Panda Express has grown tremendously since it opened its first door in 1983. Andrew J.C. Cherng and his father, master Chinese chef Ming- Tsai Cherng, founded a full service restaurant in 1973 called Panda Inn. They were in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, one of America’s ethnic melting pots. The Cherngs wanted to expand the full service Chinese restaurant but the competition would be too much in an area with a large Asian American population. Andrew Cherng saw that fast food, drive-thru restaurants was very successful in the United States. He then sought out to experiment with an “oriental” food version of that kind of idea since southern California offered a good market. Cherng moved away from the full service restaurant idea and expanded into the quick service restaurant field.

Panda Express has become one of the largest “Chinese food” restaurant chains in the United States, having restaurants in over 34 states. They are located in places like, mall food courts, supermarkets, shopping centers, key intersections, airports, and university and college campuses. It can practically be put in the fast food category now along the lines of healthiness. Panda express in addition to other Chinese fast food restaurants double the number of McDonald’s franchises. Many Americans, including Asian Americans, are gaining weight because of misconceptions about the food. Many think that it is healthy since there are vegetables in the meals. Panda Express is in the market for customers in the age eighteen to thirty four bracket, the working population who will most likely eat fast food. They are slowly raising their level to a hamburger, fried chicken, and Mexican food chain dominated market.

More importantly, I feel that Panda Express has taken a big step in the promotion of Americanized Chinese food. They have moved further away from traditional Chinese cuisine and moved towards modifying their food for Caucasian American tastes. Americanized Chinese food is taking over and “real” Chinese food is losing its authentic cultural aspect. Chinese food in America is recognized as a kind of fast food while many Chinese people are not proud to call it theirs. Immigrants from China that try this food for the first time usually do not like it at all. Much of what passes for Chinese cooking in America would sicken a traditional Chinese gourmet chef. Canned pineapples, canned fruit cocktails, corn starch, MSG, and heavy doses of sugar are found in these “bizarre” American creations. The basic formula appears to be: take the fattest piece of meat you can get, cook it in a lot of oil with the sweetest mixture of canned fruits and sugar you can make, add soy sauce and thicken the sauce to a glue-like consistency. Think about it the next time you get carryout!

>

David Tran is the founder of Huy Fong, an Asian American company that is most popular for it's creator's invented sauce, Sriracha. Sriracha was created in the early 1990’s and was the brilliant idea of Tran as he aspired to create his own American dream after leaving Vietnam with his family in 1979. By February of 1980, Tran was settled into Boston and began to invent his world famous sauce. Tran moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his family and began to start the manufacturing of the Sriracha sauce through family homemade operations. By reusing Gerber baby food jars, the Tran family began to create their family production. Soon, Tran had gained enough success to create the signature bottle that is known today. He uses a rooster for his astrological sign and has kept the same bottle and design since the making of the sauce. David Tran’s Sriracha sauce is an American product that creates a sense of authentic Asian identity and in that perspective, the company targets the Asian community with their products. “We’re happy to see these [American] chefs use our sriracha,’ said Huy Fong’s president, William Tran, the 33-year-old son of its founder. ‘But we still sell 80 percent of our product to Asian companies, for distribution through Asian channels. That’s the market we know. That’s the market we want to serve.’”

The Huy Fong commitment to the community has not gone unnoticed. Through the years of success, his base of operations has always been in Rosemead, California. As of recent, the company feels they are too cramped in workspace for the city of Rosemead and needs to move operations elsewhere. As the Sriracha company contemplates it’s relocation, officials from the city of Rosemead rushed to hold a meeting with the founder to keep the signature company in the area as a historical symbol of growth and success. While the company’s success gains more momentum, the worldwide effect of Sriracha has not gone unnoticed. Chefs in America and all over the demographics of Asia have adopted the sauce into many popular dishes today. The specialties are a highlight and flatter the founder of Sriracha hot sauce as he comments, “‘I’m always interested in what they do,’ Mr. Tran said, his voice filled with genuine wonderment.” However, flattery is received in more ways than one as Asian stores around America started to sell similar items like “Cock brand sriracha from Thailand, Shark brand from China, Phoenix brand from Vietnam and Unicorn brand, also from Vietnam.” Huy Fong created a small dent in Asian American culture and even traditional Asian culture by his success and recipe for an “Asian American” hot sauce that would be able to bridge two cultures. Most Asian American’s have followed this craze and most likely will have a bottle in their house. Americans are even beginning to like Sriracha, eating with things such as hot dogs and pizza’s as the bottle is hitting shelves in Wal-mart, Albertsons and stater bros.

The Karate Kid was a blockbuster film of the 80's which was released on June 22, 1984. The film was directed by John Avildsen and written by Robert Kamen. The Karate Kid tells the story of Daniel Larusso who recently moved to California from New Jersey. Larusso runs into trouble with some kids from the Cobra Kai karate dojo and is severely beaten until Mr. Miyagi jumps in and saves the day. Larusso pleads with Miyagi to become his sensei and teach him karate and Miyagi ultimately agrees and educates Larusso in life and karate.


The Karate Kid rode the wave of martial arts movies during the era which began with Enter the Dragon and Drunken Master. These films helped to make Asian culture more acceptable and heightened the presence of Asians in film. In The Karate Kid, Miyagi was the only prominent Asian martial artist in the film. The rest of the martial artists were white, which propelled martial arts and particularly Karate in American culture. The recognition of Asian martial arts acted as a bridge between Asian and American culture and helped to solidify Asian American culture.


The main factor from this movie which impacted Asians in America was the character of Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita. Morita was most known for his past role as the abrasive foreign cook, Arnold, from Happy Days, which was a more foreign and comedic character. Mr. Miyagi is a handyman with roots in martial arts and has a past with the US Army. Through his background as a soldier as well as an everyday handyman, Miyagi is more easily identifiable as American. The role of Miyagi brought with it authority and wisdom as well as a sense of honor and discipline. An Asian role which demanded respect and commanded authority had not been seen in a long time and this helped the Asian image. This movie effectively brought back the stereotype of Asians as Bruce Lee and added a bit more flavor to it while doing so. The image of awkward Asian men was shattered and replaced by Miyagi's character. Although this movie did give the Asian stereotype a more positive light, Miyagi was still forced to harbor broken English which weakened his image as an Asian American.


Despite this, the role of the Asian protagonist greatly helped the image of Asian Americans both in Hollywood and in culture. The image of the authoritative Asian in Hollywood was made acceptable by The Karate Kid and the reputation of Asians was on the upswing. The Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi will forever be among the most popular and loved icons of pop culture of the 80's. And looking past the crane poses, being called Daniel-san and supposedly being able to catch a fly with chopsticks, they had a positive impact on Asian Americans as well.

The Goonies was a movie which was released on June 7, 1985. The film was directed by Richard Donner and written by Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus. The Goonies revolves around two brothers and their group of friends, who call themselves the Goonies. The Goonies stumble upon a treasure map belonging to the famed "One-Eyed" Willie. The gang proceeds to pursue the treasure shown on the map but are met by the Fratelli family who recently escaped jail and are also on a hunt for the treasure. The Goonies then have to survive and best a gauntlet of traps and obstacles to outsmart the Fratellis and ultimately claim the treasure.

The Goonies was a large success among the American audience and its popularity exists to this day. Among the Goonies in the movie is Richard "Data" Wang. Data, an Asian American, is seen as an extremely intelligent yet quirky character and was noted by his overstuffed overcoat. Data idolized James Bond and created numerous ridiculous inventions which ended up saving the gang at one point or another. In a blend of goofiness and intelligence, Data was a successful and popular character. Although there were positive aspects to the character, Data still suffers from a slight accent as well as a the tendency to refer to himself in the third person which is a less than ideal image.

At the time, Asian Americans were still struggling to find an identity in pop culture torn in a struggle between Bruce Lee and Long Duk Dong. The character of Data, I believe, provided a more moderate medium between the two extremes which ultimately became a part of the current Asian stereotype. Even though Data still possessed a bit of an accent and was still visibly foreign, he was also seen as an integral part of the Goonies and was not an outsider like Dong. I believe this role was a strong supporter and perhaps the pioneer of the image of the Asian as the "calculator" or the "wiz kid" which ultimately was the image of the model minority. On the flip side, although this image is an overall positive one, it still alienates Asian Americans from the average American kid.It's curious that although Data was intelligent, courageous and bold, Hollywood felt it necessary to also give him an accent and make him clumsy. Thus, the national image of Asian Americans remained as awkward and goofy figures with a thick accent and sub-par grammar. Despite this, I believe Data was a positive step in the image of Asians in America.

The movie, Sixteen Candles, was released to the American public on May 4, 1984. The film was directed by John Hughes and boasted a starlit cast which included Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and John Cusack. The movie was a huge success during the 80's and was a pop culture reference known by most teenagers of the era.

Sixteen Candles revolved around Ringwald's character, Samantha Baker, and her dramatic high school life around the time of her 16th birthday. Throw in some goofy characters here and there and you have the gist of the movie. Surprisingly, Ringwald's character and performance was eclipsed by that of Gedde Watanabe. "Gedde who?" you ask? Perhaps it would be better to refer to him as Long Duk Dong, the foreign exchange student who lived in Baker's house. This character and the success of the movie caused waves of disgust from the Asian American community.

Long Duk Dong's lines were few, but they were remembered by all who saw the movie. Echoes of "What's happenin', hot stuff?", "Oh, sexy girlfriend!" and "No more yanky my wanky" can still be heard today...trust me. Dong's limited appearance and role made a huge impact on American culture in which Asian Americans, unfortunately, got the short end of the stick. Long Duk Dong created a less than desirable stereotype for Asian Americans of the time in which all Asians were seen as FOBs (fresh of the boat) who spoke with thick accents and were all around socially awkward. There was actually few positive attributes to Watanabe's character to note, if any. Given the fact that Asian Americans didn't have a strong presence at the time, Dong gave all Asian Americans a significant social handicap. Before the time of Sixteen Candles, it was said most Asian kids in America were called or related to "Bruce Lee" which is in no way a bad correlation. The move from being called "Bruce Lee" to "Donger" resulted in all Asian American males crying for vengeance against Watanabe.

The effect that Long Duk Dong had on Asians in film is arguable. Prior to his role, Asians were seen more prominently in films such as Enter the Dragon and Drunken Master. Take notice that both of these films take place on foreign soil which maintains to a degree the foreignness of Asians while adding a bit of danger to their reputation. The fact that Sixteen Candles takes place in America where it is clear to see how an "Asian" would act in high school culture overrides the previously mentioned stereotypes. Since then, it has been an uphill battle for Asian American actors who have trouble finding normal American roles in commercials, TV and film. The Asian American community still awaits a strong Asian American presence in film who can spin them in a better light. But until that actor comes, we are all still victims to the name "Donger".

The VietNam War (known as the American War in VietNam) was one of the greatest “losses” known in American history and one of the most disruptive wars known around the world. The fight for power between communism and democracy resulted in great amounts of fatalities with 3-4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5-2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. Jan Scruggs, a veteran himself, knew that it was unjust for the veterans to be just ghosts and casualties of war, thus proposing the idea of building a memorial in the mid-1970’s. This was the first round of battles that had to be overcome: political conflict concerning the proposal of the memorial. It took years before plans for the memorial were set in stone—granite, to say the least.

Issues after issues of controversies followed when it came time to chose a design. Paul Richard posted in the Washington Post that a design contest would be held. Maya Ying Lin, then a young student at Yale University, entered her design originally for a class project who promoted this contest. This posed as a very controversial issue because of the fact that she was a woman and, of course, she was Asian. Many veterans from the war had lingering anger towards Asians and ridiculed the design, calling it a “black gash of shame”. Maya intended to have the memorial represent a scar on the face of the Earth. She meant for it to feel safe, encompassing and as a strong reminder of all the people who died. Construction began in 1982 and finished in 1993, listing over 58,000 names. It took a bit of time for the wall to really be appreciated for what it was: an emotionally-captivating, well thought-out memorial. However, in order to have had it built, it was necessary to reach a compromise with the angry veterans: a bonze statue entitled “Three Soldiers” by Frederick Hart (who placed third in the competition) was unveiled in 1984. The issue of all the underappreciated women nurses who traveled to aid the soldiers also surfaced; designed by Glenna Goodacre was another statue that depicted three female nurses named Faith, Hope and Charity. It stands North of the Reflecting Pool and was dedicated in 1993.

"Each half of the wall is 246.75 feet long, combined length of 493.50 feet. Each segment is made of 70 panels. At their intersection, the highest point, they are 10.1 feet high; they taper to a width of 8 inches at their extremities. Granite for the wall came from southern India. The wall contains 58,175 names (as of October 1990). The largest panels have 137 lines of names; the smallest panels have but one line. There are five names on each line. The names (and other words) on the wall are 0.53 inches high and 0.015 inches deep."
Brent Ashabranner and Photographs by Jennifer Ashabranner. Always to Remember, the Story of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial., p. 93

Sources:

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Vietnam_War_Memorial.html

http://www.lehigh.edu/~ejg1/vietnam/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial

“Enter the Dragon” was released August 19, 1973 by Warner Studios. Directed by Robert Clouse, it was a martial arts film that starred Bruce Lee as the main character. This was the first Chinese martial arts film that was produced by a major American studio working together with an Asian production company. Since the movie is predominantly Asian oriented, the movie was shot mostly in Hong Kong. After its release the movie was a hit and became one of the highest grossing films of the year.

The movie plays out with Bruce Lee as the main character, Lee, who is a Xiao Lin martial artist and is very adept at his art. In the movie, he is invited to fight in a tournament by Han, who happens to be a corrupted Xiao Lin student. Lee is also approached by Braithwaite, who is from an international intelligence organization, and asks Lee to help him gather information on Han. Han is believed to be involved in different crimes but part of his island is outside of international jurisdiction so Lee is asked to gather information to persecute Han.

The film helped set Bruce Lee as a cultural icon and helped spark an interest in karate. Bruce Lee played an Asian version of James Bond, an undercover agent trying to reveal the plots of an evil mastermind. During the time period when Asians were generally seen as more feminine and submissive, Bruce Lee showed the world a different side to Asian culture. He was masculine, muscled and able to defeat his enemies with nothing more than his own strength and knowledge. Bruce was the complete opposite of the typical stereotyped Asian at the time changing what people thought they knew about Asians. Bruce also showed, during the Vietnam War, that Asians are not just enemies as in the movie he was an assistant to help take down a common enemy.


Along with breaking down stereotypes, the movie sparked a major interest in the different forms of martial arts. Following “Enter the Dragon” were many other martial arts based films such as “The Karate Kid,” “Drunken Master” and “Shaolin Temple” among many others. Since karate was seen as an Asian form of fighting, it helped make Asians more accepted in American culture as well as making them more prominent. Karate was not only affecting popular culture through film but was also popularized by Carl Douglas’s song “Kung Fu Fighting.” Through the popularity of “Enter the Dragon” martial arts became integrated into American society, popularizing a largely Asian style of fighting and helping Asians gain more recognition.