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The Chinese in America: A Narrative History
Chronicles the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States, identifying their contributions to the nation's development, from the construction of the transcontinental railroad to scientific and technological advances.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published March 31, 2003
179 people are currently reading
3862 people want to read
About the author
Iris Chang
5 books464 followersIris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. She was best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, when she was just 36 years old.
The daughter of two university professors who had emigrated from China, Chang was born in Princeton, New Jersey and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois where she attended the University Laboratory High School from which she graduated in 1985. She then earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 1989, during which time she also worked as a New York Times stringer, writing six front-page articles over the course of one year. After brief stints at the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune she pursued a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University, and then embarked on a career as an author who also lectured and wrote articles for various magazines. She married Bretton Lee Douglas, whom she had met in college, and had one son, Christopher, who was 2 years old at the time of her death. She lived in San Jose, California in the final years of her life.
Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of the Chinese in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her first book, entitled Thread of the Silkworm (1995), tells the story of the Chinese professor, Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen, during the Red Scare in the 1950s. Although Tsien was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and had helped the US military to debrief scientists from Nazi Germany for many years, he was falsely accused of being both a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was thus placed under house arrest from 1950 until his deportation to the People's Republic of China in September 1955. Upon his return to China, Tsien developed the Dongfeng missile and later the Silkworm missile which would be used by the Iraqi military not only during its war on Iran but (ironically) against the US-led coalitions during Gulf Wars I and II.
Her second book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997), was published on the 60th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre, and was motivated in part by her own grandparents' stories about their escape from the massacre. It documents atrocities committed against the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and includes interviews with the victims. The book attracted both praise from some quarters for exposing the details of the atrocity and criticism from others because of alleged inaccuracies. After the publication of the book, Chang campaigned for the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay reparations to the victims. The work was the first English-language full-length nonfiction account of the atrocity itself and remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for ten weeks. Based on the book, an American documentary film, Nanking, was released in 2007.
Chang's third book and final book was significantly enough The Chinese in America (2003), a history of how the Chinese in the United States have always been treated as suspect outsiders despite their obvious adherence to the American ethic of hard work which they not only excelled at but which they were led to expect would assure them of acceptance as full Americans instead of the envy and alienation that it has continually provoked.
Irish Chang suffered from depression and was diagnosed with reactive psychosis in the Fall of 2004 while in Louisville, Kentucky researching for her next book. She died by her own hand on November 9, 2004, from a self-inflicted gunshot. She was thirty-six years old at the time of her death. She was survived by her husband and son.
The daughter of two university professors who had emigrated from China, Chang was born in Princeton, New Jersey and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois where she attended the University Laboratory High School from which she graduated in 1985. She then earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 1989, during which time she also worked as a New York Times stringer, writing six front-page articles over the course of one year. After brief stints at the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune she pursued a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University, and then embarked on a career as an author who also lectured and wrote articles for various magazines. She married Bretton Lee Douglas, whom she had met in college, and had one son, Christopher, who was 2 years old at the time of her death. She lived in San Jose, California in the final years of her life.
Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of the Chinese in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her first book, entitled Thread of the Silkworm (1995), tells the story of the Chinese professor, Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen, during the Red Scare in the 1950s. Although Tsien was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and had helped the US military to debrief scientists from Nazi Germany for many years, he was falsely accused of being both a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was thus placed under house arrest from 1950 until his deportation to the People's Republic of China in September 1955. Upon his return to China, Tsien developed the Dongfeng missile and later the Silkworm missile which would be used by the Iraqi military not only during its war on Iran but (ironically) against the US-led coalitions during Gulf Wars I and II.
Her second book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997), was published on the 60th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre, and was motivated in part by her own grandparents' stories about their escape from the massacre. It documents atrocities committed against the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and includes interviews with the victims. The book attracted both praise from some quarters for exposing the details of the atrocity and criticism from others because of alleged inaccuracies. After the publication of the book, Chang campaigned for the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay reparations to the victims. The work was the first English-language full-length nonfiction account of the atrocity itself and remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for ten weeks. Based on the book, an American documentary film, Nanking, was released in 2007.
Chang's third book and final book was significantly enough The Chinese in America (2003), a history of how the Chinese in the United States have always been treated as suspect outsiders despite their obvious adherence to the American ethic of hard work which they not only excelled at but which they were led to expect would assure them of acceptance as full Americans instead of the envy and alienation that it has continually provoked.
Irish Chang suffered from depression and was diagnosed with reactive psychosis in the Fall of 2004 while in Louisville, Kentucky researching for her next book. She died by her own hand on November 9, 2004, from a self-inflicted gunshot. She was thirty-six years old at the time of her death. She was survived by her husband and son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
April 16, 2012
Reading this book breaks my heart. As someone who was born in China and has spent the last four years in an American university, I can truly appreciate the stories that Iris Chang was telling in this book. Some of the stories happened in the distant past, yet somehow they still feel so familiar, the wounds so raw and the sufferings so personal. What this book managed to construct is the complex and diverse history of a group of people, who despite such complexity and diversity ultimately pursue the same dream: to make a better life for themselves and for their families. And the foreign land where they imagined their dreams would finally be fulfilled is also the same land where their dreams eventually get dashed, at least for some of them, at least for many of them.
The Gold Rush. The Transcontinental Railway. The Chinese Exclusion Act. The often bloody history of American Chinatowns. The "Model Minority". Behind each and every one of them are names that I could not forget - they are the names of pioneers, heroes and victims, they are the names of many people who came before me so that my own dream of making a better life will somehow become more likely to come true.
