The Chinese in America
Page 54
Within the historical profession, it was a great privilege to know Him Mark Lai, a scholar of rare and admirable spirit, a man whom I consider to be the father of Chinese American studies. Like many others, I stand in complete awe of his encyclopedic knowledge and tireless dedication to his life’s work. His mastery of both Chinese- and English-language sources has enabled him to pioneer this field as a historical discipline, and this book, largely a synthesis of previous research, rests on the foundation of his knowledge. Him Mark Lai spent several hours with me to discuss the broad outlines and themes of Chinese American history, and I treasured our conversations immensely.
L. Ling-chi Wang, head of the ethnic studies department at the University of California at Berkeley, veteran activist, and a spokesman for the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition, steered me to his excellent research on Chinese American history in the Asian American Collection of Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies Library. At various academic conferences over the years, I learned much from his discussions of Chinese America in the context of the political struggle for American civil liberties. Always at these forums, I was both inspired by him and honored to be associated with him, because of his passionate commitment to Asian American scholarship and the future of human rights.
In Washington, D.C., John Taylor, a friend and cherished fixture at the National Archives for more than half a century, was one of the best allies an author could hope for. Compassionate and knowledgeable, profoundly wise and endlessly helpful, John Taylor played a special role in helping me research this book, just as he did for my first two books, and my research benefited from his vast experience.
I was lucky to have the help of other important experts as I gathered source materials. Roger Daniels e-mailed me his extensive bibliography of references. Suellen Cheng and her husband, Munson Kwok, at the Museum of Chinese American History (now renamed the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles) assisted me in countless ways as I conducted research in the museum archives and oral history collection. Peggy Spitzer Christoff graciously showed me her database of case files from the National Archives in Chicago, which traced the lives of Chinese immigrants in the Midwest. Douglas Knox generously shared with me his unpublished paper based on research conducted at the University of Chicago. Neil Thomsen, formerly with the National Archives Records Administration at San Bruno, gave me copies of the most intriguing historical documents he had found during his long career there. Wei Chi Poon, the Asian American Studies Collection specialist at Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies Library, helped me immeasurably in the early stages of my research and handled all of my inquiries with her cheerful and efficient manner. Bruce Nichols at the Immigration and Naturalization Service opened his voluminous files for my review. My friend Marian Smith, a historian for the INS, not only offered insightful commentary as this book evolved, but deciphered for me the mysteries of outdated immigration indexing systems, which gave me access to records at the National Archives that had not been ordered for decades. Victor Mar of the Chinese Historical Society of Greater San Diego sent me a short biography of Ah Quin—a nineteenth-century merchant—and photocopies of Ah Quin’s handwritten diary, which exceed 1,500 pages. Lack of space prevented inclusion of Ah Quin in this book, but it was stunning for me to see, in the pages of this diary, Ah Quin’s remarkable transformation, first from cook to servant, and then from labor recruiter to capitalist.
The perspective of other writers and journalists also strengthened this book. Amy Tan and Connie Chung were generous with their time when I interviewed them. Novelist May-lee Chai, whom I had befriended during our days at the Associated Press, shared her beautifully written editorials and heartfelt opinions on Chinese America, ethnic profiling, and the mixed-race experience. Sam Chu Lin, a broadcast pioneer in the Chinese American community, made copies for me of the audiotape and film interviews he had conducted with his family, which greatly enriched this book as well as my understanding of the Chinese in the South. I will always remember our spirited discussions on Chinese American history, along with his bittersweet and often humorous reminiscences of his youth in Mississippi. Best-selling author Edward Epstein offered memorable conversations and wise counsel as I launched into this project. Helen Zia, civil rights activist and author of Asian American Dreams, provided an insider’s perspective on the gradual evolution of the Chinese American community as a modern political force. As the co-author of My Country Versus Me, an autobiography of Wen Ho Lee, Helen Zia also gave me the rare opportunity to sit down with Dr. Lee at a private dinner, to learn more about his ordeal in the hands of the U.S. government.
