Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Uh, Hilton, please?

Here's a game I play.

1,000, 2,000, 3,000.

Hey, uh, what's a good place to eat in Chinatown?

Under three seconds.

That question comes up under three seconds 90% of the time.

I usually give them my routine

on the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese food

and get a good tip.

Hey, what are you doing? What are you doing here?

- You said you weren't gonna come. - Hey, who invited you?

You invited me.

I didn't invite you. I invited you and you took it back.

- Hey. Hitting me like that. - Hubba hubba.

- How about a beer, huh? - What about a beer?

- It's in the refrigerator. - Get it yourself.

I'll get it myself.

You know where it is. You've been here enough.

Thought you guys weren't gonna eat at home.

- Yeah. I was gonna take... - Yeah?

My mother and sister out. We were gonna go to the Golden Lantern.

- But see, Mo Yi's from Taiwan. - Good thing I didn't go there.

And Gum Sing, you know? All the communists eat there.

So we decided to just eat at home.

And at home we have this US-certified food here, you know.

Chicken.

The cow's ear, the herb skunk.

Hey, don't eat that mushroom. That's from China.

Hey, this is from Iowa.

- Go ahead. - From Des Moines, Iowa, man.

I won't wave a PRC flag around here, you know.

What do you mean, PRC flag around here?

Hey, hey. What kinda Chinese Chinese are you, huh?

PRC, huh?

Taiwan, pro-Taiwan?

- Richmond District? - What's this thing?

Oakland Hill, Wah? Huh?

- Ho Chi Minh. Yay, yay, yay. - Yay. Yay, Yay-

Oh, flags. Talking about flags. Guess what happened.

- You went to Flag Brothers. - No.

- Guess who called me today. - Who called today?

- Who? Who? - Gary. You remember Gary?

- Gary Lang, the one with the Porsche? - He called me five times. Yeah.

- I think he like you, huh? - I Wish he did.

-Anyway, Gary called to tell me - -Probably scare him away, you know.

No, no. He told me he was gonna sue the city for the hotel tax

because he thought that was a misuse of funds

- for the flag-waving business. - Oh, that.

Gary is really afraid of his Taiwan competitor.

So he wants him to look bad, you know,

- the guy that's running for supervisor. - Isn't Gary running with Taiwan support?

- No. - Huh?

He jumped on the commie bandwagon, you know.

- Commie bandwagon. - That new Chinese money that's coming in.

- Who's running on a Taiwan - -He's a commie-lover now.

I know. This guy named Le Kaung Ging,

- I think. - Le Kaung Ging.

- Hey, guess what. - What?

This guy Paul's running too. You know, Paul, the neuter candidate?

I mean, the Chinese-American candidate. Remember him?

You know what's gonna happen with all these guys going like that.

The voters are gonna be herded in there by all those organizers,

except they're gonna vote for Bernie Lee from the Castro District.

The gay candidate? We're gonna have a gay judge.

- Chinatown gonna end up with a gay sup. - Everyone would love it.

What's that do?

- Huh? - Huh?

- ...this? - He's always doing that to me.

- Huh? What? No. Chester, huh? - Yeah.

- It's my nephew's. - What's your nephew's?

It's my nephew's piano. I'm learning about music.

- It sounds just like you. - St. Mary's. St. Mary's drill.

Last week, my nephew Steve and I decided to get a cab license

so we can be our own boss.

We had to sublease the license from an independent owner in Chinatown.

My niece Amy and my friend Chan Hung helped set up the deal.

The thing was that Chan Hung had to take cash to go finalize everything.

Steve felt uneasy about that,

but Amy and I convinced him that it would be okay.

But I'm a little worried about Chan Hung. We haven't seen him for two days.

This morning, when Steve and I were having breakfast at Chester's,

a woman showed up looking for Chan Hung.

It was about a car accident he was in.

You see, I'm doing a paper on the legal implications

of cross-cultural misunderstandings,

and Mr. Chan's case is a perfect example of what I'm trying to expose here.

You see, the policeman and Mr. Chan

had completely different culturally-related assumptions

about what kind of communication about communication each one was using.

For instance, the policeman, in an English-speaking mode,

asked a direct factual question.

They're interested in facts, and that's all.

Asked, "Did you stop at the stop sign?"

Expected a yes or no answer, simple yes or no answer.

Mr. Chan, however, rather than giving him a yes or no answer,

began to go into his past driving record, how good it was,

the number of years he'd been in the States, all the people he knew,

trying to relate different events, or objects or situations

to what was happening then, to the action at hand.

Now, this is very typical, as I'm sure you know, of most Chinese speakers:

trying to relate possibly unrelated objects,

or seemingly unrelated objects, to the matter at hand.

The Chinese try to relate points

or events or objects that they feel are pertinent to the situation,

which may not, to anyone else, seem directly relevant at the time.

At any rate, at this the policeman became rather impatient,

restated the question, "Did you or did you not stop at the stop sign?"

In a rather hostile tone, which in turn flustered Mr. Chan,

which caused him to hesitate answering the question,

which further enraged the policeman so that he asked the question again,

"You didn't stop at the stop sign, did you?" in a negative tone,

to which Mr. Chan automatically answered, "No."

Now to any native speaker of English,

"No" would mean, "No, I didn't stop at the stop sign."

However, to Mr. Chan, "No, I didn't stop at the stop sign"

was not "No, I didn't stop at the stop sign."

It was "No, I didn't not stop at the stop sign."

In other words, "Yes, I did stop at the stop sign."

