He Xiangyu: Lemon Project—Sources

Same as other works (e.g. videos) in the Lemon Project, this piece is also based on the historical facts from the research on lemon and yellow. In California, when the early stages of the Gold Rush passed, the Chinese were forced to leave mining jobs by restrictions like the Foreign Miner’s Tax to take on other low-wage jobs, many of them were working at the Limoneira citrus ranch. At that time, this group was called “Chinese Lemon Pickers”. In the spring of 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur in response to the deteriorative public opinion against the Chinese. The Act made it impossible for the Chinese immigrant workers to reenter the U.S. should they return home. It also excluded them from obtaining US citizenship. In this way, many of them were forbidden to rejoin with their families back at home or starting families there, the Chinese became increasingly isolated in the United States. As the number of Chinese immigrant workers declined, they were replaced by immigrant workers from Japan, and then, by those from Mexico.

In Christianity, fruit from the tree is often a metaphor for the human life. Ironically, just like the fruit, both the history and the human beings in history are consistently being “picked”. The empty basket, which is supposed to be full of lemons; and the rotten lemons, which are permanently “preserved” at this moment of decay, are the metaphor for the history that is still present.