 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
 | |
| Author | Han Ong |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Giroux |
Publication date | April 1, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0-374-15575-5 |
Fixer Chao is a 2002 novel by Filipino American author Han Ong. [1] [2]
William Paulinha is a gay, Filipino hustler living in New York City. One night, he meets Shem C, a failed Jewish writer, in a bar. They become fast friends and Shem tells William his life story. Once upon a time, Shem had been married to the daughter of an acclaimed Jewish novelist. However, Shem's wife Marianna realized he was cheating on her and left him. Furious with his present situation, Shem wants to take revenge on the New York elite that cast him out. He convinces William to help him carry out his revenge plot by posing as William Chao, a master of the ancient Chinese art of feng shui.
Their first victim is Lindsay S, an aspiring poet. Bolstered by the ease with which they con her, William and Shem work their way up to bigger and better targets while word of mouth enhances their social status. William meets Cardie Kerchpoff, the Jewish daughter of a cardiologist. He finds her so irritating that he purposely fills her apartment with bad karma. William and Shem attend a dinner party hosted by Suzy Yamada, where many of their past and future clients mingle. Brian Q meets a girl named Norma and discovers after sleeping with her that she has given him herpes. William encounters Max Brill Carlton, author of Primitives, who informs him that Preciosa had no lines in the play. A later conversation with Shem reveals that Suzy was one of the women he had an affair when married and that she will be their last victim. Shem also informs William that Cardie's husband left her after it was revealed he was having an affair. For the first time, William feels guilty about the purposefully bad feng shui work he did for her, the cause of her sudden misfortune.
Rowley P takes William aside in confidence and asks him to help him avenge his second wife's death. According to Rowley, Suzy stole his wife's position and company and is thus responsible for her death. In arranging Suzy's apartment, William enlists the help of his neighbor Preciosa X. She pretends to be a woman named Walung, re-enacting her part in Primitives, speaking in tongues and twirling about to distract from the fact that they are stealing. Several days later, Rowley P dies, leaving his apartment to William. Rowley's family is not happy with this turn of events, so William agrees to relinquish all claims to the apartment.
Kendo, who has been stalking William for a while now, takes him out to dinner. Afterwards, the two get drinks at a bar and discuss each other's criminal activities. At the end of the evening, William is left wondering if Kendo plans on scamming him the way William scammed his mother, Suzy. Neil tries to get William to give him more money but William refuses, leaving a cash-strapped Neil with a grudge against him. William runs into Brian Q in a shoe store and learns that he has completely turned his life around, even founding a charity to raise money for AIDS patients. Suzy confronts William with her growing suspicions that Walung is responsible for stealing several valuable objects from her home.
Suzy discovers the truth about William's criminal past and his life begins to unravel. Suzy eventually persuades Preciosa to tell her everything. She hires Neil to murder William but they are interrupted by Kendo. Neil accidentally stabs Kendo and he dies. William discovers that even when he thought he was performing feng shui correctly, it was still all wrong. Several authors race to be the first to release a book on the “Master” Chao but Shem C publishes his first, thus realizing at long last his potential as an author. William moves to Los Angeles and finally begins pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a writer.
William Paulinha aka Master Chao is a gay, Filipino hustler who yearns to be a writer. After meeting Shem C, William pretends to be a Chinese master of feng shui and helps him con New York's elite. After being ousted by a local reporter, William flees to Los Angeles where he realizes his writing aspirations. Although William enjoys the wealth and adventure of a scam artist, he secretly wants to settle down and “be good,” as he tells his friend Rowley P.
Shem C is a failed Jewish writer with a grudge against the upper crust society that has rejected him. Though his own behavior caused the failure of his marriage to Marianna Hood and the loss of his fortune, he blames society at large. He is aggressive and manipulative. He claims William as a friend, but takes advantage of him whenever possible.
Kendo is the son of Suzy Yamada. William is in love with Kendo's beauty, though not with the man himself.
Suzy Yamada is Kendo's mother and an architect and interior decorator whose work is featured in House & Garden . She eventually hires Neil to kill William.
Rowley P, an elderly mulatto man, is one of William's clients. He asks William to sabotage Suzy's home to avenge the death of his second wife, for whose death he blames Suzy. When Rowley dies, he leaves his apartment to William, causing strife between William and Rowley's family.
Preciosa X is William's neighbor who treats him like a grandson. Preciosa was a former actress who was in the play Primitives at Lincoln Center. William often accompanies Preciosa to the theater.
Brian Q is a prematurely balding man and a womanizer. He is also one of Shem and William's clients. His behavior with women illustrates the themes of fetishism and consumption.
Neil was once the janitor at the Peep Corner where William and his fellow hustlers worked. After growing sick of constantly cleaning up after the hustlers, Neil changed his name to Gurinder and began giving terrorist tours to students and tourists. William asks Neil to help him scare Suzy by threatening her with a knife. Neil agrees to do so in exchange for a thousand dollars. The men shake on it and William leaves.
