Summary
Joe allows Tess to stay in his apartment as hers is being fumigated, and he and Mel are covering the second presidential debate. Joe, Tess, and Mel criticize one another's performative humanitarianism and debate which president would be best for America. Their conversation sparks an idea for Joe, who realizes he can find Jimmy Wang through political donor records. Though he discovers Jimmy Wang donated to Hilary Clinton's campaign in 2008, he cannot find Jimmy's contact information. Despite ethical and legal issues, he suggests getting Senator Dubiecki to find the information.
Mel and Joe meet Frank in Washington Square Park, a New York landmark. There, Frank reveals that he used to camp out in the square to protest the Vietnam War, though his abilities and values have since changed. Frank then instructs Joe to "drop the story," as the newspaper's parent company wants to expand to China and does not want to publish anti-Chinese stories. Though Frank commiserates with Joe's frustration over censorship, he ultimately sides with his boss because he has to pay "a lot of medical bills" for his child's leukemia and cannot afford to lose his job.
Frank invites Joe to "hit" him, but Joe merely knocks the coffee from Frank's hand. After Frank leaves, Joe and Mel fight over their shared moral hypocrisy; during the discussion, Mel reveals Jimmy Wang's age and borough.
In Beijing, a businesswoman named Deng visits Zhang Lin to buy his refrigerator. Zhang Lin hints that the government's reported air quality index is inaccurate, which Deng quickly dismisses as anti-Chinese "corporate sabotage" led by "Americans trying to undermine" China's progress. When confronted with Ming Xiaoli's coughing, Deng insists that Ming Xiaoli metaphorically "has motion sickness" from living through such rapid changes.
Soon after, Ming Xiaoli dies, and her funeral is held in her apartment. Zhang Lin grows increasingly angry, believing that the Party's unwavering commitment to economic growth ultimately killed Xiaoli because manufacturing polluted Beijing's air to an unsurvivable degree. Further angered that Ming Xiaoli devoted her life to the Party's egalitarian values only to be killed by its obsession with growth, Zhang Lin decides to email his list of complaints to Joe, despite Zhang Lin's protests.
Joe corners Senator Dubiecki at a Metropolitan Opera House gala. He asks her to obtain Jimmy Wang's information, which she insists is "protected information." Joe blackmails Maria by threatening to release photos of her "wearing nothing but a Nixon T-shirt snorting cocaine off a cheerleader's wrist."
In Zhang Lin's apartment, Zhang Wei attempts to convince his brother not to email Joe, as Zhang Lin's email calls out specific Party members, including the owner of Zhang Wei's factory. Zhang Wei asks his brother about a particular word repeated throughout the email, which Zhang Lin dismissively states means "just means 'blood.'"
Analysis
Act Three explores the theme of moral hypocrisy as Joe begins to use unethical means to publish his story. Most glaringly, Joe blackmails Senator Maria Dubiecki to access protected donor information. Joe's actions are highly ironic, as he criticizes China's political corruption yet attempts to use privileged relationships with public servants to break the law for personal gain. His motives are also questioned as Tess, Frank, and Mel point out that Joe's obsession with the Tank Man is a desperate attempt to cling to relevance.
Frank illustrates a similar ironic moral hypocrisy. Before breaking the news that Joe's story will not be published, Frank discloses that he "slept in [the] square for a month when [he] was twenty-two" protesting the Vietnam War. This protest parallels the Tiananmen Square protests, where students and young people demanded governmental transparency. The timing of Frank's admission, right before asking Joe to "drop the story" to appease the newspaper's parent company, is highly ironic.
Frank furthers this hypocritical attitude by inviting Joe to hit him; when Joe knocks Frank's coffee out of his hands, a "dismal gesture," he criticizes "liberals," citing "too much spilled coffee, not enough split lips." By this, Frank means that "liberals," in his view, refuse to take decisive, high-risk actions, like physically harming an enemy, and settle for symbolic gestures. Again, Frank's statement is ironic because he bows to corporate pressure and laments his situation rather than publishing stories he knows are "right."
Frank explains that, since having a family, his values and priorities changed from being politically active to supporting his family financially. This means doing whatever his employer needs, and since they plan to expand to China, he must tailor the stories he runs accordingly. Similarly, Mel cannot match Joe's enthusiasm for unpaid investigative journalism since he has expensive alimony checks, which are money to support one's child, usually after a divorce. Frank and Mel's family lives are examples of the motif of children and child-free adults, as Joe's child-free lifestyle allows him to pursue controversial stories without worrying over financially supporting his family.
In Scene Four, Frank angrily calls Joe, who mailed a fish to Frank's office as petty revenge. Frank is angry, as the fish leaked on a desk given to him by controversial former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kissinger notably advised former President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, which Frank protested, and withdrew promised support from Taiwan to improve relations with the People's Republic of China. Thus, having Frank revere Henry Kissinger's desk demonstrates not only a corrupt relationship between American politicians and media but an ironic lack of self-awareness on Frank's part. Frank yells that he "will not bow to terrorism," meaning he will not publish Joe's story just because Joe pranks him. Ironically, Frank does allow his parent company's corporate interests to censor the stories he publishes.
Moral hypocrisy is not unique to the American characters in Chimerica. For example, Zhang Lin meets with Deng, a pro-Party businesswoman who scolds Zhang Lin for questioning the Party's air quality index. However, as Zhang Lin points out, Deng wears a face mask in the smog, demonstrating an apparent lack of trust in the Party's word, at least regarding her health. Similarly, Zhang Wei argues that smog is the cost of economic growth, which, from his perspective, inevitably leads to a higher quality of living. Zhang Lin points out that wealth is concentrated among those in power, just like in America. Ming Xiaoli dedicated her life to the Party's ideals, yet, at her funeral, "all her old friends from the Party" check "their Rolexes," desiring to leave. Rolexes, a luxury brand watch, symbolize corruption and imitation of America's hyper materialism. Zhang Lin poetically accuses Ming Xiaoli's friends of buying the Rolexes "with the shit from her lungs," meaning that Ming Xiaoli's suffering and death are the cost for Party leaders to enjoy excessive wealth.
