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The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America
The American West erupted in anti-Chinese violence in 1885. Following the massacre of Chinese miners in Wyoming Territory, communities throughout California and the Pacific Northwest harassed, assaulted, and expelled thousands of Chinese immigrants. Beth Lew-Williams shows how American immigration policies incited this violence and how the violence, in turn, provoked new exclusionary policies. Ultimately, Lew-Williams argues, Chinese expulsion and exclusion produced the concept of the “alien” in modern America.
The Chinese Must Go begins in the 1850s, before federal border control established strict divisions between citizens and aliens. Across decades of felling trees and laying tracks in the American West, Chinese workers faced escalating racial conflict and unrest. In response, Congress passed the Chinese Restriction Act of 1882 and made its first attempt to bar immigrants based on race and class. When this unprecedented experiment in federal border control failed to slow Chinese migration, vigilantes attempted to take the matter into their own hands. Fearing the spread of mob violence, U.S. policymakers redoubled their efforts to keep the Chinese out, overhauling U.S. immigration law and transforming diplomatic relations with China.
By locating the origins of the modern American alien in this violent era, Lew-Williams recasts the significance of Chinese exclusion in U.S. history. As The Chinese Must Go makes clear, anti-Chinese law and violence continues to have consequences for today’s immigrants. The present resurgence of xenophobia builds mightily upon past fears of the “heathen Chinaman.”
The Chinese Must Go begins in the 1850s, before federal border control established strict divisions between citizens and aliens. Across decades of felling trees and laying tracks in the American West, Chinese workers faced escalating racial conflict and unrest. In response, Congress passed the Chinese Restriction Act of 1882 and made its first attempt to bar immigrants based on race and class. When this unprecedented experiment in federal border control failed to slow Chinese migration, vigilantes attempted to take the matter into their own hands. Fearing the spread of mob violence, U.S. policymakers redoubled their efforts to keep the Chinese out, overhauling U.S. immigration law and transforming diplomatic relations with China.
By locating the origins of the modern American alien in this violent era, Lew-Williams recasts the significance of Chinese exclusion in U.S. history. As The Chinese Must Go makes clear, anti-Chinese law and violence continues to have consequences for today’s immigrants. The present resurgence of xenophobia builds mightily upon past fears of the “heathen Chinaman.”
360 pages, Hardcover
First published February 26, 2018
43 people are currently reading
903 people want to read
About the author
Beth Lew-Williams
3 books7 followersBeth Lew-Williams is a historian of race and migration in the United States. She is Associate Professor of History at Princeton University. The Chinese Must Go won five book awards, including the Ray Allen Billington Prize and the Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians and the Caroline Bancroft History Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
April 17, 2024
Another contender for the list of hardest titles to read in public
March 1, 2020
Lew-Williams' blending of individual experiences of anti-Chinese violence and the grand political questions of American immigration and racial policy in this period is deeply impressive in a way that only a few other books such as Cold War Civil Rights have done. Also demonstrates the administrative problem of the sheer scale of the United States and the frontier in the 19th century in a way that I haven't seen before. A deeply impressive and nicely compact book
July 13, 2020
A mob of nativist, white supremacist, economically insecure Americans demonize brown-skinned people, form mobs to harass immigrants, and create paramilitary groups to patrol the borders for alleged "illegals."
Thank goodness America has changed since the 1880s.
Thank goodness America has changed since the 1880s.
August 3, 2022
The contemporary political salience of violence exacted against people of Chinese descent in the US during the 1800s can be difficult to pin down, given that (1) most Chinese-Americans arrived in the US within the past ~60 years, or are related to such relatively recent migrants rather than those from longer ago, and (2) in several cases, the "success" of expulsion during the 1800s has resulted in the complete destruction of any surviving personal or material evidence of prior residence of Chinese on the American west coast. In many places in the northwest, while Chinese have been present for close to 200 years, those of Chinese descent who live there today have virtually no relation to those who first arrived. Indeed, the book begins with the example of Tacoma, a suburb of Seattle from which Sea-Tac airport derives its name. Even after years of searching, the city cannot find any surviving descendants of Chinese expulsion; its old Chinese quarter has long been physically destroyed in its entirety.
