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Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society
A look into New York City's Chinatown discusses its people--newly arrived immigrants who work in garment factories and restaurants--and the enclave they have created there for themselves. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 27, 2013
The subtitle of this told me everything I needed to know: that it would contain some interesting information, but all from a pretty backwards, almost colonialist viewpoint of like, ooh here are the secrets of this exotic and strange people. It's by a woman who wrote about Chinatown for the New Yorker, a publication I usually admire, which is extra unfortunate.
Ironically the parts where the author relies on outside mediators of the community, like cops who patrol the neighborhood and investigators who have worked on cases there, are way stronger than the parts where Kinkead actually tries to go in (with a translator) and experience things directly. There's a whole middle section about crime in Chinatown (heroin smuggling, etc.) and she supports everything extensively with court documents, quotes from legal folks, etc. Some of those chapters are genuinely great. Whereas the other sections are, like, her attending one dinner with her translator and then saying, "This is what ALL Chinese people believe!" based on something that, like, one guy said. And then those points will be some inane thing like, "Chinese people think family is important." (Which is true of course but not unique to Chinese and not explained in any way that makes a case for the way Chinese value family being distinctive from how other people do.)
It was interesting that this was published in 1992 because I read another book about Chinatown published in 1940-something ("Shake Hands with the Dragon") & the older book was actually way more progressive and "inside" than this one, I think because the author seemed to have a much closer and longstanding relationship with way more people in the community. There the author alludes to the perception of Chinese as bogeymen, and tourists who come to Chinatown as a form of slumming and to get a feeling of brushing with danger, and then lightheartedly counters that attitude by telling these very normal, human stories about, say, this little boy being naughty, that old grandma having a wacky night on the town, etc. Whereas this 1992 book seems to actively seek out stories that will confirm what those tourists were looking for (and in the process, position the author as being the magical guardian who knows how to get access to these inaccessible people.) It's like, not only did outside perceptions of Chinatown not change from 1940 to 1992 (Chinatown is dangerous, Chinese don't like outsiders, Chinese are mysterious and unknowable) but the 1992 book is even actively regressive. I suppose plenty of books about China published now are the same. Hmm.
I will say though that the author alludes a few times to talking to people in Chinatown who said they had never talked to a white person before, and it really is genuinely amazing to think how common that did seem to be, as recently as the early '90s.
Ironically the parts where the author relies on outside mediators of the community, like cops who patrol the neighborhood and investigators who have worked on cases there, are way stronger than the parts where Kinkead actually tries to go in (with a translator) and experience things directly. There's a whole middle section about crime in Chinatown (heroin smuggling, etc.) and she supports everything extensively with court documents, quotes from legal folks, etc. Some of those chapters are genuinely great. Whereas the other sections are, like, her attending one dinner with her translator and then saying, "This is what ALL Chinese people believe!" based on something that, like, one guy said. And then those points will be some inane thing like, "Chinese people think family is important." (Which is true of course but not unique to Chinese and not explained in any way that makes a case for the way Chinese value family being distinctive from how other people do.)
It was interesting that this was published in 1992 because I read another book about Chinatown published in 1940-something ("Shake Hands with the Dragon") & the older book was actually way more progressive and "inside" than this one, I think because the author seemed to have a much closer and longstanding relationship with way more people in the community. There the author alludes to the perception of Chinese as bogeymen, and tourists who come to Chinatown as a form of slumming and to get a feeling of brushing with danger, and then lightheartedly counters that attitude by telling these very normal, human stories about, say, this little boy being naughty, that old grandma having a wacky night on the town, etc. Whereas this 1992 book seems to actively seek out stories that will confirm what those tourists were looking for (and in the process, position the author as being the magical guardian who knows how to get access to these inaccessible people.) It's like, not only did outside perceptions of Chinatown not change from 1940 to 1992 (Chinatown is dangerous, Chinese don't like outsiders, Chinese are mysterious and unknowable) but the 1992 book is even actively regressive. I suppose plenty of books about China published now are the same. Hmm.
I will say though that the author alludes a few times to talking to people in Chinatown who said they had never talked to a white person before, and it really is genuinely amazing to think how common that did seem to be, as recently as the early '90s.
June 29, 2025
I mean. It’s kind of informative. I do need everyone to think critically though about when this was published and the perspective of the author, a white woman, and the ever current Cold War, that means this book focuses a lot of China’s struggles but delicately understated Taiwan’s organized crime (and political assassination in America??). Also I laughed out loud at the comment the duty of capitalism and democracy to give back to the community… contrast with an earlier passage of new immigrants being confused there isn’t a public healthcare or welfare system in America. There is also bits of uncultured Chinese versus the enlightened Hongkonger or Westerner… all this to say I am glad I didn’t buy this book and read it from the Internet Archive for free.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews