THE CHINESE IN AMERICA, Iris Chang, Penguin, 2003

This very readable and compelling account begins with an introduction
(pp. vii-xvi) noting the conditions at home and the US attractions that
led to migration (a hundred thousand plus to the California gold rush),
the discrimination encountered, the migration in the mid Twentieth
Century and the recent wave of migrants, the middleman role, Chinese
cultural traits (education, hard work, thrift, etc.), significant
contributions to the US and a sense of identity transcending popular
US belittling stereotypes.

Chapter One, "The Old Country: Imperial China in the Nineteenth
Century:" Westerners viewing traditional exotic China missed its great
diversity (distant nomads and Silk Road oases, Mongols, Tibetans, cold
Manchuria, warmer and more sophisticated lands southward -- all under
one millennia old script. Examinations produced literate leadership
local, provincial, imperial, this highest in nine ascending ranks).
Ports (e.g. Canton, Hong Kong, Shanghai), cosmopolitan centres, focused
most on wealth acquisition. Great inequalities existed. Western
impositions added oppressive rural taxes. Rebellions shook the Empire.
Emigration was a capital offence, yet conditions led millions to go.
Word came of gold in America.

Chapter Two, "America: A New Hope" (pp. 20-28): New and (ignoring
Natives) open land, America had an industrial Northeast, a slave
supported agricultural South and a frontier West. In the 1840s, Manifest
Destiny acquired California, etc. by force. There were movements to end
slavery and gain rights for women. Early Chinese in America were
curiosities even exhibited in museum and sideshow.

Chapter Three, "'Never Fear and You Will Be Lucky': Journey and Arrival
in San Francisco" (pp. 29-37): Unscrupulous "crimps" duped or abducted
many to be slaves. Many died en route, more in subhuman Latin American
plantations and mines. Relatively decent recruiters provided better
guidance. The Pacific voyage was harsh, even deadly. San Francisco, a
rough boomtown, also attracted intellectuals.

Chapter Four, "Gold Rushers on Gold Mountain" (pp. 38-52): Chinese
prospectors worked hard together. They used water wheels, dams and
irrigation trenches. They faced bandits and legal discrimination:
special taxes, denial of hospital services and invalidity of testimony
against Whites. Some became wealthy, returning or remaining. Most eked
out a living in San Francisco. Its first Chinese residents date to
1848. Grocery stores, restaurants, laundries, curio shops, etc quickly
sprang up. Chinese newspapers and theatre appeared. Rapid population
increase sparked xenophobia.

Chapter Five, "Building the Transcontinental Railway" (pp. 53-64): This
1860s project relied heavily on Chinese labour and ingenuity. "The
Chinese averaged four feet ten inches in height and weighed 120
pounds." p. 56 Yet, they outperformed all others, alone dared work with
nitroglycerine and at Cape Horn were lowered in wicker baskets to blast
a rail bed out of sheer rock face. Accidents and extreme weather
claimed countless lives. Eating more balanced meals, avoiding alcohol
and bathing daily largely spared them diseases afflicting their
co-workers. On project completion, many Chinese were stranded, refused
promised return to California.

Chapter Six, "Life on the Western Frontier" (pp. 65-92): American money
flowed to Guangdong sapping morale and stimulating expensive tastes.
Rebellions and local conflicts shook the area. In California, Chinese
became farmhands, in 1886 forming nearly ninety per cent of the state's
agricultural labour force. Chinese working in mosquito infested swamps,
reclaimed the Sacramento-San Joachim delta.

   The exact number of Chinese who died from disease, infection or
   overwork as they restored five million acres of boggy delta swamp-
   land was not recorded. Some landowners valued Chinese life less than
   that of their animals; in the flood of 1878, as Chinese workers cov-
   ered with mud and weighted down with sandbags, struggled to shore up
   levees, some farm owners dispatched boats upriver to rescue their
   stock but left the Chinese behind to scream at passing ships for
   help. But we do know what the Chinese did for the landowners: they
   not only reclaimed the land, an achievement that would have been
   impossible without their stubborn dedication to the task assigned
   them, but they also invented the "tule shoe" during the project, so
   that horses could be used in this environment. And after their work
   was done, a surveyor estimated that the land, which the owners had
   purchased from the federal government for as little as two or three
   dollars an acre, the land on which the Chinese had worked for about
   ten cents per cubic yard of soil moved, was now worth seventy-five
   dollars an acre. The combined value of Chinese labor on the
   railroads and tule swamps, two projects essential to California's
   growth, ran in the hundreds of millions. p. 73

Chinese workers were terribly exploited in American fish canneries.
Chinese fishermen in America faced discriminatory taxes and
regulations. Chinese workers formed a significant proportion of the new
San Francisco labour force. The Chinese organizational hierarchy peaked
with the Six Companies and later the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent
Association. Prostitution, endemic in the home economy ("the survival of
one in ten families depended on a daughter being prostituted" p. 81),
arrived in Chinatown with thousands of females forced to America as
prostitutes. Some women came to America as wives, some much confined at
home, some working with husbands in family businesses.

Chapter Seven, "Spreading Across America" (pp. 93-115): Southern
efforts to replace freed slaves with Chinese contract workers
encountered a people who understood contracts. White efforts to lump in
Chinese with Blacks and Natives met Chinese civilizational awareness.
In a background of corruption and glaring capitalist inequalities,
Chinese workers were used in Northeastern factories to oppose labour
unions, arrousing White apprehension. In 1854 Yung Wing graduated from
Yale. Later he encouraged the sending of 120 students to America, some
of whom went on to hold high posts in the Chinese Republic. Adaptation
began. Some married Whites, often Irish women. These marriages, mocked
by Whites, went well. Mixed offspring faced often undocumented identity
issues.

Chapter Eight, "Rumblings of Hatred" (pp. 116-129): Economic depression
in the 1870s unleashed anti-Chinese fervour. The "Heathen Chinee" poem
was widely popular. San Francisco passed anti-Chinese regulations.
Arson and murder occurred. In 1879 San Francisco made it a crime to
employ Chinese workers.

Chapter Nine, "The Chinese Exclusion Act" (pp. 130-156): In 1881
President Arthur vetoed an anti-Chinese immigration act. Public outrage
followed. He allowed the 1882 Exclusion Act. It was renewed in 1892 and
1902 becoming indefinite. Chinese residents were pressured with
violence to move.

   On the morning of November 3, 1885, hundreds of white men held good
   on their promise in a giant raid against the Tacoma Chinatown. They
   kicked down doors, dragged the occupants outside, and herded six
   hundred Chinese to the Northern Pacific Railroad station during a
   heavy rainstorm, where they kept them without shelter for the night.
   As a result, two men died from exposure and one merchant's wife went
   insane; the rest were rescued by the railroad, which transported them
   safely to Portland. pp. 132-133

Residence certificates were imposed even upon Chinese inhabitants of
Hawaii and the Philippines. In 1898 the US Supreme Court upheld
citizenship based on birth, but in 1905 ruled that even citizens could
be denied re-entry if they left the US. In 1899 alleged health concerns
led to quarantine in Hawaii and San Francisco.

   Soon, in contravention of the legal order, Chinatown was cordoned
   off by the police, barricaded and completely quarantined, while city
   officials talked about burning and razing it to the ground. It took
   the combined efforts of the Chinese Six Companies, their attorneys,
   the Chinese ethnic media, the local Chinese consul, and China's
   minister (ambassador) to the United States to break the quarantine
   and save the San Francisco Chinatown from total destruction.
   pp. 139-140

In 1905 an anti-American boycott spread throughout China. The US
pressured the Qing government to crush the boycott. The 1906 San
Francisco earthquake was an opportunity for Whites, even soldiers and
leading citizens, to loot Chinatown. With records destroyed, it also
permitted claims of US birth and citizenship, entitling citizenship to
even Chinese born offspring of these citizens. Suspicious at the high
number of such alleged children and the great imbalance of male to
female offspring claimed, immigration officials intensely questioned
them, after 1910 on the notorious Angel Island. There were many,
generally unsuccessful, raids for illegal immigrants.

