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Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
From New Yorker writer Michael Luo comes a masterful narrative history of the Chinese in America that traces the sorrowful theme of exclusion and documents their more than century-long struggle to belong.
In Strangers in the Land, award-winning journalist Michael Luo tells the story of a people who, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, migrated by the tens of thousands to a distant land they called Gum Shan––Gold Mountain. Americans initially welcomed these Chinese arrivals, but, as their numbers grew, horrific episodes of racial terror erupted on the Pacific coast. Federal lawmakers enacted legislation aimed at excluding Chinese laborers from the country, the first time the United States barred a people based on their race. The Chinese became the country’s earliest undocumented immigrants: hounded, counted, suspected, surveilled.
In 1889, while upholding Chinese exclusion, Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field characterized them as “strangers in the land.” Only in 1965 did America’s gates swing open to people like Luo’s parents, immigrants from Taiwan. Today there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States and yet the “stranger” label, Luo writes, remains. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is a revelatory and unforgettable American story.
In Strangers in the Land, award-winning journalist Michael Luo tells the story of a people who, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, migrated by the tens of thousands to a distant land they called Gum Shan––Gold Mountain. Americans initially welcomed these Chinese arrivals, but, as their numbers grew, horrific episodes of racial terror erupted on the Pacific coast. Federal lawmakers enacted legislation aimed at excluding Chinese laborers from the country, the first time the United States barred a people based on their race. The Chinese became the country’s earliest undocumented immigrants: hounded, counted, suspected, surveilled.
In 1889, while upholding Chinese exclusion, Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field characterized them as “strangers in the land.” Only in 1965 did America’s gates swing open to people like Luo’s parents, immigrants from Taiwan. Today there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States and yet the “stranger” label, Luo writes, remains. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is a revelatory and unforgettable American story.
824 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 29, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
February 7, 2025
I'm not sure I have ever written a review like this one but here it goes. Michael Luo's Strangers in the Land is an exceptional book with impeccable research, riveting stories, and important historical lessons. There is a bit too much of it, though. Let me explain!
Luo tells the story of the Chinese in America. I think most people remember grade school where the atrocious treatment of Chinese immigrants on the West Coast when they were integral in the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Luo takes it a step further to chronicle specific stories of these immigrants whether it is about the laundry they opened or a horrific mob attack. I don't want to understate how much work Luo put into this and how effectively he tells these stories. Often, people exist only in a smattering of records but the author is able to piece together a story which will move the reader. I will explain my criticism, but I don't want it to take away from the excellent work Luo has done.
The issue is such a weird one to explain. I mean chocolate is great but what's better? More chocolate! However, Luo just puts too much into this book. The exceptional stories I mentioned are overwhelming and while the first half of the book was engaging, it starts to drag after the midway point. The issue is that those small stories start to pass by and blend with similar stories you already read about. There are certain chapters which cover a topic that makes it distinct, but there are others which seem to cover much of the same material but in a different city. Luo also focused the vast majority of the book in the 1800s. The last couple of chapters then cover 60 years in a flash. The pace is off just enough to be noticeable but not fatal.
My criticism aside, this is definitely a book worth reading with an important story that is told well, overall.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Doubleday Books.)
Luo tells the story of the Chinese in America. I think most people remember grade school where the atrocious treatment of Chinese immigrants on the West Coast when they were integral in the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Luo takes it a step further to chronicle specific stories of these immigrants whether it is about the laundry they opened or a horrific mob attack. I don't want to understate how much work Luo put into this and how effectively he tells these stories. Often, people exist only in a smattering of records but the author is able to piece together a story which will move the reader. I will explain my criticism, but I don't want it to take away from the excellent work Luo has done.
The issue is such a weird one to explain. I mean chocolate is great but what's better? More chocolate! However, Luo just puts too much into this book. The exceptional stories I mentioned are overwhelming and while the first half of the book was engaging, it starts to drag after the midway point. The issue is that those small stories start to pass by and blend with similar stories you already read about. There are certain chapters which cover a topic that makes it distinct, but there are others which seem to cover much of the same material but in a different city. Luo also focused the vast majority of the book in the 1800s. The last couple of chapters then cover 60 years in a flash. The pace is off just enough to be noticeable but not fatal.
My criticism aside, this is definitely a book worth reading with an important story that is told well, overall.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Doubleday Books.)
December 23, 2025
This book tells the story of how the United States responded to Chinese immigration. It’s a story that began as a welcome when their numbers were few and exotic, but as their numbers grew their presence created alarm that turned into outright hostility and violence. They were the the first ethnic group to be specifically targeted by legislation intended to limit their numbers, and this eventually resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Those restrictions remained in place until they were partly loosened in the 1940s when China became a WWII ally, but it wasn’t until 1965 when sweeping new immigration law set aside the national origins quota system which had been clearly racist in intent.
The Chinese first started arriving in significant numbers after the discovery of gold in California. Initially they were welcomed as a source of cheap labor and they were the principle source of labor in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were present in the gold prospecting and mining areas, but were always forced to the fringes of the most sought after locations.
Much of this book’s narrative is spent in description of the violence imposed on Chinese immigrants during the second half of the nineteenth century. Below is a listing of some of the stories covered:
• Los Angeles, CA Chinese massacre of 1871
• Attack on Squad Valley Chinese miners, 1885
• Rock Springs, WY massacre of Chinese miners, 1885
• Tacoma, WA riot of 1885
• Expulsion of Chinese from Humboldt County, CA, 1886
• Seattle, WA riot of 1886
• Snake River massacre, 1887
Recent historical research has found at least 168 communities across the American West that forced their Chinese to leave during this era.
This is a long book (over 17 hours audio), and the fact that much of the book is filled with examples of extreme absence of justice makes it trying on a reader’s soul. My reading the book didn’t do any correction of these injustices, but I like to think that listening to the audio of the book serves as sort of a recognition and acknowledgment that it happened. It doesn’t take much creativity to see similarities and parallels in this book with current immigration issues in the news.
The Chinese first started arriving in significant numbers after the discovery of gold in California. Initially they were welcomed as a source of cheap labor and they were the principle source of labor in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were present in the gold prospecting and mining areas, but were always forced to the fringes of the most sought after locations.
Much of this book’s narrative is spent in description of the violence imposed on Chinese immigrants during the second half of the nineteenth century. Below is a listing of some of the stories covered:
• Los Angeles, CA Chinese massacre of 1871
• Attack on Squad Valley Chinese miners, 1885
• Rock Springs, WY massacre of Chinese miners, 1885
• Tacoma, WA riot of 1885
• Expulsion of Chinese from Humboldt County, CA, 1886
• Seattle, WA riot of 1886
• Snake River massacre, 1887
Recent historical research has found at least 168 communities across the American West that forced their Chinese to leave during this era.
This is a long book (over 17 hours audio), and the fact that much of the book is filled with examples of extreme absence of justice makes it trying on a reader’s soul. My reading the book didn’t do any correction of these injustices, but I like to think that listening to the audio of the book serves as sort of a recognition and acknowledgment that it happened. It doesn’t take much creativity to see similarities and parallels in this book with current immigration issues in the news.
