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Asian America
The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad
The completion of the transcontinental railroad in May 1869 is usually told as a story of national triumph and a key moment for American Manifest Destiny. The Railroad made it possible to cross the country in a matter of days instead of months, paved the way for new settlers to come out west, and helped speed America's entry onto the world stage as a modern nation that spanned a full continent. It also created vast wealth for its four owners, including the fortune with which Leland Stanford would found Stanford University some two decades later. But while the Transcontinental has often been celebrated in national memory, little attention has been paid to the Chinese workers who made up 90 percent of the workforce on the Western portion of the line. The Railroad could not have been built without Chinese labor, but the lives of Chinese railroad workers themselves have been little understood and largely invisible. This landmark volume explores the experiences of Chinese railroad workers and their place in cultural memory. The Chinese and the Iron Road illuminates more fully than ever before the interconnected economies of China and the US, how immigration across the Pacific changed both nations, the dynamics of the racism the workers encountered, the conditions under which they labored, and their role in shaping both the history of the railroad and the development of the American West.
560 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 17, 2023
This collection of academic essays thoroughly explores a relatively forgotten episode in US labor and racial histories: the use of Chinese transient contract labor in building the transcontinental railroad systems of the mid-to-late 1800s. Although loaded with "race and gendered" terminology as they seek to "recover" and "construct narratives," looking past this will reward the reader with insight into the ill-paid life of cheap and transient labor on the American frontier.
In a region remote from European immigration centers, the Chinese migrant had already been "discovered" as a usable resource on the West Coast and was contracted from the south China-Pearl River region in literal droves, much as Mexican migrant labor is sought in modern construction industries. Since this traffic was technically illegal, the Chinese migrant was legally bound to non-citizenship status during his "sojourn." Amounting to indentured servitude during his contract term, it created a racial-caste-class system not unlike the post-Civil War south. Hence the working class white resentment over "preferred candidates" for exploitable labor throughout the late 19th century west.
These essays cover all aspects of the Chinese laborer on the line, from migration patterns to conditions of work, inner community life, relations with larger US society, and even relations with "indigenous tribes" (though this is a sketchy subject requiring much imaginative "construction" in its own right.) The collection does not, however, explore the subsequent fate of these workers once the railroad had been built. The last piece on the Chinese community relationship with Leland Stanford, tycoon-in-chief of the Central Pacific Railroad, illustrates the point.
Although the biggest employer of Chinese labor in North America, Stanford's equivocal attitude sealed the fate of the Chinese in the western US. At one point a "friend" of Chinese immigrant labor, at another the ally of anti-Chinese demagogues, his behavior pattern suggests a desire to exploit their usefulness yet keep them subject to racial restriction and dependency. As soon as the railroad was completed and laid-off Chinese workers expanded into mining and agriculture, they immediately butted heads with competing whites and were "driven out" by force from areas of white labor interest. Elites like Stanford, who had built his "empire" off their backs, stood by passively.
A worthwhile, if at times heavy-handed and "gendered" account of immigrant and minority labor in the American West. As such it reminds us that "the West" of popular culture was more plural, more multi-dimensional than the Owen Wister/Zane Gray legacy that has become the dominant culture narrative.
In a region remote from European immigration centers, the Chinese migrant had already been "discovered" as a usable resource on the West Coast and was contracted from the south China-Pearl River region in literal droves, much as Mexican migrant labor is sought in modern construction industries. Since this traffic was technically illegal, the Chinese migrant was legally bound to non-citizenship status during his "sojourn." Amounting to indentured servitude during his contract term, it created a racial-caste-class system not unlike the post-Civil War south. Hence the working class white resentment over "preferred candidates" for exploitable labor throughout the late 19th century west.
These essays cover all aspects of the Chinese laborer on the line, from migration patterns to conditions of work, inner community life, relations with larger US society, and even relations with "indigenous tribes" (though this is a sketchy subject requiring much imaginative "construction" in its own right.) The collection does not, however, explore the subsequent fate of these workers once the railroad had been built. The last piece on the Chinese community relationship with Leland Stanford, tycoon-in-chief of the Central Pacific Railroad, illustrates the point.
Although the biggest employer of Chinese labor in North America, Stanford's equivocal attitude sealed the fate of the Chinese in the western US. At one point a "friend" of Chinese immigrant labor, at another the ally of anti-Chinese demagogues, his behavior pattern suggests a desire to exploit their usefulness yet keep them subject to racial restriction and dependency. As soon as the railroad was completed and laid-off Chinese workers expanded into mining and agriculture, they immediately butted heads with competing whites and were "driven out" by force from areas of white labor interest. Elites like Stanford, who had built his "empire" off their backs, stood by passively.
A worthwhile, if at times heavy-handed and "gendered" account of immigrant and minority labor in the American West. As such it reminds us that "the West" of popular culture was more plural, more multi-dimensional than the Owen Wister/Zane Gray legacy that has become the dominant culture narrative.
July 25, 2023
I've had this book on my to-read list for like forever but figured it was not a book I wanted to pay $$$ for because it was something where I only have a layperson's interest in. I know a bit about the Chinese who came to the United States to build the railroad, but my knowledge is limited to anything I learned in school. So I was looking to this book mostly as a way to build out anything I knew a little more.
And this book does that. In a series of essays, editor Chang and contributors cover a wide range of topics relating to the railroads and the Chinese men (mostly men) who came here. The why, the people they left behind, what they brought with them, what their experiences were like here and more. Some of is definitely stuff that is not covered in school, ranging from what items they left behind (clothing, dishware, tools, etc.) to their interactions with the Native peoples living here. There's a funny bit where the author describes the local Native populations deliberately scaring Chinese men away by saying there were snakes large enough to eat people that lived nearby, forcing railroad officials to convince the Chinese to return.
Some of it is also probably at least somewhat familiar: the story of men who came to work, send money home and then return home to father families with sons who continued the same cycle. The lack of women. The adaptations they had to make, being so far from home. Where many went after the completion of the railroad or their time in the US, etc. It was striking and sad to see that this is actually something repeated today, although obviously with greater technological advances beyond the railroad.
That said, the book is not without its downsides. It's a series of essays, rather than stories so it's easy to get lost in names, places, events since they do not always carry from essay to essay, which is arranged by theme rather than chronology. This would, however, make this very handy to reference if you have a specific interest in a particular topic relating to Chinese men and the railroads, so your experience may vary.
Overall, I'm glad I had a chance to read it and I'm glad I waited until I could find a library that had a copy. As someone with mild interest, it was something I wanted to read but knew it was not something I would want to keep and really didn't want to pay for full price for the book (even the paperback costs over $20 as of this review). It would be of interest, though, to anyone who needs this for research or a reference. I would imagine it would probably show up in a college class syllabus on immigration, Chinese-American history, the railroads, etc.
Borrowed from the library and would recommend you find a copy if you have any interest at all in any of the topics covered but also remember that it is a fairly dry and academic-type work.
And this book does that. In a series of essays, editor Chang and contributors cover a wide range of topics relating to the railroads and the Chinese men (mostly men) who came here. The why, the people they left behind, what they brought with them, what their experiences were like here and more. Some of is definitely stuff that is not covered in school, ranging from what items they left behind (clothing, dishware, tools, etc.) to their interactions with the Native peoples living here. There's a funny bit where the author describes the local Native populations deliberately scaring Chinese men away by saying there were snakes large enough to eat people that lived nearby, forcing railroad officials to convince the Chinese to return.
Some of it is also probably at least somewhat familiar: the story of men who came to work, send money home and then return home to father families with sons who continued the same cycle. The lack of women. The adaptations they had to make, being so far from home. Where many went after the completion of the railroad or their time in the US, etc. It was striking and sad to see that this is actually something repeated today, although obviously with greater technological advances beyond the railroad.
That said, the book is not without its downsides. It's a series of essays, rather than stories so it's easy to get lost in names, places, events since they do not always carry from essay to essay, which is arranged by theme rather than chronology. This would, however, make this very handy to reference if you have a specific interest in a particular topic relating to Chinese men and the railroads, so your experience may vary.
Overall, I'm glad I had a chance to read it and I'm glad I waited until I could find a library that had a copy. As someone with mild interest, it was something I wanted to read but knew it was not something I would want to keep and really didn't want to pay for full price for the book (even the paperback costs over $20 as of this review). It would be of interest, though, to anyone who needs this for research or a reference. I would imagine it would probably show up in a college class syllabus on immigration, Chinese-American history, the railroads, etc.
Borrowed from the library and would recommend you find a copy if you have any interest at all in any of the topics covered but also remember that it is a fairly dry and academic-type work.
October 3, 2021
Not nearly enough has been written on this subject. It is fascinating. For me, it cast a whole new light on the mechanism of imported labor in the 19th century. The systems for transporting people, for transferring money halfway across the world, the entrepreneurial nature of the enterprise that every laborer undertook… it all seems disquietingly _modern_.
Read this collection of essays and reflect on how the “gig economy” seems a _lot_ older than I thought.
Read this collection of essays and reflect on how the “gig economy” seems a _lot_ older than I thought.
December 12, 2020
This book provides a fascinating overview of the integral role Chinese immigrants played in building the transcontinental railroad.
It goes beyond just the railroad and explores how the Chinese workers arrived, what they did in their spare time, how they were represented in culture, and how the Chinese faced oppression.
It goes beyond just the railroad and explores how the Chinese workers arrived, what they did in their spare time, how they were represented in culture, and how the Chinese faced oppression.
June 5, 2022
Well written. I liked that several people contributed to this work. I would recommend it as a Chinese American sociological work.
June 22, 2023
I wanted a comprehensive history of Chinese railroad workers and this certainly is that. Nothing bad about this book, but nothing great either.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews