Apple’s 2023 Chinese New Year Short: Through the Five Passes

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Jeff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjHG5kzi85o

Every year, Apple releases a short film for Chinese New Year that is shot on an iPhone, and every year I look forward to the story that is created. This short for this 2023 is called Through the Five Passes.  Apple’s description:

Welcome the Year of the Rabbit with a story about a young man, his love for opera, and the spirit of persistence. Apple and director Peng Fei come together to reinvent the renowned Chinese Opera “Through the Five Passes”.

Not being Chinese, it took some research to get to understand the context of this short.  The story of Guan Yu and the Five Passes, a story in the history novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is a symbol of persistence, and is also represented in Chinese Opera. Despite not knowing all of the context initially, I did find the imagery striking, and particularly amazing considering it was all shot on an iPhone. I also was reminded about one of the few movies that I have seen (and loved) with Chinese Opera as a key part, Rouge.

Past Apple Lunar New Year Shorts that we have talked about include  The Comeback,  Nian, and Daughter. As every year, Apple also includes a “Making of” video which shows how all of the filming was done on an iPhone, this year on an iPhone 14 Pro.

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Asian American Commercial Watch: Northwestern Mutual’s ‘Distant Relatives’

Posted on January 17, 2023 by John

While watching the San Francisco 49ers defeat the Seattle Seahawks, I saw this Northwestern Mutual commercial (‘Distant Relatives’):

“Someday is today. That’s the realization many people are having these days—what we’re calling The Great Realization. It’s time to finally do the things you’ve been talking about for years. Get started with a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor on your plan and spend your life living.

This Northwestern Mutual commercial is part of a series that explores how Americans from different walks of life are realizing that the things they want to do someday can’t wait any longer. There’s no better time to live the life you’ve always wanted, and our version of financial planning can help make it happen. That’s because we start with your life and priorities and design your plan so that someday can start today.”

As I have blogged before, most mixed race couples featuring an Asian American typically highlights a White Male / Asian Female (WM/AF) couple – in fact, it is still probably the most common depiction of mixed-race couples in popular culture. But in this commercial, we see an Asian Male / White Female (AM/WF) couple with a young son. It’s great to see more representation of an Asian Male / White Female (AM/WF) couple.

The premise of the commercial is that because of the COVID lockdowns in Asia (presumably China), the family, including their son, has only been able to video conference instead of visiting in-person. Now that the pandemic is presumably under control and that China is now “open” for visitors, the wife thinks that due to their financial stability due to Northwestern Mutual’s financial guidance, it’s okay now to take a big family trip to China to visit the husband’s side of the family.

Sadly enough, some of the comments on the video have a different opinion of the commercial.  One comment calls it “race mixing propaganda” while another complains about “WOKE propaganda” about “normalizing bi-racial marriage” among other conspiracy theories.

(image credits:  Northwestern Mutual)

 

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Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan win Golden Globes for their Everything Everywhere All At Once Performances

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Jeff

Michelle Yeoh won a best actress Golden Globe in a musical or comedy film, and Ke Huy Quan won best supporting actor Golden Globe in a motion picture for their work in Everything Everywhere All at Once. It is especially heartening to see Ke Huy Quan win as he had quit acting for decades after breaking through as a child actor and only started auditioning for parts again after seeing the success of Crazy Rich Asians.  You can see his speech below:

Michelle Yeoh has yet another honor after being named the 2022 Time Icon of Year. You can see transcripts of their acceptance speeches here.

 

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Asian American Candidates Tie after Recount – Winner Determined by Drawing Lots

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Jeff

I wrote before about how every vote can make a difference, and when I wrote the story, Murali Srinivasan was beating Justin Wang for Sunnyvale City Council by just one vote.  A recount found 3 more ballots – two for Wang and one for Srinivasan.  The tie was broken on January 3, as shown in the video above, by drawing lots, with Srinivasan being declared the winner.

This is a great example of how every vote can count, and even more so in the heavily Asian American city of Sunnyvale.  Before the lots were drawn, you can see Wang and Srinivasan shake hands, and they did so after the announcement.  I wish more election winners and losers were that gracious.  Congrats to Murali Srinivasan, but also to Justin Wang for being gracious in defeat.