This book is of particular note for me as in recent years family has chosen to relocate in Bellingham, Washington, an area given frequent mention in the states. The part of me which is Chinese did not arrive in North America until the 1960s via Taiwan, and before than, the Yangtze River valley -- both incredibly disparate from the Cantonese evictees of the 1880s and 90s, even if we may bear correlated physical appearance.
In any other country, the successful exclusion, expulsion, and erasure of people of Asian descent in much of the western US during the 1800s and early 1900s would be called ethnic cleansing. On one hand, it is a classic tale of forms of extralegal, proto-private violence as an arm of the colonial American state. On the other hand, I do think this book also offers a cautionary tale of how racism was welded as a form of white solidarity through methods now cherished by liberals such as activism and the press, against a perceived cosmopolitan elite who was more friendly to foreigners, if only to use them as targets for religious conversion or commercial solicitation.
This book is of particular note for me as in recent years family has chosen to relocate in Bellingham, Washington, an area given frequent mention in the states. The part of me which is Chinese did not arrive in North America until the 1960s via Taiwan, and before than, the Yangtze River valley -- both incredibly disparate from the Cantonese evictees of the 1880s and 90s, even if we may bear correlated physical appearance.
In any other country, the successful exclusion, expulsion, and erasure of people of Asian descent in much of the western US during the 1800s and early 1900s would be called ethnic cleansing. On one hand, it is a classic tale of forms of extralegal, proto-private violence as an arm of the colonial American state. On the other hand, I do think this book also offers a cautionary tale of how racism was welded as a form of white solidarity through methods now cherished by liberals such as activism and the press, against a perceived cosmopolitan elite who was more friendly to foreigners, if only to use them as targets for religious conversion or commercial solicitation.
July 8, 2024
11 hours on Audible. A eye-opening story that must be told of U.S. race-based immigration laws and the invention of the alien during the Chinese migration from 1850-1943, and the shameful federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
March 10, 2024
spoiler alert: they didn’t go
October 21, 2024
This is really accessible and well planned scholarship. Lew-Williams is transparent about her methods, sources, and assertions in a way that was so refreshing to read.
“Inclusion within the nation seemed to necessitate exclusion at its edges. This popular notion, which remains sacrosanct in many circles today, originated with Chinese exclusion.”
“Inclusion within the nation seemed to necessitate exclusion at its edges. This popular notion, which remains sacrosanct in many circles today, originated with Chinese exclusion.”
January 31, 2024
The main argument of this book was that "transformational acts of racial violence" anchor the history of the entire nation, yet the racism directed toward Chinese Americans is routinely left out. (3) She also asserted that historians overlook Chinese American racism because it pales in scale and significance to that of Native and Black Americans of the same period. In my view, her claim that racial violence "anchors" the history of America is presuppositional and unnecessary in pressing her argument. She did not demonstrate that the scale of violence against Chinese Americans was even remotely similar to that of Native and Black Americans, so the historians seem to be safe on that account. Lew-Williams shined in demonstrating the significance of anti-Chinese violence in shaping American public opinion, electoral politics, diplomacy, and immigration policy.
Lew-Williams organized the book around three sections: Restriction, Violence, and Exclusion. It was a way to periodize the narrative that I found helpful. Less effective was her system of subdividing the chapters. Sometimes, the sub-divisions were biographical, as in chapter five. Other chapters are sub-divided topically, i.e., "American Visions of an Open Door" in chapter six. The most confusing, however, were sub-divisions drawn from obscure quotes in the body of the section. An example is "Lawlessness Triumphant." (125)
The events described in Part 1 are ripped out of today's headlines: illegal immigration, porous borders, the conflict between state (in this case territory) and federal authorities, immigrant labor issues, and racialized politics. These chapters describe the state of play that set the stage for the anti-Chinese violence to come. Lew-Williams made a salient point that the federal government extended its reach with the Restriction Act in 1882; however, its inability (or unwillingness) to provide adequate resources to execute the law encouraged the vigilantism that pervaded the Pacific Northwest.
