Gail M Baugniet - Author : paniolo

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Charlie Chan in Chinatown #AtoZChallenge2021

My interest in researching Charlie Chan springs from several sources: passion for reading and writing mysteries; dispatch training with HPD; eagerness to frequent the Halekulani open-air restaurant House Without a Key; and one of my Flat Stanley tours around Honolulu. As Novel Research, my theme for AtoZChallenge2021 suggests, some of my research projects conform to the definition of the "word" novel as an adverb: different, odd, or unusual.

Local lore records the birth of the fictional character Charlie Chan, who appears in the mystery novels written by author Earl Derr Biggers. After Mr. Biggers, a Harvard graduate, visited Honolulu, he read about a real-life Honolulu police detective named Chang Apana. Mr. Biggers then decided to write a story set in Honolulu in which one of its characters, influenced by Honolulu Police Detective First Class Apana, was named Charlie Chan.

Charlie Chan

Chang Apana, known by the localized version of his Chinese name Chang Ah Ping, was born on the Island of O’ahu in 1871. He spoke fluent Hawaiian but never learned to read. As a paniolo, Hawaiian cowboy, he regularly carried a bullwhip. Later he joined the police force as its only Chinese member.

The key on display at
Honolulu Police Department

Detective Chang patrolled areas of Chinatown, working on opium-smuggling and gambling cases. He also helped find people with leprosy who were then transported to the colony on Molokai. One story has the detective rounding up forty gamblers and marching them to the police station, with only his bullwhip for backup. (The below photo of a photograph of Detective Chang was taken at the Chinatown Satellite Police Station when I was doing a "Flat Stanley" tour for a friend.)

Earl Derr Biggers changed the racial stereotype of Chinese characters to less resemble villains like Fu Manchu. His first novel, The House Without A Key, is set in Honolulu. The restaurant of the same name, in the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach, faces the Pacific Ocean with a beautiful view of the volcanic landmark, Diamond Head.