow Peril’. Reactionary laws sprung up that discriminated on the basis of race. One of the first was the Page Act of 1875 that denied Chinese women immigrating for “immoral purposes”, labelling the entire demographic as sex workers. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924 effectively suspended immigration from East and West Asia immigration until the 1940s. Britain enacted its Defense of the Realm Act at the start of the First World War which warned against miscegenation (‘race-mixing’) and allowed the deportation of Chinese Britons on the basis of moral depravity.

The illusion that Asian immigrants were able to achieve success despite their race formed a rift between Asian and Black communities

The State’s Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 created the ‘model minority’ myth. The Act symbolically ended Asian exclusion but in reality, only allowed a minuscule number of highly skilled immigrants to become US citizens. The illusion that Asian immigrants were able to achieve success despite their race formed a rift between Asian and Black communities that benefited only the white-supremacist status quo. Also curbing Black liberation movements was the Red Scare, which, while cracking down on radical leftists, also caused the unjust deportation and imprisonment of many people of East Asian descent.

In the recent case that spurred the Stop Asian Hate movement, ‘sex addiction’ was cited by the perpetrator as his motive for shooting Asian-owned massage parlours. Such massage parlours have long been believed to be fronts for sex work. Asian femmes face danger not only due to misogyny, but also the reinforcement of orientalist fantasies in film and television.

The Code forbade white and non-white actors to act as a couple on the silver screen

Film used to be one of the few ways we could learn about the world, potentially informing entire generations’ standards of morality. It is both a power and a burden that the Motion Picture Association of America picked up as ‘talkies’ began to overtake silent films in popularity. Believing it their responsibility to condemn moral evils in the American public, the ‘Hays Code’ was self-enforced in 1934. Its effects lasted well into the 21st century- innocent ones like the ‘foot pop’ (notably in The Princess Diaries, a visual shorthand developed in response to the Code’s ban on explicit sexual intimacy) and those of ‘sexual perversion’, another way to say homosexuality, and miscegenation.

The Code forbade white and non-white actors to act as a couple on the silver screen. Asian actors were barred from telling their own stories, instead replaced by white actors in yellowface, most notoriously Anna May Wong’s replacement by Luise Rainer in The Good Earth. The lack of diversity in front of and behind the camera made for voyeuristic portrayals of Asian people that exaggerated their imagined image of ‘the Orient’. Asian women in western media were often portrayed as hypersexual yet silent and submissive. The real-life phenomenon ‘Yellow Fever’ asserts that Asian women were desirable because of these very traits. Violence and aggression were likewise justified.

I believe we need to consume media critically through a post-colonial lens

Until very recently, there have been little to no main roles written for Asian leads. Crazy Rich Asians kick started Hollywood’s recognition of Asian-centric stories. This year’s Oscars boasted landmark wins for Chloé Zhao and Yuh-Jung Youn for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress respectively. Still, there is much progression left to be desired. Halle Berry remains the only Black woman and woman of colour to have won Best Actress. Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney’s latest princess movie, depicts a fictionalised version of Southeast Asia but featured mainly East Asian voice actors.

I believe we need to consume media critically through a post-colonial lens, particularly with regards to Said’s theory of orientalism. Hollywood continues to simultaneously romanticise and assert superiority over Asian culture to minimal awareness or criticism. Game of Thrones, for example, depicts a fictionalised East as savages or slavers to be tempered or liberated by people from the fictionalised West.

Hollywood continues to simultaneously romanticise and assert superiority over Asian culture

Despite treating its people and culture as something to be despised or discarded, ‘the Orient’ as an aesthetic enjoyed massive popularity in 18th Century Europe. Chinoiserie was so venerated as an art style that it inspired fashion, architecture, literature- whole rooms in French chateaus were decorated with ‘Chinese’ motifs. Despite its name, Chinoiserie was an amalgamation of various Eastern styles- Japanese, Korean, Indian, Persian- that Europeans believed to be typical of Chinese culture. Chinoiserie came back in style with the 2015 Met Gala “China: Through the Looking Glass” where many celebrities donned garments inspired by a ‘fantasy of the far East’.

And thus is the essence of Western conceptions of Asia to this day. A confusing pick and mix of vaguely Eastern things labelled ‘Chinese’. A dismissal of West and South-East Asians altogether, unless it’s a home decor piece of religious figures. It’s no wonder some ignorant people still confuse Chinese and Asian for two separate entities.

Chinoiserie was an amalgamation of various Eastern styles that Europeans believed to be typical of Chinese culture

When you go to buy that ‘oriental’ pattern cut-out top on the high street, is it too a garment to be used and discarded? Of course it is, it’s fast fashion, it’ll fall apart after a club night or two. Is it too sexy for a ‘traditional’ pattern? It’s fruitless to be bothered by designers ruining the sanctity of our garments. Fashion is constantly evolving- the cheongsam (or qipao) is itself a figure-hugging dress adapted from Manchu attire popularised by women’s liberation in 1920s Shanghai. Have Asian people and ‘oriental’ motifs been relegated to one dimensional and at times deadly portrayals? Yes, but this is a top, and the history of an entire continent cannot be contained in the flimsy polyester blend.

There is no right answer. Stopping hate starts with education and empathy. Unless you’re a non-Asian business owner who wants to modify a tradition to suit your ‘style and personality’, why not consider it an invitation to investigate Asia’s rich culture and diversity instead?

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