There’s another thing on my emergency writing list that Yeeshan Yang’s book brings to mind.

When I first went to Beijing I stayed in a spectacular hotel that topped a place called “Oriental Plaza.”  The subtitle to Ms. Yang’s book is “an oriental fantasy about a Tibetan little nun” (emphasis added).

Oriental.

We’re not allowed to say “oriental” in America unless we’re talking about rugs.  Why?  Why if there’s an “Oriental Plaza” in the heart of Beijing, which is, like, in the Orient, why, if Ms. Yang, who is a very attractive Chinese woman, uses the term in the title of her book, why is it politically incorrect in America?

Because of Edward Said.

Edward Said was a Palestinian who in 1978 wrote a book called “Orientalism” which argued that the term reflected historical prejudice by Westerners toward Arabs and Muslims.  Okay, first of all, wrong: Americans do not use “Oriental” to refer to Arabs and Muslims, Americans use “terrorist.”  Second, what did Said’s book have to do with the price of tea in China?  How did that book make it politically incorrect to use “Oriental” when referring to Chinese, Japanese, or Vietnamese people?

I don’t know.

Said’s book did not alter discourse in England, which is, like, where Americans got the English language. Only in America.

So yeah, that was on my list.