Lew-Williams' analysis of violence was the centerpiece of the book. She began with an interesting claim and a controversial conclusion. "The Chinese make unnatural protagonists (to historians) because they did not set these violent episodes in motion, nor did they hold the power to stop them." (93) Again, she contrasts the treatment of Chinese immigrants in the historiography with that of Blacks and Native Americans. I agree with her assessment of the research that Chinese immigrants did not 'set the episodes in motion.' However, Blacks in the Jim Crow South did not either; they were caught up unawares in violence in much the same way as was depicted in Lew-Williams' anecdotes (see Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow.) I question, though, her conclusion that the Chinese lacked agency and were powerless to defend themselves. She provided ample evidence of their agency in their acts of resistance, leveraging their relationship network in the sympathetic white community, and calling on the government for protection through treaty enforcement.
The book's strength is Part 3, which covers the theme of "exclusion" but takes a deep dive into the political and diplomatic dynamics in play due to anti-Chinese violence. Lew-Williams extensively used primary sources, including speeches, newspaper articles, diaries, petitions, and government documents, to produce a nuanced account of the change in policies over this period and the direct effect the issue of Chinese immigration played in Cleveland's defeat in 1888.
I made several historiographic connections during my reading. First, Jacobson's Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917 argued that American imperialism in the Pacific was driven by the allure of the vast Chinese market and gaining the "stepping stones" of Hawaii and the Philippines. While he did not foray into the history of anti-Chinese violence in the United States, his work supports the importance of trade with China in shaping American foreign policy. Our book last week, Haynes' Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas, is directly relevant to the themes of border security, immigration policy, and white nationalism found in The Chinese Must Go. Finally, McGerr's A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920, supports the racist aspects of progressive ideology that Lew-Williams to the anti-Chinese movement. (138-139)
It is probably unfair due to the vagaries of the publisher, but I judge an aspect of history books in terms of their "mechanical utility." Does the book have footnotes, a bibliography, and an index? This book has endnotes and an index, which makes for a more cumbersome study. I liked her use of pithy anecdotes to introduce chapters (McCrossen refers to these as "grabbers.") I want to use this literary device in my writing. Lew-Williams also used a term of academic jargon (maybe she coined it?), "transcaler," to describe how her approach to this history differs from conventional historiography. (10) I need clarification on precisely what she meant by that, but it sounded erudite. Her use of primary sources impressed me, both by their variety and centrality to the narrative.
I learned much about Chinese migration, American foreign policy, anti-Chinese violence, and Gilded Age politics. The book is well-written and moderately accessible; I enjoyed it quite a bit and recommend maintaining it on this syllabus.
Lew-Williams organized the book around three sections: Restriction, Violence, and Exclusion. It was a way to periodize the narrative that I found helpful. Less effective was her system of subdividing the chapters. Sometimes, the sub-divisions were biographical, as in chapter five. Other chapters are sub-divided topically, i.e., "American Visions of an Open Door" in chapter six. The most confusing, however, were sub-divisions drawn from obscure quotes in the body of the section. An example is "Lawlessness Triumphant." (125)
The events described in Part 1 are ripped out of today's headlines: illegal immigration, porous borders, the conflict between state (in this case territory) and federal authorities, immigrant labor issues, and racialized politics. These chapters describe the state of play that set the stage for the anti-Chinese violence to come. Lew-Williams made a salient point that the federal government extended its reach with the Restriction Act in 1882; however, its inability (or unwillingness) to provide adequate resources to execute the law encouraged the vigilantism that pervaded the Pacific Northwest.
Lew-Williams' analysis of violence was the centerpiece of the book. She began with an interesting claim and a controversial conclusion. "The Chinese make unnatural protagonists (to historians) because they did not set these violent episodes in motion, nor did they hold the power to stop them." (93) Again, she contrasts the treatment of Chinese immigrants in the historiography with that of Blacks and Native Americans. I agree with her assessment of the research that Chinese immigrants did not 'set the episodes in motion.' However, Blacks in the Jim Crow South did not either; they were caught up unawares in violence in much the same way as was depicted in Lew-Williams' anecdotes (see Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow.) I question, though, her conclusion that the Chinese lacked agency and were powerless to defend themselves. She provided ample evidence of their agency in their acts of resistance, leveraging their relationship network in the sympathetic white community, and calling on the government for protection through treaty enforcement.
The book's strength is Part 3, which covers the theme of "exclusion" but takes a deep dive into the political and diplomatic dynamics in play due to anti-Chinese violence. Lew-Williams extensively used primary sources, including speeches, newspaper articles, diaries, petitions, and government documents, to produce a nuanced account of the change in policies over this period and the direct effect the issue of Chinese immigration played in Cleveland's defeat in 1888.
I made several historiographic connections during my reading. First, Jacobson's Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917 argued that American imperialism in the Pacific was driven by the allure of the vast Chinese market and gaining the "stepping stones" of Hawaii and the Philippines. While he did not foray into the history of anti-Chinese violence in the United States, his work supports the importance of trade with China in shaping American foreign policy. Our book last week, Haynes' Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas, is directly relevant to the themes of border security, immigration policy, and white nationalism found in The Chinese Must Go. Finally, McGerr's A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920, supports the racist aspects of progressive ideology that Lew-Williams to the anti-Chinese movement. (138-139)
It is probably unfair due to the vagaries of the publisher, but I judge an aspect of history books in terms of their "mechanical utility." Does the book have footnotes, a bibliography, and an index? This book has endnotes and an index, which makes for a more cumbersome study. I liked her use of pithy anecdotes to introduce chapters (McCrossen refers to these as "grabbers.") I want to use this literary device in my writing. Lew-Williams also used a term of academic jargon (maybe she coined it?), "transcaler," to describe how her approach to this history differs from conventional historiography. (10) I need clarification on precisely what she meant by that, but it sounded erudite. Her use of primary sources impressed me, both by their variety and centrality to the narrative.
I learned much about Chinese migration, American foreign policy, anti-Chinese violence, and Gilded Age politics. The book is well-written and moderately accessible; I enjoyed it quite a bit and recommend maintaining it on this syllabus.
April 24, 2021
What a compelling work. The “grassroots” violence including decimations in the nineteenth century was no where near the horror created by the systematically legislated alienation throughout the twentieth century that still haunts us today. “Heathen Chinaman”.
July 20, 2019
Outstanding! Well written and deeply researched.
November 2, 2022
A wonderful and depressing book. One of the biggest things that hit me was how much of the violence and exclusion towards the Chinese was through the average person. Chinese were tolerated and even welcomed when the economy was good, but once competition set in the violence began. Even those who stood against anti-Chinese rhetoric normally did so because the Chinese offered cheaper and more reliable and efficient labor, not any real concern for the Chinese people themselves. Others who stood against the anti-Chinese were also not pro-Chinese so much as pro-order and they simply rallied against the illegal and violent treatment while still advocating Chinese relocation.
The author also made an interesting tie in to modern politics with these events largely birthing the idea of the alien which can be deported and blocked from entering. Obviously this is an issue for our time as well so this can give an interesting context to that line of thinking within the US. Not surprisingly, any short term benefits of kicking Chinese out of certain areas/the nation and stopping immigration also led to many negative long term effects such as spreading racism, easier access to passing more exclusive laws and strained international relations.
The author also made an interesting tie in to modern politics with these events largely birthing the idea of the alien which can be deported and blocked from entering. Obviously this is an issue for our time as well so this can give an interesting context to that line of thinking within the US. Not surprisingly, any short term benefits of kicking Chinese out of certain areas/the nation and stopping immigration also led to many negative long term effects such as spreading racism, easier access to passing more exclusive laws and strained international relations.
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February 22, 2025More of an academic test, so informative rather than narrative. The birth of an American racialized immigration policy happened in the pacific northwest against the Chinese in the 1880s. This is also where we see the border patrol taking shape, first on the Canadian border then later on with the Mexican border. The idea of a border also changed in the 1890s where the Chinese were required to have papers on them at all times to prove that they were allowed, not just at the physical border. The book includes the conflict between the wealthy who wanted the Chinese as cheap labor and servants, and the workers who viewed the Chinese as competitors. As well as the industrialists who wanted to open China up to US goods. There was an international effect as violence by Americans towards the Chinese in America threatened violence by the Chinese towards the Americans in China. As well as the effects on treaties and how America was being viewed internationally.
