Chinese Groove

The Chinese Groove is a unique motif in which Shelley believes that fellow countrymen- regardless of how far removed they are from their ancestors- are bound by intrinsic cultural expectations and compassion. This drives much of Shelley’s interactions with others because he believes in that natural understanding beyond everything else.

Shelley defines the Chinese Groove as a kind of “knowledge, passed wordlessly through the ages and residing in the bones” (10). Essentially, the Chinese Groove is an innate feeling between Chinese countrymen to help each other without acknowledging the struggles of the other. He shows this in action by telling the reader a story from his childhood where a man offered him a free drink. Shelley says, “The drink couldn’t have been free, and yet the gentleman told me it was so that I could accept it without embarrassment over the fact that I...