January 7, 2025
In Strangers in the Land, Michael Luo shines a bright light on the unwavering patriotism and determination that is the Chinese American legacy. By unearthing in intimate, empathic details US immigration law’s roots in Chinese exclusion, Luo writes into the record what history books and courses have long buried but what every Chinese American feels in their bones. This book has enriched my understanding of American law, of Asian American identity, and of my own sense of self. I cannot think of a human being who would not be bettered by reading this canonical work. Strangers in the Land is powerful, essential reading for us all.
May 6, 2026
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America by Michael Luo is a meticulously researched narrative documenting the brutal history of Chinese exclusion and the undaunted resilience of the Chinese immigrants, particularly during the nineteenth century. In this century of history, beginning with the California Gold Rush and the concept of Manifest Destiny and move westward. It focuses largely on the 1800s and the rise of the Chinese Exclusion Act. It fittingly ends with the signing into law of The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson following through on the commitment of President John Kennedy to reforming the country’s immigration laws. This narrative tells the individual stories from the victims of early violence and prejudice to the activists, providing a critical and often infuriating exploration of belonging with the timeline corresponding to when Luo’s parents came to America.
One of the most beautiful parts of the book has to be the unique and colorful characters that are highlighted throughout the narrative and illustrative of their experiences. Michael Luo spent many years as an investigative journalist for the New York Times until 2016 when he became an editor for The New Yorker, and certainly knew his way around research. As he was researching this rich history, when he came across individuals and their photographs he captured those documents as part of the narrative. And that leads to an entire section of beautiful photographs of much of the history addressed in the book as well as photographs of the courageous characters and their families portrayed in the narrative.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the impetus for Michael Luo to write this book began a few years ago was in 2016 when he was in upper east Manhattan with family and friends as they were deciding on a restaurant for lunch. This was just before the presidential election when a woman irritatingly brushed past them and snarled that he should go back to his own country, and later telling him to go back to China. In fact, his parents both came to the United States as graduate students in 1967, the author later being born in Pittsburg, he was in his country. His parents were both from mainland China but then fled to Taiwan during the fight between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. However, that incident prompted him to write “An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China,” which appeared on the front page of the New York Times. And in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic with the surge of anti-Asian violence, Luo decided to write a narrative history of the Chinese experience in America.
One of the most beautiful parts of the book has to be the unique and colorful characters that are highlighted throughout the narrative and illustrative of their experiences. Michael Luo spent many years as an investigative journalist for the New York Times until 2016 when he became an editor for The New Yorker, and certainly knew his way around research. As he was researching this rich history, when he came across individuals and their photographs he captured those documents as part of the narrative. And that leads to an entire section of beautiful photographs of much of the history addressed in the book as well as photographs of the courageous characters and their families portrayed in the narrative.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the impetus for Michael Luo to write this book began a few years ago was in 2016 when he was in upper east Manhattan with family and friends as they were deciding on a restaurant for lunch. This was just before the presidential election when a woman irritatingly brushed past them and snarled that he should go back to his own country, and later telling him to go back to China. In fact, his parents both came to the United States as graduate students in 1967, the author later being born in Pittsburg, he was in his country. His parents were both from mainland China but then fled to Taiwan during the fight between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. However, that incident prompted him to write “An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China,” which appeared on the front page of the New York Times. And in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic with the surge of anti-Asian violence, Luo decided to write a narrative history of the Chinese experience in America.
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels.”
BOOK OF HEBREWS, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
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October 2, 2025Right in the middle of 3.5 stars, and I don't feel like rounding either down or up, so stars come off.
As with many other reviewers in both 3- and 4-star territory, I agree that this book comes off as encyclopedic. In fact, it beats you over the head with it.
That said, I read fair chunks of the material before. I knew a fair amount about treatment of Chinese in San Francisco, in gold rush towns of the Sierra Nevada and in similar towns in other states. I had heard the basics of Eureka, California. I had heard about, though without details, of the Pacific Northwest.
I had read plenty about Rock Springs, Wyoming, which John W. Loewen calls America's first sundown town. It's actually not, since with federal troop protection, the Chinese came back within a few weeks. Nonetheless, it shows how the anti-Chinese sentiment has spread. Without calling them "guilty," Luo also notes how, in this case, unlike their strike at one point on the Central Pacific Railroad years earlier, Chinese coal miners, for unknown reasons, rejected entreaties from white miners to join their union.
The end chapter, about enforcement of the Geary Act, makes the government look a small bit like ICE 100 years ago.
The Qing government's efforts for better treatment are sprinkled throughout.
That said, in one way, the book is not encyclopedic. Luo has very little on Chinese in the U.S. South. They're mentioned a few times, and Chinese efforts to have their kids not considered Black in terms of schooling is referenced once, but that's about it. In reality, Southern planters, especially sugarcane planters, actively sought Chinese. (After exclusion acts started working, post-1898, Filipinos were then of interest, like Japanese in California.)
American concerns about opium — and how other Americans, including FDR's ancestry — tailed the British in shoving opium down Chinese throats also aren't discussed in detail.
More data would have been good, too. Even before 1882, what percentage of immigrants eventually returned permanently to China? Comparable numbers for Europeans? These types of things.
As with many other reviewers in both 3- and 4-star territory, I agree that this book comes off as encyclopedic. In fact, it beats you over the head with it.
That said, I read fair chunks of the material before. I knew a fair amount about treatment of Chinese in San Francisco, in gold rush towns of the Sierra Nevada and in similar towns in other states. I had heard the basics of Eureka, California. I had heard about, though without details, of the Pacific Northwest.
I had read plenty about Rock Springs, Wyoming, which John W. Loewen calls America's first sundown town. It's actually not, since with federal troop protection, the Chinese came back within a few weeks. Nonetheless, it shows how the anti-Chinese sentiment has spread. Without calling them "guilty," Luo also notes how, in this case, unlike their strike at one point on the Central Pacific Railroad years earlier, Chinese coal miners, for unknown reasons, rejected entreaties from white miners to join their union.
The end chapter, about enforcement of the Geary Act, makes the government look a small bit like ICE 100 years ago.
The Qing government's efforts for better treatment are sprinkled throughout.
That said, in one way, the book is not encyclopedic. Luo has very little on Chinese in the U.S. South. They're mentioned a few times, and Chinese efforts to have their kids not considered Black in terms of schooling is referenced once, but that's about it. In reality, Southern planters, especially sugarcane planters, actively sought Chinese. (After exclusion acts started working, post-1898, Filipinos were then of interest, like Japanese in California.)
American concerns about opium — and how other Americans, including FDR's ancestry — tailed the British in shoving opium down Chinese throats also aren't discussed in detail.
More data would have been good, too. Even before 1882, what percentage of immigrants eventually returned permanently to China? Comparable numbers for Europeans? These types of things.
May 9, 2025
This is an impressive book and a sad commentary on our country - but what happened to the Chinese is no different than what is happening today with our oppressive immigration policy, the only difference thankfully is that white supremacists haven’t taken to the streets to kill as happened to the Chinese. Luo’s Chapter 16 (rewritten in the March 10, 2025, New Yorker in “Tragedy At Rock Springs”) tells of the madness of white and indigenous workers in massacring Chinese workers. Luo’s book is a detailed and exhaustive history of the discrimination of the Chinese beginning in the 1850s with the Gold Rush through 1965 when LBJ signed into law a bill to overhaul the immigration system. The book concentrates heavily on the period between 1859-1900 when things were at their worse. All of the angst to preserve the white Anglo-Saxon culture - which still goes on - based on misconceptions, disinformation, misinformation and just plan hatred - is exhausting and terrible to read about. But this is an important read to help understand that zero sum thinking never results in anything being better. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend.
February 10, 2026
After reading my GR friend Cliff’s review of this book I immediately ordered a copy; his review hit me, sad to say, at the right place and right time. And, as he warned, it was brutal. As memorable as it is, it’s difficult to say one can “like” this book. Again, brutal, frustrating, infuriating, scary and, most of all, palpable in American today.
Reading how the Geary Act, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, became law and was refined to terrorize, marginalize and brutalize Chinese immigrants and their offspring in the U.S. is truly a gut punch, even though I’ve read way too much of this stuff during my lifetime.
It hurts so much because it is obvious to the reader and anyone paying attention to U.S. news that Stephen Miller is reprising this 19th century history, only updating for now. Soon, I predict, we will see laws, or at the very least, acts that this book describes from long ago. I had not known about murderous atrocities summarily inflicted upon Chinese immigrants to the U.S. in countless places including Eureka, California and Tacoma, Washington. All while Blacks were being terrorized by an inhuman system with a distracting name, Jim Crow.
This book belongs to an ever-growing reading list of ethnically and race-based catastrophes that may soon be erased from American history. I immediately thought of other books like The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas , The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and Violent History of the United States , and Cutting School: The Segrenomics of American Education . And much like enslaved Africans added immeasurably to Americans’ growing wealth, I thought of the building of the transcontinental railroad and how the same happened with Chinese laborers.
We live in an age when a 21st century American supreme court has cited legal reasoning from the 13th and 18th centuries – when people in some parts of the western world were still being burned as witches and leeches were popular medical devices. And we have an American president who is ignorant of the significance of Gettysburg and Pearl Harbor and does not know what Reconstruction was. All while touting the wonders of the Gilded Age, rekindling diseases once thought to be near extinction, and destroying norms and treaties in less than a year that have taken at 80 years to build.
Thanks to this book focusing mostly on late-19th century legalized racism and accepted violence against Chinese persons, we have a better idea of what America’s future will likely be.
Reading how the Geary Act, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, became law and was refined to terrorize, marginalize and brutalize Chinese immigrants and their offspring in the U.S. is truly a gut punch, even though I’ve read way too much of this stuff during my lifetime.
It hurts so much because it is obvious to the reader and anyone paying attention to U.S. news that Stephen Miller is reprising this 19th century history, only updating for now. Soon, I predict, we will see laws, or at the very least, acts that this book describes from long ago. I had not known about murderous atrocities summarily inflicted upon Chinese immigrants to the U.S. in countless places including Eureka, California and Tacoma, Washington. All while Blacks were being terrorized by an inhuman system with a distracting name, Jim Crow.
This book belongs to an ever-growing reading list of ethnically and race-based catastrophes that may soon be erased from American history. I immediately thought of other books like The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas , The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and Violent History of the United States , and Cutting School: The Segrenomics of American Education . And much like enslaved Africans added immeasurably to Americans’ growing wealth, I thought of the building of the transcontinental railroad and how the same happened with Chinese laborers.
We live in an age when a 21st century American supreme court has cited legal reasoning from the 13th and 18th centuries – when people in some parts of the western world were still being burned as witches and leeches were popular medical devices. And we have an American president who is ignorant of the significance of Gettysburg and Pearl Harbor and does not know what Reconstruction was. All while touting the wonders of the Gilded Age, rekindling diseases once thought to be near extinction, and destroying norms and treaties in less than a year that have taken at 80 years to build.
Thanks to this book focusing mostly on late-19th century legalized racism and accepted violence against Chinese persons, we have a better idea of what America’s future will likely be.
June 26, 2025
what's old is new again.
April 29, 2026
3.5 stars
Review coming soon.
Review coming soon.
January 15, 2026
What happens when a seemingly well-to-do Manhattanite tells an executive editor at the New Yorker (an American of Chinese origin) and his young children to go back to where they came from? He writes a book about the Chinese immigrant experience in America. The 150-year-old story is remarkably redolent of today's narratives about immigrants:
--They won't assimilate.
--They're manipulating the immigration system.
--They're taking jobs.
--They're lowering wages.
--They're culturally and/or genetically inferior.
--They need to be removed from the country.
--They refuse to learn English.
--They're taking resources from real Americans.
The United States is certainly not the only country that is leery of immigrants (though the irony is more pronounced given our origins), but this story is yet another reminder of the ugliness that can arise when the better angels of our nature go silent.
I also learned that the city of Tacoma, Washington (I moved nearby a few years ago) is the only major West Coast city without a modern Chinatown because city leaders forcibly removed the Chinese community in 1885--a process known as The Tacoma Method.
--They won't assimilate.
--They're manipulating the immigration system.
--They're taking jobs.
--They're lowering wages.
--They're culturally and/or genetically inferior.
--They need to be removed from the country.
--They refuse to learn English.
--They're taking resources from real Americans.
The United States is certainly not the only country that is leery of immigrants (though the irony is more pronounced given our origins), but this story is yet another reminder of the ugliness that can arise when the better angels of our nature go silent.
I also learned that the city of Tacoma, Washington (I moved nearby a few years ago) is the only major West Coast city without a modern Chinatown because city leaders forcibly removed the Chinese community in 1885--a process known as The Tacoma Method.
August 7, 2025
Well researched. There are certain points in the latter third of the book where the stories didn't seem to be thematically cohesive or pushing the book forward in a sense. for example, there was a focus on one particular stretch of years ad nauseum but when it introduced the stories of world war 2 it seemed to be so short it was disappointing second to how interesting the entries were.
Otherwise, it was a great read, recommended to anyone like me who was foreign to the subject.
Otherwise, it was a great read, recommended to anyone like me who was foreign to the subject.
July 19, 2025
As a "Chinaman", reading this book brought me all sorts of feelings.
I felt angry about the ruthlessness and lawlessness of the mob driving out and killing the Chinese. I felt indignant that almost none of the perpetrators of the crimes was convicted (many were apprehended and charged, yet the White jurors unsurprisingly refused to convict). And I felt helpless at the passing of the Chinese Restriction Law and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Yet at the same time, I also felt frustrated at some of the antiques brought by the early Chinese settlers. The lack of awareness of their poor hygiene, the unwillingness to assimilate, and, to top them all, the turf wars among the gangs which escalated to shooting openly on the street. I mean, come on, if you went to a stranger's house, the least you could do was to not cause a scene, especially when you knew that you were not the most welcomed.
My feelings were mixed because the context itself was very complex. Racism definitely played a big part. The policy makers could find all kinds of excuses, from lack of assimilation (maybe true for some of the early settlers, but there were exceptions, not to mention those born and raised in America who had assimilated from the get go) to concerns of national security (e.g., the McCarthyism), yet if you take off the hood, there was always racism underneath.
On the other hand, the early Chinese settlers very likely did have a different mentality coming to the United States compared to the European immigrants. For the latter, most of them wanted to start a new life; they may have some ties to the old land but not so strong to significantly restrict how they behave in the new world. In fact, I'd even venture that the Europeans were eager to leave the old world behind and start everything anew, new ways to live, work, and socialize. The Chinese, however, only viewed the United States as yet another place to make some money. They called San Francisco the "Gold Mountain" because, to them, that was exactly what the United States was -- a place to become rich so that their life BACK HOME could be improved. That was how the promise of America was sold -- early adventurers to the Gold Mountain returning with great fortune, so much more than they could have made back home. Thus more Chinamen wanted to try their luck, even if it meant poor working conditions, desolate living quarters, constant harassment, or even death. The drastic difference in the intention should not be overlooked, with most of the Chinese treating America as a temporary work place whereas the Europeans a new home. This, in my opinion, sowed the seed of future conflicts.
The Chinese also brought a lot more cultural baggage with them. China, after all, had been one of the most powerful empires for centuries. An extremely long history of Confucious indoctrination ingrained the early settlers with the virtues of industriousness and hardworking, yet at the same time obedience and tolerance. Hence, when the White miners demanded higher wage and wanted the Chinese, which out numbered them by a large margin, to join for a general strike, the Chinese were ambivalent -- despite earning less than the White and also wanting a higher wage, the risk of the strike (something unfamiliar to them) was much higher than tolerating the status quo (something they were already used to). Tolerance vs. boldness, the drastic clash of mentality between the East and West marked another unbridgeable chasm.
But was all this the fault of Chinamen? Was this punishable by lynching, driving out, and the eventual laws of exclusion? The White laborers wanted the Chinese to disappear, complaining that the Chinese took all their jobs (sounds familiar?), but the Chinese kept coming back, in larger numbers. At a certain point, one must ask the obvious question: why did the Chinese continue to come to a land which was so hostile to them? The answer was always money. There was money to be made, as many jobs were offered by the railway company, the mining company, etc. It was Capitalism in its purest form! Chinese laborers were cheaper, caused less trouble, and did the job as well as, if not better than the White. Why would the capitalists not prefer the Chinese laborers? When there were sufficient jobs to go about (e.g., the early days of the gold rush) or the working condition was too poor (e.g., the construction of the railroad through the granite of Sierra Nevada), there was no big conflict. But when the economy went bad and Capitalism needed to dig harder, what used to be tolerable was no more. Tragedy ensued but Capitalism marched on. That's why right after the White mob drove out hundreds of Chinese miners and burned down their quarters in Rock Spring, Wyoming, the coal company immediately brought in train loads of Chinese. Capitalism is ruthless; the Chinese could be easily replaced; the White could be easily ignored.
Come to think of it, what happened with the Chinese laborers at the turn of the 20th century was akin to the globalization at the turn of the 21st century, just in reverse. Back then, cheap labor was brought to the United States and outcompeted the local workers. Later on, the US companies went abroad to chase cheap laborers who again outcompeted the local workers. China was at the epicenter of both tides. Corporates made a lot of money but White laborers (first time the miners, second time the factory workers) were screwed both times. The major difference is that the second time saw much less overt violence.
I think what I am trying to say is that the so-called "Chinese Question" is a very complicated issue. It was created by Capitalism, catalyzed by cultural difference, and inflamed by racism. Even its official ending was brought by a historical event unintended by both countries -- had Japan not miscalculated Pearl Harbour, the Chinese Exclusion Act may very well persist until today. In a sense, the "Chinese Question" has never been fully answered, as evidenced by the anti-Chinese craze during the COVID times. It is, however, drawing much less attention thanks to generations of Chinese Americans working their butt off to assimilate and being the so-called "model minority". Today, under the Trump Administration, the "Chinese Question" morphed into the "Latino Question", the "Muslim Question". The blatant violation of the Constitution by ICE to capture, detain, and deport brown people, some of them American citizens, without due process bears striking similarity to how the Chinese were treated more than one hundred years ago. In a sense, America barely progressed at its core. The apparent advancement in human rights and equality over the years might just be a moratorium, a side-effect of the booming economy, just like the initial peaceful coexistence between the Chinese and the White when there was sufficient gold to go round.
P.S. I noticed from the book's Acknowledgement that the author and his brother had the names Michael and Chris. I see this as their parents' attempt to assimilate, to blend their boys in with the White culture. Yet the author's daughters were named Madeleine and Vivienne, which has a little lets-be-different-and-stand-out vibe. It could be a reflection of how differently the two generations of Chinese in America perceive their acceptance by American culture. Or maybe I am just overthinking.
Interesting Quotes
--p15, this reminds me of Humans: A Monstrous History. Since the Chinese were monsters to the Americans, there would be no incentive to keep a record of the monstrous people.
--p33, the context is that a white man was suspected of killing a Chinaman. Some Chinese served as witnesses to convict the White man, yet the Supreme court struck it down, deciding that the law that barred Native Americans testifying against the White also applied to the Chinese. For racism's sake, any law or precedent is open for re-interpretation, no matter how ridiculous.
--p102, this was just one example of many priests from different churches that had helped and protected the Chinese. This is what following the teaching of Jesus Christ should look like, and what separation of church and state could bring about: compassion, empathy, and love beyond race and nationality. Looking at the religious landscape of America, especially the Evangelical churches, in the MAGA era, the contrast is jarring. It would not be a stretch to imagine that a lot of churches today would be more than happy to link arms with ICE and hunt down the immigrants. Such sacrilege to Christianity.
--p143, the early version of "globalization".
--p158, I feel this should be the model when capitalism finds a cheaper labor source. Friedman's doctrine says that a corporation's only responsibility is to get more profit. That is very short-sighted. The desire to chase maximum profit at the cost of eroding the stability in the society is detrimental to the corporation in the long run. If a cheap labor source brings in a lot more profit, corporations should share some with the society to soothe the pain brought by the cheap labor. This could be a win-win-win situation, yet corporate greed always acts as a party-pooper.
--p229, a classic approach to treating "monsters". Barring Chinese children from public education was to prevent them from assimilation, even if they wanted to. Then on the legislative level, lack of assimilation could be used as an excuse to continue this vicious cycle. Note that this situation is different from the unwillingness to assimilate from the early Chinese settlers. We are talking about Chinese who have decided to make America home, raise children, and actively seek to assimilate. Yet they were not allowed. Therefore, the whole argument of lack of assimilation was more of a farce than a legitimate complaint.
--p240, this sort of shenanigans never helps marginalized people. Chris Rock's famous standup routine in 1996 frequently comes to my mind.
--p390, the resemblance to some of the Trump Administration's immigration policy is uncanny.
--p390-391, I was so confused why so many 19th century Chinese women had the same given name "Shee". It didn't make any sense to me until page 390 (what an embarrassment honestly!). "Shee" (or 氏) was NOT a given name, but an indication that the woman had no given name and was only recognized by her last name. So "Quok Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Quok", "Chin Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Chin", and "Wong Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Wong".
--p413, my wife's birthday is October 7. I think we are meant to be together.
--p424, the context is that many Chinese immigrants entered the U.S. despite the Chinese Exclusion Act, via fraudulent paper (e.g., claiming to be the son of an American citizen, or "paper son"). The con was elaborate, cunning, and apparently very effective, which left the immigration officials scratching their heads and frustrated. As a countermeasure, the confession program was cooked up, which may or may not help "paper sons" adjust their shaky immigration status to legitimate ones if they implicate other "paper sons". The confession program claimed to be a big success, with nearly 14,000 confessions, implicating more than 22,000 other Chinese with fraudulent paper works.