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Visualizing the Asian American Population in California

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Jeff

(image credit: San Francisco Chronicle)

Graphical visualizations are often the best way to understand data. The San Francisco Chronicle recently published this dynamic set of visualizations looking at the Asian American population.  It allows interactive exploration of California Asian American population trends. Some of the graphs hint at interesting changes that have happened in the California popultion.

The graph excerpt on the right shows the largest Asian American group within a particular county.  One of the more interesting findings is the large number of yellow counties in the far north of California.  This reflects the movement of Hmong who became part of the “Green Rush” after the legalization of marijuana in the state.  That movement has become significant enough that many Hmong there are experiencing a discriminatory backlash.

I also found it interesting that Filipino Americans are widely distributed, making up the highest Asian ethnicity in the majority of California counties.  My guess is that the medical facilities in many of the smaller population counties employ a lot of Filipino nurses.  Of the most populous metropolitan areas in California, Filipinos are the largest in San Diego problably because of the navy bases there.

There are many other graphs and tools available at this site. If you are interested in Asian American demographics, and California Asian American in particular, I suggest you check out the SF Chronicle’s excellent resource.

 

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American American Obesity Rates Vary Widely between Asian Subgroups

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Jeff

As it is now the holiday season, it is important for people to consider what and how much they are eating.  While Asian American obesity rates are lower than the American average, a recently published study summarized here shows that obesity rates among subgroups of Asian Americans can very widely.  Using standard BMI metrics, Filipino Americans have the highest incidence at 16.8% and Vietnamese Americans have the lowest incidence rate of 6.3% .  Using the BMI scale modified for Asian Americans, Filipinos still have the highest incidence at 26.7% and Chinese Americans have the lowest at 13.2%. You can read the full study here (it is behind a paywall though)

Note that this study covers adult obesity, in contrast to previous studies on childhood obsesity in Asian Americans.  Since Filipino Americans seem to come out on top in this study (or bottom, depending on your point of view), I would like to remind them of one post we did on how to eat healthy (or at least as healthy as possible) at Filipino parties.

(photo credit:  Karolina Grabowska)

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One Vote Victory, Recounts, and Failed Recount Requests: Asian American Votes do Matter

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Jeff

Our writer John has written about Asian American voter apathy over the years and sometimes brings it up when we have lunch, but for me, three recent events really bring out the importance of Asian American votes.  The first is the one vote victory of Murali Srinivasan over Justin Wang in Sunnyvale’s District 3 City Council race in that heavily Asian American Bay Area city. The second is Justin Wang’s request to have a recount as a result.  The third is the failed attempt at a recount and challenges to the election system in Sheng Thao’s Oakland mayoral race victory.

The Srinivasan victory (at least so far) shows the importance of every vote, and in the 48% Asian American city of Sunnyvale, the importance of Asian American votes.  I can’t blame Wang for wanting a recount, and he is taking a loan to cover the costs.  Recount costs and short notice for paying those costs is why the NAACP local chapter’s request at a recount of Sheng Thao’s election win failed.

Santa Clara had a mandatory recount for the Sunnyvale race because it was so close.  According to Srinivasan, the recount procedures looked good to him.  I can’t see why they wouldn’t look good to him!  The NAACP contends that the ranked choice voting system is confusing to voters.  I can see their point, but then again, Oakland has been using that system for some 10 years now, and that system is a key reason why Jean Quan became Oakland’s first Asian American mayor.

 

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Michelle Yeoh is Time Magazine’s 2022 Icon of the Year

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Jeff


Michelle Yeoh has been selected to be Time Magazine’s 2022 Icon of the Year. She is riding a streak of hit movies in the United States, from Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to this year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. as well as a successful run in Star Trek: Discovery. Yeoh is nominated for a Golden Globe best actress award in her performance in that movie.

In the interview in the Time Magazine article, she says that younger people who first saw her as the stern mother in Crazy Rich Asians, and after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, now come up her amazed that she also can do action/martial arts scenes.  I agree that her range is amazing, although my view on progression is just the opposite as I first saw her in Hong Kong action movies and was pleasantly surprised that she could play the stern mother role in both Crazy Rich Asians and Everything Everywhere All at Once.  I especially appreciate that she is taking on Asian American roles, showing the Asian American experience as in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

She is not resting on her laurels, as she is currently in Avatar: The Way of Water and other projects are coming up, such as the Witcher and the American Born Chinese TV series on Disney+.  I am especially excited about American Born Chinese, which reunites her with some of her Everything Everywhere All at Once co-stars Stephanie Hsu and Ke Hy Quan and also talks about the Asian American experience.