Chapter Ten, "Work and Survival in the Early Twentieth Century"
(pp. 157-172): Conditions in China spawned reform and revolutionary
movements active even in North America. Sun Yatsen, popular in America,
became China's first president in 1911. Warlords undermined the
Republic. California in 1913 prohibited Asians from owning land. Low
paid farm labourers gradually left for towns and cities. Many Chinese
worked in restaurants innovating such foods as chow mein and fortune
cookies. Chinese herbalists, active in the US since 1858, were popular
with White patients. Chinese did well in Southern retail, and Joe
Shoong's National Dollar Stores made him a very wealthy Californian.
Many Chinese toiled in laundries, supporting relatives in China who had
no concept of how the money coming to them was earned.

Chapter Eleven, "A New Generation is Born" (pp. 173-198): There were
relatively few Chinese women in America. Female immigration trickled,
stopping completely in 1924. Chinese struggled against deprivation of
education and then segregated schools, legal until 1954.

   An unwritten rule was that they could enroll if the local community
   did not object--a situation that doubtless encouraged the ethnic
   Chinese students to be docile, respectful, and studious. This
   strategy could backfire, however, when high academic achievement
   inflamed white envy. In 1905, a group of white parents at Washington
   Grammar School in San Francisco insisted that four Chinese students,
   all academic superstars, were cheating by secretly exchanging
   answers in Chinese during tests. The students were separated during
   the next exam, but they still achieved the four top scores in the
   class. Undeterred, the white parents then complained to the Board of
   Education, which removed the four boys from the school altogether.
   p. 178

US born Chinese faced identity issues, generational differences, such
as attitudes to spouse selection and dating. The new generation felt
the impact of popular culture and prejudice. Even university graduates
faced hurdles, intensified for women. Some overcame these. Upward
mobility occurred and some remarkable achievements.

Chapter Twelve, "Chinese America During the Great Depression"
(pp. 199-214): The Stock Market crash and Great Depression had less
direct impact on frugal, community centred Chinese. Less money was
spent on Chinese services. Discriminatory efforts (for example, against
New York Laundries) were vigorously resisted. Efforts to promote
tourism in Chinatowns included acting out stereotypes. Hollywood
continued its racial portrayals with Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan movies.
When star villainess Anna May Wong was denied a favourable role in THE
GOOD EARTH, she remarked.

   "You're asking me--with my Chinese blood--to do the only
   unsympathetic role in the picture, featuring an all-American cast
   portraying Chinese characters." p. 209

US born Chinese going to China experienced culture shock.

Chapter Thirteen, "'The Most Important Historical Event of Our Times':
World War II" (pp. 215-235): Japan brought war to China and much
suffering. Chinese Americans raised money for China, publicized the war,
organized a boycott on war material exported to Japan and served as
desperately needed Chinese pilots. Pearl Harbour gained Chinese great
sympathy, and ended the Exclusion Act. Many Chinese Americans enlisted;
many others worked in defence factories. Many gained a sense of American
identity. Some six thousand Chinese American servicemen brought Chinese
brides to the US.

Chapter Fourteen, "'A Mass Inquisition': The Cold War, the Chinese Civil
War, and McCarthyism" (pp. 236-260): The Communist victory and Korean
War made Chinese Americans suspected traitors. Top scientist Tsien
Hsue-shen, deprived of his security clearance, was arrested as a spy
for trying to leave the US with secret code books that were in fact
logarithmic tables. Through the 50s, Chinese families moved into the
suburbs encountering xenophobia.

Chapter Fifteen, "New Arrivals, New Lives: The Chaotic 1960s"
(pp. 261-282): Integration into the mainstream, moves from Chinatowns
continued. Those left met new refugees flooding the cheap labour pool,
exacerbating exploitation. Substandard housing, high disease, suicide,
gang violence prevailed. The Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War
ignited some Chinese American activism. Asian American studies programs
emerged. Other good causes were fought and won. Contact occurred with
other minority activists. Some remained involved, others, in time,
flowed into normal life. Intellectuals, more internationally minded,
felt assured anywhere. Some (e.g. I.M. Pei, An Wang, Chin Yang Lee,
Tsung-Dao Lee, Chen-ning Yang, Jian Xiong Wu) made it economically.

Chapter Sixteen, "The Taiwanese Americans" (pp. 283-311): Many fled the
Communists to Taiwan, an easy going tropical island with an agricultural
based economy. The Nationalist Chinese government imposed totalitarian
rule and stimulated rapid industrialization. Many youths competed
fiercely for the opportunity to study in the US. Nationalist authorities
monitored students in America. It was safer to study hard, live frugally
and send money home. Many remained in the US in higher class employment
and residence, some making outstanding contributions to US science,
engineering and computers. US rapproachment with China and defeat in
Vietnam caused great apprehension on Taiwan.

