This thesis focuses on Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown: A Novel (2020), exploring the function of Chinatown in Los Angeles within the novel as a space of creation, that of “Asia” for Hollywood and home for Taiwanese immigrants. I argue that Interior Chinatown offers a unique look at the perception or notion of Chinatown, paying attention to the way Hollywood has shaped it and used it to create a sense of China and “Asia” in the cultural imagination. Through satire and the blurring of the reel and the real, Yu is able to criticize the inner workings of Hollywood’s relationship with the neighborhood and its residents. The novel directs the readers’ gaze to the realities of Chinatown: how Hollywood exploits it for profit while perpetuating the community’s poverty, how the exoticization of Chinatown and its residents impacts the community, and how tourism money leads Chinatown to lean into the cultural dynamic. At the same time, the experimental novel’s focus on Taiwanese identity shows readers the multiplicity of Chinatown as a space of culture creation and preservation. Reading Interior Chinatown through the lens of Taiwan’s semiperipheral status–- as a nation on the brink of urbanization and as a nation whose statehood is uncertain–- ultimately deepens the readers’ understanding of the importance of home building in the United States as well as the thread of nostalgia through which the novel finds cohesion.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis focuses on Charles Yu’s <em>Interior Chinatown: A Novel</em> (2020), exploring the function of Chinatown in Los Angeles within the novel as a space of creation, that of “Asia” for Hollywood and home for Taiwanese immigrants. I argue that <em>Interior Chinatown</em> offers a unique look at the perception or notion of Chinatown, paying attention to the way Hollywood has shaped it and used it to create a sense of China and “Asia” in the cultural imagination. Through satire and the blurring of the reel and the real, Yu is able to criticize the inner workings of Hollywood’s relationship with the neighborhood and its residents. The novel directs the readers’ gaze to the realities of Chinatown: how Hollywood exploits it for profit while perpetuating the community’s poverty, how the exoticization of Chinatown and its residents impacts the community, and how tourism money leads Chinatown to lean into the cultural dynamic. At the same time, the experimental novel’s focus on Taiwanese identity shows readers the multiplicity of Chinatown as a space of culture creation and preservation. Reading <em>Interior Chinatown</em> through the lens of Taiwan’s semiperipheral status–- as a nation on the brink of urbanization and as a nation whose statehood is uncertain–- ultimately deepens the readers’ understanding of the importance of home building in the United States as well as the thread of nostalgia through which the novel finds cohesion.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fong, Audrey"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Rei Magosaki","Joanna Levin","Ian Barnard"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z","subjects":["Charles Yu","Asian American Literature","Chinatown","Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/74","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Rei Magosaki","Joanna Levin","Ian Barnard"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fong, Audrey"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-12-31T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Charles Yu","Asian American Literature","Chinatown","Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/74"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis focuses on Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown: A Novel (2020), exploring the function of Chinatown in Los Angeles within the novel as a space of creation, that of “Asia” for Hollywood and home for Taiwanese immigrants. I argue that Interior Chinatown offers a unique look at the perception or notion of Chinatown, paying attention to the way Hollywood has shaped it and used it to create a sense of China and “Asia” in the cultural imagination. Through satire and the blurring of the reel and the real, Yu is able to criticize the inner workings of Hollywood’s relationship with the neighborhood and its residents. The novel directs the readers’ gaze to the realities of Chinatown: how Hollywood exploits it for profit while perpetuating the community’s poverty, how the exoticization of Chinatown and its residents impacts the community, and how tourism money leads Chinatown to lean into the cultural dynamic. At the same time, the experimental novel’s focus on Taiwanese identity shows readers the multiplicity of Chinatown as a space of culture creation and preservation. Reading Interior Chinatown through the lens of Taiwan’s semiperipheral status–- as a nation on the brink of urbanization and as a nation whose statehood is uncertain–- ultimately deepens the readers’ understanding of the importance of home building in the United States as well as the thread of nostalgia through which the novel finds cohesion.
"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Fong, Audrey. Interior Chinatown: Chinatown as a Performative Space. 2024. Chapman University, MA Thesis. Chapman University Digital Commons, https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000553"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Interior Chinatown: Chinatown as a Performative Space"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Rei Magosaki","Joanna Levin","Ian Barnard"],"dc:creator":["Fong, Audrey"],"dc:date.available":["2025-12-31T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis focuses on Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown: A Novel (2020), exploring the function of Chinatown in Los Angeles within the novel as a space of creation, that of “Asia” for Hollywood and home for Taiwanese immigrants. I argue that Interior Chinatown offers a unique look at the perception or notion of Chinatown, paying attention to the way Hollywood has shaped it and used it to create a sense of China and “Asia” in the cultural imagination. Through satire and the blurring of the reel and the real, Yu is able to criticize the inner workings of Hollywood’s relationship with the neighborhood and its residents. The novel directs the readers’ gaze to the realities of Chinatown: how Hollywood exploits it for profit while perpetuating the community’s poverty, how the exoticization of Chinatown and its residents impacts the community, and how tourism money leads Chinatown to lean into the cultural dynamic. At the same time, the experimental novel’s focus on Taiwanese identity shows readers the multiplicity of Chinatown as a space of culture creation and preservation. Reading Interior Chinatown through the lens of Taiwan’s semiperipheral status–- as a nation on the brink of urbanization and as a nation whose statehood is uncertain–- ultimately deepens the readers’ understanding of the importance of home building in the United States as well as the thread of nostalgia through which the novel finds cohesion.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/74"],"dc:source":["Fong, Audrey. Interior Chinatown: Chinatown as a Performative Space. 2024. Chapman University, MA Thesis. Chapman University Digital Commons, https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000553"],"dc:subject":["Charles Yu","Asian American Literature","Chinatown","Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority"],"dc:title":["Interior Chinatown: Chinatown as a Performative Space"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:37Z"}