A San Francisco, 1983 march protesting the Vincent Chin injustice.
Courtesy of www.asianimprov.com

Coming to America

By Shirley Hsu

Upon picking up Iris Chang's newest book, about the history of the Chinese-American experience, I was surprised at her choice of wording in the title: "The Chinese In America: A Narrative History." Why she chose not to entitle it "The Chinese-Americans" puzzled me; the title seemed to emphasize the Chinese as an insular ethnic enclave separate from the rest of America. The title seemed only to reinforce the stereotype that the Chinese, instead of becoming Chinese-Americans, are forever self-segregating, refusing to assimilate into American society. They are never true red blooded, meat-and-potatoes Americans; they are stubbornly Chinese, lost in America.

Iris Chang, journalist and award-winning author. Courtesy of irischang.net

As I read on, however, I became engrossed in Chang's richly detailed accounts of the lives of these immigrants in the United States. Interspersing personal accounts and stories gathered from immigrants with meticulously researched history, Chang's book is a fascinating narrative of Chinese-Americans' long and often cruel struggle to make it in America. Author of the bestseller "The Rape of Nanking," Chang thoroughly documents the various waves of Chinese immigration-the early immigrants hoping to strike it rich on "Gold Mountain" during the California gold rush, the railroad workers laboring to connect the east and west coasts via a transcontinental railroad, the politically persecuted intellectuals seeking refuge from China's cultural revolution, and finally, the ever-steady stream of scientists, academics, students, businessmen, and laborers that continue to come to America in hopes of a better life.

Chang also documents the barriers that often blocked these immigrants from their dreams, as well as the resourcefulness they displayed in overcoming these barriers. For example, often harassed and terrorized by Caucasian miners unwilling to share the wealth, some Chinese would-be gold miners turned to another profitable business: laundering miners' clothing. Thus, the Chinese laundry was born. In the 1870s, with their tireless work ethic and willingness to take lower pay, the Chinese became the scapegoats for a nationwide depression. Latent xenophobia soon exploded into the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred new Chinese immigrants from American shores, inaugurating one of the worst eras of unchecked anti-Chinese racism in history. Still, they managed to smuggle themselves into the country, by migrating first to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean, or even by hiding in rice bins on America-bound steamers. Once arrived, they survived these decades of racist politics (which saw the enactment of increased taxes for Chinese-Americans) by adopting ethics of extreme frugality, often living in the back of their laundries. Many even saved enough to send money each month back to their villages in China.

Chang carefully balances accounts of gross social injustices with stories of individual successes and ingenuity, citing those who have made great contributions to American society: architect I.M. Pei, AIDS researcher Dr. David Ho, biologist M.C. Chang, and U.S. senator Hiram Fong, to name a few. Chang refutes the Chinese-as-passive-victims stereotype, emphasizing the community's cohesion in fighting back against social injustices, with descriptions of Chinese-Americans barricading San Francisco docks during the Sino-Japanese War to prevent ships loaded with scrap metal from reaching Japan (where it would be used to make ammunition to kill Chinese), or turning out in droves to protest the Vincent Chin tragedy.

Although many books have been written on the history of early Chinese immigration to America, Chang's is the first to take this history up to the present. The last few chapters are especially interesting as they offer insight into recent social trends, such as the phenomenon of "parachute children"-affluent Taiwanese children sent to attend school in America without their parents. These children often live unsupervised, albeit with large allowances sent from Taiwan, and became so common in the San Gabriel Valley area that in 1991, San Marino school district officials decreed that all students must live with legal guardians or close relatives, or face expulsion. The ending chapter also includes interesting insights into popular perceptions of Chinese-Americans, such as the "model minority" stereotype, and the notion that they do not participate in American politics. And finally, the last chapter explores the fear that, even today, Chinese-Americans are regarded as foreigners; for example, Chang writes, after American figure skater Michelle Kwan finished second to Tara Lipinski in the 1998 Olympics, MSNBC's headlines read, "American beats Kwan."

Iris Chang's capacity for outrage on behalf of her people is a little too intense at times; when describing the plight of Taiwanese-American students in American universities, Chang writes, "American food repulsed them. Many Taiwanese-Americans remember being half starved through their first term in graduate school because they could not stomach the meals. They described the horrors of barbecues, college cafeterias, and inauthentic Chinese restaurants in the United States…[One graduate student's wife wrote that] she almost threw up when served a dessert of cored apples stuffed with plum jam and coated in sugar, yet knew she was obligated to say, 'Delicious! Delicious!'" In addition to being a gross generalization, Chang's description of the plight of these students is a little over the top, especially when contrasted with the tremendous hardships of working-class Chinese-Americans described in the preceding chapters. For the most part, however, Chang's tendency to make generalizations based on the experiences of single individuals is offset by the sheer mass of historical information she provides.

Other minor annoyances include the occasional sweeping statements Chang makes outside her realm of authority; when explaining the early stigma surrounding Chinese-white romantic relationships, for example, Chang writes, "A great deal of racial antagonism is an expression of sexual anxiety. This goes back to humankind's earliest days, when tribal conflict often ended with men of the victorious tribe carrying off the women of the defeated tribe." These unsupported theories jerk the reader out of the generally well written prose, and make one wish that Chang would stick to her role as award-winning journalist rather than playing anthropologist.

On the whole, "The Chinese In America" is a fascinating must-read, not only for Chinese-Americans, but for anyone interested in what it means to be American. By the end of the book, even the title started to feel less offensive. I began to think of "The Chinese In America" not as a description of the Chinese people living in America, but as an affirmation of an inherent "Chinese-ness" ingrained in American culture. After all, America exists only as an amalgamation of different heritages, and it is certain that America would have lost a bit of "American-ness" without the Chinese.

August 1, 2003