Do you see what I'm saying?

He was, uh...

correct in the Chinese because the answer has to match the truth of the action.

However, English speakers, native American English speakers,

tend to work more from a grammatical mode.

Well, to put it in layman's language,

English language emphasizes the relationship

between grammatical structures.

And the Chinese language tends to emphasize the relationship

between the listener, the speaker, and the action involved.

At any rate, Mr. Chan has to appear in court

so we can get this all straightened out, so he can explain everything,

- and he missed his court date. - Wait a minute.

When does he have to appear in court?

Our court date was last week. That's why I'm trying to find him.

- He wasn't there last week. - He didn't tell us about that.

Have you seen him? Do you know where I can get a hold of him?

I've gotta make another appointment. We've gotta get -

Chan Hung wouldn't run away because of the car accident,

but I have a strong feeling something might have happened to him.

We've decided to go look for him after work.

Chan Hung wasn't home.

You know, I went down to the Great Star Theater,

saw this Chinese version of Saturday Night Fever, you< know?

Except the beginning song went, you know,

"You can tell by the way I use my wok, I'm a Chinese cook, I'm a Chinese cook."

Hey, you want another beer?

Steve's joke reminded me of someone Chan Hung talks about a lot,

the cook at Golden Dragon who wears a Samurai Night Fever T-shirt,

drinks milk, chain smokes, and sings...

all while he's cooking up five orders of sweet and sour pork.

What's the next order?

Three orders of sweet and sour pork.

That's the only thing the tourists know how to order.

Sweet and sour pork.

Come on.

I smell this and my stomach turns. Where's my milk?

Milk, milk, please!

Come on.

Kitchen work is not for humans.

A barber goes round and round the chair like a merry-go-round.

A foreign student works as a cook and goes round and round

a frying wok.

Come on. Forget about it.

What about, uh, bok choy?

Oh. I want something with beef in it. Um, do you have something with beef in it?

What about -

No. That's too heavy. That's too heavy for lunch, Ma.

- Oh. - What about fish?

Yeah. Fish. Yeah.

Yeah, that rock cod sounds good.

This is the wrong food. I didn't order this.

Uh...

He's working downstairs in the kitchen. Do you want to see him?

- Yeah. - Okay. Just go through there and go down.

That was a long time ago. That's a good one.

But the thing is that...

- What's... - He's leaking gas.

- Leaking what? - Gas!

Not together. I didn't do it.

Chan was in college.

He studied aeronautics engineering.

He was always first in his class.

I came in 45th, and there were only 46 in the class.

But he couldn't find a job after he graduated.

Nobody wanted to hire him.

American companies don't want Chinese engineers.

They just want us to make egg rolls, sweet and sour pork, wont on soup.

Five wont on soup.

Next time these Americans want wont on soup...

...you're gonna go, "We don't have wont on soup."

We have wont on spelled backwards, "Not now."

The funny thing was, the other day he's busing a table,

and there came these friends of his, colleagues of his from Taiwan,

visiting the United States in San Francisco.

The minute he saw those friends,

he rushed from the back door and never came back in.

Chinese people always want to save face.

Ah.

You know, the problem is, I think this guy has too much pride.

Too much pride.

Thursday. I'll talk to you later. Okay?

- Okay. Bye. - Bye-bye, Jo.

Oh, shit.

All I'm saying is $4,000 is a lot of money for me, you know.

- You're going into that again, huh? - Yeah, sure. It's my money, man.

It's your money. I put some money in.

Are you sure, uh...

are you sure your feelings about your ex-wife

doesn't have something to do with the way, you know,

you're treating this Chan Hung thing?

My ex-wife got nothing to do with it.

- Our divorce is over, right? - I'm not talking about the divorce.

I'm talking about how you used to feel about her, being FOB and everything.

Ah, I feel all right. I'm okay.

- Hey. - Yeah?

That Tuesday, um, before Christmas?

- Yeah, yeah. - You know what I'm talking about?

- Yeah, I remember. - What?

Something about, what, the Minav, you're talking about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chan Hung comes in there with that nice new silver Minav, right?

Yeah.

You said something to him in Chinese about you really liked that, right?

- Yeah. - So, right there, man,

he takes the fucking jacket off, practically forces it on you, you know.

- What's wrong with that? - No, no, no.

So later on that day, you know, I said to him, you know, I said,

"Hey, those are some real sharp pants. You gonna take 'em off for me too?"

He fucking gets all embarrassed, like I was serious.

He gets embarrassed on me. He says, "No, no. I not do that for you."

I said, "Chan Hung, twas just kidding with you, you know?"

He says, "No, I never do that for you."

All I'm trying to say, that's what I mean.

He reminds me of my old man that way, you know? Fucking embarrassing.

The FOBs, ”fresh off the boat,” as Steve called them,

didn't come off of boats. They came off of jumbo jets.

Steve doesn't realize that the joke about the pants is really on him.

Chan Hung told me he'd sometimes play up being an FOB just to make Steve mad.

Chan Hung does have a sense of humor that does not translate into English,

like Don Rickles in Chinese.

Hey, Jo. I found out that Chan Hung spends a lot of time

at that Manila town Senior Center. I'm gonna go check it out tonight.

Why don't you come with me?

It was when he came down here. And man, that's the last time I seen him.

I'm looking for some money, man.

You looking for money or you looking for Mr. Chan?

You know where...

Well, we call him "Hi Ho" down here.

- Hi Ho? - Yeah.

- Why do you call him Hi Ho? - No wonder.