I felt angry about the ruthlessness and lawlessness of the mob driving out and killing the Chinese. I felt indignant that almost none of the perpetrators of the crimes was convicted (many were apprehended and charged, yet the White jurors unsurprisingly refused to convict). And I felt helpless at the passing of the Chinese Restriction Law and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Yet at the same time, I also felt frustrated at some of the antiques brought by the early Chinese settlers. The lack of awareness of their poor hygiene, the unwillingness to assimilate, and, to top them all, the turf wars among the gangs which escalated to shooting openly on the street. I mean, come on, if you went to a stranger's house, the least you could do was to not cause a scene, especially when you knew that you were not the most welcomed.
My feelings were mixed because the context itself was very complex. Racism definitely played a big part. The policy makers could find all kinds of excuses, from lack of assimilation (maybe true for some of the early settlers, but there were exceptions, not to mention those born and raised in America who had assimilated from the get go) to concerns of national security (e.g., the McCarthyism), yet if you take off the hood, there was always racism underneath.
On the other hand, the early Chinese settlers very likely did have a different mentality coming to the United States compared to the European immigrants. For the latter, most of them wanted to start a new life; they may have some ties to the old land but not so strong to significantly restrict how they behave in the new world. In fact, I'd even venture that the Europeans were eager to leave the old world behind and start everything anew, new ways to live, work, and socialize. The Chinese, however, only viewed the United States as yet another place to make some money. They called San Francisco the "Gold Mountain" because, to them, that was exactly what the United States was -- a place to become rich so that their life BACK HOME could be improved. That was how the promise of America was sold -- early adventurers to the Gold Mountain returning with great fortune, so much more than they could have made back home. Thus more Chinamen wanted to try their luck, even if it meant poor working conditions, desolate living quarters, constant harassment, or even death. The drastic difference in the intention should not be overlooked, with most of the Chinese treating America as a temporary work place whereas the Europeans a new home. This, in my opinion, sowed the seed of future conflicts.
The Chinese also brought a lot more cultural baggage with them. China, after all, had been one of the most powerful empires for centuries. An extremely long history of Confucious indoctrination ingrained the early settlers with the virtues of industriousness and hardworking, yet at the same time obedience and tolerance. Hence, when the White miners demanded higher wage and wanted the Chinese, which out numbered them by a large margin, to join for a general strike, the Chinese were ambivalent -- despite earning less than the White and also wanting a higher wage, the risk of the strike (something unfamiliar to them) was much higher than tolerating the status quo (something they were already used to). Tolerance vs. boldness, the drastic clash of mentality between the East and West marked another unbridgeable chasm.
But was all this the fault of Chinamen? Was this punishable by lynching, driving out, and the eventual laws of exclusion? The White laborers wanted the Chinese to disappear, complaining that the Chinese took all their jobs (sounds familiar?), but the Chinese kept coming back, in larger numbers. At a certain point, one must ask the obvious question: why did the Chinese continue to come to a land which was so hostile to them? The answer was always money. There was money to be made, as many jobs were offered by the railway company, the mining company, etc. It was Capitalism in its purest form! Chinese laborers were cheaper, caused less trouble, and did the job as well as, if not better than the White. Why would the capitalists not prefer the Chinese laborers? When there were sufficient jobs to go about (e.g., the early days of the gold rush) or the working condition was too poor (e.g., the construction of the railroad through the granite of Sierra Nevada), there was no big conflict. But when the economy went bad and Capitalism needed to dig harder, what used to be tolerable was no more. Tragedy ensued but Capitalism marched on. That's why right after the White mob drove out hundreds of Chinese miners and burned down their quarters in Rock Spring, Wyoming, the coal company immediately brought in train loads of Chinese. Capitalism is ruthless; the Chinese could be easily replaced; the White could be easily ignored.
Come to think of it, what happened with the Chinese laborers at the turn of the 20th century was akin to the globalization at the turn of the 21st century, just in reverse. Back then, cheap labor was brought to the United States and outcompeted the local workers. Later on, the US companies went abroad to chase cheap laborers who again outcompeted the local workers. China was at the epicenter of both tides. Corporates made a lot of money but White laborers (first time the miners, second time the factory workers) were screwed both times. The major difference is that the second time saw much less overt violence.
I think what I am trying to say is that the so-called "Chinese Question" is a very complicated issue. It was created by Capitalism, catalyzed by cultural difference, and inflamed by racism. Even its official ending was brought by a historical event unintended by both countries -- had Japan not miscalculated Pearl Harbour, the Chinese Exclusion Act may very well persist until today. In a sense, the "Chinese Question" has never been fully answered, as evidenced by the anti-Chinese craze during the COVID times. It is, however, drawing much less attention thanks to generations of Chinese Americans working their butt off to assimilate and being the so-called "model minority". Today, under the Trump Administration, the "Chinese Question" morphed into the "Latino Question", the "Muslim Question". The blatant violation of the Constitution by ICE to capture, detain, and deport brown people, some of them American citizens, without due process bears striking similarity to how the Chinese were treated more than one hundred years ago. In a sense, America barely progressed at its core. The apparent advancement in human rights and equality over the years might just be a moratorium, a side-effect of the booming economy, just like the initial peaceful coexistence between the Chinese and the White when there was sufficient gold to go round.
P.S. I noticed from the book's Acknowledgement that the author and his brother had the names Michael and Chris. I see this as their parents' attempt to assimilate, to blend their boys in with the White culture. Yet the author's daughters were named Madeleine and Vivienne, which has a little lets-be-different-and-stand-out vibe. It could be a reflection of how differently the two generations of Chinese in America perceive their acceptance by American culture. Or maybe I am just overthinking.
Interesting Quotes
The individual stories of the earliest Chinese arrivals in America have mostly slipped through historian's grasps.
--p15, this reminds me of Humans: A Monstrous History. Since the Chinese were monsters to the Americans, there would be no incentive to keep a record of the monstrous people.
He (Chief Justice Hugh Campbell Murray) feared the establishment of a precedent that would lead to the awarding of other privileges to the Chinese. "The same rule which would admit them to testify, would admit them to all the equal rights of citizenship, and we might soon see them at the polls, in the jury box, upon the bench, and in our legislative halls".
--p33, the context is that a white man was suspected of killing a Chinaman. Some Chinese served as witnesses to convict the White man, yet the Supreme court struck it down, deciding that the law that barred Native Americans testifying against the White also applied to the Chinese. For racism's sake, any law or precedent is open for re-interpretation, no matter how ridiculous.
Gibson, a native of New York and former missionary in Fuzhou, China, had arrived in San Francisco in 1868 and founded the Chinese Domestic Mission. Gibson, sturdily built, with a chinstrap beard and piercing eyes, became a stalwart defender of Chinese immigrants.
--p102, this was just one example of many priests from different churches that had helped and protected the Chinese. This is what following the teaching of Jesus Christ should look like, and what separation of church and state could bring about: compassion, empathy, and love beyond race and nationality. Looking at the religious landscape of America, especially the Evangelical churches, in the MAGA era, the contrast is jarring. It would not be a stretch to imagine that a lot of churches today would be more than happy to link arms with ICE and hunt down the immigrants. Such sacrilege to Christianity.
