(no subject)

[cyrano]

Okay, I need attention.
Pay attention to me!!

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

There's not much yet to tell, what with not knowing what it's about. There's the dream, which I think you saw. Recently there was the realization that I'm going to need to study up a lot more on Chinatown and Chinese culture in SF, given that we know our protagonist is a non-white outcast unfunded good for nothing. And I think the Midwinter Fair will play into it, which gives us a date of 1894 to throw stakes down around. So we've got somebody who may be a gypsy and may be Coyote who doesn't remember who he is but is definitely a trickster and he's got somebody in his sights who needs to be brought down. If our boy *is* Coyote then he's probably going to screw himself up really well in the process.
However, I'm feeling the need to write some rough erotica, so I may be taking a break on this project.

[denyse.livejournal.com]

A lot of the old time chinese in SF are cantonese and have been there for ages. Some of them even speak Toisanese, which I really can't understand. Most of the chinese down in the silicon valley end of things, esp as you move further south are mandarin speaking and came from the mainland or taiwan more recently. The further north you go along the peninsula the more cantonese you hear (say, in dim sum restaurants) and by Cupertino, it's mostly mandarin.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Cool. So pre-earthquake we'd be seeing mostly Cantonese, barring the occasional Japanese or Korean immigrant. I want to find out where they're coming from, and if there's a specific motivator. If I remember, the big push for Cantonese speakers to go to Hong Kong was the Revolution, so that's later than I need to worry about.

[denyse.livejournal.com]

They came mostly from the Guangdong province (like my grandpa) or from the Fujian or Chiuchow/Teochew regions.
The main motivator was poverty, really. There are tons of books on this.
Which revolution do you mean? Hong Kong is right by the Guangdong province, so they all speak cantonese there and have all along. Folks went to Hong Kong for money.

And are you referring to the anti-immigration acts specifically targeted against the chinese?

The no-wimmin act was to keep the chinese from establishing a permanent population in the area. But there were some. Just very few compared to the men. Hence the invention of things like chop suey.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of Mao's cultural revolution.
Do you have recommendations on books? I want a trip to the library to see what their local history section is like anyway.
And I was thinking of the anti-immigration acts--I figure there's a lot of writing about them as well. One author mentioned that an underlying push of the laws restricting jobs and residence was to get somebody desperate enough to work on the railroad. I would imagine they were more strictly enforced inland, but I have no evidence to back it up.

[denyse.livejournal.com]

Dood - that's way later than your time frame, and the whole region are cantonese speakers and Hong Kong was packed with cantonese speaking people way (like way way WAY) before the cultural revolution and I don't think many people were able to leave china at that point, much less to go to a capitalist haven like Hong Kong. Actually, hong kong has always been cantonese speaking - because it's next to Guangdong, and all the people there speak cantonese.
So no.

Can't think of many books right off hand about the specifics of the American chinese experience, but there are museums and stuff dedicated to that in SF who probably have great resources.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are. I will not be lacking in resources, so long as I am not lacking in energy and dedication. (:

[denyse.livejournal.com]

Try this for starters.
http://online.sfsu.edu/~ericmar/catimeline.html

The Chinese Exclusion 1882 act is the most famous. Though you're referring to the 1870 excluding chinese wimmin thing above.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act


Yes, my marriage would not have been legal until 1948. Whee!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I bookmarked the CATimeline page earlier this week. Alas, I can't get itp.berkeley.edu to load, but I can still use the timeline. And I can't believe I hadn't been to Wikipedia yet.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds very interesting. What is the Chinese equivalent of Coyote?

I like Bujold's method of plotting: what is the worst thing that you can do to your main character? Do it to him/her, then see what happens.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I'd say the Monkey King is about as close as Chinese stories get to Coyote.
And Bujold sounds a lot like Jim Butcher. (:
Research says that it was illegal to bring 'oriental girls' into the state for any number of reasons, including prostitution. I have to decide whether to edit the dream or find out how strictly the law was actually enforced.
Actually at the time there were a lot of anti-Chinese laws that I'd like to find out how well they were enforced.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid everything I know about Chinese immigration laws in the nineteenth century I learned from watching "Kung Fu". So it's all completely accurate.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I do not know how it could be any more accurate.
Unless it were wrapped in BACON!

[denyse.livejournal.com]

Dood, there is one, I'm blanking on his name. A monk guy. Not really supernatural like Coyote, though.