You know that old Minang I was talking to?

- Reuben. - Reuben.

He said he'd never seen nobody named Chan. I said, "He used to come down here —"

- Everybody here calls him Hi Ho. - Why do they call him Hi Ho?

Hi Ho, because he always liked Hi Ho cookies.

- He always had it in his jacket. Frankie! - How's it goin' Frankie?

- Long time, no see. - Hey. Are you looking for Mr. Chan?

- Yeah, yeah. - You know about him?

I believe I haven't seen him for the last two weeks,

and he was telling me before this time that he might go back to the old country...

- No. - In Hong Kong.

How would you know where we can find it though?

Well, I'll tell.

- He got a jacket here. - That's not his jacket.

- He's stealing someone's clothes. - Yeah. This is his.

- Oh, maybe it is. - Yeah, this is his.

There is crackers in here. Right, it is his jacket.

- This is his. And, uh... - Gee, he even left his jacket here.

Yeah. Well, he was working -

He's still intending to come back and go to work here.

- There, there. - Oh, hey. You got something there.

- Let's take a look. - What is it?

Now here it is. Uh...

Let's see. Yeah. Here, here, here.

- Isn't it a will? - That's in Chinese. Right.

- Yeah, well... - Jo, can you read this?

Doesn't matter whether he's writing in Chinese or in Hindu, but, uh...

he stop right here.

Let me take a look. Let me take a look.

- Maybe I can see what it is. - Translate what it says.

But I don't think he would go back home, because he said that

one thing he wanted to do was to go back home, but because of something,

couldn't get the fare back, or who knows?

His last thing says he wanted to stay here.

You don't know the Oriental people.

When they say they haven't got it, they got some.

He's actually got our 4,000 bucks, man. He gots it.

Mr. Chan is probably...

- in China by right now. - You sure?

I cannot be so sure,

- but that is my strong belief... - I don't think he would go back home.

That he is up there, because three weeks ago

when I saw him, he was still telling me about...

having this property parted between the three brothers.

And he said, "If I can't do this now,

maybe I'll be too old to go back there in China and settle this settlement.

Now, I'm gonna do it now while I'm healthy,

and I have money to go back to America."

Because if he doesn't go now, he will never be going back anymore.

Hi Ho, he liked coming down because he liked to listen to music.

I mean, he's crazy about all kind of different kind of music, you know.

But his favorite was, uh, mariachi.

And his best friend down here was one of the musicians.

And so, last week, uh,

this musician friend, he just got up. He couldn't play music anymore.

He just got up, just got up like that, and didn't say nothing to nobody.

If you see him walking down the street,

I'm sure you would cross the street, because he'd drool on you.

I mean, he has no control over his legs or how he walks, you know.

You'd pass him off as drunk, right?

You put him behind a piano, he'll make you cry, you know.

'Cause he was a musician, you know,

he was used to being in the spotlight, right?

And one time he woke up... ...and he woke up that way.

- He was all... - You mean just like that?

Yeah, we took him to all kinds of neurologists,

and they said they don't know, you know.

And so, I was just hanging around with him,

and he said the only way he can find someone to help him,

who'll make him well, is, like, um -

Whenever you see him walking around, especially in the rain,

- he's looking at a puddle, right? - Yeah.

He told me the only person who can fix him is that person in the puddle.

- Oh, wow. Sort of a - -Make sense?

- Yeah, himself. - If he looked himself, yeah. Make sense?

It makes some kind of sense, because in a sense,

- it's a relationship. - It's nonsense.

- Bull. It makes sense to me. - You think so?

Sure. There's a relationship. Don't you think so?

Well, you guys are looking for Mr. Chan. Why don't you look in a puddle?

I'm still trying to connect up Chan with that, uh,

that clipping - The clipping we found in his pocket.

That old guy killed somebody over a flag-waving thing.

In San Francisco, police are holding 82-year-old Sun Mm Lee

in the shooting death of another elderly man

in the hallway of a Chinatown rooming house.

79-year-old Chung Wang was found outside his room just before noon today

after residents reported the two men were fighting.

Officers say the two men had been carrying on a political feud

since the Chinese New Year's parade,

a feud that had forced neighbors to call in the police several other times

in the last two weeks.

Lee, a supporter of the People's Republic of China,

was involved in a flag-waving incident during the parade

that apparently angered his anti-communist, pro-Taiwan neighbor.

This year, when the Chinese community itself

couldn't agree on which Chinese flag to wave during the New Year's parade,

the mayor told the community that only the American flag should be represented.

The organizers of the parade, who were all Taiwan supporters,

ignored the mayor's recommendation and waved the Taiwan flag regardless.

During the parade,

when some PRC supporters protested the waving of the Taiwan flag,

a fight took place.

Aw, shit, the Chinese, they love to fight, man.

Just give 'em a reason, man. Over mah-jong, over food, anything.

That, uh -

Shit, Chinatown's still owned by Taiwan.

You know, just 'cause, uh, America is hip to new China,

that don't mean shit to these guys over here.

Look at this. They got this...

It's strange enough that an 8O-some-year-old man

would kill someone over what flag to wave for the New Year's parade.

But what I really don't understand

is why Chan Hung had the article about the murder in his coat pocket.

I decided to find out more about it.

Yeah. Yeah.

- Chan Hung... - Oh, he's thinking again.

Chan Hung took some pictures. He's gotta have something to do with it.

Some guy at work said that Chan Hung took some pictures

at the Chinese New Year's parade,

and the Taiwan supporters were beating up the PRC guys.

