China Nights, Yamaguchi Yoshiko and the Orient

            In her piece Screening Asia, Yiman Wang uses three actresses, Anna May Wong, Yamaguchi Yoshiko and Maggie Cheung to analyze Asia as a geopolitical space, as a region shaped and conceptualized by the West, as a place historic of contestation and union within itself and the world.

            Wang begins by citing Edward Said’s text Orientalism, a discourse that argues that Asia, or the Orient, is both imagined and realized by the West. The imaginaries that the West has constructed of the Orient, whether true or false have shaped the reality of Asia, and thus have shaped interactions and relationships in politics, society, etc. It is this discourse that has determined each actress’s place, however in turn is challenged by her.

            China Nights’ star Yamaguchi Yoshiko symbolized unity within the Asian sphere. Her dual identity of Japanese blood with Chinese experience made her very popular to the public, but also subject to criticism. Her ability to represent multiple Asian cultures was exploited by the Japanese. Wang explains that her power in assimilation enforced a Japanese-centered Pan-Asianism, because she is ultimately Japanese and thus her loyalties must lie there. By perfectly emulating other Asian cultures so well in her roles, she contributes to their “feminization,” their inferiority in comparison to Japan. For such, she has received criticism especially in China Nights where she plays a Chinese woman that falls in love with a Japanese man, even after being slapped by him. The Chinese accuse her of misrepresenting Chinese women and the Japanese accuse her of being too Chinese. Thus, although her identity should be seen as a connection between Asian nations in support of a transnational, cosmopolitan unifying concept, she has been shot down as a propaganda tool by imperial Japan.

            Yamaguchi’s case isn’t just confined to her time period. Today, Asia is still a place of great power struggles, diversity and conflict. It is unfair the criticism she has received by both sides; Yamaguchi represents a growing phenomenon experienced by so many: “third culture kid.” Part of the reason she was able to portray different cultures so well is that it is part of her identity, her personal experiences. Her ethnic background may belong to Japan, but her identity may lie elsewhere or be a combination of things. The overall political conflict within Asia, namely between Japan and China, is thus represented in Yamaguchi. She has not necessarily challenged the Western notion of exoticism in the Orient, but rather has tried to explain to audiences the diversity in the region. However because of the clash between these two cultures, she has not been able shed these notions. Even today, Asia still carries that element of exoticism and is heavily perceived through this Western "oriental" lens.