A wonton font (also known as Chinese, chopstick, chop suey, or kung-fu) is an ethnic typeface with a visual style intended to express an Asian or Chinese aesthetic. Styled to mimic the brush strokes used in

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

s, wonton fonts often convey a sense of

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

. In modern times, they are sometimes viewed as culturally insensitive or offensive.

Controversy

Some Asian-Americans find wonton fonts amusing or humorous, while others find them offensive, insulting, or racist. The font's usage is often criticized when paired with caricatures that harken back to the

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racist, racial color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a ...

images of the late 19th and 20th century. In 2002, the clothing retailer

Abercrombie & Fitch Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of Februar ...

faced controversy when it produced a series of T-shirts with buck-toothed images and wonton font slogans. The

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

were hit with backlash from the Asian community after a similarly offensive T-shirt was produced by an independent vendor in 2008. The questionable use of such fonts was the subject of an article in the ''Wall Street Journal'' by cultural commentator

Jeff Yang Jeff Yang () (born ) is an American writer, journalist, businessman, and business/media consultant who writes the ''Tao Jones'' column for ''The Wall Street Journal''. Previously, he was the "Asian Pop" columnist at the ''San Francisco Chronicle' ...

References

External links

History of the "chop suey" font
(2022) Typography Asian studies Chinoiserie Stereotypes of East Asians {{typography-stub