That would be great. That's gonna be hot evidence.

Wait. Chan Hung took pictures of them beating those guys up?

And if that's so, they can use those pictures to hang each other.

- You talk to him. - I wonder if Chan...

- That sounds pretty heavy. - I went back to talk to him -

You think he split because of that?

I went to talk to the cook too. You know that cook?

- Oh, Henry. The one at Golden Dragon... - Yeah, yeah.

With that wonderful, beautiful, form-fitting Samurai Night Fever shirt.

- It's baggy and ugly, man. - With that bod.

Have you ever heard Henry rap about China?

- Yeah. Rocket to the moon. - How we should identify with those people?

Oh, yes, yes. Help the poor and needy.

Henry thought that Chan Hung went back to China

because it was just too difficult for him to identify with the mainland Chinese

from 8,000 miles away.

That makes Chan Hung out to be too simple.

He had a lot more on his mind than that.

Chan Hung once told me that he wouldn't go back to China

until he had achieved something in America.

In America, to be a good Chinese,

there's only one thing you can do.

You have to identify with the 900 million Chinese in China.

Then you have some meaning there. Know what I mean?

But, you know, we're Chinese here too. There are a lot of Chinese.

- You're Chinese. - Yeah.

You and -

In America, they treat you as a foreigner.

You are a foreigner here. You know that?

You don't belong here. People consider you a foreigner.

You were born here, right? Lee's cousin. ABC.

- Right. ABC. - ABC. You're ABC.

Anybody downtown, wherever,

they still consider you as a foreigner.

Yeah, I know. But, you know, here, we have to do something. We have to fight.

Fight. Fight for what?

Fight for recognition? You know how long we've been here?

We've been here a hundred years.

100 years and half a million Chinese.

Half a million Chinese in 100 years.

If they don't recognize us, they don't wanna recognize us.

And they will not recognize us. You know what I mean?

We only live once.

We have to make it count.

You only live once, so we should do something

more significant.

How's that, eh?

- But that guy is so filthy rich, man. - Really?

Yeah. That's why he can afford to help the needy and the poor.

That's just a front, when everyone comes into his restaurant, about him helping.

That guy may have a dirty smock, man, but he got a face of jade.

-That guys is loaded, just like - -Face of jade?

Yeah. Like all those new guys coming over from Taiwan and Hong Kong

- with all that money. - It doesn't matter. He's rich.

- They're buying up all over. - He wants to help.

-They don't care about all the people - -That's why he can afford to want to help.

He has eight restaurants,

and three of them are within two blocks of Clement Street.

- Couple cat houses on Broadway, you know. - You know, this...

Chan Hung lived at Hotel St. Paul.

Steve and I decided to take turns and watch the hotel.

- Been coming here every night. - But she ain't in.

Looking for Chan Hung? Look for what woman who took picture.

- You know him? - Hey, uh,

we're friends of Chan Hung.

My name's Jo.

Hey, hey, Jo. Just the facts, man.

Look for the woman who took the photograph from Chan Hung's room.

What about this woman who took those pictures?

- Can you tell us more? - Maybe it's a relative.

- Is... - Hey, Jo. You want Chan Hung bill?

They gave 'em all me. Your woman don't want 'em either.

Is she a relative? Can we come in and talk to you?

- Yeah. Tell him we want the bills. - Can we see the bills?

Hey, Jo. You see Rockford last night? All reruns.

Woman in red took photograph.

Ask him about what kind of photographs.

What kind of pictures are they? Can you let us in so we can look at them?

Hey, are you Chinese, Jo?

-Hey, uh - -Are you Chinese?

I Chinese. I don't like Chinese though.

Hey, what about that woman? Is she a relative of Chan Hung?

Hey. Hey, Jo. You police?

No, no, no. We're not cops.

No. Business partners of Chan Hung.

You know, I no want nothing do with Chinese.

Uh, hey, uh, hello.

- This ain't going nowhere. - Hey.

Can we talk to you for a minute, sir? We just need to talk to you.

Hey, hello?

Hello.

Forget it. Let's get him the other way.

Got your Magnum? Let's go.

Come on.

That night, I went back to the hotel

and persuaded the manager to let me into Chan Hung's room

with a passkey.

I didn't find anything except a bunch of paper.

One, a newspaper with an article about the flag-waving incident.

Two, another newspaper with an article ripped out.

And three,

something did seem to be missing from one of the walls.

It might be the photograph of the flag-waving incident.

Maybe Chan's neighbor was right.

The facts, nothing but the facts.

I checked the date of the cut-up newspaper I found in Chan Hung's room.

It matched the date of the article we found in Chan Hung's jacket

about the old man who murdered his neighbor.

I went all over Chinatown to find out more about the murder.

I tracked down the old man.

He was out on bail, but he refused to talk to me.

He told me to look for the woman.

Hey, why aren't you ever home?

I'm always talking to this goddamned machine.

Well, this morning, a woman came to the garage, right,

looking for Chan Hung.

And so I just hung out and waited for her to split.

So I followed her home.

Maybe she's the woman everyone's been talking about.

Well, I thought I'd wait for you, uh,

so we can go talk to her together, all right?

- You speak very good English, Mrs. Chan. - Oh, call me Liz.

Uh, you see, my father used to work for the American Consulate in Taiwan,

and I went to American school there.

In fact, I was named after Elizabeth Taylor.

Excuse me. Jenny?

Turn that down.

Jenny! Turn that down.

