1. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Historical and Cultural Background
to the novel written by Jamie Ford

2. Chinese Civil War
In 1912, the Qing dynasty crumbled, ending imperial rule in China.
The ensuing political, social and economic chaos led to the formation of two main factions.
The Nationalists were led by Chaing Kai-shek.
The Communists were led by Mao Zedong.
At first, the two factions worked together against warlords, however, the Nationalists soon turned on the Communists.
This led to a nearly ten-year Chinese civil war which lasted until 1937.

3. Flag of Qing Dynasty

4. Japanese Invasion of China
In 1937, Japan invaded China.
The Nationalists and Communists declared a temporary truce. Uniting forces, they then battled the ruthless Japanese army.
The city of Nanking, made the new capital under Nationalist rule in 1928, witnessed a huge influx of people fleeing the Japanese army.
In fact, the city’s population rose from roughly 250,000 to nearly 1 million.

6. Massacre of Nanking
One of the greatest atrocities was that which occurred during the Massacre of Nanking.
In December 1937, the Japanese launched a six-week assault upon unarmed combatants and civilians.
Looting, rape, torture and mass killings led to an estimated death toll of 350,000 Chinese citizens.
Japan has never assumed formal responsibility for the crimes which remain a stumbling block in the relationship between the two countries today.

7. Anti-Japanese Sentiment in the US
American resentment of the Japanese began in the late 19th century.
American workers felt financially threatened by the Japanese immigrants arriving on the West Coast who were willing to work for less money.
In the 20th century, the US government opposed the aggressive nature of Imperial Japan.
As a result, the US supported the Chinese government in their war against Japan.

8. Attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a US naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
In two hours, the attack destroyed 20 US naval vessels and 200 airplanes.
Two thousand US soldiers and sailors were killed while 1000 more were wounded.
In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gained nearly unanimous Congressional support to declare war against Japan. It was then that the US entered World War II.

10. Just hours after the attack, the US government gathered nearly 1300 Issei, first generation Japanese, for questioning.

11. The destruction of the USS Arizona

12. USS Arizona Memorial
The sunken ship also serves as a tomb for the bodies of over 900 soldiers and marines who could not be rescued.

13. US Response to Pearl Harbor
In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.
This allowed the federal government to ban citizens from living in certain areas, namely within miles of the coast stretching from Washington through California.
It also allowed for the transportation of citizens to assembly centers managed by the military in California, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon.
In March 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102 which established the War Relocation Authority which was given the authority to “relocate” Japanese Americans.

14. Common Sense or Hysteria?
In order to protect the Boeing airplane factory, the US government build a pseudo-suburb 40 feet above it!
Located just outside of Seattle, the factory and fake suburb extended 12 square blocks - the equivalent of 8 football fields.
With the use of clapboard, plywood and chicken wire, props were created to imitate houses, trees and streets on top of the plant’s roof.

15. Pseudo-Suburb atop the Boeing Airplane Assembly Plant

16. House, streets, and trees were actually props used to dupe the Japanese in the event of an aerial attack.

17. Internment Camps
In total, there were 10 internment camps across California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Without notice, Japanese Americans were forced to sell or get rid of their belongings and “relocate” to overcrowded facilities heavily guarded by the US military.
Sixty-two percent of those interned were American citizens.
In 1988, President Reagan and the US Congress passed legislation which officially apologized for the government’s mistreatment of the Japanese, claiming its actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”

18. Camp Harmony

19. The Fence
Much has been written about the fence that was ironically called our “national defense.”

20. A Japanese Refuge
Most Japanese Nihonamanchi, or neighborhoods, disappeared when those of Japanese ancestry were moved to internment camps.
Before departing, many packed their belongings into trunks and stored them in the basement of the Panama Hotel.
Many never returned to reclaim their belongings.
As owner of the hotel from , Takashi Hori attempted to locate the owners of over 50 trunks at the close of the war.
In 1985, the hotel was sold to Jan Johnson. After unsuccessful attempts to reunite owners with their property, she created a museum in the hotel basement.
The museum includes unique artifacts such as old Japanese American photographs, a cloth coat with a fur collar and even a pair of men’s socks.

21. The Panama Hotel
Designed by Japanese architect Sabro Ozasa, the hotel was closed in 1950 and remains preserved today.

22. The 1940’s: Discrimination in the US
When the US entered WWII, segregation was widespread and extended to Asians, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Jews.
The Jim Crow Laws of 1876 requiring racial segregation remained in effect until 1965.
An 1896 Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, supported the mandate for racial segregation citing the “separate but equal” clause. That is, segregation was acceptable as long as accommodations of equal quality were provided for all.

23. Jazz Roots
Interestingly, Jazz greats of the 1940’s were getting their start in relative obscurity.
The white population that would decades later laud the musicians as the genres greats could not at the time conceive that anything of cultural value could actually take place within the confines of clubs where gambling and illegal drinking were commonplace.

24. Black & Tan Nightclub
Popularity of jazz nightclubs rose during WWII and peaked after WWII.
“Black and Tan” was the most famous nightclub in Seattle at the start of WWII.
It was named after its black, white and Asian patrons.
It was located in the basement of a building in Chinatown beneath a Japanese-owned drug store.

25. Black and Tan Nightclub

26. Cob Calloway

27. Ray Charles
Ray Charles made a name for himself in Seattle where he even recorded his first single.

28. Duke Ellington
Although not a singer, Duke Ellington was a composer, pianist and band leader.

29. Oscar Holden
Known as the “patriarch of Seattle jazz, Oscar Holden knew the effects of racism all too well.

30. Grace Holden recalls her father
Oscar Holden was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1886.
Hoping to shelter his own children from the prejudice he experienced growing up, he moved to the Pacific Northwest.
His children grew up in culturally-diverse Seattle where they lived among Chinese, Jewish and Catholic neighbors.
While all shared a sense of fear during the war, the Holden children grew up in the musical arena which provided a universal language and sheltered them from much of the racism Oscar experienced in the South.

31. Seattle’s Diversity
As author Jamie Ford notes, “…my grandfather would always take me to his favorite seafood restaurant, which was in Rainier Beach between a soul-food restaurant and a Hispanic grocer. I was always fascinated with how Seattle’s ethnic communities ended up right on top of one another. Turns out it was because of the zoning laws in the ‘30s and ‘40s. It was illegal (though how well enforced, I don’t know) to sell land to certain minorities outside of certain zones.”

32. …and here our story begins.
As a first generation Chinese American growing up in Seattle, Washington, during WWII, Henry Lee struggles to find his identity…
in a family which forces him to choose between cultural loyalty and national identity,
in a friendship which tears him between family loyalty and personal identity, and
in a country which champions freedom and denies its own citizens the most basic of rights.