Hong Qunzi/Red Dress 紅裙子
I never miss someone carrying a red plastic grocery bag on a subway ride. They’ve been to Chinatown. Coming to the United States as a graduate student some 30 years ago, I no longer live only on Chinese food. My palate has adapted to Western cuisine, among other things. But the sight of a red plastic grocery bag brings a familiar taste that reminds me of who I am.
The remembrances triggered by red plastic bags, personal and delightful to me, are expressed in my new work: “Hong Qunzi/Red Dress” (24”x48”, plastic bags and tape, 2020). Since I made it, I have been wanting to wear it while dancing under the Chinatown gate, or sitting in a bakery chatting with Nancy over naicha. Nancy is a Chinatown insider.
I used to say that even though I am Chinese, this is not my Chinatown. I am an outsider. It is only after meeting Nancy, that I became an “accepted outsider”. Nancy introduced me to Auntie Amy and various Chinatown family associations. We also visited Mount Hope Cemetery. (Chin-ming is on April 4th). I learned about the unique Boston Chinatown social networks that built multi-generational businesses - and the stories behind the stories.
Unfortunately, the dress is made, but the party has been cancelled-as community engagement does not mesh well with social distancing. So I am meeting you here online. Please visit my semi-monthly post that showcases a new work, inspired by a Chinatown insider story.
The guest contributor for this week’s post is art historian Shelley Drake Hawks, who explores the color “red” in Chinese culture. Enjoy.
RED, the color of fire, “may cause a sensation analogous to that caused by a flame” said Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, who noticed that warm, light, and pure colors exercise an enormous influence over the body. He described red as the most active and vigorous color of all. In Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), Kandinsky wrote: “the unbounded warmth of red…rings inwardly with a determined and powerful intensity.” Kandinsky theorized that an encounter with red activates a whole chain of powerful sensations, including feelings of strength and determination. He called red a “beloved” color intrinsic to peasant costume throughout human history.
Red has profound meaning for Chinese culture and for Chinatowns in particular. Red symbolizes liveliness and good will. It is the color of family celebrations, weddings, and banquets. At Chinese New Year’s, Boston’s Chinatown becomes awash in red paper, radiating good fortune and welcoming the whole city. The color of ripe fruits and blossoming flowers, red signifies abundance. In her 1986 study of papercuts and embroidery in Chinese Folk Art, Nancy Zeng Berliner describes red’s association with fu 福（prosperity） and xi 喜, happiness. ”In Chinese belief, because red is the color of blood, it is the color of life, and hence associated also with yang 阳, the positive, male, life-giving force of the yin-yang polarity…All yang elements protect against evil and so reinforce life.“
Seen in this light, the red shopping bags supplied to Chinatown’s customers become important physical objects marking Chinatown’s identity. Each bag fosters a relationship between the recipient and the Chinatown community. The red surface of the bag catches the eye and sets off a powerful form of communication, triggering metaphors and associations. Perhaps the red bags signal a capitalist wish for material wealth—an invitation to customers to buy more and to buy often. Perhaps the red bags offer a blessing for long life, the memory of delicious food, or a welcome for outsiders. What do the red bags mean for you? How do they make you feel?
Besides groceries and restaurants, stationary stores are fundamental to Chinatown’s commercial life, offering supplies for customers who wish to learn or practice writing Chinese characters. Red plays a vital role even here. Although the primary colors for painting and calligraphy are black for ink and white for paper, bright red is the color of cinnabar, the mineral used for seal paste. A painter or a calligrapher uses this paste to imprint their name seal on a completed artwork, thus leaving a residue in bright red of their unique personality.
Shelley Drake Hawks 何雪丽, Ph.D.