And then, like any story in history, there are always those whose names will never be recorded or remembered. Nameless lives. Nameless dreams. Nameless deaths. It is to these people that this book pays its ultimate tribute - an ode to their lives, a song to their dreams, a psalm to their deaths, which will never be in vain and which shall never be forgotten.
The Gold Rush. The Transcontinental Railway. The Chinese Exclusion Act. The often bloody history of American Chinatowns. The "Model Minority". Behind each and every one of them are names that I could not forget - they are the names of pioneers, heroes and victims, they are the names of many people who came before me so that my own dream of making a better life will somehow become more likely to come true.
And then, like any story in history, there are always those whose names will never be recorded or remembered. Nameless lives. Nameless dreams. Nameless deaths. It is to these people that this book pays its ultimate tribute - an ode to their lives, a song to their dreams, a psalm to their deaths, which will never be in vain and which shall never be forgotten.
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April 9, 2011I was feeling resentful that the Chinese were coming into America and taking advantage of the devaluation of our property and buying up everything; starting businesses here and "taking over".
Found this book in the library in my community library, was attracted by the title and started to read it. I am 3/4th the way through it and I have done a 360 on the presence of the Chinese here now. They earned their place.
The book is not about recently emigration, but it goes back in history to the early 1800's when so many came here to mine gold and build the railroad. These poor people were treated worse than animal, but continued their plight for centuries not getting recognized as a viable human until recent years. By recent I mean as recent as 1990.
This is a must read for all American, white. We have treated those that are not like us is such an inhuman way I hardly want to put myself in that class.
Well written; dates jump around but not so much that it is hard to follow and the author did the research on historical events that are factual and meaningful.
Found this book in the library in my community library, was attracted by the title and started to read it. I am 3/4th the way through it and I have done a 360 on the presence of the Chinese here now. They earned their place.
The book is not about recently emigration, but it goes back in history to the early 1800's when so many came here to mine gold and build the railroad. These poor people were treated worse than animal, but continued their plight for centuries not getting recognized as a viable human until recent years. By recent I mean as recent as 1990.
This is a must read for all American, white. We have treated those that are not like us is such an inhuman way I hardly want to put myself in that class.
Well written; dates jump around but not so much that it is hard to follow and the author did the research on historical events that are factual and meaningful.
April 21, 2024
I had read The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by this author and was totally engrossed. So when I saw this book in my favorite second hand book store, I grabbed it (I did pay for it!). And it validated her reputation as an interesting writer and historian.
This history of Chinese immigration to the United States is basically divided into two sections: why the Chinese made the decision to come to the US; and what happened once they arrived. We often identify Indigenous Americans and African Americans as groups that were (and are) the target of prejudice but the Chinese need to be included due to their treatment when they arrived at "Gold Mountain" (California). The gold rush was the reason that the Chinese came to the US in the first large immigration as they believed that they could make a fortune to be shared with the family that they left behind in China and could eventually return to their homeland. Instead they found racial hatred, con men who took advantage of them, and, if they were lucky, low paying jobs. They were instrumental in the laying of railroad tracks for the transcontinental railroad but were paid barely enough to survive.
The second part of this history covers how the Chinese reacted to the living situation in which they found themselves and the second large immigration from China due to the disruption of politics in that country.
There is so much information in this beautifully written book that it can't possibly be covered in a review. Needless to say, it is well worth reading and was a five star read for me.
This history of Chinese immigration to the United States is basically divided into two sections: why the Chinese made the decision to come to the US; and what happened once they arrived. We often identify Indigenous Americans and African Americans as groups that were (and are) the target of prejudice but the Chinese need to be included due to their treatment when they arrived at "Gold Mountain" (California). The gold rush was the reason that the Chinese came to the US in the first large immigration as they believed that they could make a fortune to be shared with the family that they left behind in China and could eventually return to their homeland. Instead they found racial hatred, con men who took advantage of them, and, if they were lucky, low paying jobs. They were instrumental in the laying of railroad tracks for the transcontinental railroad but were paid barely enough to survive.
The second part of this history covers how the Chinese reacted to the living situation in which they found themselves and the second large immigration from China due to the disruption of politics in that country.
There is so much information in this beautifully written book that it can't possibly be covered in a review. Needless to say, it is well worth reading and was a five star read for me.
December 30, 2022
This was such an interesting book and I really enjoyed reading it. It broke my heart to learn so much about people who have suffered so much. It focused on Chinese Americans and Taiwanese Americans primarily, but gives insight into the plight of all peoples who come from depressed or corrupt countries looking for something better for their families only to be greeted with jeers of "get back on the boat" and laws that prevent them from ever living the American Dream.
I gave it three stars primarily because the author is so pro-Chinese. There is a palpable anti-Taiwan bias that as trained historian (albeit a grad-school dropout) I can't accept wholeheartedly, but that did not take away from the overall experience of reading this book.
I gave it three stars primarily because the author is so pro-Chinese. There is a palpable anti-Taiwan bias that as trained historian (albeit a grad-school dropout) I can't accept wholeheartedly, but that did not take away from the overall experience of reading this book.
June 19, 2011
I bought this book shortly after it was published in 2003. I even went to a reading by Iris Chang and got her to autograph it along with my copy of The Rape of Nanking. I shelved it and hadn't touched it since. I thought I knew all about the major events and themes of Chinese American history. I wasn't so interested in reading another rendition of gold miner struggles and exploitation of Chinese laborers on the railroad.
