COURTESY OF LYNDA CHANWAI-EARLE
Lynda Chanwai-Earle shares stories about her childhood in a one-woman play at Windward Community College this weekend.
Exploring Chinese heritage
The irate Chinese man told playwright Lynda Chanwai-Earle that she had it all backwards.
"Shouldn't you learn the language first, before you write anything?" he demanded, clearly perturbed by the fact that she had written a one-woman show about the experiences of a Chinese family in New Zealand, despite the fact that she didn't even speak her ancestral language.
Chanwai-Earle is recalling the encounter, and her reply was:
'Ka Shue'
A one-woman play by Lynda Chanwai-EarleWhere: Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College
When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and 4 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Free
Information: 956-3059
"Well, no, because the stories need to be told and English is the language I've learned to speak. Of course, there are Chinese words that I use, and I want to use them appropriately, but I've got a story to tell, and I'm not going to stop myself just because I can't speak the language."
And Oahu audiences should be pleased she's carrying on. Chanwai-Earle's highly recommended one-woman show, "Ka Shue," comes to the Windward side for two performances this weekend. It's a fascinating look at a relatively unknown chapter in the history of overseas Chinese. The title translates into "Letters Home," and much of it of it is taken from the experiences of her great-grandmother and down through the female lineage to herself.
On her mother's side, Chanwai-Earle is a "poll tax descendent," a term that dates from the recent past when Chinese immigrants had to pay a poll tax of as much as &POUND100 to enter white-ruled New Zealand. On her father's side, there are "about five generations of Europeans."
"What's interesting about writing, researching and performing this is that it's about the interface between these two groups and cultures, but told from a personal perspective, with the political backdrop of China and New Zealand over the last hundred years as reflected through the stories of the characters."
And no, it's not an agit-prop rant about racism in New Zealand.
"Although there are a lot of issues (in it), it's important that it not be issue-driven. It is about storytelling and giving people an understanding into the characters," she explained, adding that the stories are based "quite closely" on her family history, with some stories fictionalized.
"(The) children break the ice ... but mixed marriage is still an issue in some communities today," she said, mentioning that at the time of her parents' marriage in the early '60s, her Chinese grandfather considered marriage to a non-Chinese as a shameful act to the family name.
"My mother rebelled -- the fact that she married a European meant that she rebelled and turned her back on the (Chinese) community, or that's how it was seen."
Chanwai-Earle was born in London several years later, and raised in Lae, Papua, New Guinea. Her childhood experiences there didn't prepare her for life as a teenage "afacassie" (mixed race) in New Zealand where the paheka (white) kids sat in the front of the class room, the Polynesians in the back, and she occupied the middle "by myself, and everybody thought I was a (Cambodian) refugee.
"The first thing I encountered was culture shock. ... Instantly I was alienated and then I was 'exotic-fied.' That was going from the frying pan into the fire as far as I was concerned and my hormones got the better of me. Next thing, I was getting involved with gangs and learning the hard way.
"All I was looking for was friendship and love, but I learned the hard way ... and those personal experiences translated into my poetry."
COURTESY OF LYNDA CHANWAI-EARLE
The author is reconnecting with the Chinese culture -- the culture of her ancestors -- and the Chinese language through her play.
HER FIRST BOOK, a collection of poems published in 1994, was titled "Honeypants" and was inspired, in large part, by her early experiences in the underworld of the Maori street gangs. The critical response to the book led to a job tutoring creative writing in a women's prison, and eventually working with men and youthful offenders as well. She also became involved with a Maori theater group that helped create a cross-cultural performance style that incorporated elements of ceremonial traditions.
Chanwai-Earle's empathy with the prisoners reflected her own experiences as an alienated teen, and her involvement in the demonstrations that took place "around 1980" when a tour of New Zealand by the racially segregated, all-Caucasian South African national rugby team "just about split the whole country in half." She participated in the protests against the apartheid policies of South Africa's white minority government that were represented by the whites-only Springbok team.
"The people who I identified with, that I considered my friends ... were the people who didn't judge me for the color of my skin and they didn't 'exoticize' me either. They were my Polynesian friends. ... I'm not trying to sanitize it, but it was a very interesting learning process for me.
"The key thing I noticed was that if people are marginalized and don't have a voice, they are far more likely to exercise their frustration in one way or another. In the Chinese community, in the old days, it was a matter of managing stigma (internally) ... don't rock the boat, don't make waves, don't speak out, and that explained some of the (negative) reaction to my play."
Some people perhaps didn't want to be reminded of the time when Chinese men were grudgingly tolerated in New Zealand as cheap expendable labor, but weren't wanted as residents. In addition to the poll tax, laws were enacted that allowed women and children to stay no longer than two years. Economic opportunities were limited and petty racist slights the norm. Signs of the "No Dogs or Chinese" variety were common.
"When I first started researching the play by talking to my mother and talking to people in the Chinese community, I didn't even know what the poll tax was, but my mother came over when she was about two years old and they had to pay &POUND100 , even though my great-grandfather was already there. ... They didn't want (women and children) to come over, and they didn't want them to breed, and the poll tax wasn't abolished until 1944. I think we were the last country to finally get rid of ours, as an attempt to keep New Zealand white.
"The reaction I got from the Chinese community when I first opened was a mixed one. Some of them appreciated it, some thought it was an amazing affirmation, and there was also denial and sometimes people walked out who were offended ... by the swear words in Chinese and the clashes between the generations."
Chanwai-Earle says that she doesn't intend to "take sides" on some of these issues, but rather to portray fairly the different opinions and perspectives. And, like one of the characters in "Ka Shue," she, too, is trying to reconnect with the language and culture of her ancestors.
"What I'm trying to do is get as close as possible to the reality of what we've experienced -- in my family, anyway. I can speak yumcha (basic) Cantonese enough to get by, but I would like to learn (fluent) Cantonese, as well as learn Mandarin."
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