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The Chinese takeout box embodies versatility--cheap yet filling, a workday hustle and weekend indulgence, gathering together or eating alone--and guess what? It is an American invention.
A Three-Step Guidance for Making a Takeout Pail "Chinese"
01
A Plain Carton
02
A Red Pagoda
03
A Faux-Chinese Text
01
The making of a Chinese takeout pail begins with a single piece of white cardboard, held by a wire handle with no seams or glue.
In1894, the paper pail was created and patented by Frederick W. Wilcox, an American designer based in Chicago. This design dates back to as early as 19th century America, where the oyster industry used similarly shaped wooden receptacles to transport raw oysters. Many Chinese restaurants grew their delivery and take-out businesses to the paramount need for convenience because of the post-WWII suburban migration wave. The pail’s design—leakage-proof, heat-insulating, disposable, portable, and cheap—quickly earned its popularity among Chinese restaurants.
02
The transformation happens here!
It is the pagoda, the red tower, that made a plain carton “Chinese.”
The red pagoda in San Fransisco's Japanese tea garden
Image: Andrea D. Kaufman
Have you ever wondered, why a red pagoda?
A San Francisco designer who worked for Foldpak, the largest takeout pail producer in the US, created the iconic four-story pagoda design in the 1970s. The Chinese pagoda traces its origin to the stupa, a Buddhist structure that enshrined holy relics. A pagoda acted as a conduit to enact ritual efficacy, to ascend religious devotion through the vertical rise. Unlike the four-story pagoda seen on the box, Chinese pagodas always have odd-number stories, as the number “four” in China signals inauspiciousness.
Here, the pagoda seems to have a stronger resemblance to a Japanese wooden pagoda, usually painted in red. No surprise that the designer might have drawn inspiration from the five-story red pagoda in the well-known Japanese tea garden constructed for San Francisco’s world’s fair in 1894. This generic design erases any geographical, cultural, and historical nuances. Such a non-European appearance with its ambiguous origin(s) could be appropriated according to any beholder’s imagination. Meanwhile, the red fence surrounding the tower in the design guards the tower while keeping the viewing at a safe distance, warding off any specific, potential threats spreading from a constructed exotic structure.
03
Finally, don't forget to put on the faux-Chinese texts.
The “Enjoy” and “Thank you” texts, rendered in a quite mischievous and playful font, again ensures an exotic experience without leaving the comfort and familiarity of home. As one opens the box, the appetizing oriental fragrance obscures the insidious foreignness: no worries, just simply enjoy!
