The "Hollywood Looks East" cover story in the August overseas edition of Sinorama gave me much to think about. I have some thoughts on the subject, and hope you can continue examining in depth the inner world of the many ethnic Chinese working in Hollywood's film industry.

Firstly, don't believe that the Chinese have already made it. There are actually many limitations facing Chinese directors and actors who go to Hollywood to develop their careers, and basically they're all making action pictures. Sammo Hung earned an extension of his contract with CBS because Martial Law was making money. Hollywood is all about business, and uses Hung and Chinese culture as means of making money. Their attitude to you changes the moment your value is exhausted.

There is an enormous difference between the presentation of the oriental world in Hollywood movies, and reality. In Lethal Weapon 4, starring Jet Li, there is a scene with Li speaking Mandarin while his rival speaks Cantonese, which insults viewers' intelligence and shows that Hollywood doesn't care whether or not its depiction of Chinese people is accurate. When "Taipei" was mentioned in the Hollywood film Armageddon a section of the Taiwanese media was delighted to see Hollywood paying attention to Taiwan, but as anyone who's seen the film will recall, it was poking fun at the poor quality of electronic equipment from Taiwan.

The Chinese are Hollywood's flavor of the month, apparently with the image of being "simple-minded and good with their limbs," and are succeeding thanks to the fighting talents of their guys and girls. Come the day that there's no-one left able to fight, will that be the end of it for Chinese in Hollywood? I can understand why Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung went to Hollywood, hoping for more recognition from Hollywood for Chinese culture. But action movies cannot really give audiences an understanding of Chinese culture, because audiences are coming from a purely entertainment-oriented perspective. They don't care what Chinese culture is, or whether the lead character's face is white, yellow or black-so long as he can fight well.

There have already been three or four generations of Chinese working in Hollywood, and whenever there's a Chinese role in an American TV series it's always played by one of the same old faces. But audiences never know who those actors are, and the fact is that ethnic Chinese have never been acknowledged or accepted. There are some ethnic Chinese at the executive level in Hollywood, but why can't they do anything to improve the status of ethnic Chinese within the industry? Do ethnic Chinese in Hollywood have this kind of self-awareness? It's an issue that is worth probing further.

I work in the movie business myself, and hope one day to claim a place in Hollywood, but I know also that with my oriental face I need to work even harder and submit to more trials before I can attain the same degree of acceptance and acknowledgement.