You know, he's, uh - He's changed since we came over.

He doesn't like the United States.

He doesn't want to become an American citizen.

He's just too Chinese, so...

Jenny!

It's still too loud,

and you've gotta get ready.

Here. Why don't you take some oranges?

Here. Take one for your friend outside. I'm really sorry, but I have to get ready.

Other than the tangerines, which are supposed to bring good luck,

I didn't get very much out of Mrs. Chan.

She didn't seem too concerned about her husband missing.

She said that Chan Hung changed after he came to America.

My husband changed after he came over.

He doesn't like it here.

He doesn't even want to apply for American citizen.

He's too Chinese.

Apparently, Chan Hung's been separated from her for over a year,

but he never mentioned anything to me about having a family.

Steve wanted to go to the police about Chan Hung.

He didn't think I would get very far with my investigations.

I persuaded Steve to wait a few days.

All those Filipino teenagers standing around.

He said, "Hey, they better not fuck with this Flip."

- Pulled back his... - ...trench coat,

and he pulls out a .22 caliber pistol.

Look. Read.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, hey. The other side though. The cholos, the Chicanos.

Listen. Hey.

"We know them Flips are packing,

but you take away their pistol and they won't be shit."

Dude pulled out a 12-inch switchblade. Whoo!

"Hey, I don't need this flare to kill no Flip, man.

I can handle those little motherfuckers with my bare hands."

Cops have no leads, and -

Aw, man, what else is new?

What's wrong with you, boy? Get out my face.

Is this the same guy who wants to go to the cops about Chan Hung?

- Yeah. Hey, hey. - Yeah? Yeah?

I ain't saying the cops are cool. I didn't say that. No, I didn't say that.

All I'm saying is they're getting paid by our tax money to do something.

They should follow up on leads. They're good at that stuff.

They should do it for us.

- We shouldn't have to worry about it. - Two-faced schizophrenic China man, huh?

- Contradictions by country. - I'm not a - No, no, no.

- No, I'm not two-faced. No. - Yeah, yeah. No, huh?

Two of my ex-partners I used to run with in high school, we were tight.

- They're cops now. - Yeah, yeah.

No, no. It's a fine line between a criminal and a cop.

- Uh-huh, uh-huh. - Hey. Forget you, man.

- You don't understand. - Uh-huh.

Steve said he feels stupid about running around with me,

asking about Chan Hung.

So I went by myself to see my friend George,

who runs the Newcomers Language Center.

"Are you ready, are you ready,

are you ready to go?

Not quite, not quite.

Just a minute. Don't rush me.

Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up.

I'll be ready in a minute, in a minute, in a minute.

I can't find my keys. I can't find my keys.

- Come on. Let's go." - Chan Hung. Chan Hung...

Was he a student here?

I think he was.

Now, 'cause we run through a lot of Chan here, let me see.

I think I seem to remember him.

Hmm.

Oh, here he is.

Well, you know, Chan Hung is have the typical problem

like most of us one time or another have as an immigrant.

Uh, he came here, and he want to be - Continue to be Chinese, everything.

Thinking, doing things and all that.

And, of course, that presents a problem.

Now, in the other extreme, you got some people come here

and they immediately wanna assimilate like the rest of white Americans.

And that also present a problem: they're not white.

And I think the way we need to deal with it is to be Chinese American,

to take the good things from our background,

and also trying to take the good things from this country to enhance our life.

Sun Wah Kue's apple pie.

It is a, uh, definite American form, you know.

Pie, okay?

And it looks just like any other apple pie,

but it doesn't taste like any other apple pie if you eat it.

And that's because many Chinese baking technique

has gone into it.

And, uh,

when we deal with our everyday life, that's what we have to do.

George didn't know anything specific about Chan Hung.

He got into his spiel about Chinatown politics again.

Are missing the boat because they're not spending enough time

to try and enhance the life of the Chinese here in America.

And, uh, I often joke with them

because I talk to both side, uh, all the time.

Let me give you a instance. It's sort of funny.

Like, October 1st, a lot of the people in left wing

wanna have a parade in Chinatown.

And October 10th, they always had a parade here in Chinatown.

And that parade sort of expend a lot of energy

and get a lot of manpower to go into it.

So I've been proposing to them for several years now -

They haven't bought it yet, but I think eventually they might.

I say, why have a parade on October 1st, and why have another one on October 10th?

Why can't we combine the two and have it in October 5th?

And the left wing would take left-hand side of the street,

the right wing would take the right-hand side of the street,

and you go have your parade.

Because, basically, other than the people participating in the parade,

the people don't give a damn.

I was amused by Georges talk on Chinatown politics,

even though I had heard it many times before.

The punch line George forgot this time

was how the politicians would walk down the middle of the street,

and shake hands with people on both sides.

- What's happening, Jo Jo? - Hey, all right. What time, huh?

Yo.

Let's go.

- What? - Time.

- Huh? - It's late.

- No, it's not late, man. - Hey.

You know them guys?

You guys were at my house the other day, right?

- Right? - Oh... ...is that Chan's daughter?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's Jo Jo, and I'm Steve Chan - Choi, Chan, Choi.

- Hey, what's happening? With you too? - This dude doesn't even know his name.

How are you today? All right.

Yeah, that's Mr. - That's Charlie Chan, and I'm his number one son, the fly.

You know, it's like, I was trying to talk to your father one day.

We was tripping in the cab. I was telling him that Mrs. Chong over at -

Down at these mah-jong tables, right?

She just don't know how to run that mah-jong table.

She gotta get them four inches of foam, you know.

So when the mah-jong hits, man, it tell the truth.

Got to get them them old ladies' money. Come down there. Get that money.

Got to tell the truth. You know what I mean?

Who do you think you are anyway?

You think you're Richard Pryor or something?

Hey. No, I ain't Richard Pryor. You know, Richard Pryor-

Hey, no. But, you know, anyway.

So, your dad, like, um, just -

We're not into no trouble with him. We just wanna know where he is, you know?

Well, what kinda jive did my mom tell you about my dad anyway?

Uh, nothing. I wasn't talking to her, you know.

I guess she's cool. She gave us them oranges from Taiwan, right?

Well, you know, the only reason why I ask is 'cause,

well, you can see they're not too much the same, huh?

When we came over here, my mom, she - she, like, adjusted.

But, you know, she's been hassling with a lot too.

But she gets on my dad's case

'cause he's not successful like Mr. Lee, you know?

Who is Mr. Lee?

He's our sponsor.

Actually, he got a office, you know? In Chinatown, above Imperial Palace.

- Oh, yeah? - He might be the one you wanna talk to.

I think my dad went to see him about something last week.

Well, maybe we go down to Mr. Lee's tomorrow, you know.

Thanks a lot for telling us about it.

If you see your dad, just let him know that we're looking for him, all right?

And we don't mean him no harm. You guys want some -

I got some spare change. You go get yourself a ice cream cone, man?

- Who do you think we are, kids? - Well, you don't look like my grandpa.

Just bullshitting, man. Catch you later.

Keep your change.

- I have an appointment with Mr. Lee. - Well, Mr. Lee is on the phone right now.

- Please be seated. - Thank you.

- Oh. How you doing? - Oh, hi. I'm Jo.

- Jo? I'm honored, Jo. - Yeah.

- Come on in. - Thank you.

- Uh, you know, what we talked about... - Yeah, right.

And, uh, did you want to see your friend somehow?

Well, you know, I'm looking for him, and...

Uh-huh.

We have some business, uh, deals that we -

And he's - I haven't been able to find him for the past week or so.

A week or so, yeah. Last time I saw him was over a week.

He had an accident. He reported it.

- Oh, yeah? - Excuse me a minute. Let's see.

Get my pencil.

Hello?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Harry? Yes, Harry.

Oh, yeah. I sent him up there, Harry. Did he give you a bad time?

Oh, he did? He's one of these wise guys, you know, these Chinese fellas.

You have to be a little smarter, Harry. Tell you what.

How much is the job?

380? I'll tell you what to do.

Tell him it's about 600, okay?

Why?

This is it, though, you dum-dum.

You know how Chinese are. You're still dealing with these customer.

By the time he get out of your door, he only gonna pay you about 300, you nut.

Oh.

Oh, you caught the idea, huh?

About time. No wonder.

If you don't do that, you'll be out of business.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you pay for the mechanic and all that.

Yeah, he got a pretty bad smash.

Right in the rear end, yeah.

So, he'd be up there to see you very soon.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Don't listen to the wife neither, will you? The wife's gonna give it to you.

Okay.

Yeah, you know what to do now, huh?

Okay. All right. All right. I'll see you then. Bye.

I guess, uh, you don't know where Mr. Chan is.

Haven't seen him for the past week, but I've got to find him.

He has to report to me. I kinda sponsor him over here, and then...

- Yeah. - Have a hard time explaining to him.

I always, generally, when they first buy insurances,

I draw 'em a diagram, a intersection.

Sometime they - Hard to educate 'em.

There's one - There's a colored guy.

He stop in a stop sign near Pine Street, just one way. He's going home.

And I don't know how he didn't hit the brake fast enough.

He just tapped the colored guy. And the colored guy said,

- "Well, I'm gonna call the police." - Hmm.

And I told him before, I said,

"Well, any time you hit somebody in the rear, give them your name,

your license number and tell him, 'My agent will take care of it."'

He said, "Yeah, I did all that, but he told me to wait."

I said, "What the hell's the matter with you? He got a gun on you?"

He said, "No." "Then what the hell are you waiting for?"

"Well, you know, these big black guys. I'm afraid he'll hit me."

"He can't hit you. All you have to do, your mother is sick..."

Chan Hung wasn't just another dumb Chinaman

like the guy in Mr. Lee's story.

Maybe Mr. Lee and Mrs. Chan don't know the whole story.

Chan Hung was the brains behind his brother's invention

of the first word processing system in Chinese.

...then educate these guys.

Today, a community newspaper published the photograph

of the flag-waving incident.

But some people claim that it was of another flag-waving incident

two years ago.

People think that it was published

to take the heat off of finding the real one.

This is all too confusing.

I went home to get a bite to eat.

There was only a piece of leftover pizza.

Chan Hung used to always talk about how Marco Polo stole everything from us,

first pasta, then pizza.

Too bad the Chinese didn't have tomatoes.

But I shouldn't complain.

The only thing I use my oven for is to store gadgets.

I guess I'm no gourmet Chinese cook, and I'm no Charlie Chan neither.

Although I did start watching some of his reruns for cheap laughs.

Charlie says, "When superior man have no clue, be patient.

Maybe he become lucky. ”

The next night, I was cleaning out the cab Chan Hung was driving

the day he disappeared.

I found a letter in Chinese and a gun under the front seat.

The police are still looking for the gun the old man used

to shoot his neighbor.

Steve thinks it's the gun I found in Chan Hung's cab.

