Interior Chinatown's Use of Real World Evidence

            The illustrations within Interior Chinatown can seem almost exaggerated in the extent to their severity. Although the Asian community certainly faces racism (as does any marginalized group), it is difficult to accept that they face “limits to their dream of assimilation” within American society (Yu, 30). However this unfortunate aspect of the novel is confirmed to be present in society today, as seen through Yu’s illustration of real world evidence of racism and hardships against Asians within society. Yu strategically places these real world pieces of evidence in the reading in order to demonstrate to the reader that while this is a fictional novel, the hardships faced by Asians within it are anything but fictional.  

One of the first instances of Yu utilizing real-world evidence to demonstrate the realism of his fictional story is when he includes a newsreel montage that depicts a period of immense violence in Taiwan when “tens of thousands of Taiwanese citizens are killed” by the government (Yu, 140). This real report is then followed by the fictional backstory of Ming-Chen Wu, which also illustrates the violence in Taiwan at this time. This prevents the fictional backstory of Wu from appearing overexaggerated, since it was previously described through a nonfictional account. Thus as the Taiwanese soldiers “calmly shoot” Wu’s father, the audience understands this genuinely happened to people in this dangerous environment (Yu, 143). 

Yu also depicts the realistic racism and hardships Asians face under the American system of law, immediately before Willis Wu’s trial is depicted. This allows the reader to understand both the immediate disadvantage Wu has within the trial based on his ethnicity as well Wu's inability to rely on the legal system for justice, seen when Wu must resort to “Plan B” (Yu, 252). Most readers would likely be skeptical to the necessity of using kung fu to gain true justice rather than using the American justice system. However, Yu describes how this is the same system of law that, for a time, stated “no ‘Chinamen’ can own property in the state” (Yu, 215). This allows for the reader to understand why the legal system seems against Wu, as well as justifies Wu relying on his kung fu to grant him justice.  

Overall Yu’s utilization of real world evidence of the hardships and racism Asians face allows for the reader to consider how realistic the fictional novel is. Through this evidence it is easy to understand that the characters in this story were not uniquely facing extreme hardships, but rather are simply fictional characters apart of the category of real people (Asians in this case) that face these burdens.