Interior Chinatown

by

Charles Yu

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Interior Chinatown makes teaching easy.

Interior Chinatown Characters

Willis Wu

Willis is an American actor and the son of Taiwanese immigrants, Sifu and Dorothy. Willis’s relationship with his family is fraught, as he doesn’t know how to connect with them or live up to… read analysis of Willis Wu

Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man

Sifu is Willis’s father and Dorothy’s husband. In his old age, he’s fallen into poverty, and his health is declining; though he was once Kung Fu Guy, now he’s mostly invisible and… read analysis of Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man

Dorothy/Old Asian Woman

Dorothy is Willis’s mother and Sifu’s wife. She immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan when she was a young woman and now lives in a room above the Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant. In… read analysis of Dorothy/Old Asian Woman

Older Brother

Older Brother isn’t Willis’s “actual older brother”—he’s “Everyone’s Older Brother,” a stereotypical golden child and role model to all. He was briefly Kung Fu Guy, a role he was born to play, though… read analysis of Older Brother

Karen Lee

Karen Lee is Willis’s wife (and later his ex-wife). She and Willis have a daughter together, Phoebe. Willis meets Karen on the set of Black and White, where she plays an undercover… read analysis of Karen Lee
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Phoebe

Phoebe is Willis and Karen’s daughter. She lives with Karen in the suburbs and is the star of a children’s TV show that follows a little Chinese girl named Mei Mei (little sister) on… read analysis of Phoebe

Miles Turner

Miles Turner is a Black detective and a star of Black and White. Before starring on the show, he graduated from Yale University and then worked on Wall Street. He joined the police force… read analysis of Miles Turner

Sarah Green

Sarah Green is a white detective and a star of Black and White. She’s a confident and skillful detective, though her physical attractiveness often overshadows these qualities in the eyes of her colleagues and… read analysis of Sarah Green

Fatty Choy

Fatty Choy lives in the SRO in Chinatown. He’s normally a huge gossip and a jokester, but he cries for hours after he discovers Old Fong’s dead body in Old Fong’s apartment in… read analysis of Fatty Choy

Allen

Allen is Ming-Chen Wu’s housemate during graduate school. Like Wu, Allen is originally from Taiwan. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, some local people violently beat Allen in retaliation, ignorantly believing that Allen is… read analysis of Allen

Young Fong/Mini Boss

Young Fong is Old Fong’s son. Old Fong dies when he slips while running the shower to answer a phone call from Young Fong, and Young Fong feels guilty for the inadvertent role he… read analysis of Young Fong/Mini Boss
Minor Characters
Old Fong
Old Fong is an old Asian man who lives in the SRO apartments above the Golden Palace in Chinatown. He dies when he runs from the shower to answer a phone call from his son, Young Fong.
The Judge
The judge oversees Willis’s trial at the end of the story and flirts openly with the attractive prosecuting attorney, behavior that leads Older Brother to claim that the entire justice system is rigged and that Willis won’t receive a fair trial.
The Prosecution
The district attorney prosecuting Willis on behalf of the state is an attractive woman. The judge flirts openly with her, leading Older Brother to lament that Willis has no chance of receiving a fair trial.