Search For Cultural Identity | CineVue

“If this were a TV mystery, then an important clue would pop up at this time …”

Has anyone seen Chan? He went missing back in 1982 and hasn’t been seen since.

It seems like a lifetime ago now, and yet some have never given up on that search. Others stopped looking long ago; putting it all behind them in an effort to get on with the rest of their lives. Still, on occasion they’re reminded of him whenever they step over a puddle in the pavement, or as they peer into a shop front window. Depending on who you happen to interrogate, their recollection of Chan may sketch a contradictory image from the account of another, and as a result his portrait has become the subject of multiple interpretations.

So who is the real Chan, and where on earth has he gone?

Asking the question: “Who is Chan” to Hong Kong American filmmaker Wayne Wang would probably be met with a rhetorical one: “Who do you think he was?” You see, even if we don’t believe we’ve ever come across Chan personally, we might still have an image of him. To some, he may resemble an uncle or a family relative. Others might attach his image to someone that may have worked at the corner store or lived across the hall from them. He is both a stereotype and an anomaly; a walking and talking contradiction that embodies all of us and represents none of us at the same time.

Read the full essay for CineVue here.

Marc Hayashi (left) and Wood Moy on the lookout for Chan in Wayne Wang’s 1982 independent film, ‘Chan is Missing’. Photo by Nancy Wong.