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The Chinese in America: A Narrative History |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hawaii History > Item 166
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The Chinese in America: A Narrative History
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by Iris Chang
Sales Rank: 339923
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List Price: $17.00
$11.56
At Amazon
on 9-14-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
Published by: Penguin Non-Classics March 30, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0142004170
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0142004173
Book Dimensions:
7.8 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
Weighs: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
In this outstanding study of the Chinese-American community, the author surpasses even the high level of her bestselling Rape of Nanking. The first significant Chinese immigration to the United States came in the 1850s, when refugees from the Taiping War and rural poverty heard of "the Golden Mountain" across the Pacific. They reached California, and few returned home, but the universally acknowledged hard work of those who stayed and survived founded a great deal more than the restaurants and laundries that formed the commercial core-they founded a new community. Chinese immigrants building the Central Pacific Railroad used their knowledge of explosives to excavate tunnels (and discourage Irish harassment). Chinese workers also married within the Irish community, spread across America and survived even the racist Chinese Exclusion Act of 1880, which lost much of its impact when San Francisco's birth records were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906 and no one could prove that a human being of Chinese descent was not native born. Chang finds 20th-century Chinese-Americans navigating a rocky road between identity and assimilation, surviving new waves of immigrants from a troubled China and more recently from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Many Chinese millionaires maintain homes on both sides of the Pacific, while "parachute children" (Chinese teenagers living independently in America) are a significant phenomenon. And plain old-fashioned racism is not dead-Jerry Yang founded Yahoo!, but scientist Wen Ho Lee was, according to Chang, persecuted as much for being Chinese as for anything else. Chang's even, nuanced and expertly researched narrative evinces deep admiration for Chinese America, with good reason.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Chang is the author of the best-selling Rape of Nanking (1997), a very disturbing but well-prepared and necessary account of the sacking of that important Chinese city by the Japanese army in the late 1930s. Her writerly acumen is again in evidence in her latest book, which, in her words, tells an epic story--and, indeed, it is shown to be exactly that. Her purview is wide: the immigration of Chinese people to the U.S. from the early nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Chinese immigration falls naturally into three waves: those who came here to be laborers during the days of the California gold rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad, those who came to escape the 1949 Communist takeover, and those who came in the 1980s and 1990s as relations between China and the U.S. eased somewhat. The reasons why the Chinese came to the U.S. are only half the story; the other half consists of what they did here and how they were received. But this is not just a bland narration of events. Chang threads personal stories of individuals she came across in her research into her book, making it a much more human account. A final chapter looks at possible future definitions of racial identity. This is history at its most dramatic and relevant, and the book deserves all the attention it undoubtedly will receive. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
Before I start commenting on this book, let me mention my own background: I came to America from Hong Kong when I was 18, and only recently became a naturalized American citizen. I have lived in America for 15 years. I came across The Chinese In America first because a white friend who adopted a Chinese girl recommended the book to me. Since I have little interest in history, I was reluctant to read it at first; but a few pages later I was engrossed by the book. In history classes in college I learned a little bit about the Chinese building rail roads and the Exclusion Act, but not much more. This book gave much more detail and is so well written that I had no trouble reading it to the end. I am sure my being Chinese helped spark the interest in a subject I normally don't care about. When I was done, I was so impressed with the book that I ordered a copy from amazon.com so that my kids can read it when they grow up. I think most of the book is accurate, but there are some errors. For example, the book mentioned the Imperial Examination in China as being initiated by the Ching (Manchurian) emperors. I am quite certain that's not true. That Exam's been around for thousands of years, as a lot of ancient literature mention it, such as the famed Journey to the West, whose background was set back in the Tang Dynasty. Ms. Chang's point was that the Manchurians used the Imperial Exams to control the Chinese people, and her attitude towards them is clearly hostile. But the Manchurians are also considered Chinese these days, so it seems ludicrous that a historian should be incensed about a 400 year old injury. Throughout the book, Ms. Chang's sense of hostility towards the non-Chinese Americans (meaning white) is quite apparent, and her emphasis is always on the prejudice and suppression of the Chinese American. Her sense of resentment becomes blatant as her time frame draws to the modern day for which I also have personal experience. The prejudicial practices she describes are at best frivolous and ambiguous, and when you really think about it, you realize they are merely daily difficulties that every race faces in this country, or any other country. In my personal experience, during the last 15 years in America, I cannot think of a single incidence I experienced that can be classified as "prejudice." I have met jerks in this country, no doubt; but they were jerks just because that's who they are, not because of me. I have never had any conclusive evidence demonstrating that someone mistreated me just because of my skin color. I think if anything, the Americans think overly highly of the Chinese. I have heard so many times the statement "Chinese people are so smart," a statement I know to be not always true. There are plenty of idiots in China too, just like any other country. Despite all the faults, this book is fast paced, fact-filled and engrossing, unlike the dreary history books I ploughed through in school. I want my kids to know the history of the Chinese Americans, and also to learn how not to have a victim mentality that this book demonstrates. I think every Chinese American should read it to learn about what happened to the Chinese people who came here before them. And even if you are not Chinese, you will still find this book difficult to put down. It will definitely provide a glimpse of the mentality of Chinese and other minority groups in this country. A good, interesting history book is hard to find, and Ms Chang is very definitely gifted in writing.
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The Chinese in America: A Narrative History
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Updated on 9-14-2008.
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