Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
I could escape this feeling, with my China girl
I feel a wreck without my, little China girl
I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing
I’m a mess without my, little China girl
Wake up mornings where’s my, little China girl
I hear her heart’s beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing down
I feel a-tragic like I’m Marlon Brando
When I look at my China girl
I could pretend that nothing really meant too much
When I look at my China girl
I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the whites of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
You know, I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you men’s who want to rule the world
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
She says
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
I feel a wreck without my, little China girl
I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing
I’m a mess without my, little China girl
Wake up mornings where’s my, little China girl
I hear her heart’s beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing down
I feel a-tragic like I’m Marlon Brando
When I look at my China girl
I could pretend that nothing really meant too much
When I look at my China girl
I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the whites of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
You know, I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you men’s who want to rule the world
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
She says
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
David Bowie’s song titled “China Girl” outlines his affections for a Chinese woman. I selected this song because similarly to Wong Wan-Lee, David Bowie seems to view the Chinese woman in the video through a highly sexualized lens. Similarly, we see that Wong Wan-Lee often sexualizes Pearl Chang (i.e. touching her “tennis balls”). Dissimilar, however, is the inappropriate and racially charged language selection of “China Girl.” I had actually never heard this term before and I thought it might be interesting to think about the frequency of its usage in comparison with an equally offensive term “Chinaman” of which Wong Wan-Lee is called throughout the book.
That is a very interesting perspective Raven. I’ve never actually heard this song and after reading the lyrics and watching the music video I’m not so sure if David Bowie is outlining his affections for the “China girl” or just fetishizing the fact that she is Chinese. In fact, I think that both of our perspectives relate nicely to And China Has Hands because in the book, Pearl Chang and Wong Wan Lee almost fetishize the idea of their relationship with one another rather than actually being in love, which I think is what is exactly being explained in this song and shown in the video. It doesn’t seem so much as a love song, where the language is very specific to a person or a feature or a genuine feeling. The mood and lyrics of this song seem very selfish and almost creepy. Even throughout the video you see almost inappropriate amounts of cultural mockery and David Bowie not seeming to act very lovingly towards the “China girl”. So, I’m not too sure if this is outlining affections or just in love with the idea of having a girl from a different race, which is specifically outlined with the title.
I think it’s a good point to bring up the fact that in the book Wong Wan Lee is called “China man”. What exactly is the connotation of that word? Why is it not China boy? Does it relate similarly to the song of a derogatory cat call?
Hi Kennedy, thank you for your comment! I completely agree that there is blatant fetishization in this video and a complete lack of cultural awareness on David Bowie’s part. Perhaps, in response to your question, there is an important distinction to be made between “China girl” and “Chinaman.” There seems to be an infantilization of Chinese women taking place here that we must be critical of. Lisa Wade, a sociological professor at Occidental College, wrote this awesome book called American Hookup. In the book she talks about politics of desirability and how Asian women are generally seen as more desirable if we think about desirability as a spectrum. Wade suggests that the desirability of Asian women in American culture is deeply linked to various mechanisms of infantilizing, just like we see David Bowie doing here. So, in short, Bowie is being racist and sexist all at once. Intersectionality I think is an important tool for understanding what is going on in this video. It is curious that Wong Wan-Lee is called “Chinaman” instead of China boy. In Wade’s book she talks about the immasculinization of Asian men as a mechanism for othering, but the word choice of “man” seems to negate that somehow. I just tried to look up the etymology of the term and didn’t have much luck. The only other time I encountered it was in a film about a French colony in Indochina. Maybe that’s somewhere we can start!