Chop Suey...the Font, Is it Racist?

Upon his death in November 1901, the Sunday Call newspaper in San Francisco devoted an entire page in tribute to Li Hung Chang, a powerful statesman, and diplomat, who they dubbed the "Yellow Napoleon." Such recognition was deserving, but I wondered if the font chosen for headers was not in poor taste. Known variously as Chop Suey font or later in the 1950s as Mandarin font, it was created in 1883 by the Cleveland Foundry and has become the go-to graphic whenever one wants to emphasize the foreign or exotic aspect of Chinese, and other Asians.

    Critics, such as Crystal Wang, of the font have argued it perpetuates a harmful, if not outright racist, stereotype.

Wang cites two egregious uses of the Chop Suey font in advertising Chinese food and promoting 'humor' on clothing items.

Political campaign ads have used the font to invoke imagery of Chinese, and other Asian, candidates for political offices as foreigners.

On the other hand, it must be recognized that Chinese restaurants have employed Chop Suey font in ads and menus for decades and might be accused of promoting its use.  However, Chinese restaurants promoting Chinese food would seem more justified than a clothing brand in using Chop Suey font.

 The comedienne, Margaret Cho, who is Korean lamented how the Chop Suey font boxed her in the way she was promoted.

Oh if I had a dollar for every time I have seen ads promoting me with racist caricatures, fonts or descriptions – I would have many, many, many dollars, flying off me like lettuce leaves that you could roll up some rice and dried shrimp and chili paste in. The first time was when I was about 16 or 17, on a wall of hastily pinned up notices for upcoming shows. My name blazed in big bright letters in the Chop Suey font, pointy, sword shaped lines to create words, familiar from Chinese restaurants and pretty much anything of Asian origin repackaged and sold everywhere that is not Asia.

Under my name, which was tremendously exciting to see in print, way back then, no matter what font it was in, was a small caricature of a coolie, in a rice paddy hat, with bucked teeth and holding chopsticks, rice spilling out everywhere. The futility of rice eaten with chopsticks – this has never made sense to me. It’s very hard to pick up these tiny pieces of food with sticks. I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet. I am not sure I will ever, if I haven’t by now.

   

Finally, perhaps it is fitting that the 1901 newspaper articles on Li Hung Chang used Chop Suey font. After all, it is believed that "chop suey" __the dish was literally invented for him on a visit to New York and Philadelphia in 1893!

Two Chinese Fought Racial Discrimination, One Win and One Loss At the U.S. Supreme Court

Yick Wo was a laundryman in San Francisco for 22 years in the late 19th century.  A law passed in 1880 banned Chinese laundries in wood buildings, unless they had a permit. The law was proposed as a public safety measure as laundries in wood buildings had high risks of starting fires. Yick Wo defied this law and continued operating his laundry. He was fined and jailed for his failure to comply with the ban. His case, Yick Wo v. Hopkins 1886, went to the US Supreme Court. 

Of about 200 Chinese laundrymen, only one was granted a permit, yet almost all white-owned laundries, which were also in wood structures, received a permit. The Supreme Court ruled in Yick Wo's favor, not because there was no fire risk, but because its discriminatory enforcement would close all Chinese laundries, and thus violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Gong Lum operated a grocery store in Rosedale, Mississippi. The School Board ruled in 1924 that his two daughters, Martha and Berda (3rd and 4th from the left bottom row in the class photograph) could not attend a white school in Mississippi on the grounds that they were not Caucasians and should attend a school for colored children. Gong Lum obtained legal assistance to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him, Gong Lum v. Rice, 1927, upholding school segregation. Gong Lum lost the fight and responded by moving his family across the Mississippi River to Arkansas.

These cases illustrate some of the discriminatory barriers the Chinese faced, and how they fought back with legal action.  Even though they did not always get favorable rulings, their cases became significant historic legal decisions in American history.