Sylvia Chang, Maggie Cheung, and Siqin Gaowa were originally from China. Now they live in New York City. They speak Chinese to each other, and sometimes sing Chinese songs. Their lovers and husbands are Chinese. But they feel themselves losing their identities in Manhattan.
The melting pot that is part of the mythology of the United States is a great promise and a great threat. I grew up with relatives who fled Europe to get here. I feel I understand what makes this nation so good in a way that some one who grew up never knowing anything different, or caring about someone who could tell them about it can. It's a commonplace for many, and so not valued. For people like me, the promise of America is its indifference. When it works well, no one cares if I go to a synagogue instead of a church, or don't go at all, whether I speak English or Yiddish or Gullah at home.
But that indifference is also corrosive. If no one cares, then why should you? And that is the strain that these three women come to recognize and seek each other out for. It's how communities are formed. But for how long?