Jokey is one of William's old friends from Rhode Island, a fellow hustler turned actor.
Marianna Hood is the daughter of Bill Hood and Shem C's former wife.
Bill Hood is an acclaimed Jewish novelist and father of Marianna Hood.
Beulah is Shem C's daughter with Marianna Hood.
Devo is a photo shoot stylist and one of William's closest friends.
Lindsay S is a naïve poet, the first victim of Shem and William's scam.
In Fixer Chao, Han Ong explores several themes including the concept of the model minority, fetishism, empire, queerness, orientalism, and identity politics.
The model minority is a common theme that runs throughout Asian American history and represents an ideal that the rest of the Asian American strives to achieve. This representative group's members are more successful than the rest of the immigrant population.
In Fixer Chao, the model minority is the upper crus society William attempts to join. Suzy Yamada and her son Kendo are its principal representatives, poised, wealthy, beautiful, and civilized. They serve as foils for William and Preciosa. Suzy Yamada is what an immigrant aspires to be, described as a "Japanese-Canadian transplant who made her fortune by trading with Japan". [3]
Fixer Chao uses this desire to consume to his advantage, profiting by convincing the wealthy that they are in need of newer and better things. Even participation in an artistic event is fetishized. [4] The New York elite fetishizes the mysticism surrounding William as a feng shui master, and they purchase his services for alarming sums of money. [5]
Lindsay S offers water and ice to William in a glass with a “single small diamond etched inside the rim which immediately enhances the taste and value of the beverage. [6] This suggests that people purchase objects because the materials reflect an aspect of the consumer's personality.
Fetishism is propelled by the cycle of desire and consumption and levels of society participate. It also becomes a physical and mental ritual practiced daily in all settings in order to achieve divine perfection. [7]
William's previous job as a hustler presents sexuality as a commodity. William exploits his masculinity and gender stereotypes to compensate for the assumption that Asian men are essentially feminine. [8] Race impacts sexuality. It correlates with orientalism to suggest sexual roles. William's sexual preference illustrates that Asian American men must make a choice: they can attempt to assure themselves that they can be perceived with the same degree of masculinity as white men, or they can succumb to feminine characteristics and thus question their sexuality.
The idea of identity politics refers to movements and theories attributed to the social injustices a particular group feels. In this case, race is the social group that undergoes pressures from American culture and society. In Fixer Chao, this phrase leads to speculation on the themes of orientalism as well as fetishism as the stereotypes Fixer Chao comes to represent are exploited and fall victim to the orient-crazed consumers of the New York elite.
The sudden obsession with the mystic of ancient China demonstrates an anti-Asian prejudice. Things and ideas of Asian background are regarded as magical and full of wisdom. Yet they also seem to represent as a decayed culture. The East is an ancient source of wisdom that may be simultaneously outdated and fashionable.
The way Lindsay S displays his statues of Buddha makes William see himself as a revenger {sent] to show Lindsay their true powers. [9] The acquisition of these elements of culture highlights her ignorance and demonstrates both consumerism and the exploitation of an alien identity.
Lastly, Rowley P, as a mulatto man, draws his strength and solidarity from prejudice, just as his wife had. [10] However, as prejudice the black community declines, he begins to learn to forgive. His wife, on the other hand, nurses an idea of her own self [that] had still come from storing away and reliving particular hurts. [11]
Feng shui, sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water". From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical, and topographical dimensions.
Yuen Ren Chao, also known as Zhao Yuanren, was a Chinese-American linguist, educator, scholar, poet, and composer, who contributed to the modern study of Chinese phonology and grammar. Chao was born and raised in China, then attended university in the United States, where he earned degrees from Cornell University and Harvard University. A naturally gifted polyglot and linguist, his Mandarin Primer was one of the most widely used Mandarin Chinese textbooks in the 20th century. He invented the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization scheme, which, unlike pinyin and other romanization systems, transcribes Mandarin Chinese pronunciation without diacritics or numbers to indicate tones.
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, also known as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior or simply Ong-Bak, is a 2003 Thai martial arts film directed by Prachya Pinkaew and featured action choreography by Panna Rittikrai. It stars Tony Jaa in the lead role, alongside Petchtai Wongkamlao and Pumwaree Yodkamol.
Double Vision is a 2002 action horror film directed by Chen Kuo-fu. The plot is about an FBI agent working with a troubled Taiwanese cop to hunt for a serial killer who is embedding a mysterious black fungus in the brains of the victims. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Han Ong is an American playwright and novelist. He is both a high-school dropout and one of the youngest recipients of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant. Born in the Philippines, he moved to the United States at 16. His works, which include the novels Fixer Chao and The Disinherited, address such themes as outsiderness, cultural conflict, and class conflict.
