User:Studentandre/sandbox

This is my sandbox.

Brett Reichman Article Ideas

I am thinking about describing Brett Reichman's early works and comparing them to his recent/present work. I am also thinking about inserting his artwork/pieces on the Wikipedia page in order to help the public get a sense of Reichman's style, while also aiding my description of his works. There are essays and reviews of Reichman's art pieces but I am not sure whether I am allowed to include those in the Wikipedia page, in other words, if they are reliable/neutral.

List of possible sources

I will be emailing certain reviewers of Brett Reichman's works regarding where they published their essays/reviews. For now, you may view their essays on http://brettreichman.com/essays_reviews.html. An article about Brett Reichman's art exhibit at the Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco by Maria Porges. Porges, Maria. Sep 1997. Artforum international, Vol.36(1), p.130. https://www.artforum.com/ Please give possible feedback.Studentandre (talk) 03:30, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

Plague article (Ho Yow)

I have chosen Yo How as my subject for the plague topic. I will be talking about his involvement during the plague. I will also mention his contribution to recast Chinatown's image. I am still reading upon his role during the plague. For now, here is a link to a source I am using as I work on his article: https://books.google.com/books?id=c_tXG5L-Z6EC&pg=PR87&lpg=PR87&dq=ho+yow+plague&source=bl&ots=fWzwQEkvsR&sig=K5FC49N2e4rU_A0dqBtjQiINvFc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibt8TP9rTXAhUS9mMKHcErAMEQ6AEIKjAB#v=onepage&q=ho%20yow%20plague&f=false

Lead section: Ho Yow is introduced by mentioning a little on his path to becoming a Consul and his goals as a Consul. Also addressed is his response to the plague and Chinatown being quarantined. I will also discuss his work with merchants and his plan with shaping tourists' view of Chinatown which was initially negatively influenced by White San Franciscans.

In 1898, just nearing the expiration of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Ho Yow was appointed as the new consul general. The arrival of this new consul general seemed to reenergize the Chinese community of San Francisco especially since his immediate superior, the Chinese minister in Washington, was his brother-in-law. As a consul general, Ho Yow had many goals including building new trade relations between the United States and China by opposing the Exclusion Act and recasting Chinatown’s image.

Career

Early Life

Born in Hong Kong, Ho Yow came from a large and prominent family in Guangzhou; his wealthy father was the first ordained Chinese minister of the London Missionary Society. After a British education in his hometown, Ho completed his studies in Oxford and Long before returning to Hong Kong to practice law. At the age of twenty-eight, Chinese minister Wu invited Ho Yow to become Wu’s personal secretary. In 1897, Wu promoted Ho to vice consul and assigned Ho Yow to investigate the smoldering dispute between the worker-dominated Sze Yup and the merchant-friendly Sam Yup associations. He was able to arrange a successful truce that led to the reorganization of the Six Companies, demoralized after years of boycotts and violence. He also advocated the dissolution of Chinatown's criminalized tongs and expressed his intention to expand contacts between the Chinese and surrounding populations. When Ho Yow was appointed as the new vice consul in 1897, he also contributed to merchants' efforts to recast Chinatown's image during the 1900s. He helped Chinese merchants regain the allegiance of Chinatown's residents by fighting the secret society leaders and threatening them. This was all an effort to gain control of the tourism industry and change the tourists' negative view of Chinatown, a view that was influenced by white tour guides. Merchants also joined Consul Ho in complaining to city officials that professional guides had begun to establish fake opium dens and hire Chinese men and women to engage in “immoral exhibitions” for tourists. For good measure, Consul Ho issued his own list of regulations for Chinese tour guides, including the mandate that Chinese guides were not allowed to show “opium dens and whore houses” to tourists.

As Consul General

The departure of Chang Yin Tang for a new assignment in Cuba allowed Ho Yow to become acting consul. Shortly thereafter, Wu selected him for the permanent position. Although a novice, San Francisco reacted favorably to Ho's appointment. He was charming, a "good" Chinese, fluent in English. Ho quickly achieved social prominence, not only in Chinatown but also in local political, business, and cultural circles. Despite his youth, Ho's mandarin persona impressed members of San Francisco's elite holding membership in the Bohemian Club. Ho's primary objective was to build new trade relations between the United States and China for the benefit of resident merchants. Ho suggested the formation of a US-Chinese trading company with the goal of developing American commerce with the Orient, a plan he submitted to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce for consideration.

Bubonic Plague in San Francisco

“Clean-up” efforts moved to a second front in 1900, when health officials discovered the presence of bubonic plague in Chinatown and quarantined the quarter. Chinatown’s merchants feared a devastating loss in income from tourists, and they joined Ho in publicly denying the existence of plague. The presumed emergence of plague was an embarrassment to residents. A traditional Chinese maxim counseled that shame should be covered up. Admission of the presence of plague was embarrassing to them, so they tried to hide any evidence of plague. Consul Ho Yow and the Six Companies remained defiant; they had threatened to file a legal injunction to stop the quarantine before it was lifted. Later, an autopsy of a monkey confirming findings of plague diagnosis made federal officials, the Chinese leadership, and press representatives consider another quarantine. However, San Francisco’s sanitarians were content just to follow up with their search and disinfection campaign instead of supporting another closure. Ho reluctantly agreed to support the planned sanitary campaign, offering the assistance of several hundred residents. He issued a proclamation to his countrymen explaining the need for the impending search because not only would it prevent plague but also avoid another disruptive quarantine.

The Exclusion Act

In the fall of 1901, Ho and Chinese minister Wu Tingfang shifted their attentions to the Exclusion Act, set to expire on May 5, 1902. Their thesis was that the current American legal approach toward Chinese immigration remained an obstacle to expanded and preferential trade, sustaining resentment and hostility between people of both nations. He explained that American labor and the unions opposed the entry of Chinese workers into the country because they profited from a scarcity of labor. Yet these foreign migrants contributed in their own way to the productivity and wealth on the Pacific Coast. In Ho’s view, Congress had passed the exclusion laws to appease organized labor even though the Chinese were actually not real competitors; they were essentially menial labors. The consul declared the current lack of assimilation an asset rather than a deficiency: living in separate colonies, the Chinese were not interested in intruding into American domestic life.