Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Character Analysis in Interior Chinatown

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 plays the part of Old Asian Man on Black and White. Sifu’s declining health strains his relationship with Willis. Sifu is originally from Taiwan and grew up there when it was under militia control. When he was young, he watched Chinese Nationalists shoot and kill his father, a traumatic event that motivated him to immigrate to the U.S. to make a better life for himself and support his family back in Taiwan. But Sifu’s life in the U.S. doesn’t live up to his expectations—though he excels in graduate school, people call him racial slurs. After college, nobody in his field will hire him because he’s Asian, and the only work he can find is playing the part of Young Asian Man at a restaurant in Chinatown. He works hard and eventually earns the role of Kung Fu Guy, the closest to a movie star any Asian actor can get. Still, Sifu’s unceasing ambition, his high expectations, and his quest for upward mobility consume him, isolating him from his family—a fate that Willis will later experience in his own life.

Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Quotes in Interior Chinatown

The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man or refer to Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

He’d played his role for so long he’d lost himself in it, before some separation that happened gradually over decades and then you waking one day to feel it, some distance that had crept in overnight. Some formal space you could no longer cross.

Related Characters: (speaker),

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Page Number and Citation: 31-32

Explanation and Analysis:

“I’m working with them now. This could be good.”

“Happy for you,” he says. He looks skeptical. Worried.

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), ,

Related Symbols: ,

Page Number and Citation: 108

Explanation and Analysis:

Are you doing the right thing? Something about this feels wrong.

But this is Black and White. They let you have a part. You can’t stop now.

You look at your dad. He shifts his eyes away, and you know in that moment that he is disappointed. But he won’t ever say it. You’ll never talk about it again. He’s gone, slipped back into Old Asian Man. He’s not going to make the choice for you. It’s your role to play.

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), ,

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Page Number and Citation: 118

Explanation and Analysis:

But the one that Wu can never quite get over was the original epithet: Chinaman, the one that seems, in a way, the most harmless, being that in a sense it is literally just a descriptor. China. Man. And yet in that simplicity, in the breadth of its use, it encapsulates so much. This is what you are. Always will be, to me, to us. Not one of us. This other thing.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 162

Explanation and Analysis:

Your mother weeps, and dies. Weeps and dies. Weeps and doesn’t die. Just weeps. Because now, your father is no longer a person, no longer a human. Just some mystical Eastern force, some Wizened Chinaman. Her husband is gone, Wu is gone, even Young Asian Man is gone. They took him away from her. He is lost now, in his work, in who they made him. Distant. Cold, perfectionist. Inscrutable. No descriptors, anymore, no age or build, just a role, a name, a shell where he used to be. His features taken away and replaced by archetypes, even his face hollowing out.

This is how he became Sifu. This is how she lost her husband. How you lost your dad.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

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Page Number and Citation: 176

Explanation and Analysis:

Maybe, if you’re lucky, she’ll teach you. If she can move freely between worlds, why can’t you?

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

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Page Number and Citation: 278

Explanation and Analysis:

Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Character Timeline in Interior Chinatown

The timeline below shows where the character Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man appears in Interior Chinatown. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the roles of “Pretty Oriental Flower,” “Asiatic Seductress,” and “Girl with the Almond Eyes.” Willis’s father has played the roles of “Wizened Chinaman,” “Egg Roll Cook,” and “Sifu, the Mysterious Kung... (full context)

...Willis is still “Generic Asian Man Number Three/Deliver Guy.” His kung fu isn’t that great. Sifu has told him that his “drunken monkey” was almost good enough that Sifu might not... (full context)

OLD ASIAN MAN. Sifu isn’t really Sifu anymore—now, he’s “Old Asian Man.” The first time Willis noticed this was... (full context)

Willis’s friend Fatty Choy tells everyone that Sifu is on food stamps and regularly looks through the trash for things to take. He... (full context)

When Sifu was young, he could break a cinder block with just one finger. Young Willis always... (full context)

Now, Sifu apologizes about needing Willis’s help—he’d never apologize when he was a younger man, and certainly... (full context)

Lately, Sifu has assumed new roles: “Old Asian Cook” and “Old Asian Guy Smoking.” It’s hard to... (full context)

Willis’s parents have also become poor. Now Sifu knows exactly what time restaurants in Chinatown toss out their old pork buns. He shops... (full context)

OLDER BROTHER. Older Brother got the most out of Sifu’s teachings and so should’ve been in the best position to help. He’s not Willis’s real... (full context)

...and watches the scene go down. Turner and Green are about to shoot—but, just then, Sifu (as Old Asian Man) emerges from the shadows. Turner and Green lower their weapons. Turner,... (full context)

...his dad (Old Asian Man) sometime—he's not doing well. Willis at first complains that his father won’t talk to him, but then he caves and agrees to come down later. (full context)

...she packs his lunch. Willis can remember sharing hundreds of dinners with his mom while his dad (Old Asian Man) was still at work. When Willis finishes his own portion, his mother... (full context)

...PALACE—AFTER CLOSING. It’s karaoke night. After the drunk patrons finish singing, it’s the staff’s turn. Old Asian Man takes the mic and sings a John Denver song, dedicating the performance to his friend... (full context)

...Turner are investigating. Green reminds Turner that they need “to be sensitive here.” Just then, Old Asian Man approaches them. Turner tells Green she should speak first—a lot of older Asian people are... (full context)

Finally, Turner, trying to intimidate Old Asian Man , suggests that they take him down to the station. He gets his handcuffs out... (full context)

...paper. Green reads it and announces that Dead Asian Man’s last known contact was with Ming-Chen Wu . Green asks Willis (as Special Guest Star) if he’s related to Wu, and he... (full context)

...Special Guest Star—one of the few speaking parts an Asian man can get. Willis approaches Old Asian Man , who’s at the deep fryer, to have a word with him in private. Willis... (full context)

Willis tells his dad that he’s working with Green and Turner now and that it’s a good thing. Old... (full context)

Turner asks if Old Asian Man will help them, and Willis (as Special Guest Star) says yes; Old Asian Man used... (full context)

Green turns to Old Asian Man and thanks him for his cooperation, her voice louder than normal, almost like she’s shouting.... (full context)

...of Fatty Choy’s hand. Everyone can hardly believe what’s just happened, Willis included. Maybe even Sifu would be proud of him. (full context)

...wearing a red cheongsam. Nat King Cole plays on the jukebox. She descends the stairs. Old Asian Man looks up as she approaches him but he’s young now, wearing a suit, and playing... (full context)

...her cheongsam, but now she’s standing at the hosting station instead of descending a staircase. Old Asian Man is still young and dressed in a suit, but he's not wearing a tie anymore—he’s... (full context)

Dorothy and Ming-Chen Wu share a cigarette and pots of tea. They talk about their pasts—both come from poor... (full context)

INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT. Ming-Chen Wu sits and stares as Dorothy finishes her story. He snaps out of the state he’s... (full context)

...this period, called “White Terror,” the regime beats, kills, or disappears thousands of Taiwanese people. Ming-Chen Wu is seven when the 2/28 Incident takes place, and he sees family members shot in... (full context)

Ming-Chen Wu remembers seeing his father run back into the family’s burning home, promising to return by the time Wu has... (full context)

INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT. Ming-Chen Wu finishes his story, and Dorothy comforts him. He explains that he came here because he... (full context)

INT. MING-CHEN WU’S BACKSTORY—JOURNEY TO AMERICA. Ming-Chen Wu is a student in Central Taiwan, daydreaming of America as he looks at a world... (full context)

INT. MING-CHEN WU’S BACKSTORY—THE UNITED STATES. In reality, Ming-Chen Wu and other immigrants arrive in the middle of the night. It’s cold, and nobody greets... (full context)

INT. MING-CHEN WU’S BACKSTORY—MISSISSIPPI—1965—DAY. Ming-Chen Wu lives in a house with five other graduate students, all of whom are from other... (full context)

Ming-Chen Wu ’s class calls him “Chinaman,” but most of them don’t seem to have any ill... (full context)

When Ming-Chen Wu comes home one day, his housemates tell him that Allen is in the hospital—someone beat... (full context)

After graduation, Ming-Chen Wu falls out of contact with everyone but Allen. They write letters, and Wu takes pleasure... (full context)

Ming-Chen Wu graduates with a nearly perfect grade point average and goes to UCLA to receive his... (full context)

...and family she hopes to have someday. Despite her prayers, nobody will sell Dorothy and Ming-Chen Wu a house because of their skin color. Of course, they wouldn’t have the money to... (full context)

Ming-Chen Wu works in back while Dorothy works up front. Men grope her and “imagine a world... (full context)

On their days off, Dorothy and Ming-Chen Wu wander around Chinatown but don’t venture beyond its confines. Dorothy dresses in bell bottoms and... (full context)

Ming-Chen Wu and Dorothy debate the origins of their romance. Dorothy argues that Chinatown isn’t a place... (full context)

...suddenly his parents’ fragmented backgrounds—all the bit parts they’ve had to accept—seem to make sense. Ming-Chen Wu and Dorothy feel “less alone in the world,” their days are full of happy memories,... (full context)

...home and work constantly. Wu practices his Kung Fu skills and gets the part of Sifu, the kung fu master. They celebrate with meat and a bottle of coke, and the... (full context)

Sifu comes and goes at odd hours. He comes home late and wakes up Willis and... (full context)

Willis hears his parents arguing late at night. Ming-Chen Wu says, “They’ve trapped us.” But Dorothy wonders if she and Wu have actually “trapped” themselves.... (full context)

...after empty promise. She tells Willis she doesn’t want him “to be trapped” like his father. This offends Willis. He tells Karen he wants to provide for his family. Karen says... (full context)

...his lawyer enters the courtroom: to his surprise, it’s Older Brother. Older Brother asks after Sifu and laments how he had so many roles but “never got a story.” Willis says... (full context)

...improvement—it was “just another role.” And he can’t keep playing that role his whole life; Sifu did that, and he “mastered his craft,” yet nobody ever recognized that. They “never allowed... (full context)

MING-CHEN WU. Willis sees his father and Phoebe in the kitchen together one night—they’re sitting and laughing together. Willis’s father is... (full context)

...and asks if he’s okay; Willis says yes. Then he tells her to watch: A-kong (grandfather) is up next for karaoke. With this, Ming-Chen Wu walks onstage, tests the mic, and... (full context)

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Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Character Analysis

Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Quotes in Interior Chinatown

Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man Character Timeline in Interior Chinatown

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