I was wrong. I really enjoyed how Chang wove together a continuous narrative of the first Chinese who came to America during the Gold Rush and more recently the geeks of the technological boom years. Intermittently she also inserts anecdotes from her own family to give a personal touch and flush out the diversity of the Chinese in America yesterday, today and beyond. The most valuable sections of the book tells the story of the Chinese from the post-1965 era. Chang could have easily written her book exclusively from that point on, but going back to the beginning helps put our history in context of the big picture of Chinese America and the mainstream national narrative. If anything, reading this book gave me a greater appreciation and connection to the Chinese who came before me and those who will continue to arrive in years to come.
Such a shame Chang is no longer here to enlighten us with her research and proses.
I was wrong. I really enjoyed how Chang wove together a continuous narrative of the first Chinese who came to America during the Gold Rush and more recently the geeks of the technological boom years. Intermittently she also inserts anecdotes from her own family to give a personal touch and flush out the diversity of the Chinese in America yesterday, today and beyond. The most valuable sections of the book tells the story of the Chinese from the post-1965 era. Chang could have easily written her book exclusively from that point on, but going back to the beginning helps put our history in context of the big picture of Chinese America and the mainstream national narrative. If anything, reading this book gave me a greater appreciation and connection to the Chinese who came before me and those who will continue to arrive in years to come.
Such a shame Chang is no longer here to enlighten us with her research and proses.
January 11, 2010
Iris and her parents were family friends of my parents. My parents and their peers are documented in Chapter 15 and several others in this book in the 2nd wave of Chinese immigration to the U.S. This book was an excellent book - an easy read for anyone interested in the very different waves of Chinese immmigration to the U.S. and where we all ended up.
January 13, 2009
Before I picked up this book, I knew token bits and pieces of Chinese American history, namely, the obvious stuff like the transcontinental railroad, Angel Island, model minority labeling, etc. Iris Chang's book put these tidbits into context and filled in the vast gaps in my knowledge. Chang traces Chinese immigration to the United States from the time of the Qing dynasty to 2003, clearly explaining the historical events in China and Taiwan that sparked each successive wave of migration. Along the way, I learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act, the rise and fall of America's Chinatowns, and the struggle of Chinese Americans in the segregated South to navigate its stark black or white categories.
The most interesting parts of the book for me focused on the question of Chinese American activism. African Americans and Latino Americans have a rich history of engagement in the struggle for civil and labor rights. But the Asian American community has always struck me as reluctant, if not downright apathetic, about engaging in social and political activism. In her book, Chang highlights several examples of Chinese American activism (e.g., "Rice Bowl" parties during World War II, the Third World Liberation Front at SFSU, the civil rights work of Grace Lee Boggs), but she also suggests that Chinese and Taiwanese Americans have traditionally avoided social and political activism because of their fear of government reprisal--a fear that was repeatedly borne out in their home countries.
In the wake of an anti-Chinese American backlash following the 2001 spy-plane incident, Chang wonders if the Chinese American community needs to do some soul-searching. "Could their own memories of repressive regimes in Asia have nudged them toward a safe haven of political apathy in the United States?...Was it, perhaps, short-sighted to discourage their children from careers in the media and the arts, careers that could influence public perception of Chinese Americans, in favor of the more anonymous fields of science and technology?" I'm grateful that Chang herself chose a career in the arts and captured this history, a history that most Americans--including Chinese Americans--know so little about.
The most interesting parts of the book for me focused on the question of Chinese American activism. African Americans and Latino Americans have a rich history of engagement in the struggle for civil and labor rights. But the Asian American community has always struck me as reluctant, if not downright apathetic, about engaging in social and political activism. In her book, Chang highlights several examples of Chinese American activism (e.g., "Rice Bowl" parties during World War II, the Third World Liberation Front at SFSU, the civil rights work of Grace Lee Boggs), but she also suggests that Chinese and Taiwanese Americans have traditionally avoided social and political activism because of their fear of government reprisal--a fear that was repeatedly borne out in their home countries.
In the wake of an anti-Chinese American backlash following the 2001 spy-plane incident, Chang wonders if the Chinese American community needs to do some soul-searching. "Could their own memories of repressive regimes in Asia have nudged them toward a safe haven of political apathy in the United States?...Was it, perhaps, short-sighted to discourage their children from careers in the media and the arts, careers that could influence public perception of Chinese Americans, in favor of the more anonymous fields of science and technology?" I'm grateful that Chang herself chose a career in the arts and captured this history, a history that most Americans--including Chinese Americans--know so little about.
September 18, 2019
As good as the author's book on Nanking. Comprehensive, but full of individual anecdotes, too.
February 14, 2020
Panoramic narrative of Chinese American immigration and settlement from the 19th Century to the present. Chang (The Rape of Nanking) shows the earliest major wave of Chinese immigration in the 1840s, in response both to political unrest at home and a hope of striking it rich in the California Gold Rush. Like most immigrants from everywhere, the Chinese entertained fantastic visions of America as a Land of Opportunity, belied by the squalid reality. From the start, Chinese Americans faced racism, from beatings and lynchings to harsh immigration laws and full-on pogroms; companies and elites exploited men for cheap menial labor and women as prostitutes and sex slaves, which in turn fanned working class resentment of Chinese "stealing" American jobs and corrupting them with disease and foreign ideology. Nevertheless, the Chinese Americans persisted, finding ways to assert their independence: proving their mettle as laborers on the Union Pacific, establishing niches in small businesses (Chang spends much time charting the rise of Chinese laundries and restaurants) and engaging in political and legal activism that overturned the strictest of anti-Chinese laws - a legacy which allowed their descendants to excel in a variety of diverse fields (from I.M. Pei and Jerry Yang to Anna May Wong, Gary Locke and Amy Tan). Despite this, the bigotry merely took other forms: Chinese drawn to America by a promise of education found professional opportunities limited (being denied management positions, for instance, in corporations and tech companies) and themselves suspect as potential spies or generally "un-American" (Chang revisits the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, the rocket scientist deported on false charges of espionage, only to develop China's missile program, which she chronicled at book-length in Thread of the Silkworm). Chang shows the double-edged sword of Chinese American identity: hard-working, proud of their accomplishments and heritage, but pigeonholed by "Model Minority" stereotypes perpetrated by a white-dominated society that still denies their individuality and rarely treats them as full equals. A remarkable, important blend of history and sociology.
November 4, 2017
I'm about halfway thru the book as of today (9/27/17) and it's a must-read for every Chinese, Chinese-American, someone married to one, or if you're just interested in this topic. It contains rich history on the Chinese experience in this country (US) going back to Gold Rush days AND it explains why a people would want to come to America during that time; it explains how chaotic, dysfunctional, dangerous, and impoverished China was during the late Qing/Manchu dynasty and the decline of China's status in the world at that time. Most of the book (so far) is in the perspective of Chinese from the Canton region, since that is where 99.9999% of the Chinese came from for most of the history of Chinese immigration to the US. BTW, this book is not about the Chinese diaspora (also during the Qing dynasty, a truly dysfunctional period in Chinese history) to other areas of the world (e.g. Southeast Asia, Phillippines, Singapore, Taiwan, etc), just the US. There is still plenty of material for the author to dive deep into.
One of the topics that really struck me is the level of discrimination that the Chinese faced not even one century ago. It started out pretty bad in the early 1800s and just got progressively worse by the late 1800s and throughout to about WWII. It really highlights how racist America was in the 1800s and 1900s, much more than it is today. It's not even a close comparison. We think that the US is undergoing a "racist revival" now, but it really was truly magnitudes much worse back then. We have come a long way and I hope that the US will continue a path of being more enlightened and color-blind, especially in regards to opportunities to succeed and interact in an increasing multi-cultural society.
It makes me really admire the fortitude and grit of the early Chinese immigrants to this country. I thought I worked my ass off, but these guys (happened to be mostly guys, since our government was quite discriminatory then and made it very difficult for their wives and other family members from entering this country) have me beat big-time. In comparison to my experience with race-based adversity, I felt some discrimination growing up, but mostly it was school-yard bullying, and I never felt truly isolated since I had non-Chinese friends who would stick up for me. What these early immigrants experienced was true discrimination, and in some cases, genocide. Again, what truly inspires me is the level of adversity they faced and despite that, some truly achieved success. Sadly, the bar of expectation was probably pretty low, since life back in China was quite despicable, with close to zero chances of improving one's status in life.
The book is also impressive because it covers a topic that I don't think I've ever read about (and overall I consider myself very well-read) -- which is, the effect of the remittances (from these Chinese immigrants) back to their families and society back in China. While their husbands and fathers were slaving away in the US, the families back home who were lucky to receive their hard-earned money were blowing it away and chasing the Joneses. Some of the family members never knew how hard that their relatives were working in the US, and some of that was by design. For example, some of the Chinese families back in Canton were climbing the social ladder and were becoming increasingly spoiled, thinking that their relatives in the US were moguls, when in fact, they were manually washing clothes, doing heavy manual labor in the fields, risking their lives in railroad construction in the mountains and deserts, and other quite menial tasks that they were limited to, and at significantly lower pay rates compared to other races (i.e. whites) due to extreme discrimination. The immigrants, on the other hand, had to maintain a delusional "saving face" situation of continuing to funnel money back to their old country families while not getting to enjoy much of the fruits of their (significant and back-breaking) labor. Unfortunately, some of these attitudes still persist today, such as many in my parents' generation.
Again, I emphasize that I am about 60% through the book (not including the notes and bibliography) so this review is not complete yet. I look forward to the rest of the book and I think that Iris Chang is a very detailed and skilled story-teller. After I finish this book, I plan on reading her other well-known work, the "Rape of Nanking."
Update: On finishing the book today, my overall impression of the book has not changed. I think it is excellently written, with in-depth research including history that has not been well documented in other sources, although with some detectable bias.
One of the topics that really struck me is the level of discrimination that the Chinese faced not even one century ago. It started out pretty bad in the early 1800s and just got progressively worse by the late 1800s and throughout to about WWII. It really highlights how racist America was in the 1800s and 1900s, much more than it is today. It's not even a close comparison. We think that the US is undergoing a "racist revival" now, but it really was truly magnitudes much worse back then. We have come a long way and I hope that the US will continue a path of being more enlightened and color-blind, especially in regards to opportunities to succeed and interact in an increasing multi-cultural society.
It makes me really admire the fortitude and grit of the early Chinese immigrants to this country. I thought I worked my ass off, but these guys (happened to be mostly guys, since our government was quite discriminatory then and made it very difficult for their wives and other family members from entering this country) have me beat big-time. In comparison to my experience with race-based adversity, I felt some discrimination growing up, but mostly it was school-yard bullying, and I never felt truly isolated since I had non-Chinese friends who would stick up for me. What these early immigrants experienced was true discrimination, and in some cases, genocide. Again, what truly inspires me is the level of adversity they faced and despite that, some truly achieved success. Sadly, the bar of expectation was probably pretty low, since life back in China was quite despicable, with close to zero chances of improving one's status in life.
The book is also impressive because it covers a topic that I don't think I've ever read about (and overall I consider myself very well-read) -- which is, the effect of the remittances (from these Chinese immigrants) back to their families and society back in China. While their husbands and fathers were slaving away in the US, the families back home who were lucky to receive their hard-earned money were blowing it away and chasing the Joneses. Some of the family members never knew how hard that their relatives were working in the US, and some of that was by design. For example, some of the Chinese families back in Canton were climbing the social ladder and were becoming increasingly spoiled, thinking that their relatives in the US were moguls, when in fact, they were manually washing clothes, doing heavy manual labor in the fields, risking their lives in railroad construction in the mountains and deserts, and other quite menial tasks that they were limited to, and at significantly lower pay rates compared to other races (i.e. whites) due to extreme discrimination. The immigrants, on the other hand, had to maintain a delusional "saving face" situation of continuing to funnel money back to their old country families while not getting to enjoy much of the fruits of their (significant and back-breaking) labor. Unfortunately, some of these attitudes still persist today, such as many in my parents' generation.
Again, I emphasize that I am about 60% through the book (not including the notes and bibliography) so this review is not complete yet. I look forward to the rest of the book and I think that Iris Chang is a very detailed and skilled story-teller. After I finish this book, I plan on reading her other well-known work, the "Rape of Nanking."
Update: On finishing the book today, my overall impression of the book has not changed. I think it is excellently written, with in-depth research including history that has not been well documented in other sources, although with some detectable bias.
September 6, 2016
Being four generations removed from my ancestral homeland of the Guangdong (Canton) province in South China, it's difficult to relate to some of my Chinese heritage. I would often joke that my Caucasian roommate in college was in many ways more Chinese than me. And while I have a list of several things I'd like to do to reconnect with my roots: learn basic Chinese, visit my ancestral village, etc., I found that reading "The Chinese in America" has been an excellent launching point for learning where I came from and how I ended up here.
Tracing the history of the Chinese in America from the Gold Rush to today, Chang writes in an engaging fashion that relates so closely with many of my family's experiences.
As I read, I thought about my great-grandparents who immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area via the infamous Angel Island "immigration station", settling down and starting a restaurant. I thought about their children, which included my grandmother, the first generation born in America. Many of my grand aunts and uncles worked tirelessly at the restaurant and undoubtedly struggled at times socially with their identity as Americans under the care of Chinese immigrant parents.
I thought of my paternal grandfather who served admirably in the Army during World War II, in Japan of all places, where anti-Japanese hostility and racism could have easily gotten him mistaken for the enemy. He served his country with pride and was discharged at the conclusion of the war with multiple honors and a purple heart.
I thought of my maternal grandparents who ran a store in San Francisco. Though racial tensions were at a high, and anti-Japanese sentiment were prevalent both among Americans and Chinese, my grandparents never ever mistreated or refused a Japanese customer, or a customer of any ethnicity.
And I thought of me, a 4th (or 3rd?) generation American-born Chinese. As an engineer living in the Bay Area, how will my story fit into this narrative?
I appreciated the fact that Chang also writes about what was happening elsewhere in the world. Because anthropology, especially Chinese anthropology, is so global, Chang does well to show the ripples world events made in the migration of the Chinese to America, and in turn, the ripples Chinese immigration in America made throughout the world.
On a less positive note, Chang frequently notes about the acts of racism and injustice committed against the Chinese. From the very first settlers during the Gold Rush to today, racism in some form has always existed. It's a true, but painful conclusion to such a rich narrative, but it shows that while Chinese-American relations have come a long way, there is still so far to go.
Tracing the history of the Chinese in America from the Gold Rush to today, Chang writes in an engaging fashion that relates so closely with many of my family's experiences.
As I read, I thought about my great-grandparents who immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area via the infamous Angel Island "immigration station", settling down and starting a restaurant. I thought about their children, which included my grandmother, the first generation born in America. Many of my grand aunts and uncles worked tirelessly at the restaurant and undoubtedly struggled at times socially with their identity as Americans under the care of Chinese immigrant parents.
I thought of my paternal grandfather who served admirably in the Army during World War II, in Japan of all places, where anti-Japanese hostility and racism could have easily gotten him mistaken for the enemy. He served his country with pride and was discharged at the conclusion of the war with multiple honors and a purple heart.
I thought of my maternal grandparents who ran a store in San Francisco. Though racial tensions were at a high, and anti-Japanese sentiment were prevalent both among Americans and Chinese, my grandparents never ever mistreated or refused a Japanese customer, or a customer of any ethnicity.
And I thought of me, a 4th (or 3rd?) generation American-born Chinese. As an engineer living in the Bay Area, how will my story fit into this narrative?
I appreciated the fact that Chang also writes about what was happening elsewhere in the world. Because anthropology, especially Chinese anthropology, is so global, Chang does well to show the ripples world events made in the migration of the Chinese to America, and in turn, the ripples Chinese immigration in America made throughout the world.
On a less positive note, Chang frequently notes about the acts of racism and injustice committed against the Chinese. From the very first settlers during the Gold Rush to today, racism in some form has always existed. It's a true, but painful conclusion to such a rich narrative, but it shows that while Chinese-American relations have come a long way, there is still so far to go.
September 10, 2018
I got this book from the library this summer. It has 400 pages plus another 100 pages of references. But it was easy reading. I like how Chang correlates the timelines of events in China and U.S. I particularly like reading the anecdotes, some amusing and many heartbreaking. A very well researched history book and a captivating read. I give it 5 stars.
July 30, 2019
What struck me most about this book was the degree to which the Chinese have been and still are an extreme minority in America. Thus, I think, the difficulty of carving out a distinct “Chinese American” identity, as narratives and perceptions are so strongly defined by the broader histories and cultures of the much larger and much more powerful forces of China and America themselves. And the difficulty of living that identity, being constantly pulled back and forth by those two forces, whether we like it or not.
December 10, 2025
Well researched and presented. As with all historical writings, this one too does not set out to instill anger or hatred by describing the cruelty and unfairness that had occurred in the past. History should serve to remind us of what we had done wrong and why we must not repeat those mistakes again.
Alas, we do see similar actions today that repeat the mistakes of yesteryears.
Alas, we do see similar actions today that repeat the mistakes of yesteryears.
February 18, 2019
I read this book for my nonfiction English book project. I am currently finishing the project by creating a scrapbook. I think the book has opened my eyes to many awful events and it is very well informed. What I found to be the most depressing is Iris’s own life story. I actually listened to a talk she gave on YouTube from 2003 and wondered why she hadn’t written anything new or spoken out any time recently. Then I did some extra research and it changed my perspective while I was in the end of the book.
February 10, 2017
Like most Americans, my earliest notion of the Chinese in America is an association with the Transcontinental railroad. As it happened, their story begins before that, with the California gold rush. Poor Chinese men, having caught wind of the bonanza in California, made their way to "Gold Mountain" in hopes of making a fortune and returning to China with it. While many hit the jackpot and returned, still others made another home in America, becoming actors in its story. In The Chinese in America, Iris Chang superbly runs together three threads: a history of China, as the decline of the last empire and the resulting civil strife (including war) created a need for opportunities and safety to be found abroad; the history of the United States, lassoing in the West and needing all the railroad men, miners, and farmers it could get; and the story of the generations who traveled from one nation to the other, attempting to adjust to a new country without losing their heritage. It is an admirable story of perseverance amid bewilderment and hardship.
The earliest Chinese visitors to the United States came not to flee wicked oppression in China, but to make money on Gold Mountain and go home rich men. A few did strike it lucky and retire wealthy, but many more stayed. Although most of the Chinese who settled in the United States remained on the west coast, not all congregated in urban Chinatowns. They searched for opportunity wherever it might be found; working farms and ranches, mines and railroads, and - occasionally -- even finding their way to New England and the South. There, despite racially-orientated legislation, they found tacit acceptance, safe in their ambiguous status. That changed in the 1870s, when a depression set teeth on edge and prompted unemployed laborers to blame the cheap labor flooding in from the East. The Chinese Exclusion Act followed, barring most immigration from Asia. Strict quotas were imposed, and only certain professions were entirely welcome. The Exclusion act would hold until the 1940s, when the United States and the Chinese people became allies, both targets of Japanese imperialism. (Shortly after World War 2, racial limitations on immigration were ended altogether. even as the war and those which followed generated anti-Asian prejudice) As one generation pushed the frontier by breaching the Rocky Mountains, linking the coasts and allowing agriculture to prosper in the west, another stretched it still further in aviation and software engineering. Chang doesn't limit herself to politics and economics; a strong reliance on oral history imparts a good dose of social history, as well, like the evolution of "Chinese" food.
The Chinese-American story is not one I have any experience with -- the South's Asian population is predominately Korean and Vietnamese, at least in my neck of the woods. What little I knew came from histories of San Francisco (particularly Good Life in Hard Times, with a section on Chinese gangs). This was, then, a welcome introduction to another aspect of America's mosaic.
The earliest Chinese visitors to the United States came not to flee wicked oppression in China, but to make money on Gold Mountain and go home rich men. A few did strike it lucky and retire wealthy, but many more stayed. Although most of the Chinese who settled in the United States remained on the west coast, not all congregated in urban Chinatowns. They searched for opportunity wherever it might be found; working farms and ranches, mines and railroads, and - occasionally -- even finding their way to New England and the South. There, despite racially-orientated legislation, they found tacit acceptance, safe in their ambiguous status. That changed in the 1870s, when a depression set teeth on edge and prompted unemployed laborers to blame the cheap labor flooding in from the East. The Chinese Exclusion Act followed, barring most immigration from Asia. Strict quotas were imposed, and only certain professions were entirely welcome. The Exclusion act would hold until the 1940s, when the United States and the Chinese people became allies, both targets of Japanese imperialism. (Shortly after World War 2, racial limitations on immigration were ended altogether. even as the war and those which followed generated anti-Asian prejudice) As one generation pushed the frontier by breaching the Rocky Mountains, linking the coasts and allowing agriculture to prosper in the west, another stretched it still further in aviation and software engineering. Chang doesn't limit herself to politics and economics; a strong reliance on oral history imparts a good dose of social history, as well, like the evolution of "Chinese" food.
The Chinese-American story is not one I have any experience with -- the South's Asian population is predominately Korean and Vietnamese, at least in my neck of the woods. What little I knew came from histories of San Francisco (particularly Good Life in Hard Times, with a section on Chinese gangs). This was, then, a welcome introduction to another aspect of America's mosaic.
April 5, 2011
This book provides a good primer for such a broad and complex topic. Not unlike Zinn's "A People's History"in structure, this book looks at the intertwining history of China and the United States and the evolution of the Chinese American but is less dense in its material and focuses more on individual stories and accounts to punctuate the times and experiences of Chinese Americans.
For its size, it is a surprisingly quick read. The writing is easy to follow and colloquial in its tone. Chang's passion for the topic is obvious. Sometimes, especially as the history moves towards contemporary times, Chang's voice becomes much stronger in her assessments which marks her biases more apparent. Near the end, I felt that her opinion was a little too black and white. However Chang doesn't pretend to be an unbiased historian, or any kind of historian for that matter. Her other book, "The Rape of Nanking", is also heavily biased in its retelling of the under-represented side of WWII. She is a journalist telling a story and adding her voice to an active dialog about and bringing attention to systemic racial and social injustice.
Throughout the entire book, it was difficult to not remember her death. Her strong voice makes it hard to forget how she chose to end her life, which occurred the year after this book was originally published, and the same year it came out in paperback. It is particularly sad to read the last chapter about the possible future of Asian Americans and her thoughtful acknowledgments knowing this.
Overall, the book is definitely worth reading— a good starting point for more refined inquiry and a good general overview of a minority generally ignored by mainstream media.
For its size, it is a surprisingly quick read. The writing is easy to follow and colloquial in its tone. Chang's passion for the topic is obvious. Sometimes, especially as the history moves towards contemporary times, Chang's voice becomes much stronger in her assessments which marks her biases more apparent. Near the end, I felt that her opinion was a little too black and white. However Chang doesn't pretend to be an unbiased historian, or any kind of historian for that matter. Her other book, "The Rape of Nanking", is also heavily biased in its retelling of the under-represented side of WWII. She is a journalist telling a story and adding her voice to an active dialog about and bringing attention to systemic racial and social injustice.
Throughout the entire book, it was difficult to not remember her death. Her strong voice makes it hard to forget how she chose to end her life, which occurred the year after this book was originally published, and the same year it came out in paperback. It is particularly sad to read the last chapter about the possible future of Asian Americans and her thoughtful acknowledgments knowing this.
Overall, the book is definitely worth reading— a good starting point for more refined inquiry and a good general overview of a minority generally ignored by mainstream media.
December 8, 2017
Required reading for anyone who doesn't want to believe that racial profiling or immigration affects the government rulings. If you don't want to listen to the African-Americans or the Native Americans, then listen to the voices of the Chinese-Americans.
Chang has provided you with a 400+ page testimony from several dozens of sources with a cool and detailed narrative, before an angry rhetoric has entered the scene. She could have been more graphic, but it is told in an even-mannered way that I think anyone could learn from it. It may be a little dated and it may glorify the "China that once was" a little for my liking, but it's still a valuable narrative about the shadows of "the land of the free".
I can only hope that everyone sees the unsettling parallels, that today's justifications for travel bans, deportations, and so forth are the same ones that have been repeated by judges, lawyers, and politicians for centuries within this book. Just change the wording here and there, and you can imagine some of these phrases being uttered today. That is upsetting. Please read and be informed. Take a good look at the responsibility we have as people within our history. It is the best way that we can honor Chang's memory.
Watch a recording of Chang talking about this book here: https://youtu.be/9h8LVorTecE?t=5m15s
Chang has provided you with a 400+ page testimony from several dozens of sources with a cool and detailed narrative, before an angry rhetoric has entered the scene. She could have been more graphic, but it is told in an even-mannered way that I think anyone could learn from it. It may be a little dated and it may glorify the "China that once was" a little for my liking, but it's still a valuable narrative about the shadows of "the land of the free".
I can only hope that everyone sees the unsettling parallels, that today's justifications for travel bans, deportations, and so forth are the same ones that have been repeated by judges, lawyers, and politicians for centuries within this book. Just change the wording here and there, and you can imagine some of these phrases being uttered today. That is upsetting. Please read and be informed. Take a good look at the responsibility we have as people within our history. It is the best way that we can honor Chang's memory.
Watch a recording of Chang talking about this book here: https://youtu.be/9h8LVorTecE?t=5m15s
February 7, 2011
"Traditionally, the best students in CA had viewed Berkeley and other UC schools as safety nets in case they were rejected by more prestigious universities such as Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT, and the Ivy League schools. For years, the only requirement for admission to Berkeley or UCLA was graduation within the top 12.5 percent of one's high school class. Given the high concentration of Chinese and other Asian Americans on the West Coast, their numbers soared, within the Univ. of CA system. Between 1966 and 1980, for example, the percentage of Asian American undergraduates at Berkeley had quadrupled from about 5 percent to 20 percent of the students. According to the New York Times in 1981, Berkeley officials fully expected 40 percent of the entering freshman class to be Asian American by 1990. But suddenly, in the mid-1980s, the pattern reversed and the numbers abruptly dropped" (330-331).
May 6, 2010
A couple years back, having read Chang's Rape of Nanking, and having freshly moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, this one was on my short list. The first half of the book is a fascinating ride through largely-unknown parts of American history. Chang's writing makes for an effortless, page-turning read. However, I felt this slowed as we moved into the second half. The style became decidedly more journalistic and I found myself really skimming the last pages. That said, the mix of subject matter and clean and competent writing make for a book worth the time.