Chapter Seventeen, "The Bamboo Curtain Rises; Mainlanders and Model
Minorities" (pp. 312-333): During the 1980s, 80,000 Mainland scholars
came to the US. News of Mao's excesses shocked many; toiling for low pay
in America disappointed Chinese.

   During the Reagan years, the wealthiest one per cent of Americans
   almost doubled their share of the national income, and the four
   hundred richest Americans almost tripled their financial worth...

   Simultaneously, a host of new problems began to plague the inner
   cities and small towns of America, exacerbated by deep cuts in
   federal spending on social programs. p. 318

Economic consequences of rampant Right Wing policies contributed to such
racist outbreaks as the brutal murder of Vincent Chin. The injustice of
letting the killers off with a modest fine created an outrage. Taiwan
agents murdered an author in the US in 1982, further discouraging
political activism. There was continued successful involvement in the
high tech industry (e.g. by David Lam, David Wang, John Tu, David Sun,
Pehong Chen and Charles Wang). Arrival of brash businessmen and their
conspicuous consumption met disapproval, even from more established and
low key Chinese. US Chinese youth had substantial impact in education,
especially in Engineering. Discriminatory entrance procedures occurred.

Chapter Eighteen, "Decade of Fear: The 1990s" (pp. 334-347): The 1999
suppression of protestors and the looming 1997 date for the return of
Hong Kong to Mainland administration propelled many privileged in Hong
Kong to emigrate. Canada was the preferred destination, the US third,
after Australia. There was migration. There were children placed an
ocean apart from parents and "astronaut" husbands commuting to work
across the Pacific, with some problems from such arrangements.

Chapter Nineteen, "High Tech vs. Low Tech" (pp. 348-388): There was key
Chinese involvement in Internet expansion (e.g. Jerry Yang co-founder of
Yahoo and Morris Chang, "founder and chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Corporation" p. 352). Many more skilled workers were
allowed into the US, but now limited to six year's residence. Companies
exploited high tech workers.

Prominent Right Wing circles targeted China as a coming threat. There
were outrages:

   In 1992, the NASA Ames Research Center fired Raymond Luh, an
   aerospace engineer and immigrant from Taiwan, for possessing, "a
   paper with Chinese writing on it." p. 357

Other cases included abuses against Wen Ho Lee. These resulted in a
class action racism suite against Los Alamos National Laboratory and
Chinese boycotting of that lab.

China's one child policy generated many unwanted girls, some 30,000 of
whom were matched with adopting US parents, who then met White racism.

Illegal immigration, estimated at from ten thousand to one hundred
thousand, involved high payment to criminal organizations, lengthy
journeys, during which some died, abuse from gangsters, and exploitation
as toiling workers, many supporting the US garment industry. Some paid
off debts and became upwardly mobile. As in earlier generations, money
sent home enriched relatives.

Chapter Twenty, "An Uncertain Future" (pp. 389-403): Chinese came to the
USA, contributed enormously and made it their home. Discrimination
against them continues, highlighted by the outrageous reaction, even by
prominent people and the media, during the 2001 spy plane incident. The
US falls short of meeting its inclusiveness ideal. US Chinese, as all,
need to strive towards that goal.

Reviewer's Comment: This highly talented author's third book underlines
the enormous loss her so premature death inflicts. The book is not
perfect, suggesting that Taiwan lacked a name before the Portuguese came
and incorrectly not including Canada in NATO. Yet, it is a very good
illumination of the fact of enormous Chinese contribution to the
development of the USA and the fact of severe racism encountered by
Chinese in the US.

This reviewer notes the book's basic thought of Chinese being accepted
as Americans, when the present age calls for a higher, global and human
identity. It is not enough for Chinese, or any other minority, to become
included in an American nation; the American nation, as all others,
lives upon one planet too long abused by primacy accorded to factional
identities, including national identities. An over-arching human
awareness is a better cure for racism, nationalism and all other
segmented excuses for inhuman atrocities. Perhaps, had she lived a
normal lifetime she too would have communicated this global
consciousness.

Michael McKenny November 2005 C.E.


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