He thinks Chan Hung was the one who actually killed the neighbor,

and that the old man was just covering up for him.

I tried to contact the old man again. He still refuses to see me.

But he told me that Chan Hung had nothing to do with the murder

or the flag-waving incident.

He said that Chan Hung just got paranoid and made everything up in his own mind.

I took the letter to George to have him translate it.

The letter was from Chan Hung's brother.

The brother told Chan Hung that it was quite possible

that the people from the left were after him also.

He told Chan Hung that with people in politics,

it was better to be careful.

He didn't think Chan Hung was being too paranoid.

Now let me ask you about this letter here.

Where did he live when he disappear?

Well, he's living in some, you know, hotel in Chinatown.

Now, that would be this address, see?

The letter was actually sent to another address.

Now maybe you ought to check out that former address.

Now that's what we call in the detective trade a good clue.

Of course, you don't look like anybody's conception of, uh, Charlie Chan.

Not me. You do, George.

Hey, I see somebody's waiting for you outside.

- Thanks a lot, George. I better go. - Hey, well, you need any help,

- why don't you come back and talk to me. - Sure. Thanks, George.

- Okay. See you, Jo. - Bye. Yeah.

I went to the other address.

Nobody was there.

A young man who lived in the building told me Chan Hung used to live there

with his family,

but he moved six months ago with the other woman.

Jo, stop asking quest/ans about Chan Hung.

Who is this?

So, the other woman finally appears.

Now I'm really confused.

Maybe she took the real picture of the flag-waving incident

and had the wrong one published,

maybe to cover for Chan Hung.

Maybe Chan Hung really did kill that guy instead of the old man.

Maybe if I know all this,

and somebody knows that I know,

maybe they don't want me to know.

It's easy to see how someone can get paranoid.

I feel like I'm in the same mess Chan Hung was in,

except I'm not even sure what the mess is or how much of it is in my own mind.

It's been seven days.

I'm afraid to tell Steve that our last lead got us nowhere.

He's getting really worried about the money.

He's been pressing me about going to the cops.

I don't think the cops can do anything about finding Chan Hung.

There's probably more than three Chans on the missing persons list

on any given day.

Besides, the only picture I have of Chan Hung

won't give them that much to work with.

You know...

it's hard enough for guys like us who've been here so long

to find an identity.

I can imagine Chan Hung,

somebody from China coming over here and trying to find himself.

Aw, that's a bunch of bullshit, man.

That identity shit, man, that's old news, man.

That happened fucking ten years ago.

- Still going on. - Bullshit.

That don't mean nothin'.

I ran into an old friend of mine downtown. I pick him up, you know, driving.

We used to run together in high school, right?

Him and me the same with the rest of my buddies.

He was all decked out in this GQ fucking look,

you know, with his fucking Lo-Fang girlfriend, you know?

He didn't wanna talk to me, man. He knew who I was.

He didn't even wanna talk to me. That's 'cause he's playing the game, man.

Fuck the identity shit.

He knew what he was doing. I knew what I was doing.

I could've kicked his fucking ass, but hey,

there ain't nothing to it anymore.

The Chinese are all over this fucking city, man.

What do you mean about identity? They got their own identity.

I got my identity.

Look. A guy who had it all in another area -

In China, he was almost upper class.

And he comes over here and he can't find a job.

How do you think it feels?

Man, that's tough shit, man!

Hey, fuck, when I was in fucking Nam, man, when I was getting shot at by my own -

Hey.

Hey, the Chinese are all over this city.

Why are you tripping so heavy on this one dude for, man?

'Cause he's a friend.

- Is he really a friend? - Yeah, he's a friend.

You know,

he gets involved in this stupid accident of his, huh?

And the cop picks him up. Now he's involved in another damn thing.

- It's just a fucking accident! - I feel for the guy.

- It's a fucking car accident! - Oh, yeah. A little car accident.

What are you tripping on this shit for?

Hey, what's in this for you, man? Why are you tripping so heavy?

- Man, the guy fucked up, man. - Look. I...

He fucked up. He couldn't cope, man. He couldn't cope with it.

I feel for the guy because I can understand him, all right?

Maybe you can't, but I can.

Hey, I understand the situation, man.

Don't tell me I don't understand the situation.

I just wanna know why you're tripping so heavy on it for.

'Cause obviously the facts tell me the guy's a fucking liar.

He's been lying to us.

Every time we go to somebody different, we hear a different story.

This is how I see it.

If you're sick, you go see a doctor, right?

If you're going nuts, you go see a shrink.

If you need some money, man, you go to a bank or a loan company.

If somebody rips off your money, if you don't have no friends

who can take care of it, you go to the cops and let them take care of it.

No, no. We don't go to the cops.

- Why the fuck don't we go to the cops? - 'Cause they -

- None of their damn business, that's why. - Bullshit!

It's my fucking money too, man.

Now let's quit fucking around with this bullshit.

Look.

We're no closer than when we first started, man.

In fact, I'm more confused. I don't even know the guy we're talking about.

Look. He didn't take that money.

- Then where's the money? - We'll get it back.

You're so - You're so hot about that money.

I'll give it to you. I'll give you my money.

Ah.

Uh, is Jenny here?

Jenny? I don't know Jenny.

Jenny. Jenny Chan?

- No. - I thought you said you talked to her.

I did. We called her on the -

Yeah. We got a phone call from here to meet her.

No. We have a private party, so...

You speak Japanese? You were overseas, man.

- Hey, guys -Hey, Jenny.

Oh. Her name is Xiao Lui, not Jenny.

What? Xiao -

- Xiao Lui. - Xiao Lui?

Yeah. It's my Chinese name.

- Mm. - No shit.

- Wanna sit here? - Sure.

Have a seat.

- What's happening with you? - Not too much.

How's school?

- You wanna smoke a joint? - Oh, great. Let's go outside.

What's up?

Nothing. What about you?

But he said you wanted to talk to us.

Oh. Just wanted to say hi.

- She's - -Here's the money, honey.

You ain't bullshitting, are you?

Told you he wouldn't bum you out on a deal.

It's all there.

God damn.

Jenny didn't know where her father was.

She said that her father apologized

for not being able to complete the cab deal.

If this were a TV mystery,

an important clue would pop up at this time,

and clarify everything.

I just came from giving a talk at the Chinese Cultural Center.

A talk? About what?

The development of Chinese culture in San Francisco.

- Roots, huh? Chinese roots. - Mm-hmm.

People think that Chinese culture is something very simple.

- Mm. - Chinese culture is not just about eating.

It is complicated.

Between the north and the south it is very different.

Between the ancient and the modern it is even more different.

We can see the difference in poetry.

In the north, "The sky is gray, the land is vast, the wind howls,

the grass bends, and the herd reveals itself."

- That has a northern flavor. - Ah.

In the south, it's different.

"The wind blows, the red silk parts.

She turns, swept away by her lover."

This has southern sentiments.

In opera, it's equally varied.

In the north,

That is northern sentiments.

In the south, it is again different.

You're a very good scholar, Mr. Fong.

You seem to have something on your mind these days.

What's the matter?

Uh...

Mr. Fang didn't come up with the important clue,

but he did tell me that to solve the mystery,

I'd have to think Chinese.

He told me the Chinese lantern riddle.

There's this farmer, right? He has a nice, beautiful farm.

But one year, there's a big drought.

So he's got not money, and the landlord says,

"Look. I don't give a shit whether you got money or not money.

You're gonna have to pay me."

- We should've gone fishing today. - Yeah.

"You're gonna have to pay me."

So, the farmer said, "I got no money."

The landlord says, "Look. Money or no, you're gonna pay me,

even if you have to send your daughter up to me."

The farmer says, "It's okay with me if she wants to go."

Well, the daughter doesn't wanna go. So she goes up to the guy and says,

"Look. I don't wanna come here, and you know that."

So the landlord says, "I'm a good guy, see? I'm a good guy.

I'll give you a chance.

You see those two doors over there?

One leads outside. One leads right into my bedroom."

"You make a decision, yeah?"

Well, he knows damn well both of those doors

are gonna lead right into his bedroom, right?

And the girl knows that too. The girl knows that too.

-So, what do you think - -She wants it, right? She wants it bad.

Yeah, she wants it bad.

What do you think she said?

You know what that girl did?

She was smart, strictly Chinese.

She said,

"That door over there is not the door that leads outside."

Got it? Huh? You got it?

- Got it. - You got it.

- You got it. - Got it.

You got it. Yeah. All right.

You're streetwise Chinese, huh?

You didn't get anything. You know what she was trying to do?

She was trying to use the negative

to emphasize the positive.

That's what she was trying to do.

Now you get it?

Who told you that one?

Is that what these Chinese scholars do when they're soaking in their hot tubs

with their Lo-Fang girlfriends?

- Think up all this bullshit? - With the feather, right?

That stuff's too deep for me, man.

Yeah. You got it, huh?

You and your Chinatown street culture. You got it.

Pick an exact a, sixth race.

I said Family Jewels, and Mindy's -

- Family jewel? - Mindy's Surprise.

- You wanna hear another story? - No.

I got another story. Family jewel.

- Forget it. - Listen.

This mystery is appropriately Chinese.

What's not there seems to have just as much meaning as what is there.

The murder article is not there.

The photograph's not there. The other woman is not there.

Chan Hung's not there.

Nothing is what it seems to be.

I guess I'm not Chinese enough.

I can't accept a mystery without a solution.

You see? I said listen, but' you don't listen.

You guys got to look in the puddle.

I mean, knowledge, it make us free, right?

I've been down here in Manila town too long,

and I see that regular things, and everyday things,

and for years people do normal things, right?

And then all of a sudden, something happened, right?

This guy disappeared without a trace, without a reason, nothing.

I've already given up on finding out what happened to Chan Hung.

But what bothers me is that I no longer know who Chan Hung really is.

Mr. Lee says Chan Hung and immigrants like him

need to be taught everything as if they were children.

Mr. Fong thinks anyone who can invent a word processing system in Chinese

must be a genius.

Steve thinks that Chan Hung is slow-witted,

but sly when it comes to money.

Jenny thinks that her father is honest and trustworthy.

Mrs. Chan thinks her husband is a failure because he isn't rich.

Amy thinks he's a hotheaded political activist.

The old man thinks Chan Hung's just a paranoia person.

Henry thinks Chan Hung is patriotic

and has gone back to the mainland to serve the people.

Frankie thinks Chan Hung worries a lot' about money and his inheritance.

He thinks Chan Hung's back in Taiwan,

fighting with his brother over the petition of some property.

George thinks Chan Hung's too Chinese and unwilling to change.

Presco think he's an eccentric who likes mariachi music.

The problem with me is that I believe what I see and hear.

If I did that with Chan Hung, I'll know nothing,

because everything is so contradictory.

Here's a picture of Chan Hung, and I still can't see him.