 

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Documentary: Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Jeff

The documentary Rising Against Asia Hate:  One Day in March came out about a month ago, but it some of its key points are particularly relevant today, particularly with the Senate runoff in Georgia between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.  It focuses on the Asian American experience and fight against Asian hate after the 2021 Atlanta Spa killings.  I found the Sandra Oh narrated documentary at times moving, infuriating, and enlightening.

One part of the documentary that I found moving is the story of Robert Peterson looking for his mother Yong Ae Yue in the aftermath of the shootings.  PBS provides a preview of Peterson’s story here.  A part that might make you mad is how quickly the local police dismissed any motive of racism in the shootings, saying it was that the shooter was having a bad day.  Media seemed to focus on saying what a good guy for the most part the shooter was rather than focusing on the victims.  An enlightening part focused on the difficulty of prosecuting hate crimes against Asian Americans.

A substantial section of the documentary is about the Asian Americans in politics in Georgia and their reactions.  After Asian Americans help flip Georgia in 2022, one politician states that her district was being redistricted to weaken Asian American voting.  Still, both parties are courting Asian Americans in Georgia.  We mentioned that in general and before the runoff election between Raphael Warnock and Heschel Walker on December 6, both parties worked to attract Asian American voters in Georgia and other states. Asian American voters overall favored Warnock, which may have been the difference in that close election.

Rising Against Asian Hate:  A Day in March was produced by Repartee Films, LLC in association with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).  The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), The WNET Group for PBS, and the Asian American Foundation are among the many groups and individuals that funded it.

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From Homeless Single Mother to Oakland Mayor: Sheng Thao wins through Ranked Choice Voting

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Jeff

In an amazing journey from being a homeless single mother living in a car, Sheng Thao was elected mayor of Oakland. The journey is even more amazing considering that in the initial count of votes, Thao was in second place.  Because no Oakland mayoral candidate won a majority of votes, instant-runoff voting, also known in the US as ranked-choice voting, propelled her to victory.

Instant-runoff voting saves the trouble of having a separate runoff election, such as what is happening with the Herschel Walker – Raphael Warnock Senatorial Race in Georgia.  In this voting method, voters rank their preferences to candidates.  If there is no majority preferred candidate, the lowest vote getting candidate is eliminated, and those votes are redistributed according to the preferences.  If there is no majority winner, the process continues until there is a winner. This article provides excellent detail on how this worked for Thao.

The second place winner, Loren Taylor, conceded but was none too happy about ranked-choice voting. The process made for an interesting election, as coalitions of candidates formed to influence voter rankings.

Sheng Thao is the first Hmong American woman to be elected to the Oakland City Council and first Hmong American to be mayor.  She is also second Asian American woman to be elected Mayor of Oakland, the first being Jean Quan, who also won through ranked choice voting. She will have to deal with a number of challenges facing Oakland, including economic problems and crime as well as an ethics complaint.

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Study finds that Cyberbullying of Asian American Youth increased during Pandemic

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Jeff

Generating a result that should surprise no one, a study concludes that while all youths (teens 13-17) experienced increased cyberbullying compared to before the pandemic, Asian American youths endured were increasingly targeted because of their race after the pandemic started. Asian American teens saw the largest increase in cyberbullying, as well as the biggest increase in what they felt were race-based harrassment (self-reported).  Multi-racial teens also saw an large increase in general cyberbullying and race-based cyberbullying.

Note that the full text of article is behind a paywall.  A summary of the study can be found at this link at the US National Institute of Health.

(Cyberbullying image by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free)

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Remembering Asian American Veterans: Richard Hoy

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Jeff

As the “Americanness” of Asian Americans is often questioned these days despite the long history of Asian Americans in the United States, Veteran’s Day is a good time to point out the contributions that Asian Americans to the country.  In this StoryCorps excerpt also featured on NPR, Richard Hoy tells how he joined the Army to have a life of adventure and be a war hero and soon learned that he there were other ways he could be a hero without being a “tough guy.”

StoryCorps is a great to capture and preserve the oral history of family and friends, and we have featured a number of those stories about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

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