Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project

World renowned, Grammy-winning, and Chinese American usually aren’t found in the same sentence. And yet, Yo-Yo Ma is all of these. Born on October 7, 1955 in Paris, Yo-Yo Ma was musically influenced, debatably from birth, by his Violinist and Music Professor father and Singer mother. At the remarkably young age of 4, Yo-Yo Ma was already demonstrating excellence as a Cellist. By the time he was 7 years of age, Yo-Yo Ma was performing in front of large audiences. Yo-Yo Ma even performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall at the tender age of 9. Yo-Yo Ma experienced continued success throughout his teenage and adult life – attending Juilliard School of Music, playing under the direction of esteemed conductors, graduating from Harvard University, performing with internationally acclaimed orchestras and writing musical scores for ground-breaking movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Graduating from Harvard University with an Anthropology, Yo-Yo Ma always had an interest in other cultures. Even as a Chinese-American born in Paris, Yo-Yo Ma, understood the dichotomy of the East and West cultures. In 1998, Yo-Yo Ma turned his passion into action, by founding the Silk Road Project. This non-profit organization’s goal is suitably named after the historical trade routes that used to connect and spread cultures. Inspired by the legacy of the Silk Road, Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Project to bring cultural awareness and help bridge the widening cultural gap.

“Every time I open a newspaper, I am reminded that we live in a world where we can no longer afford not to know our neighbors.” - Yo-Yo Ma

The Silk Road Project employs an ensemble of over 60 international performers and composers to tour globally. This ensemble demonstrates the cultural leaps that Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble makes. As seen in the video below, one can find an eclectic mix of traditional instruments from various cultures coming together to create one harmonious sound. The ensemble has performed in over 29 countries and has recorded 5 successful albums.

The Silk Road Project also spreads their cultural values through Education. The Silk Road Connect integrates themes of cultural connections, awareness and experience to under privileged New York City youth ranging from middle school to high school. Members of the Silk Road Ensemble even visit to teach young children music. As for higher education, many members of the ensemble teach at Rhode Island School of Design (where the project was first founded) and Harvard University (where the Project is currently based).

The Silk Road Project is currently in it's 12th successful year and there is no doubt that it will see continued success.

Despite all his cultural contributions, Yo-Yo Ma admits that he was teased for his non-English name and that to this day, people still come up with new jokes about it.

Ju Dou

Released April 1991 in U.S., Ju Dou was the first China film to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film.  The movie was directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Liu Heng.  The setting takes place in of the movie takes place in a small village somewhere in China during the 1920s, the Republic of China era.  The film focuses on three main characters in a triangular relationship: Yang Jinshan, Yang Tianquig, and Ju Dou.  Yang Jinshan is characterized as a cruel and perverted old man who owns a mill and is seeking a boy to be his next heir; in hope that Ju Dou will bear his child.  Yang Tianquig is Jinshan’s adopted nephew who later falls in love with Ju Dou.  Ju Dou is the beautiful bride Jinshan has purchased.  The story is about the forbidden love between Ju Dou and Tianquig and the struggle they have to endure to overcome another day.  Jinshan, every night, would sexually abuse Ju Dou, which can be heard loudly by Tianquig.  The sound of agonizing pain from Ju Dou stirred up much agitation and a sense of hopelessness.  It was later when they both fell in love and began their secret affair, which led to Ju Dou's pregnancy.  Little did Jinshan know, Ju Dou got pregnant by Tianquig and Jinshan mistakenly believed it to be his child Tianbai.  This was Ju Dou and Tianquig’s silenced rebellion against Jinshan's devious and torturous treatment
towards the two.  However, both of them later on suffered a terrible consequence psychologically and physically for their crime.  Tianbai was raised thinking that Jinshan was his father and loved him very much but then one day, Tianbai accidentally killed Jinshan after dragging him into a pool of water.  It was later revealed to Tianbai that the biological father was in fact Tianquig.  After seeing the two intimately get involved, Tianbai then finally caused the murder of Tianquig and the story ended with Ju Dou putting the entire mill into flames.

The story sets a symbolic meaning based on China’s feudal system’s censured
oppressiveness it treats its people and the old customs used during their ancestral period which resulted as a patriarchal society.  The relationship between Ju Dou and Tianquig signifies the oppression Chinese people endured during the Republic of China era that was taken care for by Jinshan, the government.  After his death, his high power was still alive and was passed down to Tianbai who signifies as the Red Guard.

The duty of a Red Guard is to obtain and sustain the political and cultural value of the leader, in this case Jinshan.  And because Ju Dou and Tianquig rebelliously and secretly saw each other, it resulted to Tianquig’s death.  This move can be seen as a folktale of innocence and evil, a simple and powerful work of cinematic art, but it has a controversial political view that can also correlate with Chinese communist government today. 

 Ju Dou immediately became the model for several other Chinese films about sexual repression and moral transgression.  It was, nonetheless, a produced movie that has the minimal gap when contrasting with Western films because the foundation of expressing emotional and intimate feelings was very much identical compared to other Asian films.  But even so, the movie brought back some traumatic memories and visions that we do not want to see or be feared by today.  Unfortunately, the movie later on was banned from China due to the symbolical meaning of the story and as well as the shame based on Chinese traditional culture.  But even so, it was released long enough to not repress its existence to the rest of the world.

Thuy Trang: Yellow Ranger

Like many Asian immigrants who have migrated over to the United States due to poverty or restraint back in their homeland, Thuy Trang and her family were refugees by boat who came to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon to Communist forces in the year 1979.  The journey in which she endured carried memories of sickness and unconsciousness because the shortage of food and water subconsciously made them think that there would be no light at the end of the tunnel.  In fact, Trang was at a turning point of the trip where many people perceived her as dead or not worth being saved because she was wasting other healthy people’s food source.  But with her mother’s persistancy and perseverance, she would forcibly shoved food down Trang’s throat, which gave her enough energy to survive the entire trip.  The sacrifice and the love given to Trang from her mother were strong enough to give her a chance of hope and faith.

At the age of six, she began a new life and was forced to integrate into a different cultural understanding as well as the language barrier.  After a year, Trang’s father passed away from cancer and so her mom was left alone to raise her and her three other siblings.  Three years later, Trang began kung fu lessons through the practice of Kung Fu Shaolin and was able to receive a black belt at the age of 13.  Through her friends, she was introduced to a talented agent who represented her through the entertainment industry.  She then later attended the University of California, Irvine to study civil engineering when an acting opportunity was introduced at her front door.  Her agent encouraged her to audition for Power Rangers and so she did.  Through her audition, they rated her based on her performance and saw her as a potential candidate.  After few more auditions, she was able to get the part as Trini Kwan, the yellow ranger, in the year 1993. 

During her acting period, she was an attention grabber to all young fans and has always been seen as a person full of life and fearless at what she does.  She had a spiritual heart that was filled with warmth and care.  Her active charity work illuminates the wonderful work she brings to society and communities because people only see her as an equal to them and not as a foreigner.  With that said, she believes that there are opportunities for Asian actresses and that the growth of Asian population is growing in the acting industry. Her dream was to continue as a professional actress after graduating from UCI, but her dream was short lived.  Although she was never able to live long enough to see today, she definitely made much impact towards Asian Americans and Americans through the smiles she creates, the character she builds with others and within self, the helping hand she lends, and the struggle she have endured as an Asian American.

Michelle Kwan: Female Role Model Figure Skating Hero

We all know the famous 9 U.S. Championship, 5 World Championship, and 2 Olympic Championship figure skating Michelle Kwan who has been an icon for women and Asian Americans.  Being born and raised in the Torrance, CA as a Second Generation Chinese American, Michelle Kwan started her first encounter of figure skating at the age of 5 with her two siblings, Ron and Karen Kwan.  She was able to receive her first 1st Place World Champion in the year 1996 at the age of 16.  Because of the passion, joy, and love Michelle has for skating, she then continued figured skating and has been an influential skater representing the United States.   Through all the injuries and the falls that has occurred to her while performing and practicing, she took those incidents as an ambition to grow stronger and work harder, which was a value taught to her while she was growing up.  Because of this, Michelle Kwan very much represents America's ideal image of an Asian American or an Asian immigrant.

With her artistic skills, success and spirits, Michelle was able to publish her own experience into books, such as "The Winning Attitude", in order to spread the inspirational message from the values, hardship, and struggles (taught by her parents) that she has endeavor throughout her lifetime of skating. Not only can the novel relate to other women but it can also very much relate to many Asian American lives who has struggle for survival and how they now are seen as the "model minority" today. Michelle Kwan, up until today, has been seen as a role model and a prestigious figure skater to both the American and Asian American society.

Although she may seem to have a contemporary figure towards the American society, she was not always perceived as an American because of her physical appearance.  After she lost her chance for the gold medal at the Winter Olympics of 1998 to Tara Lipinski, media portrayed her as a non-citizen and foreigner because she was Chinese.  The infamous MSNBC headline “American Beats Kwan” gave a suggested statement that it was the White American girl who had beaten the non-American girl even though they were both legally Americans. Though I do not see this issue as crucial and critical as the 90's, it is still a contested issue that still should be analyzed and researched thoroughly to see where the Asian communities is mapped on the social graph with the American society.  But even so, Michelle Kwan up until today is still a highly acknowledged athlete with a reputation that she has given herself through the passion and love she put out for figure skating.  I believe it gave a spark to the U.S. and was able to continue on giving America the reputation of being the most diverse country.

I believe because through all that she has overcome and the identity in which she represents for herself and for her family, she has made a great impact towards the Asian American community.  And looking at the athletic history of the U.S., it seems as though Asian Americans are becoming more involved in sports and we can only predict that that will result in a general sense of involvement with society as a whole.