January 31, 2019
just about finished with this book. I keep thinking of the laws that were passed and how many parts of american history are left unknown to most americans. As an avid history reader , my eyes were opened to so much I did not know about the emigration of Chinese to America and the obstacles they overcame and may be still overcoming. A comprehensive history written so elegantly and easily understood.
August 13, 2008
I really liked this book. I was glad to learn more about the large contribution that the Chinese and Chinese Americans have made to the United States. Unfortunately though, just when you think you've become aware of the majority of bigotry, prejudice, and opression in the US, you read a book like this and find out how naive your assumption was.
January 1, 2009
Finished this book over vacation - amazing from beginning to end. Chang's ability to connect broad sweeps of history, both domestic and abroad, to individual vignettes is really impressive.
June 24, 2010
This was an excellent book. Extremely eye-opening. It's amazing to see how much of American history your high school classes don't discuss.
August 2, 2021
Loved the compilation of history, personal stories, and commentaries. It helps me put the current affairs in a historical perspective. A must read!
July 26, 2022
This book gives a very comprehensive history of Chinese American history. The book also provides historical insights into what was happening in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that contributed to the Chinese coming to America or affected their experiences within America. This background information is essential in providing context that tells a complete story. Chang's understanding of contextualization's importance makes the history book stand out. Though this book was long, it was necessary. The narrative framing of the story and many anecdotes made it easy to read. My only complaint is there seems to be an emphasis on the more disturbing or graphic details. I am in no way suggesting that the author should gloss over the darker parts of this history, but she does seem to like to linger on the more upsetting details.
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March 6, 2024While not as emotionally powerful as Chang's more famous work, The Rape of Nanking, this book does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of telling the Chinese-American immigration story. What Chang does best here is bring the immigrant story out of the generalities and assumptions done by many American history books that give immigrant stories a broad narrative. Chang finds the voices and stories of individuals and tells a more complete story of the push and pull elements that brought many Chinese to America and places these groups within the larger narratives of immigration and foundation in the American West.
December 17, 2025
thoroughly researched and incredibly interesting. the beginning up until the "modern" era was really interesting, and i found myself wondering how much of Chang's research has since been cribbed by others ive read. Chang was not only an incredible researcher but a great writer, and this was hard to put down. it's a true tragedy that we lost this author so early, i can only imagine what she would have written.
That said, there were some extremely obvious biases in this book, as there had been in her others, however i found them more blatant in this one. although this was a great book and i enjoyed and was enriched by reading it, i found myself irritated on occasion by the regular use of singular anecdotes to prove a point. not only this, but they were often quite emotional points. the author would occasionally reference a single bumper sticker or pin that apparently someone had that proved racism. while discussing anti-asian racism in modern america the author chose to describe the experiences of asian americans at the top of their fields (senators, professors, top level research scientists, national news anchor). they talked about how hard things were, or how occasionally someone said racist things about them or to them. Not saying this isnt bad, it is, but it was interesting to read this and read the emphasis about how hard it was coming from people who were obviously not actually held back in their careers by it. now certainly these were singular examples of extremely successful people, and probably meant ot emphasize how racism happens to all, even the successful, but it certainly didn't block these individuals from achieving top level success. i think this is why i found the earlier chapters more impactful as it centered more on normal, everyday people, rather than trying to both elevate asian americans achievements while also insisting they were being held back by racism. This was not an analysis of the actual impacts of racism on the asian american community, which would be interesting to read, it was a bunch of anecdotes meant to let the reader assume these are the whole story.
At least for me, i prefer history books that report the information, and include analysis, but with less emotional manipulation and biases.
All in all, this is a great book, extremely informative, interesting and compelling, and as with all non fiction, must be read with a skeptical eye. Highly recommend.
That said, there were some extremely obvious biases in this book, as there had been in her others, however i found them more blatant in this one. although this was a great book and i enjoyed and was enriched by reading it, i found myself irritated on occasion by the regular use of singular anecdotes to prove a point. not only this, but they were often quite emotional points. the author would occasionally reference a single bumper sticker or pin that apparently someone had that proved racism. while discussing anti-asian racism in modern america the author chose to describe the experiences of asian americans at the top of their fields (senators, professors, top level research scientists, national news anchor). they talked about how hard things were, or how occasionally someone said racist things about them or to them. Not saying this isnt bad, it is, but it was interesting to read this and read the emphasis about how hard it was coming from people who were obviously not actually held back in their careers by it. now certainly these were singular examples of extremely successful people, and probably meant ot emphasize how racism happens to all, even the successful, but it certainly didn't block these individuals from achieving top level success. i think this is why i found the earlier chapters more impactful as it centered more on normal, everyday people, rather than trying to both elevate asian americans achievements while also insisting they were being held back by racism. This was not an analysis of the actual impacts of racism on the asian american community, which would be interesting to read, it was a bunch of anecdotes meant to let the reader assume these are the whole story.
At least for me, i prefer history books that report the information, and include analysis, but with less emotional manipulation and biases.
All in all, this is a great book, extremely informative, interesting and compelling, and as with all non fiction, must be read with a skeptical eye. Highly recommend.
June 11, 2022
Wished I had read this before. A great comprehensive look at the history of Chinese in America. So much that doesn't get taught (that I didn't teach). I appreciated both the larger picture that Iris Chang gives as well as the individual narrative stories that bring them to life. A thoroughly researched book. Definitely took time to work through but glad I read it.
February 10, 2023
Just excellent, as always from Iris Chang
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