re-write paper

Before this semester, I never have thought I could learn so many different kinds of plays. Simple play, critical play and deep play, every play has its special meaning and make the word ‘play’ complicated in my mind. In the final essay, I want to come back and re-write one of my works about critical play.

Critical play is the first strange definition of play that I attached. Artists use this kind of play to express their special ideas to the public. This definition seems to be abstract but the real trip to Philly helps me a lot to understand it. When I enter into Chinatown, I suddenly know, the total place is a critical play. For me, it remind me of something familiar when I stay in China. The words, the people, the language and the names of food make me excited. However, I find the language, although is a kind of accents in China, I cannot understand. The food is not orthodox, and buildings keep the style of that in 80s in China. They are different from my real life in my hometown. The Chinatown is a critical play that is played by people in Chinatown. They want to create a familiar environment but failed because many of them even never come to China. They follow the rhythm of their predecessors. Their impressions for China, sometimes is the China in old stories. The Chinatown is the critical play for me and it is different from the real China in my mind.

The Chinatown is not only a critical play for China; it is also a critical play for Philly. Philly is a classic city of America style. The buildings, the people are so different from those in Chinatown. I speak English in Philly but I speak Chinese in Chinatown. The desserts in Chinatown are Xiao long bao, Shao mai, Nai huang bao and so on, but the desserts in Philly are different kind of cakes. The players in Chinatown show a really diverse life style to Philly. When I sit in ‘TeaDo’, drinking a cup of bubble tea and comparing quietly Philly and Chinatown, I notice a special and interesting phenomenon: in Philly, it is common to see homeless people walking around, but in Chinatown, I seldom see them. Why it happens? I go to Chinatown every week, and only at the last time, I saw some homeless people sleeping near a door.

I will explain the reason in two aspects. First, the Chinatown is not an ideal place for homeless people. The Chinatown is so small that it cannot provide the space for them. On the main street of Chinatown stand shops that sell food, vegetables and fruits. The street is narrow and is full of people most time. The owners of shops will be angry if the homeless people stay in front of their gates because customers do not want to see homeless people when they are eating or drinking. So, the owners will try to disperse homeless people. Also, if the homeless people stay in the street all the day, it is inconvenient for passerby who wants to buy goods in Chinatown. In winter, it is very cold outside and homeless people cannot find suitable place in Chinatown, but they will feel comfortable in warm septa station nearby. To the homeless people in Philly, they won’t choose Chinatown to stay because of the environment. Then, what about the Chinese homeless people? This is the second aspect. The existence of Chinese homeless people is stopped by Chinese people in Chinatown. The first migration from China built Chinatown in Philly. Actually those people have to pass the inspections by United States Customs to keep their ability to live in United States. They stay in the Chinatown and their descendants continue to live there, following their parent’s footsteps. To those who cannot live in Philly, they will choose to come back to China. Maybe there are some people cannot come back and become homeless people, Chinatown also have a small hospice for them. The hospice is built by people in Chinatown. In Chinese culture, staying in street shame those homeless people, so once they find some place to stay, they will not wander in street. So, because homeless people in Philly refuse to stay in Chinatown and local Chinese homeless people are rare and do not stay in street, it is seldom for me to see homeless people in Chinatown.