Yellow Face

In 1999, a New York Times piece written by NWOAOC (Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel) reports that a Chinese American computer scientist in Los Alamos has been given lie detector tests and is under investigation. 

The scene shifts to HYH reading a fax to DHH from Marcus. Marcus implores DHH to attend a rally to support Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist accused of treason. Marcus surmises that the recent events targeting Asian Americans signify that the US is gearing to make China and by association Asian Americans into enemies of the state. DHH is indifferent to the investigation and flippantly comments to his father that Lee could be guilty. DHH then turns and speaks directly to the audience, explaining that in doing research for this play, he read a transcript from the FBI’s interrogation of Lee. Actors reenact the interrogation and recite excerpts in which the FBI agent calls Wen Ho Lee a spy and threatens to put his wife under a lie detector test. The agent mentions the execution of the Rosenbergs. Lee maintains his innocence. The scene cuts to Marcus and a group of protesters chanting, “Asian American Does Not Equal Spy” and “Who’s Next” (53).

DHH chats online with a user named YELLOWGURL8. She tells him she feels alone as a Vietnamese girl growing up in Omaha and that she has read all his plays. He asks her what she is wearing. DHH’s answering machine interrupts the chat session and picks up a message from his mother. She informs him of an upsetting New York Times piece about his father that will appear tomorrow morning. The same writer of the Wen Ho Lee article, NWOAOC, reports that Far East National Bank, where Henry Y. Hwang is the CEO and David Henry Hwang was a director, has been filtering Chinese money into the United States.

DHH talks to his parents about how to handle the Senate investigation. HYH is eager to be subpoenaed so he can tell his side of the story. He calls the New York Times reporter a racist for describing him as short in the article. HYH envisions his moment on television as an awakening for the country to see how Asian people are discriminated against. He believes his appearance will lead to improved treatment for Asian Americans and a nomination for him to run as Governor of California. He references Marcus Gee as a role model and sees himself as a hero for Asian people.

NWOAOC requests a meeting with DHH under the pretense of giving him an opportunity to clear his name. DHH explains that he worked at the bank out of a sense of filial piety and duty to help his father and the Chinese American community, particularly the immigrants and refugees who rely on the bank’s services. He saw his role as a way to empower Chinese Americans “By Any Means Necessary” and “fight the power” held by “white America” (58). NWOAOC interprets DHH’s words to imply he is loyal to China rather than America. He pressures DHH to give up evidence against his father and asks him if HYH visits friends in China or has ever felt resentment toward America. He asks DHH to describe whether his father feels more Chinese or American. DHH points out the hypocrisy of the question, which would not be asked of a white person, and argues that his father has always praised America. NWOAOC says he has no agenda and has enough evidence from this interview to write his story. 

DHH realizes that NWOAOC is the same reporter behind all the articles insinuating Asian people are the “yellow peril.” NWOAOC has written multiple pieces that represent Asian Americans as disloyal to the United States. He catches the reporter making a statement that implies being Chinese and American is incompatible, whereas being white and American is not. DHH tells NWOAOC that he has given DHH enough evidence to write a play about him. Though DHH does not have permission to use the reporter’s real name, he can use a pseudonym and expose how he has used his role in the press to perpetuate discrimination against Asian people.

Due to the investigation, HYH is denied his application for a new bank charter. He is also diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and undergoes chemotherapy. He tells DHH that he no longer believes in America and that the system gives the advantage to mainstream banks over minority banks. He reminisces about watching Jimmy Stewart films in Shanghai and is disillusioned that he once believed America was a place where he could take a stand and be heard. HYH declares that his real life is no longer in America and forgoes continuing with his cancer-fighting treatments. He tells DHH, “I’m ready to go. And I’ll do it my way” (64).

Marcus hears about HYH’s illness and offers DHH his help, which only irritates DHH further. DHH asks him why he continues to fake his identity, and Marcus explains that it feels good to belong to the community. He tells DHH that he is also under investigation, but DHH retorts that he could easily save himself by taking off his “mask.” The comment sparks an idea in DHH’s mind, and he tells Marcus if he truly loves the community, then he should go public with his real identity. The revelation that the government has been spending millions of taxpayer money to target Asian people only to end up accusing a “regular American” could help discredit the investigations’ rationale to uncover “evil Chinese spies” (65). Marcus agrees to the plan and accepts the consequences that he will be ostracized from the community. DHH also decides to go public with his culpability in helping to create and maintain the lie. He agrees to lose face if Marcus is willing to lose his.

Leah reads about Marcus’s identity in the newspaper and breaks up with him. DHH recaps that after their story broke, the Chinese espionage scandals of the 1990s slowly faded away. HYH was never subpoenaed, and Wen Ho Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement before charges against him were dropped. The judge presiding over Lee’s case apologized to him for his unfair treatment. An aide to Senator Fred Thompson declares that attention has shifted to the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks, but China will remain the “real enemy” of the nation in the 21st century. In 2005, Henry Y. Hwang dies of cancer at the age of 77. 

At HYH’s memorial service, DHH tells Marcus that he thinks what really killed his father was that he had lost his American dream. Marcus replies that he is proof that such a dream is possible. DHH begins to vehemently disagree with him, and Marcus abruptly asks DHH why he created him. 

The scene shifts to a metatheatrical encounter in which Marcus says he is a character that DHH created for his play. DHH tries to get Marcus to stick to his lines, but Marcus urges DHH to be honest with himself. DHH insists that he wants to keep the ambiguity between reality and fiction throughout the play. Finally, he admits that the play is his way of coping with his father’s death and his own discomfort as a representative of the Asian American community who performs his own version of yellowface. DHH created the character of Marcus to confound the meanings of “Asian,” “American,” “race,” and “nation” (68). He also created Marcus as an homage to his father’s dream that he could be anyone he wanted. Marcus is a wish-fulfillment for the post-racial world, free from racial discrimination and prejudice, that his father had always wanted. Pleased with DHH’s honest confession, Marcus tells him he is no longer needed and asks DHH to write him a happy ending.

The same track of Dong folk music from the opening scene plays as DHH narrates that he has sent Marcus to a Chinese village called Zhencong. Marcus recites his final email to DHH, telling him he has been in China for nine months. The Dong people have seen him for who he is and have given him a “face.” They invite him to join them in their communal song, and Marcus observes, “the music began to speak to me, in words only I could hear” (69). As he sings, Marcus hears lyrics that are his interpretation of what the song means. He recites: “Get over yourself / [...] For nothing of value / Nothing which lasts / Nothing human / Is ever pure” (69). His lyrics explain that the song is made up of diverse voices that have traveled a “messy” path to come together. Marcus feels he has found what he lost and can return home with a renewed sense of hope. DHH closes the play by telling the audience that for Marcus, the play ends. As for himself, he is still in search of his own face.