The subject of my sound art project is the development of Chinese immigrants in America. It related to a dish called chop suey. The origin of chop suey could tracy back to the nineteenth century. Railway company thought Chinese could construct the railroad because they built the Great Wall. Then the company signed treaties with the Qing government, which allowed Chinese to get into US legally. 

During that period, they made food by themselves because they couldn’t adapt American diets. Then a famous American Chinese dish called chop suey was invented by one of Chinese immigrant. This dish was cooked for laborers on the Pacific Railroad in California in the mid-1800s. At that time, all the food they had to cook for dinner was an array of leftover odds and ends; they cooked it all together to prevent wasting and then called it chop suey. Here is a recipe of chop suey in early stage. In my sound project, the beginning part is the sound of the mining and constructing the railroad. Then it followed by the sound of making chop suey, including the sound of washing, cutting and cooking. The last part of this project is the sound of train, which symbolizes the success of constructing the Pacific Railroad.

I posted it on social media. Most people cannot recognize the first part sound. As for me, I also never know the sound of the mining and constructing railroad before making this project. They didn’t know the main idea behind this project as well because I posted the sound without any sentences. They were curious about why I posted this sound.