Naked Alibi is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame and Gene Barry. It was released on October 1, 1954 by Universal-International. Portions of the film were shot in Tijuana.
Feng Shui is a 2004 Filipino supernatural horror film starring Kris Aquino. Co-written and directed by Chito S. Roño, it centres on a cursed Bagua mirror that brings death to those who stare at it, with the circumstances of their death relating to their Chinese zodiac. Its screenplay was written by Roy Iglesias. The film grossed ₱114,236,563.00 and was the highest-grossing film of 2004 in the Philippines. A sequel, Feng Shui 2, was released on December 25, 2014, as the official entry to the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival.
Kinamand is a 2005 Danish-Chinese comedy drama film that deals with the Chinese immigrant experience in Denmark and marriages of convenience.
Yang Xiong was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician of the Western Han dynasty known for his philosophical writings and fu poetry compositions.
Money No Enough is a 1998 Singaporean comedy film written by Jack Neo, directed by Tay Teck Lock, and produced by JSP films. The movie stars Neo, Mark Lee and Henry Thia as three close and best friends who start a car polishing business together to resolve their financial problems. Released in cinemas on 7 May 1998, the film received mixed reviews from critics but earned over S$5.8 million and was the all-time highest-grossing Singaporean film until 2012. Its success helped revive the Singaporean film industry and pave the way for the emergence of other Singaporean cultural phenomena.
Hong Kong 1941 is a 1984 Hong Kong war drama film directed by Po-Chih Leong, produced by John Shum and written by Sammo Hung. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Cecilia Yip and Alex Man. For his performance in this film, Chow was awarded his first Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actor.
Amakusa 1637 is a shōjo manga written and illustrated by Michiyo Akaishi. It is about the time-traveling adventures of six modern-day Japanese high school students from the St. Francisco Academy to the 17th century, where they take part in the Shimabara Rebellion. It was serialized in the shoujo manga magazine Petit Flower from 2000 to 2002 and in the josei manga magazine Flowers from 2002 to 2006, and was collected in 12 tankōbon volumes.
The Battle of Lucheng of 213 was part of a rebellion led by Yang Fu against the warlord Ma Chao in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The revolt was initiated by disgruntled parties under the new rule of Ma Chao, who forcefully took over governorship of Liang Province from Wei Kang (韋康) in the siege of Jicheng.
Peter Chan Chun-chuen, earlier known as Tony Chan, is a Hong Kong businessman and the former Feng shui geomancer to the late Nina Wang, who at the time of her death was chair of Chinachem Group and Asia's richest woman. He laid claim to Wang's HK$83 billion estate after she died from ovarian cancer in 2007, claiming to have been her lover.
Monga is a 2010 Taiwanese gangster film. The film features Ethan Juan, Mark Chao, Ma Ju-lung, Rhydian Vaughan and Ko Chia-yen. Set in the titular district of Taipei, the film follows the coming-of-age of Mosquito and initiation into gang life in the 1980s. The film was directed and co-written by Doze Niu, who also appears in the film.
The Face Reader is a 2013 South Korean period action drama film starring Song Kang-ho as the son of a disgraced noble family who goes around Joseon and a gwansang expert. He is able to assess the personality, mental state and habits of a person by looking at his or her face. His talents bring him to the royal courts where he becomes involved in a power struggle between Grand Prince Suyang and general Kim Jong-seo, a high-ranking loyalist to King Munjong. It is the first installment of the Jupiter Film's three-part film project on the Korean fortune-telling traditions and was followed by two sequels, The Princess and the Matchmaker and Feng Shui in 2018.
Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon is a 2013 Chinese action-adventure fantasy mystery film directed, produced, and co-written by Tsui Hark, and a prequel to Tsui's 2010 film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Taiwanese-Canadian actor Mark Chao takes over from Andy Lau as a young Dee Renjie, while William Feng, Kenny Lin, Ian Kim, and Angelababy co-star alongside a returning Carina Lau from Mystery of the Phantom Flame, rounding up the ensemble cast. The film was shot in native 3D.
Feng Shui 2 is a 2014 Filipino supernatural horror film directed by Chito S. Roño, and a sequel to the 2004 film Feng Shui. Kris Aquino reprises her role as Joy Ramirez and Coco Martin plays Lester Anonuevo, the new owner of the cursed bagua. The film co-stars Cherry Pie Picache, Carmi Martin, Ian Veneracion, and Joonee Gamboa. It focuses on Lester (Martin) who, upon getting the cursed bagua, starts to have luck and prosperity, but with deadly consequences. The film was also Star Cinema's official entry in the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival.
Miao Tien was a Chinese film actor mostly active in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Ghost Bride is a 2017 Filipino supernatural horror film starring Kim Chiu, Matteo Guidicelli, Christian Bables, and Alice Dixson. It is directed by Chito S. Roño and produced by Star Cinema.