Certain individuals and institutions deserve special thanks for their timely response to requests for information: the Arizona Historical Society; Kevin O’Sullivan at AP Wide World News; the California State Library; Ellen Halteman, librarian at the California State Railroad Museum; the Chinese Historical Society; Clarence Chu of the Dai Loy Museum in Locke, California; Valerie Zars at Getty Images/Hulton Archive; Sally Stassi at the Historic New Orleans Collection; Elena S. Danielson and Ronald M. Butaloff at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives; the Idaho State Historical Society; Michael Shulman at Magnum Photos; the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA); the Oregon Historical Society; Murray Lee, curator of Chinese American history in the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum; the University of Washington archive; and Robert Fisher, collections manager of the Wing Luke Asian Museum.
Closer to home, my part-time assistants, Connie Amarel and Carol Lagorio, typed thousands of facts into my database and transcribed my taped interviews during the research phase of this book. I can never thank them enough for their hard work.
Other people offered invaluable suggestions, or assisted in ways too numerous to recount here: Steven Aftergood, Shirley Awana, Bob Barde, Ralph Ben-nett, Ronnie Chan, Gilbert Chang, Kuo-hou Chang, Morris Chang, Pamela Chang, Wen-hsuan Chang, Rosalind Chao, Anna Chennault, William Chew, Ko-lin Chin, Christine Choy, Frank Cowsert, Kent Dedrick, Ignatius Ding, Stella Dong, Phoebe Eng, Bernadine Chuck Fong, Kenneth Fong, Scott Forsythe, Dina Gan, Gloria Hom, Genevieve Hom-Franzen, Tony Hsieh, Carl Hsu, Chih-ming Hu, Kaimeng Huang, Liberty Huang, Liwen Huang, Susana Huang, Victor Hwang, Kay Johnson, Herb and Diana Kai, Joseph M. Kamen, Paula Kamen, Amy Orfield Kohler, George Koo, Stewart Kwoh, Peter Kwong, Ann Lau, Amy Leang, Corky Lee, C. Y. Lee, Robert Lee, Jennie F. Lew, Ronald Lew, Marvin Lewis, Christina Li, Dick Ling, Sara Lippincott, Haiming Liu, Dale Louie, Steve Louie, Sonia Mak, Barbara Masin, Barbara Morgenroth, James Motlow, Willard H. Myers, Franklin Ng, Patrick O’Connor, Ron Osajima, Ching Peng, Wena Poon, Richard Rongstad, Lisa See, Jean H. Seeley, Charles Shao, Charlie Sie, Lillian Sing, Betty Lee Sung, C. B. Sung, Julie Tang, Douglas Wachter, Anna Wang, David Wang, Dorothy Wang, Tow Wang, Jim Weaver, Priscella Wegers, Eugene Wei, Ben Wong, Cy Wong, Joel Wong, Jeannie Woo, S. B. Woo, Carolyn Wu, Judy Wu, Stephen Wunrow, Noelle Xi, Swallow Yan, Jeff Yang, Linda Tsao Yang, John Yee, Alice Young, Renqiu Yu, Frank Yung, Karen Yung, Richard Yung, and Nancy Zhang.
Without the support and encouragement of my family, this book would not have been possible. My husband, Brett, gave me his wisdom, patience, and love—the hallmarks of his character that have nurtured and sustained me for more than a decade. My brother, Michael Chang, read a portion of the manuscript before publication and offered his unique perspective. Many thanks go to my uncle Shau-yen Chang, for narrating in vivid detail the story of my family’s escape from mainland China during the 1949 Communist revolution; my uncle Cheng-cheng Chang, for his recollections of immigrant student life in the United States during the 1960s; and my uncle S. G. Tyan, for kindly lending me Chinese-language literature on the subject of high-tech development in Taiwan. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents, whom I can never repay. They were the ones who first made me proud to be Chinese American.
