The Forbidden City Essay

Following the Great Depression, roughly around the inception of WWII, many people once again had the finances to be able to go out and enjoy entertainment. This newly found financial freedom is what led to San Francisco’s era of Chinese nightclubs, which ran from around 1936 to the early 1970s. Of these nightclubs, the Forbidden City was the first to operate outside of the boundaries of Chinatown as well as the most well-known. This is one way that the Forbidden City took a stand because it pushed the boundaries of what a Chinese performer was supposed to be. Within Chinatown, Chinese performers were restricted to traditional dancing and tight-fitted clothing, however at the Forbidden City, performers were actually encouraged to show off a

For many of the Chinese people living in the United States, this type of sensual entertainment was disgraceful in every way possible. Many Chinese people at that time (especially the elderly) were very closed-minded about the morality of show business; to them, anyone in modern, American showbiz was immoral. Many times Chinese people would write letters to the performers telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves, and that they should get a decent job, where they didn’t have to show off their legs. Girls in Chinese households were taught how to be married, and how take care of the house, the children, and the husband; this was their proper place for a very long time. To the Chinese, it was disgraceful for girls to even take dancing lessons.The Forbidden City took a stand against this Chinese proper place because it influenced many young Chinese people to question or break away from their beliefs because of the distractions and immoral desires the American nightclubs and its performers encouraged. This caused many Chinese youth, especially those who were performers, to become more Westernized. Since dancing was disgraceful to many Chinese famiies, many of the performers learned how to dance from American movies.When these performers would dance, many times they would be labeled as American lookalikes. The performers also had to sing American songs.