Fish Cheeks & Shen Yun

Amy Tan's short essay "Fish Cheeks" conveys an important message about accepting one's culture in a place where it is not the standard. Tan sends this message through dialogue and descriptions. The narrator's mother tells her daughter that "inside [she] must always be Chinese" (Tan 7) while giving her an American-style skirt. These actions reveal that the mother is saying even though the the narrator may look American on the outside, on the inside she is Chinese. This idea is central to the piece, and can be appreciated by many other minorities in America. For example, the Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun performs all across the United States. Their show is not completely Americanized though. Despite their predominately white audience, they maintain many Chinese aspects in their performance. The most obvious example of this is that their costumes and dances are all based off of traditional Chinese ones. Beyond that, the booklet listing each dance is divided in half, with one part in English and the other Chinese. Additionally, before every dance number background information is read in both languages. Through the use of traditional dances and costumes as well as language, Shen Yun is able to be Chinese on the outside as well as on the inside. Their devotion to Chinese culture reinforces Tan's message and provides an example of how to keep in touch with one's heritage.