INDEX
activism of Chinese Americans . See also legal action by Chinese
actors
adoption
African Americans: Chinese American
s and; civil rights movement ; life expectancy; racism against. See racism, anti-African American; slavery of
agents, theatrical
Ah Lum
Ah Sam
Ah Sin (Harte and Twain)
Ah Toy
Alien Land Act (1913)
American Bureau for Medical Aid to China
American 14th Air Service Group
American Friends of China
American Medical Association
Amoy
Angel Island
Anglo names
Arthur, Chester
Asian American Dreams (Zia)
Asian Americans. See also specific groups:
Chinese Americans and; land ownership by; racism against
Asian Americans for Affirmative Action (4-A)
Asian American studies
Au, Yat-Pang
Autry Museum of Western Heritage
baby boom
Bancroft, Hubert H.
Bannock Indians
Barnum, Phineas T.
Barron, Milton L.
Bayard, Thomas Francis
Beijing
Beijing University
Bemis, Polly and Charlie
Bertillon system
Biggers, Earl Derr
Bigler, John
bilingual education
Bing, William Der
Bliss, A. Henry
Boggs, Grace Lee
Boggs, James
Borthwick, J. D.
Boxer Rebellion (1900)
boycott of American goods by China
brokers, immigration
brothels
Brown, S. R.
Brown University
Brown v. Board of Education
Buck, Pearl
Bunker, Chang and Eng
burial rites
Burke, Lloyd
Burlingame, Anson
Burlingame, Fanny
Burlingame Treaty (1868)
Bush, George H. W
Bush, George W
businessmen
Cable Act (1922)
Cai, Nengying
California. See also specific cities; specific counties; Alien Land Act (1913) ; census figures; Chinese immigration to; Committee on Mines and Mining; commutation tax ; competition for jobs in; Criminal Proceeding Act; departure of Chinese from; education in ; employment of Chinese in; Fair Employment Practice Commission ; as Gold Mountain; gold rush. See gold rush and gold rushers; Great Depression and; journey to; laws, anti-Chinese ; numbers of Chinese in; Proposition ; racial quotas in; racism in. See racism, anti-Chinese; School Law of 1870; settling of; slavery in; statehood of; taxation of foreign miners by; women in
California Institute of Technology
Cameron, Donaldina
Canada
canning industry
Canton
Carter, Jimmy
census
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Central Pacific Railroad Corporation
Chae Chan Ping v. United States
Chan, Charlie
Chan, Ronnie
Chan Chung Wing
Chang, Cheng-Cheng
Chang, Gordon
Chang, Jung
Chang, Min-Chueh
Chang, Morris
Chang, Sam
Chang Yitang Chao, Elaine
Chao, Rosalind
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Chen, Kuan Nan “Johnny,”
Chen, Lawrence
Chen, Lilac
Chen, Pehong
Cheng, S. J. Benjamin
Chen Ke
Chen Lanbing
Chennault, Anna
Chen Wencheng
Chen Yuxi
Chern, Sing-Shen
Cheung, Katherine
Chew, Beng
Chew, Ng Poon
Chew, Thomas Foon
Chew, William Chiang, Joseph
Chiang Kai-shek
Chicago
Chicago Tribune
children: American-born. See Chinese American(s) and American-born Chinese (ABCs); in China ; foreign-born, citizenship right for ; girls, adoption of; of Hong Kong immigrants; identity crises of; indoctrination of; mixed-race; one-child policy; racism against, effects of; return to Fujian province of; smuggling of ; in Taiwan; Taiwanese “parachute,” ; working
Chin, James W
Chin, Ko-lin
Chin, Lily
Chin, Vincent
Chin, Won-Loy
China. See also People’s Republic of China (PRC); Republic of China; specific cities; specific provinces: American capital banned in; Boxer Rebellion (1900) ; boycott of American goods in; civilization of; civil service system; civil war; clothing customs; Communist Party; Communist Revolution (1949) ; concession areas; corruption of; Cultural Revolution (1966-76); culture of; decline as world power; diversity of; education in; emigration policies of; employment of American-born Chinese in; ethnic minorities; examinationsservice ; First Sino-Japanese War; food supplies; geography of; Gold Mountain families. See Gold Mountain families; government of. See also Qing dynasty; Hundred Days’ Reform Movement (1898); inland; isolation of; Japanese aggression toward; life expectancy in; Long March (1934); May Fourth movement (1919); merchant