"No one would hire an Irishman, German, Englishman or Italian when he could get a Chinese, because our countrymen are so much more honest, industrious, steady, sober and painstaking. Chinese were persecuted, not for their vices, but for their virtues."
--p143, the early version of "globalization".
Several weeks later, the society issued a lengthy statement, explaining that the cutlery business had been sustaining heavy losses for years and that the overseers were faced with either closing the factory entirely or bringing in a Chinese workforce to labor alongside the white employees. In order to help ease tensions, the society committed to sharing the proceeds of the cutlery company's profits with the community for the establishment of religious, educational, and charitable institutions.
--p158, I feel this should be the model when capitalism finds a cheaper labor source. Friedman's doctrine says that a corporation's only responsibility is to get more profit. That is very short-sighted. The desire to chase maximum profit at the cost of eroding the stability in the society is detrimental to the corporation in the long run. If a cheap labor source brings in a lot more profit, corporations should share some with the society to soothe the pain brought by the cheap labor. This could be a win-win-win situation, yet corporate greed always acts as a party-pooper.
They reported that there were more than three thousand school-age children of Chinese descent in the state, "anxious to learn the English language," but who were barred from public schools. "We simply ask that our children be placed upon the same footing as the children of other foreigners," they wrote.
--p229, a classic approach to treating "monsters". Barring Chinese children from public education was to prevent them from assimilation, even if they wanted to. Then on the legislative level, lack of assimilation could be used as an excuse to continue this vicious cycle. Note that this situation is different from the unwillingness to assimilate from the early Chinese settlers. We are talking about Chinese who have decided to make America home, raise children, and actively seek to assimilate. Yet they were not allowed. Therefore, the whole argument of lack of assimilation was more of a farce than a legitimate complaint.
Just after six o'clock on Friday evening, February 6, two Chinese men brushed past each other on the sidewalk, on the north side of Fourth Street, in the Chinese quarter. They exchanged words; both men began shooting.
--p240, this sort of shenanigans never helps marginalized people. Chris Rock's famous standup routine in 1996 frequently comes to my mind.
The inspectors on Angel Island were even willing to go so far as to separate children from their parents.
--p390, the resemblance to some of the Trump Administration's immigration policy is uncanny.
Quok Shee...Chin Shee..Wong Shee...
--p390-391, I was so confused why so many 19th century Chinese women had the same given name "Shee". It didn't make any sense to me until page 390 (what an embarrassment honestly!). "Shee" (or 氏) was NOT a given name, but an indication that the woman had no given name and was only recognized by her last name. So "Quok Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Quok", "Chin Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Chin", and "Wong Shee" translates to "a woman with last name Wong".
On October 7, the House immigration committee reconvened and voted to advance the measure introduced by Representative Warren Magnuson, a Washington state Democrat, that repealed the exclusion laws, made Chinese eligible for naturalization, and imposed a single racial quota for Chinese immigration.
--p413, my wife's birthday is October 7. I think we are meant to be together.
In the immigration service's annual reports, officials boasted of their "great strides" in overcoming the "Chinese fraud problem" through the confession program, as it became known.
--p424, the context is that many Chinese immigrants entered the U.S. despite the Chinese Exclusion Act, via fraudulent paper (e.g., claiming to be the son of an American citizen, or "paper son"). The con was elaborate, cunning, and apparently very effective, which left the immigration officials scratching their heads and frustrated. As a countermeasure, the confession program was cooked up, which may or may not help "paper sons" adjust their shaky immigration status to legitimate ones if they implicate other "paper sons". The confession program claimed to be a big success, with nearly 14,000 confessions, implicating more than 22,000 other Chinese with fraudulent paper works.
January 11, 2026
Another book tripped up by its subtitle. Strangers in the Land is not a comprehensive history of the Chinese experience in America or the Chinese American experience. It is an exhaustive catalog of incidents and episodes involving Chinese migrants to the US between the Civil War and World War 1. It was heavy on detail, light on analysis, and introduced a dozen or more new characters in every chapter.
Then the years that saw a transition from overt nativist hatred to a situation in which many of Chinese origin built lives in the US were just a blip and suddenly, BOOM, Lyndon Johnson is signing a bill to overhaul immigration.
This could have been a classic book, it just spent too much time on details, not enough on trends, and the twentieth century content was given way too little space.
Then the years that saw a transition from overt nativist hatred to a situation in which many of Chinese origin built lives in the US were just a blip and suddenly, BOOM, Lyndon Johnson is signing a bill to overhaul immigration.
This could have been a classic book, it just spent too much time on details, not enough on trends, and the twentieth century content was given way too little space.
December 20, 2025
Strangers in the Land covers important ground, and the research behind it is extensive. Luo clearly knows this history and takes the subject seriously.
The book is far longer and more detailed than it needs to be. Many chapters revisit the same dynamics through slightly different stories, with a level of granular detail that starts to blur rather than clarify the larger picture. I kept wanting more synthesis and fewer anecdotes.
This easily could have been half the length and told the same story with more force. I am glad I read it, but the excessive detail ultimately weakens an otherwise important and interesting book.
The book is far longer and more detailed than it needs to be. Many chapters revisit the same dynamics through slightly different stories, with a level of granular detail that starts to blur rather than clarify the larger picture. I kept wanting more synthesis and fewer anecdotes.
This easily could have been half the length and told the same story with more force. I am glad I read it, but the excessive detail ultimately weakens an otherwise important and interesting book.
July 25, 2025
I watched a video that pointed out media around AAPI history month are usually focused on stories from Asia, and not stories about Asian-Americans. "Asian-American history is too depressing," the creator said, and this book does a great job illustrating that.
This book is an in-depth, well-researched look at Chinese immigration to the U.S. and the struggles the immigrants faced. It told so many stories I never knew, and I learned a lot, even though it did feel a little repetitive at times.
The first four sections were pretty similar. Each chapter told a story of a town or an area where Chinese immigrants came to live. Many came to California for the gold rush or to build railroads. Others came to mining towns across the West (Washington, Wyoming, Idaho). Once the immigrants were established in jobs, local white laborers would get upset and then violence, riots, fires, and terrorism against the Chinese followed. There were some voices speaking up for the Chinese-Americans, including a lovely speech by Frederick Douglass, but for the most part even lawmakers who were against the riots were also firmly against the Chinese. The xenophobia and racism were extremely strong and consistent. The Chinese were castigated for being "devious," not wanting to assimilate, and not being Christian, in addition to the perception that they were stealing everyone's jobs (they did work harder and get paid at a lower rate).
The struggles against violence and displacement took place for decades. California had a law that only white people could testify in court, so in trials against rioters and murderers of immigrants, no immigrants could testify against the white criminals and they'd get acquitted. As Chinese people spread through the U.S., enmity against them grew, leading to laws against their immigration such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. The xenophobia and anti-Chinese rhetoric had MANY scary connections to today, including people trying to change/willfully misread the 14th amendment.
The last section was mostly set in the 20th century. This section was on resistance to the laws and how they were modified or overturned. The author details how Asian-Americans became the "model minority" and the dangers of that myth. He also shares how the struggle continues against Asian-Americans.
