Chop Suey is a book about that Chinese restaurant font. You know, the one with blocky strokes that feels vaguely racist but also is used widely by Chinese business owners. In this book, I explore the visual landscape of the Chinese American experience through the aesthetics of China in America – such as this typeface, the architecture of Chinatowns, and Chinese entertainers in Hollywood.

To mimic the feel of a restaurant menu, I chose a drastically vertical trim size.

I included annotations on the images and the articles editorializing on the content with my personal thoughts and experiences as a Chinese American who grew up in a place where my family and I were almost the only Asian people around. Additionally, the book features some of my own writings where I deemed it necessary. Source material is printed in red ink, while my writings and annotations are printed in black ink, representing my personal voice.