October 17, 2025
oh i really liked this book.....
a bottom-up (so focusing on the chinese experience in 19th-century america) account of why anti-chinese racism developed enough to produce the 1882 chinese exclusion act. also the story of why it didn't work, and why it was never really supposed to. also explained the development of the modern border control & immigration system! as well as the creation of the "illegal alien" as a foil to the "federal citizen" newly defined by the 14th amendment.
i think lew-williams did a really good job integrating the everyday local terror faced by chinese populations with the political climate of the united states' relationship to china on an international level. her transcalar approach pays off!!
a bottom-up (so focusing on the chinese experience in 19th-century america) account of why anti-chinese racism developed enough to produce the 1882 chinese exclusion act. also the story of why it didn't work, and why it was never really supposed to. also explained the development of the modern border control & immigration system! as well as the creation of the "illegal alien" as a foil to the "federal citizen" newly defined by the 14th amendment.
i think lew-williams did a really good job integrating the everyday local terror faced by chinese populations with the political climate of the united states' relationship to china on an international level. her transcalar approach pays off!!
May 29, 2022
Walked away with a much better appreciation of the history behind the relationship between US & China and the potential basis for current sentiments in the relationship. It should serve as a good reminder to learn from our past mistakes as we deal with marginalized groups and create a more inclusive and compassionate society
January 10, 2023
目前为止读过的关于排华历史最喜欢的一本，最近读到的女性学者的书籍总能让我发出“哇 还有这种角度 这种方式”的感叹。印象比较深刻的几点：
1. 法律和实际操作之间存在差异。最为熟知的1882年《排华法案》其实并没有在法律执行上获得联邦层面的有效支持，最终效果十分有限
2. 联邦和精英阶层起初反对反华。联邦出于海外扩张和外交打算，精英阶层出于自身利益打算（“爱国守法的美国人”，与反华的主体工人群体区分）。但最终面对愈演愈烈的白人暴力选择漠视和接受排华。
3. 居然有人觉得驱除华人也是对华人的保护，让他们“免受白人暴力”
4. 美国在南北战争之后加强了公民性的塑造，因此也加深了“外国人”和“异族”的概念。在这个时间节点大批到来的中国移民成了“异族中国佬”，对待他们的移民政策塑造了美国现代移民政策
1. 法律和实际操作之间存在差异。最为熟知的1882年《排华法案》其实并没有在法律执行上获得联邦层面的有效支持，最终效果十分有限
2. 联邦和精英阶层起初反对反华。联邦出于海外扩张和外交打算，精英阶层出于自身利益打算（“爱国守法的美国人”，与反华的主体工人群体区分）。但最终面对愈演愈烈的白人暴力选择漠视和接受排华。
3. 居然有人觉得驱除华人也是对华人的保护，让他们“免受白人暴力”
4. 美国在南北战争之后加强了公民性的塑造，因此也加深了“外国人”和“异族”的概念。在这个时间节点大批到来的中国移民成了“异族中国佬”，对待他们的移民政策塑造了美国现代移民政策
February 25, 2024
it was way better than the bison book i had to read before it. this book uses primary sources incredibly well. my one bone to pick is that there were too many chapters/ sections and the book lost flow and that i feel like it didn't respond to it's thesis as well as it could've. good read though!! learned a lot!
September 13, 2024
As good as academic books can get, bc why am I emotional?!?! I love her writing style it's so sharp and tender, also I learned a new word today haha transcalar -- a work that examines the intersection of local expulsion, national exclusion, and international imperialism in the experience of Chinese migrants in the American west! I have a new academic crush.
February 20, 2024
Difficult read because it is real but why is this not taught in history class? The reality of our country is difficult to stomach, it is our responsibility to change the past and never let these outrageous things happen again! Poignant read even if it is tough.
February 26, 2019
A really solid exploration of mid to late 19th century immigration policy and the development of “illegal immigration” through exclusion.
Want to read
March 3, 2020See also Sucheng Chan's books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...
December 15, 2024
Had to read for a class. An interesting but dense delve into the subject of Chinese exclusion.
June 24, 2025
witawally goated. goat of all time.
July 21, 2023
Good overview of history, economic and legislative issues affecting Chinese in America. Audiobook narrator was unfortunately very robotic sounding. This and the lack of personal stories made the information a little difficult to engage with.
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March 15, 2019305.8951 L669 2018
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews