Chinatown

Chinatown is the setting for a pivotal pause in Prince’s London tour with Mary Lamb / Amy Hide: in a vast, crowded restaurant, Prince turns their conversation toward Amy Hide’s history. The scene links a place where Mary confronts the significance of where people come from with the investigation into who she may be.

Setting and Visit

The restaurant spans a city block in Chinatown, with thousands of Chinese diners sharing the space. Its scale and crowd stand in contrast to Mary’s earlier assumption that a person’s place of origin mattered no more than such differences as height, hair, or luck. Here she recognizes that origins matter not only to individuals but also to a larger social balance.

Prince eats sweet food with the skilful use of knitting needles. Mary, by contrast, is too full to eat, although she has eaten little that day. She drinks tea and tries to prepare herself. The contrast makes the meal more than a pause for nourishment: for Mary, even the present has become difficult to take in.

The Conversation About Amy Hide

After the meal, Prince asks whether they should begin, and Mary nods. He asks what she knows about Amy Hide; Mary says that a photograph has told her enough. Prince explains that they know something of Amy’s actions and the people around her, and that one night she went too far before something happened whose precise nature remains uncertain. He then asks whether Mary understands what murder is.

The location thus frames the transition from observation to inquiry. The restaurant’s crowds and Mary’s newly sharpened awareness of origin lead into a conversation about the uncertain past behind her possible identity as Amy Hide. Chinatown is not presented as the answer to that mystery; it is where Prince begins to set out what is known and what remains unresolved.

Narrative Significance

The scene places a question of belonging beside a question of personal history. Mary’s recognition that origins have wider significance arrives just before Prince asks what she knows about Amy Hide, giving the discussion an immediate personal weight. Her fullness also marks a limit: she cannot simply consume the meal, or absorb the present without difficulty, while preparing to hear about a past that may be her own.