Thread by @DrDaveFong

Following @NZonAir’s “Rising to the challenge of creating better media content for Asian New Zealanders” report, which included only recent migrants amongst the 18 Chinese people interviewed, it’s time for a rant about @ShortlandTweet's lack of South East & East Asian characters.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now, as I've felt that whereas #ShortlandStreet does better than most New Zealand TV shows in reflecting the diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand, it does have work to do.

Disclaimer: The information from imdb, wikipedia & my own recollections, so it is likely to be incomplete. I’d be happy for this information to be expanded on and corrected where necessary. I’d love for someone to do the same analysis on South Asian characters on #ShortlandStreet

From what I can find, there have been 16 South East or East Asian characters on #ShortlandStreet:
A quick breakdown of the numbers:
Nine were Chinese,
Five were/are Filipina
Two were Korean

About half of the characters were medical professionals: 3 Doctors, 3 nurses, 1 paramedic, and 1 was Clinic Director.
Of the rest, 2 were babies, 2 were teens, 1 child, 1 was a research assistant, 1 was a personal assistant, and 1 was a character’s mother.

Three were male, the rest female.
From what I recall, the women were highly sexualised, even the teenage Zhilan Li’s storyline revolved around her sleeping with Harry Warner. The three men were not sexualised as much, if at all.

11 were on #ShortlandStreet for a year or less, three for more than one year, and two are current (currently around three months).

Let's have a look at the characters: Grace Kwan (Lynette Forday) was a Doctor of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 3 years, from 16/02/1994 until 31/03/1997 and returned for about a year, from 23/10/2013 until 11/12/2014.

Lynette has spoken about the challenges she faced being an Asian actor on #ShortlandStreet, both internally and externally, especially when she first appeared.

Joy Kwan (Helene Wong) portrayed Grace's mother and was of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for less than a year, in 1997.

Two years after Grace left, Sofia Martinez (Lena Cruz), the Clinic Director arrived, and lasted 2 or 3 years on #ShortlandStreet, from 1999 to 2001. She was a Filipina.

After Sofia left, it was another two years or so until the next East Asian character: Marvin Ho (Daniel Sing) was a Doctor of Chinese ethnic origin. He was on #ShortlandStreet for less than a year, in 2003.

Li Mei Chen (Li-Ming Hu) was a Doctor of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 3 1/2 years, from 19/05/2003 until 01/09/2006. She was quite a popular character, and was the last Asian Doctor to appear on the show (until Grace’s return in 2013).

Replacing Li Mei Chen as the token Asian, Lily Choi (Caleigh Cheung aka Kellie-Michelle Cheung) was a nurse of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for six months, from 02/02/2007 until 07/08/2007.

After a gap of almost four years without an East Asian or South East Asian character, Winston Youn (Min Kim) was a research assistant of Korean ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for only 6 months, from 08/04/2011 until 12/10/2011.

Henry Lee (Peter Huang) was a Personal Assistant of an unspecified East Asian (possibly Korean) ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for just under a year, from 26/10/2012 until 20/08/2013.

Trinity Kwan (Maya Ruriko Doura) was Grace Kwan’s baby daughter, and of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 2 months, largely unseen, from 01/10/2014 until 11/12/2014.

Ruby Flores (J.J. Fong) was a Nurse of Filipina ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 2 months, from 08/11/2016 until 01/02/2017. Basically herstory arc involved her seducing Nicole Miller and singing the #ShortlandStreet end of year Christmas Song.

Lily Flores (Zoe Fong) was a teen of Filipina ethnic origin. She was Ruby’s sister. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for about a year, I think, maybe less, from 19/12/2016 until 24/01/2018. Just enough time to be sent a dick pic from Harry.

Zhilan Li (Bridget Wong) was a Teen of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 4 episodes, from 04/10/2017 until 09/10/2017. Basically she was Harry Warner’s love interest.

Xun Warner (Carter Besnard) was a Zhilan Li and Harry Warner’s baby of Chinese ethnic origin. The character was on #ShortlandStreet for 4 episodes, from 29/10/2018 until 11/11/2018.

Theodora 'Theo' Chang (Chye-Ling Huang) was a Paramedic of Chinese ethnic origin. Theo was on #ShortlandStreet for 8 months, from 30/07/2020 until 20/04/2021. I had high hopes for this character, but again, they were cut short.

Madonna Diaz (Marianne Infante) is a current East Asian character on #ShortlandStreet, and is a Nurse of Filipina ethnic origin. The character has been on #ShortlandStreet for just over three months so far, from 23/07/2021 until present. I hope she lasts for more than a year!

Joy Diaz (Saya Kraetzer) is a child of Filipina ethnic origin. She’s a new, current character on #ShortlandStreet, having started on 31/08/2021. I hope the show is kind to her.

Have I missed anyone? There was also this dude, a secondary school student, who was ‘friends’ with Rachel McKenna. For the life of me, I don’t remember his name, nor can I find any reference to him online.

As I said, there may have been more East Asian or South East Asian characters on #ShortlandStreet that I've missed, but there is definitely room for there to be a better reflection of the diverse Asian communities that have long been part of Aotearoa New Zealand.

@threadreaderapp #unroll please

There is definitely no shortage of acting talent in the Asian communities here, and really there is no need to use East Asian actors portraying South East Asian characters, and vice versa, at it reinforces the "all Asians look the same" bullshit.

*as it reinforces the "all Asians look the same" bullshit.

As a kid, seeing more talented, gorgeous Asians on New Zealand TV would have done wonders for my self esteem, and contributed towards better attitudes towards me and people like me.

I have observed that with the increasing international popularity of K-pop and k-dramas, that Asians are being openly recognised for their talents and good looks more than ever.

And for a bit of nostalgia, here's @the_jjfong and the 2016 #ShortlandStreet Christmas charity single she was basically brought in to sing.

nzonscreen.com/title/shortlan…

Li-Ming Hu in 2003 on having to put on a Chinese accent on #ShortlandStreet: (it was) taking a step back, but then I had to do it & once I started doing it, it was OK. I still do feel funny about it, more funny than if I had to do an American accent. nzonscreen.com/title/asia-dow…

And an interesting comparison to 2021: Creamerie’s Perlina Lau and Ally Xue want more than ‘a few lines in an accent’
thespinoff.co.nz/tv/12-05-2021/…

A friend of mine made this GIF a few years ago which are very apt:

♥️ Lynette Forday ♥️

https://twitter.com/DrDaveFong/status/1556537443347832833?s=20&t=5vr30zM7yFgv0n9_YU6SrA

This 👇 from an actual expert on the topic.

https://twitter.com/tzemingdynasty/status/1561227329250004992?t=O-K5TaVv9AoPYTCsDU14Cg&s=19