Misplaced Pages

#149850

23-638: His best known works include Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989), the Amy Tan literary adaptation The Joy Luck Club (1993), Chinese Box (1997), and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007). Other films include the Harvey Keitel and William Hurt –starring comedy Smoke (1995), the family film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), the romantic comedies Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Last Holiday (2006), and

46-517: A Bowl of Tea (1989) established his reputation. He is best known for The Joy Luck Club (1993), Maid in Manhattan (2002), and the independent features Smoke (1995) and Anywhere but Here (1999). At the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival , Wang premiered two feature films, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Princess of Nebraska , as well as appearing in the Arthur Dong documentary film Hollywood Chinese . He won

69-524: A Bowl of Tea and recaptures the relaxed humor and deep emotions of his earlier Dim Sum in the process." War Brides Act The War Brides Act (59 Stat. 659, Act of Dec. 28, 1945) was enacted on December 28, 1945, to allow alien spouses, natural children and adopted children of members of the United States Armed Forces , "if admissible", to enter the U.S. as non-quota immigrants after World War II . More than 100,000 entered

92-557: A tension in American immigration law and policy, between family unification and racial exclusion. The federal courts and US immigration service had demonstrated a history of facilitating family unification, but it was not widely available to all racial groups, specifically Asians. The Immigration Act of 1924 included the National Origins Act which possessed a system of Asian exclusion and these policies carried over into

115-540: A thirty-day window to receive permission to marry and arrange a wedding. This made the likelihood of arranging a marriage overseas low, but this was changed in August 1950 when Congress allowed all spouses and minor children of service members eligible to immigrate under a non-quota basis as long as the marriage occurred before March 19th, 1952. The United States Supreme Court , in Lutwak v. United States (1953), considered

138-582: Is the son of one these immigrants and has just finished serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Due to the War Brides Act , Ben is allowed to bring a bride back from China, which he does after an arranged marriage . Mei Oi, the bride, besides being attracted to Ben also wants to see her father who emigrated to the U.S. before she was born. As one of the early couples of child-bearing age within New York's Chinatown , Ben and Mei Oi have to deal with

161-772: The Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2007 for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers . In 2016, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival . He is married to former Miss Hong Kong and actress Cora Miao , and lives in San Francisco and New York City . Eat a Bowl of Tea (film) Eat a Bowl of Tea is a 1989 film directed by Wayne Wang based on

184-619: The United States to study, to prepare for medical school. Wang, however, soon put this plan aside when his "eyes were completely opened" by new experience, and as he turned to the arts, studying film and television at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland . After graduating from film school, Wang taught English to new immigrants in Chinatown. Chan Is Missing (1982), Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), and Eat

207-651: The New World and their descendants; descendants of "American aborigines"; descendants of "slave immigrants"; and Asians or their descendants through the calculation of national origins. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943 by the Magnuson Act , and this allowed Chinese spouses of US armed service members to immigrate to the United States under the War Brides Act. Chinese spouses were

230-476: The United States under this Act and its extensions and amendments until it expired in December 1948. The War Brides Act was a part of new approach to immigration law that focused on family reunification over racial exclusion. There were still racial limits that existed particularly against Asian populations, and Chinese spouses were the only Asian nationality that qualified to be brought to the United States under

253-413: The United States with them. Many Congress members also believed that the proposed War Brides legislation would not change immigration practices much. The only Asian spouses that could be brought were of Chinese descent and there were a small number of American citizens of Chinese descent. This also meant that there was an even smaller number of servicemen of Chinese descent, and they would most likely be

SECTION 10

#1732791711150

276-491: The War Brides Act in July 1947 in order to address explicit racial discrimination. The amendment allowed Asian spouses, but not children, of active and honorably discharged members of the armed forces eligible for non-quota immigration. The main issue with this amendment is that it only allowed a spouse to be admitted if they were married before thirty days after the enactment of the act. Service members and veterans would only have

