Shengfang Chou
MA work
MA work
Dissertation: Rethinking Chinatown: Limehouse, London 1900-1930
The widespread use of the term ‘Chinatown’ has long since created an unchallenged stereotype in western historical thinking. This thesis uses a case study approach inspired by visual materials representing the Chinese community in Limehouse (Pennyfields and Causeway streets) to offer a new interpretation of the area as ‘Chinastreet’ in place of ‘Chinatown’. Evidence is drawn from a range of sources including local newspapers, Chinese texts, photographs taken between 1900 and 1930, now in the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, and social scientist Charles Booth’s notebooks composed during his London map project, now in the London School of Economics’ Archives. These materials reveal that ‘Chinatown’ is a misnomer, as applied to the Limehouse area in the early twentieth century. While some British-based scholars have recently advanced this argument with reference to Limehouse’s Chinatown, my focus lies in a new interpretation of these two streets that distinguishes between the designation ‘Chinatown’ and the real, physical place. The design features and unique identity of the area, and the interaction between images of ‘Chinese-ness’ and local social events, theories of the flâneur and spectacle, are all significant aspects that are mobilised in ‘Rethinking Chinatown: Limehouse, London 1900–1930’.
Info
Info
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MA Degree
School
School of Humanities
Programme
MA History of Design, 2010
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Contact
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07988 254183
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Dissertation: Rethinking Chinatown: Limehouse, London 1900-1930
The widespread use of the term ‘Chinatown’ has long since created an unchallenged stereotype in western historical thinking. This thesis uses a case study approach inspired by visual materials representing the Chinese community in Limehouse (Pennyfields and Causeway streets) to offer a new interpretation of the area as ‘Chinastreet’ in place of ‘Chinatown’. Evidence is drawn from a range of sources including local newspapers, Chinese texts, photographs taken between 1900 and 1930, now in the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, and social scientist Charles Booth’s notebooks composed during his London map project, now in the London School of Economics’ Archives. These materials reveal that ‘Chinatown’ is a misnomer, as applied to the Limehouse area in the early twentieth century. While some British-based scholars have recently advanced this argument with reference to Limehouse’s Chinatown, my focus lies in a new interpretation of these two streets that distinguishes between the designation ‘Chinatown’ and the real, physical place. The design features and unique identity of the area, and the interaction between images of ‘Chinese-ness’ and local social events, theories of the flâneur and spectacle, are all significant aspects that are mobilised in ‘Rethinking Chinatown: Limehouse, London 1900–1930’.
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Degrees
- MA, Creative Practice for Narrative Environments, University of the Arts, 2008; BA (Hons), Fine Arts, University of Tung-Hai, Taiwan, 1995
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Experience
- Curator, China Connections (China Now Festival), Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, 2007/8; Research assistant, Taipei Representative Of?ce, Brussels, Belgium, 2004-6; Editor, Art China magazine, China Times, Taipei, Taiwan, 1997-2000; Freelance writer, Contemporary Design magazine, Mook magazine, Taipei, Taiwan, 1997-2000
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Exhibitions
- Inside Outside, Alicante Cultural Center, Alicante, Spain, 2002
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Awards
- Grant, Digital Art Grant, Communaute Française de Belgique, 2007; Department of Cultural Affairs Taipei City Government Grants, 2005