What does it mean to be Chinese? What does it mean to be a Chinese immigrant in the United States in the 1940s? What can one do to preserve their “Chineseness”? These are the questions that may arise while watching the documentary Chinatown Cha-Cha, directed by Luka Yuanyuan Yang—but fortunately, they are not given direct or straight answers. “Chinatown Cha-Cha” was selected for competition at the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Pingyao Film Festival, and the Mint Chinese Film Festival, where it won Best Feature and Audience Choice Award, in addition to being the film’s European premiere. The film is currently featured in “Out of Competition” at the 27th edition of the Far East Film Festival, where it had its Italian premiere.
Chinatown Cha-Cha is screening at Far East Film Festival
“Chinatown Cha-Cha” revolves around Coby Yee, a 92-year-old Chinese-American diva—a former starlet, dancer, and owner of the famous nightclub “Forbidden City” in San Francisco. Coby Yee and her husband Stephen King are part of a senior dance troupe, the “Grant Avenue Follies,” composed of former Asian American dancers. The group is on a tour that takes them across the United States, to Cuba, and finally to China.
The documentary emerged from the director’s archival research on Asian American women in show business from the 1940s to the present day. The archival component is undoubtedly one of the most interesting elements of “Chinatown Cha-Cha”. Viewers are shown footage, photographs, and newspaper clippings regarding these showbiz women, about whom unfortunately very little is known. The retrieval of archival material opens two very important discussions: on one hand, it reveals the exoticizing stereotypes these Asian women were subjected to in the early 20th century (the most famous being the “China Doll” or “Dragon Lady”); on the other, it underscores the importance of archival materials in preserving memory.
Memories, fame, and stardom are among the film’s central themes. In one of the most touching moments, while former diva Coby Yee plays solitaire on the computer, her husband Stephen cries in front of the camera. In a tender and intimate conversation with the director, he confesses: “All glory tends to be overblown. When you’re gone and all the people that knew you are gone, it will be like you never were. People don’t want to be forgotten, they want to be remembered.”
Actually, the colorful performances of the “Grant Avenue Follies” serve both as a reappropriation of one’s subjectivity, physicality, and memories that would otherwise be lost, and as a crucial way to preserve the cultural and identity memory of Asian-American immigrants. Many of the women featured in the documentary, including Coby Yee, no longer remember Chinese or Cantonese well, or speak it very little. They could easily be perceived as Americans, but it is precisely through their dancing and singing performances that they explore, reinterpret, and reinforce their cultural heritage.
The dimension of performativity is essential in the documentary. Performance not only serves as a medium for cultural remembrance and reconnection with the past, but above all, it gives “elderly” women a space for self-expression. The original Chinese title of the documentary is Nüren Shijie (女人世界), literally “the women’s world”. In this work, Chinatown, a microcosm that can itself be seen as a stage, is a world entirely inhabited by women, undeniably exotic, melancholic, yet vibrant and energetic. It is a world where women are the active protagonists of an age often stigmatized or reduced to mere passivity. This is particularly important in light of what was previously mentioned about the exoticization and fetishization that women in general—but especially Asian women—have historically been subjected to. For example, the protagonist Coby Yee is 92 years old, but her colorful clothes, humor, and flair still exude the essence of a diva and a pioneer of Asian-American show business.
In conclusion, Chinatown Cha-Cha is a classic documentary that alternates between interviews and archival material, while exploring fascinating themes related to the decline of fame, former Asian starlets, and issues of memory, cultural heritage, and performance.