299-486: The act. The act was well supported and easily passed because family members of servicemen were the recipients, but concerns over marital fraud caused some tension. The 1945 Act only exempted spouses and dependents of military personnel from the quotas established by the Immigration Act of 1924 and the mental and health standards otherwise in force. The quotas in the Immigration Act of 1924 , at first, reduced

322-454: The case of the fraudulent use of the War Brides Act, upholding convictions of parties to a conspiracy to arrange for the immigration of three Polish refugees. It was claimed that the marriages celebrated in France were never consummated and that the married never lived together. In response to World War II and the large number of servicemen that had wives and families abroad, the War Brides Act

345-536: The controversial erotic drama The Center of the World (2001). He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Bodil Award , a Silver Bear , two Golden Shells , with BAFTA Award , Sundance Grand Jury , Golden Lion , and César Award nominations. Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong , and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne . When he was 17, his parents arranged for him to move to

368-437: The expectations of the entire Chinatown community as well as his father. However, the pressures on Ben render him impotent, and in her confusion over his seeming lack of interest, Mei Oi succumbs to the attentions of Ah Song. Their affair creates complications for their own marriage and for the reputations of their fathers in the close-knit "bachelor society" of Chinatown. Variety wrote "Wayne Wang returns to Chinatown with Eat

391-461: The increase of immigrants, and some from other people. Marriage to a soldier was no guarantee of admission into the United States and the women who entered as war brides remained under scrutiny of their marriage legitimatcy. The concerns of fraud came from wives who would migrate under this act and then not live with their husbands or obtain a divorce. In order to prove that they were married, women had to provide proof of their marriage or engagement to

414-633: The novel Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu . It is a Chinese American romantic film starring Cora Miao , Russell Wong , Victor Wong , Siu-Ming Lau and Eric Tsang . The story begins with exposition of the difficult lives of the first generation of male Chinese-American immigrants who were not allowed to bring their wives and families with them into the United States due to the Chinese Exclusion Act . For decades, these immigrant men have not seen their families they had left back in China. Ben

437-652: The ones to bring Chinese brides back to the United States. Lawmakers shared this point of view that American servicemen bringing Chinese wives would be Chinese as well and they did not want to encourage racial mixing by the passage of the War Brides Act and any of its amendments. ). Later war brides of Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Filipino descent came to represent the war bride in a different way because later war brides were mostly in interracial marriages, while Chinese war brides were mostly in intraracial marriages. The War Brides Act brought about increased concern over marital fraud. Some of this came from nativists because of

460-501: The only Asian spouses that were allowed to be admitted by the War Brides Act. The Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act of 1946 (60 stat. 339, Act of June 29, 1946) extended the privileges to Filipino and Asian Indian fiancées and fiancés of war veterans. In 1950, Congress voted to bring back the War Brides Act and this return expanded the privilege of immigration on a non-quota basis to Korean and Japanese spouses. Servicemen and their demands to bring their wives home forced Congress to resolve

483-487: The passage of the War Brides Act. With the inclusion of Chinese and later other Asians, the War Brides Act demonstrated that lawmakers could reform immigration law around the issue of family reunification by shifting the focus from race to family and deserving military personnel. On the other hand, those that advocated for immigration restriction supported family reunification because it could be used to uphold national origins and maintain racial segregation. Congress amended

SECTION 20

#1732791711150

506-507: The percentage admitted from 3 to 2, with the base population being the number of immigrants of each nationality present in the United States in 1890. This changed in 1927 with the introduction of the National Origins test, which capped the total number of annual admissions at 150,000, and with the 1920 population as the base, it assigned quotas on the basis of "national origins". The Immigration Act of 1924 excluded immigrants from

529-506: Was passed in December 1945. The act was meant to facilitate the immigration of women and children from Europe for five years after World War II. The War Brides Act was passed for three main reasons: recognition of men's rights to have their wives and children with them, reward for military service and the principle of family unification. It was a widely held belief that servicemen who served their country selflessly and were viewed as heroes should be able to bring their wives and families home to

#149850