Post 2: Eat a Bowl of Tea

Second generation Chinese American Ben Loy Wang, is an ex American GI raised by his father Wah Gay in New York City; since the Chinese Exclusion laws have prevented Ben's mother from coming to the U.S. Wah Gay along with many Chinese American men at the time, have settled in New York without their wives; in addition to being disenfranchised. As noted in Strangers from a different shore, "a ratio of 1,685 males to every one female" was common in the 1850's (121).

It is 1949, and suddenly because of Chinese alliance during World War II, Chinese are allowed to return home and become citizens. Ben plays the role of many Chinese American men who similarly fought in the war, have birth right citizenship, biracial identities, and whose families have pressured them to marry and bring a Chinese women back to the U.S. Consequently, Ben Loy and Mei Oi are arranged in marriage by their parents, however although they immediately fall in love and are motivated to come to the U.S to begin a family of their own, the pressure for the couple to conceive, eventually jeopardizes their marriage.

Although Ben and Mei Oi carry out their marriage in America, their traditional values continue; hence the pressure from their families to conceive. This exemplifies cultural nationalism, as these Chinese families continues to carry out their traditional values. Though Ben could have brought and married Mei Oi here in the U.S., their marriage takes place in China; signifying how these families have continued to value their own culture, even above that to the U.S. However although Mei Oi and Ben are in love, Mei Oi is having trouble assimilating into the American culture and she's not the only one. Mei Oi is homesick and like stated in song 21 of "Gold Mountain", Mei Oi's "heart aches with grief" as she misses home.

Upon coming to the U.S, Mei Oi is expecting to entirely rely on her husband upon their arrival. Ben, however, quickly becomes occupied in his arranged manager position. In a scene where Mei Oi first arrives to America in her new apartment, she is fascinated by the water faucet. Just as mentioned in song 13 of "Gold Mountain", Mei Oi similarly dreams of "coming to the Flowery Nation" however, little did she know how hard it was going to be to leave home and assimilate to a new culture.

Toward the end of the film, it is interesting to see how every one of the main characters additionally, decide to leave New York and start a new life because of the chaos that has occurred. Like stated in song 21 of "Gold Mountain", they are all "unable to make a living" so they decide to move to start over again. In the end, the film also shows how  Mei Oi invites Ben to a cup of coffee. This symbolizes her involvement within America now and her assimilation to the American culture. The final scene where Ben, Mr. Wang, Mei Oi and her father are photographed, they yell "cheese!" which also symbolizes how these two families have finally come together and have agreed to adapt American social traits. Their Chinese traditions however, remain prominent as the young couple continues to conceive and still speaks about drinking tea.