class in ; as meritocracy; Nationalists. See National People’s Party (Kuomintang); Northern Expedition (1926-28); opium trade in; peasant life. See peasants and peasant life; People’s Republic of. See People’s Republic of China (PRC); population of; port cities. See also specific cities; poverty in; prisons; professional class; prosperity in; rebellions in ; recruitment of workers in; Red Turban rebellion (1853); Republic of; ruling class ; Sino-Japanese War; study of, in American schools; travel in; United States and, relations between. See Sino-American relations; U.S. military in; wealth and upper classes in; western; Western concepts of; working class; written language of
China Daily News
Chinatown, Chicago’s
Chinatown, New York’s
Chinatown, San Francisco’s; architecture of; businesses in ; Chinese civil war and;
conditions in; earthquake of 1906 and; living conditions;
nightclubs; origins of;
prostitution in; quarantine of ; tourism in
Chinatowns. See also specific Chinatowns; Chinese civil war and ; decline of; East Coast; exodus from; government surveillance of; Great Depression, effect on; high rents in ; myths about; numbers of; old versus new immigrants in ; Taiwanese and; violence in
China Workers Mutual Aid Association
China World
China Youth Club
Chinese: as “black,” ; concepts of United States held by ; as sideshow curiosities; slavery of; travel by
Chinese American(s) and American-born Chinese (ABCs). See also immigrants, Chinese; Taiwanese Americans and immigrants; as activists ; African Americans and; ancestry of; Asian Americans and; assimilation of ; author’s experience as ; China and, relation between ; citizenship rights of; cold war and; contributions of; credit systems of; cultural identity of ; departure from United States prevented; earliest; economic losses in China by; education of; employment opportunities . See also specific occupations; foreign-born and, ratio between; fragility of rights of ; Japanese Americans and ; job discrimination against ; leisure activities of; in military; mixed-race; as “model minority,” ; Native Americans and;
Chinese American(s) and American-born Chinese (ABCs) (cont.): new immigrants and; numbers of; other immigrants and; Pearl Harbor attack and; prosperity of; racism against. See racism, anti-Chinese; reentry, right of ; regions populated by; return to China by; role models lacking for; sex differences in upbringing; Sino-Japanese War and; social life of ; stereotypes of ; in suburbia; women. See women, Chinese American; World War II and
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA)
Chinese Educational Mission
Chinese Empire Reform Association
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882); amendments to; circumvention of ;
early efforts to pass; effects of; expiration of; subsequent acts
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance
Chinese Immigration and the Physiological Causes of the Decay of the Nation (Stout)
Chinese Intellectuals and the West (Wang)
Chinese in the Post-Civil War South (Cohen)
Chinese Laundry Scene
Chinese Massacre (1871)
Chinese News
Chinese Playground (Lee)
Chinese Student Protection Act (1992)
Chinese War Relief Association
Chinese Young People’s Summer Conference (1949)
Chinese Youth (Wah Ching)
Chin Gan
Chin Lung
Cho Li Muwang
Chongqing
Chow, Paul
Chow, Rodney
Chu, David
Chu, J. Chuan
Chuck, Frank
Chuck, John
Chun Afong
“Chun Ah Chun” (London)
Chung, Connie
Chung-Hoon, Gordon P.
Chung Mun-yew
Chung Sai Yat Po
Church Federation
Cio. D.
Citizens Committee to Repeal Chinese Exclusion
citizenship, right of; for foreign-born children; for immigrants; marriage and ; military service and civil war, Chinese
Civil War, U.S.
Cixi, Empress Dowager clans
Cleveland, Grover
Cleveland (Ohio)
clothing
Cohen, Lucy cold war
Cole, Cornelius
colleges. See universities and colleges, U.S.
Columbus, Christopher
Committee of One Hundred
Committee of Vigilance
communism
Communist China. See People’s Republic of China (PRC)
Communist Party, Chinese
Communist Party, U.S.