"To JK Rowling, from Cho Chang"

[ravenstar84]

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I am going to spread this video like fiendfyre. Everything said in this poem sums up all the feelings I've had towards Cho Chang for the past decade that I couldn't/was too lazy to put into words. I almost got teary eyed at the end.

Comments

[bitchet]

I guess the only thing I wonder is - is Cho Chang stated to be Chinese in the books? I don't remember. Did the producers just have a Chinese actress play her because, "eh, close enough?" That doesn't explain why she has two last names or why, of the two Asians ever mentioned, they're both in Ravenclaw. But I do wonder if maybe she's not supposed to be Korean.

[inverarity]

That's what I was wondering. I have always known "Cho Chang" is not an authentic name in any Asian culture I'm aware of, but I don't think Rowling ever specifically mentioned her ethnicity. That she is Chinese seems to be a fanon assumption.

[ravenstar84]

I had a discussion about this today with someone who is Cantonese and is pretty familiar with Chinese names, and also from few replies from Chinese posters on tumblr. Cho and Chang, even as a first and last name, can be a Chinese name.

But as I said to bitchet, I know where the poet is coming from. The only East Asian character in the books just has to be given "typically" sounding East Asian names.

[ravenstar84]

Also (and I admit my knowledge is somewhat limited, so bear with me), part of the problem is the way Chinese names are translated to English. For example, Chen, Chan, and Zhen are actually same name. They root from the same Chinese character, but are pronounced differently in different Chinese dialects. So it all depends on who translated the name from which dialect. And the way it's spelled in English isn't even accurate to the way it's supposed to be said in Chinese. I'm not that familiar with Korean, but my guess its a similar process as my own Burmese last name went through the same ordeal.

So Cho Chang may sound weird to us, but we're not even seeing it the way it's supposed to sound like, and chances are we've seen other variations of the name in English already.

[summeriris]

I really don't want to get into a discussion about bigotry or anything but there is two points I'd like to mention.
1. Rowling didn't really write her books to please sensibilities in the US. The books are British and are very British.. I find the entire pre-occupation of how Rowling didn't take American sensibilities into account to be rather racist toward the British to be frank. It's like Rowling didn't have the right to write her books from a British point of veiw, she should have kept the American point of view front and centre..
2. Rowling wrote characters and not ethnic minorities. This might be racist I don't know, but she really didn't put a lot of different ethinic traits or even gender traits into her characters. There was that whole thing where Blaise Zambini was thought to be a white girl for the longest time. Cho Chang might have been born to Asian parents, but she is a British girl. She was not put into the books to have a British Chinese character in the books, she was a character who's surname just happened to be

[ravenstar84]

Rachel Rostad's poem had a few inaccuracies here and there, which have already been discussed to no end on other places on the internet. But the racism she describes isn't just rooted from the U.S., nor has this been the only time Western Literature as whole been guilty of reinforcing racist stereotypes. And Britian's own history of colonization (e.g. parts of Asia, the US), has contributed to the stereotypes and depictions of Asians (in this case, specifically East Asians) and how white westerners look upon us.

I know that as an American I'm ignorant of many things around the world, but this isn't one of them. Especially when the things the poet addresses are no where near just a U.S. thing. There are Asians in both the UK and even Australia who are able to relate to Rostad's poem for the same reasons I do.

[summeriris]

Ok, there's a little bit of racsim right there. Australia is not the UK. It is a different country all together. Like the US, Australia has it's base in the expansion of the British Empire, but that has been left far behind. Lumping the two countries together as if they are the same is being racist.
Anybody can find something to relate to in her poem, we have all encountered discrimination in our lives and no I'm not saying it is right. But this young lady is attacking a book that is not set in her country for things that are happening in her country. Until she has lived in the UK and eperienced discrimination like she has described, in the UK, she should limit her complaints to what she knows has happened. And what is her complaint...that Rowling didn't write one of her Asian characters as Asian enough? Perhaps she didn't, but she did write her magical enough. And that was the point, Cho Chang whatever country her ancestors were from, was magical first, and British second, Cho Chang's name wasn't authentically Chinese and it was a

[ravenstar84]

Where did I lump the Australia and UK together? I was speaking distinctly about how Asians from both the UK and Australia are able to relate to the poem the same way I do as an Asian American because of our experiences being raised in white dominated countries. My entire last reply to you elaborates on that. If you think that's lumping the countries together, I don't know how else to explain this to you.

"Anybody can find something to relate to in her poem, we have all encountered discrimination in our lives and no I'm not saying it is right. But this young lady is attacking a book that is not set in her country for things that are happening in her country."

You need to re-read my last reply to you. Once again, the stereotypes of Asians she describes weren't just created in America nor do they only occur in America. If you don't believe me, that's your choice. You are claiming I and the poet are ignorant because we're American, but you've proven you know nothing about the Asian diaspora around the world.