Overall, while this book was repetitive, I am glad I read it. The author worked hard to unearth untold stories of immigrants and their struggles. As someone who grew up in Wyoming and Idaho, it was both exciting and humbling to see my home states represented, even if it was within the context of massacring immigrants. I learned so much reading it, and once again, the connections to arguments against Latin-American and Mexican-American immigrants today were quite shocking and telling. "History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes," as they say.
This book is an in-depth, well-researched look at Chinese immigration to the U.S. and the struggles the immigrants faced. It told so many stories I never knew, and I learned a lot, even though it did feel a little repetitive at times.
The first four sections were pretty similar. Each chapter told a story of a town or an area where Chinese immigrants came to live. Many came to California for the gold rush or to build railroads. Others came to mining towns across the West (Washington, Wyoming, Idaho). Once the immigrants were established in jobs, local white laborers would get upset and then violence, riots, fires, and terrorism against the Chinese followed. There were some voices speaking up for the Chinese-Americans, including a lovely speech by Frederick Douglass, but for the most part even lawmakers who were against the riots were also firmly against the Chinese. The xenophobia and racism were extremely strong and consistent. The Chinese were castigated for being "devious," not wanting to assimilate, and not being Christian, in addition to the perception that they were stealing everyone's jobs (they did work harder and get paid at a lower rate).
The struggles against violence and displacement took place for decades. California had a law that only white people could testify in court, so in trials against rioters and murderers of immigrants, no immigrants could testify against the white criminals and they'd get acquitted. As Chinese people spread through the U.S., enmity against them grew, leading to laws against their immigration such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. The xenophobia and anti-Chinese rhetoric had MANY scary connections to today, including people trying to change/willfully misread the 14th amendment.
The last section was mostly set in the 20th century. This section was on resistance to the laws and how they were modified or overturned. The author details how Asian-Americans became the "model minority" and the dangers of that myth. He also shares how the struggle continues against Asian-Americans.
Overall, while this book was repetitive, I am glad I read it. The author worked hard to unearth untold stories of immigrants and their struggles. As someone who grew up in Wyoming and Idaho, it was both exciting and humbling to see my home states represented, even if it was within the context of massacring immigrants. I learned so much reading it, and once again, the connections to arguments against Latin-American and Mexican-American immigrants today were quite shocking and telling. "History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes," as they say.
February 25, 2026
Such a well written book that I feel like is a must read for every Chinese-American!!!
It took me forever to finish this book because in the middle there are just like 6 chapters of Chinese people being chased out of towns by mobs of white people and it was really getting to be a bummer which I probably should have foreseen. But I learned so much that I can’t believe I didn’t already know, like that the largest racially-driven lynching in America happened to Chinese people in Los Angeles. I didn’t know that and I AM a Chinese person from Los Angeles?? It’s also a crazy time to be reading about how they detained arriving immigrants for days to years under terrible living conditions. Pretty discouraging to see how much some things haven’t changed. But overall, this was a beautifully written book that clearly had so much work and research put into it and made me think about how this next generation of largely native-born Chinese-Americans will make their mark on America’s history.
An amazing excerpt from the introduction that really captures the essence of the story and writing:
“The voices of individual Chinese who arrived in America in the second half of the nineteenth century can be difficult to find in the historical archives, but this absence should not be mistaken for their silence. The Chinese in America were not simply the victims of barbarous violence and repression; they were protagonists in the story of America.
They pressed their adopted homeland to live up to its stated ideals. Their experiences serve as a reminder that a democracy's promises should always be measured against how it treats its most marginalized members.”
It took me forever to finish this book because in the middle there are just like 6 chapters of Chinese people being chased out of towns by mobs of white people and it was really getting to be a bummer which I probably should have foreseen. But I learned so much that I can’t believe I didn’t already know, like that the largest racially-driven lynching in America happened to Chinese people in Los Angeles. I didn’t know that and I AM a Chinese person from Los Angeles?? It’s also a crazy time to be reading about how they detained arriving immigrants for days to years under terrible living conditions. Pretty discouraging to see how much some things haven’t changed. But overall, this was a beautifully written book that clearly had so much work and research put into it and made me think about how this next generation of largely native-born Chinese-Americans will make their mark on America’s history.
An amazing excerpt from the introduction that really captures the essence of the story and writing:
“The voices of individual Chinese who arrived in America in the second half of the nineteenth century can be difficult to find in the historical archives, but this absence should not be mistaken for their silence. The Chinese in America were not simply the victims of barbarous violence and repression; they were protagonists in the story of America.
They pressed their adopted homeland to live up to its stated ideals. Their experiences serve as a reminder that a democracy's promises should always be measured against how it treats its most marginalized members.”
February 1, 2026
The author’s effort to chronicle the resilience of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans is admirable. But sadly, much of their history consists of recurrent violence against them, and the repetition can be exhausting. I would recommend casual readers to only read the chapters about the first Chinese immigrants, the events before and after the Chinese exclusion act, and the eventual abolition of civil rights violations and immigration restrictions.
November 18, 2025
4.25/5
Such a disturbing read but necessary to know our barbaric history against Chinese immigrants. It should be required reading. It is dark but there are moments of inspiration and light: People that took a stand for humanity at their own risk and the unbelievable resilience and forgiveness of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.
Such a disturbing read but necessary to know our barbaric history against Chinese immigrants. It should be required reading. It is dark but there are moments of inspiration and light: People that took a stand for humanity at their own risk and the unbelievable resilience and forgiveness of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.
July 14, 2025
Trauma prn.
July 30, 2025
A well-researched, thorough account of how America has treated and mistreated Asian immigrants. Read this in tandem with Wilkerson’s Caste for an eye-opening look at America’s history.
March 26, 2026
Long, but excellent details and research.
September 25, 2025
Is there such a thing as too researched? If so, this book fits that description. What a book. I learned so much about Chinese Americans. 4.5 stars
January 26, 2026
There were so many quotes and I couldn’t choose. You can tell how thoughtful Michael Luo was to bring humanity and dignity to every story. The details and quotes spoken from the late 1800s/early 1900s, I still hear today.. A worthy read on American history - highly recommend.
April 10, 2026
Definitely not a “fun” read, but really interesting. And unbelievably sad how the same history repeats over and over and over.
May 21, 2025
Michael Luo’s Strangers in the Land offers a compelling and heartfelt exploration of the Asian American experience through the lens of his own family’s history. Luo skillfully combines memoir, journalism, and historical analysis to shed light on the persistent challenges of racism and belonging faced by Chinese Americans.
The book’s strength lies in Luo’s honest and personal storytelling, as well as its detailed historical context—from the Chinese Exclusion Act to modern-day racial tensions. His reflections on faith add an additional layer of depth that distinguishes the narrative.
However, at times the book’s focus on Luo’s personal journey may feel narrow, which can limit the broader exploration of diverse Asian American experiences. Some readers might wish for a more critical examination of systemic issues beyond individual stories, or a deeper engagement with different perspectives within the Asian American community.
Overall, Strangers in the Land is an insightful and important read that opens meaningful conversations about race, identity, and the American Dream, even if it sometimes leans heavily on personal narrative at the expense of wider analysis.
