User:Jongyiueesda

The Rice Bowl Parades were massive street spectacles, 3 of which occurred on June 17, 1938, February 9-11, 1940, and May 2-5, 1941, whose primary concern was fundraising for war relief during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific Theater of WWII. These events drew hundreds of thousands of people to San Francisco Chinatown from both Chinese and non-Chinese communities. The events were typically lavish and boisterous, showcasing Chinese culture by way of floats, clothing, auctioned Chinese goods, and fireworks.

Women would carry a large Chinese flag through the streets of Chinatown that required one hundred women to carry, signifying their importance in the war relief effort as well as their integral role in planning and implementing fundraising events. People donated by throwing money onto the flag women carried, participating in auctions, or placing money into rice bowls held by parade participants.

The parades were advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle and drew in a large non-Chinese crowd that participated in fundraising; however, the parades were also decorated in a way that heavily played off Chinese stereotypes that viewed Chinese culture as exotic and Oriental. While these stereotypes of exoticism and Orientalism were successful in generating funds from non-Chinese communities, the use of these stereotypes was ultimately damaging because it perpetuated harmful views of Chinese Americans.