The book’s strength lies in Luo’s honest and personal storytelling, as well as its detailed historical context—from the Chinese Exclusion Act to modern-day racial tensions. His reflections on faith add an additional layer of depth that distinguishes the narrative.
However, at times the book’s focus on Luo’s personal journey may feel narrow, which can limit the broader exploration of diverse Asian American experiences. Some readers might wish for a more critical examination of systemic issues beyond individual stories, or a deeper engagement with different perspectives within the Asian American community.
Overall, Strangers in the Land is an insightful and important read that opens meaningful conversations about race, identity, and the American Dream, even if it sometimes leans heavily on personal narrative at the expense of wider analysis.
December 27, 2025
Reads like an encyclopedia of immigration law, massacres, and quick biographical sketches. To say it was thoroughly researched is a major understatement (and I mean that as a compliment). It simply doesn't come across as an "epic story."
January 9, 2026
A tale through cumulative accounts of how Chinese-Americans arrived and endured USA's treatments of them. Nothing is new here when it comes to how the countrymen before them treat non-Caucasian immigrants. Hatred and fear consumed the mass that didn't understand and wanted to understand their differences.
Want to Read
March 23, 2025Heard about this on the NYT book review podcast
August 25, 2025
No doubt that the information in this book was fascinating. Startling really. But it was not well written or well edited. If you are interested in hearing the same story told over and over again this is the book for you. It read more like a master's thesis than a solid book.
August 14, 2025
Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
It took me four months to work my way through this towering tome recounting the history of the Chinese in the U.S., mostly in the 19th century and a bit into the 20th. Am I glad I read it? Yes… with some reservations.
If STRANGERS’ goal was to be the definitive text on the Chinese in America in the 19th century, then it has succeeded. This book is meticulously well researched and bursting at the seams with details of individuals’ travails arriving in a land that was happy to take them as cheap labor but increasingly hostile to the idea of their very presence. In addition, Luo covers political and legal discussions and decisions that shaped not only the Chinese’s changing legal status in the country, but also American immigration trends in general.
The amount of detail in this book, though, is both its strength and its weakness. The stories Luo recounts chapter after chapter become repetitive very quickly. I swear there are at least 10 (out of 25) chapters dedicated to different versions of the same violence visited upon 19th-century Chinese laborers: gangs of white people resentful of the Chinese’s visible Otherness and the way in which they are used as cheap labor by bosses to break laborer strikes, who gather together and then pillage, shoot, stab, maim, and steal the Chinese’s property and bodies.
While I am impressed by Luo’s research skills, these similar events are written about in totally identical chapters until they all blur together into one. More is not always more, and I think it is a writerly responsibility to be willing to cut out some detail in order to weave together a tighter frame and theme.
Some details included, in fact, serve no purpose other than that they were real and Luo came across them in his research. The one that stuck with me most was when one in a long string of white rioters in a long string of anti-Chinese riots was described as having a pimple on his nose… which would be a fine detail to add if, say, there was a significance to the pimple (such as being used later on to identify the rioter)—except that the pimple is never mentioned again, thus serving no purpose!
Reading STRANGERS, I was reminded of Roland Barthes’ literary theory of réalisme, in which objects mentioned in passing in fiction serve to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude in the story. Except that STRANGERS is nonfiction. If he hasn’t already yet, I think Luo would make a good go at writing fiction. The sheer amount of details in STRANGERS was simultaneously impressive and irritating.
Which brings me to my last point, about STRANGERS’ longer-term impact and position within the oeuvre of books about Asian American identity and race in the US. STRANGERS is a historical account, but its only theme seems to be, “A lot of terrible shit happened to Chinese people in America!” Luo doesn’t attempt to connect what happened to the Chinese with overarching patterns in the U.S.’ racism, xenophobia, and immigration trends.
Fortunately I’ve read enough elsewhere to be able to draw out the connections myself. These include:
STRANGERS IN THE LAND will be a big commitment for the general reader, but I think it would pair well with works by other Asian American authors who skim over the historical details in order to deliver a stronger message, such as Bianca Mabute-Louie’s Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century or Julia Lee’s Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America.
It took me four months to work my way through this towering tome recounting the history of the Chinese in the U.S., mostly in the 19th century and a bit into the 20th. Am I glad I read it? Yes… with some reservations.
If STRANGERS’ goal was to be the definitive text on the Chinese in America in the 19th century, then it has succeeded. This book is meticulously well researched and bursting at the seams with details of individuals’ travails arriving in a land that was happy to take them as cheap labor but increasingly hostile to the idea of their very presence. In addition, Luo covers political and legal discussions and decisions that shaped not only the Chinese’s changing legal status in the country, but also American immigration trends in general.
The amount of detail in this book, though, is both its strength and its weakness. The stories Luo recounts chapter after chapter become repetitive very quickly. I swear there are at least 10 (out of 25) chapters dedicated to different versions of the same violence visited upon 19th-century Chinese laborers: gangs of white people resentful of the Chinese’s visible Otherness and the way in which they are used as cheap labor by bosses to break laborer strikes, who gather together and then pillage, shoot, stab, maim, and steal the Chinese’s property and bodies.
While I am impressed by Luo’s research skills, these similar events are written about in totally identical chapters until they all blur together into one. More is not always more, and I think it is a writerly responsibility to be willing to cut out some detail in order to weave together a tighter frame and theme.
Some details included, in fact, serve no purpose other than that they were real and Luo came across them in his research. The one that stuck with me most was when one in a long string of white rioters in a long string of anti-Chinese riots was described as having a pimple on his nose… which would be a fine detail to add if, say, there was a significance to the pimple (such as being used later on to identify the rioter)—except that the pimple is never mentioned again, thus serving no purpose!
Reading STRANGERS, I was reminded of Roland Barthes’ literary theory of réalisme, in which objects mentioned in passing in fiction serve to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude in the story. Except that STRANGERS is nonfiction. If he hasn’t already yet, I think Luo would make a good go at writing fiction. The sheer amount of details in STRANGERS was simultaneously impressive and irritating.
Which brings me to my last point, about STRANGERS’ longer-term impact and position within the oeuvre of books about Asian American identity and race in the US. STRANGERS is a historical account, but its only theme seems to be, “A lot of terrible shit happened to Chinese people in America!” Luo doesn’t attempt to connect what happened to the Chinese with overarching patterns in the U.S.’ racism, xenophobia, and immigration trends.
Fortunately I’ve read enough elsewhere to be able to draw out the connections myself. These include:
- Alligator Alcatraz is not the U.S.’ first foray into detaining immigrants of color in inhumane conditions. (See: Angel Island.)
- Less than 100 years ago, foreign service officers were also recruited to basically prove that the Chinese were lying about their immigration status—the precursor to ICE’s treatment of Latinos today.
- The Chinese were always (and continue to be) used by white capitalist bosses to sow racial discord between Black, brown, Indigenous, and working-class white people…
- …and, from the start, the Chinese have desperately tried to believe in the myth of assimilation, and have been the best allies of White supremacy again and again as they’ve told their own peers to keep their heads down, assimilate, and all will be well.
STRANGERS IN THE LAND will be a big commitment for the general reader, but I think it would pair well with works by other Asian American authors who skim over the historical details in order to deliver a stronger message, such as Bianca Mabute-Louie’s Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century or Julia Lee’s Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America.
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