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The Chinese in America : A Narrative History

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Iris Chang's "The Chinese In America: A Narrative History" may not be the first book about Chinese immigrants in America, but it is perhaps the most reader accesible. There is no doubt that Chang's prose makes the book not only easy to read, but also incredibly easy to grasp - a quality which makes it in some ways superior to the acedemic jargon that plauges most ethno-scoholarly works.

But at what point do things become over simplified? At what point is it too regressive?

Chang's thesis is a simple one - that the Chinese in America have lived in a cyclical state of love and hate. While the Chinese are admired for their hard work ethic and their entrepuenuership, they are also consistently chastised as being outsiders and have at times, become convienient scapegoats at the whims of the frustrations of the larger American public. Chang seeks to illustrate this dynamic with a variety of historical examples, from the days of the California Gold Rush to the recent Wen Ho Lee affair. Chang makes a compelling argument - there is no doubt that the Chinese in America have suffered at the hands of racial oppressors, much like other minority races and ethnicities in America. The Wen Ho Lee case, in particular, is a sobering reminder that the image of the accepted model minority is very easily retracted, especially when it comes at the conviencience of people like Rep. Chistopher Cox (R-CA), a leader among anti-Chinese conspiracy theorists.

There is no doubt of Chang's bias. Like her previous work, "The Rape of Nanking," Chang is deeply personally invested in this book. Whether or not this detracts from her credibilty as a writer is up to you. I personally found most of her analyses truthful, but her one-sidedness will inevitably turn many off.

Which leads me to my main critisism of the book - the regressivism. Chang, at times, devolves race relations in America to be "Asian vs. White," which seems to me to be too simplistic for such a complicated topic. In addition, it risks putting her readers on the defensive, a mistake when you're trying to inform others of a topic that you're passionate about. There is no doubt that Chang wants to write for everybody, but her tone narrows her audience to just those who agree with her, and risks alienating those who are on the fence. In this respect, I think she should've done better.

"The Rape of Nanking" was akin in style to this - passionate and at times angry. But the instance of that book, anger is understandable. "The Chinese In America" requires a different tone and a different outlook.

As an Asian-American with Chinese origins, I found Chang's book to be informative and sobering. I would reccomend it to those who seek an expanded history of something that's not taught in the history books. It may be flawed, but it is still worth the read.

Iris Chang certainly did her research as evidenced by her profuse footnotes and references. Not only is her book well researched, it is well written. Chang, coming from a journalist background, really knows how to make it concise while at the same time giving it lots of emotion.

The book begins around the railroad era and ends with the Wen Ho Lee scandal. She ends with a very pertinent one: the history will never be complete.

Just by reading this nonfiction book, I think it gives a better representation of what it means to grow up in America as a Chinese as opposed to Amy Tan's writing.

She emphasizes that Asians ARE discriminated against, contrary to popular opinion.

Amy Tan's writing is more a story of assimiliation of two cultures: American and Chinese.

Before I start commenting on this book, let me mention my own background: I came to America from Hong Kong when I was 18, and only recently became a naturalized American citizen. I have lived in America for 15 years.

I came across The Chinese In America first because a white friend who adopted a Chinese girl recommended the book to me. Since I have little interest in history, I was reluctant to read it at first; but a few pages later I was engrossed by the book. In history classes in college I learned a little bit about the Chinese building rail roads and the Exclusion Act, but not much more. This book gave much more detail and is so well written that I had no trouble reading it to the end. I am sure my being Chinese helped spark the interest in a subject I normally don't care about. When I was done, I was so impressed with the book that I ordered a copy from amazon.com so that my kids can read it when they grow up.

I think most of the book is accurate, but there are some errors. For example, the book mentioned the Imperial Examination in China as being initiated by the Ching (Manchurian) emperors. I am quite certain that's not true. That Exam's been around for thousands of years, as a lot of ancient literature mention it, such as the famed Journey to the West, whose background was set back in the Tang Dynasty. Ms. Chang's point was that the Manchurians used the Imperial Exams to control the Chinese people, and her attitude towards them is clearly hostile. But the Manchurians are also considered Chinese these days, so it seems ludicrous that a historian should be incensed about a 400 year old injury.

Throughout the book, Ms. Chang's sense of hostility towards the non-Chinese Americans (meaning white) is quite apparent, and her emphasis is always on the prejudice and suppression of the Chinese American. Her sense of resentment becomes blatant as her time frame draws to the modern day for which I also have personal experience. The prejudicial practices she describes are at best frivolous and ambiguous, and when you really think about it, you realize they are merely daily difficulties that every race faces in this country, or any other country. In my personal experience, during the last 15 years in America, I cannot think of a single incidence I experienced that can be classified as "prejudice." I have met jerks in this country, no doubt; but they were jerks just because that's who they are, not because of me. I have never had any conclusive evidence demonstrating that someone mistreated me just because of my skin color. I think if anything, the Americans think overly highly of the Chinese. I have heard so many times the statement "Chinese people are so smart," a statement I know to be not always true. There are plenty of idiots in China too, just like any other country.

Despite all the faults, this book is fast paced, fact-filled and engrossing, unlike the dreary history books I ploughed through in school. I want my kids to know the history of the Chinese Americans, and also to learn how not to have a victim mentality that this book demonstrates. I think every Chinese American should read it to learn about what happened to the Chinese people who came here before them. And even if you are not Chinese, you will still find this book difficult to put down. It will definitely provide a glimpse of the mentality of Chinese and other minority groups in this country. A good, interesting history book is hard to find, and Ms Chang is very definitely gifted in writing.

Iris Chang's narrative history of the Chinese in America is engrossing and involving. It provides a generalized history of China and the Chinese that spans two continents -- by no means an easy feat to do. It is well researched, and has definitely stoked my interest in reading more about Chinese (and Chinese-in-America) history.

My problems with the book, however, lie mainly with her characterization of this text as a "narrative history", and the authorial liberties she takes as a consequence. Clearly, history is a subjective narrative from the get-go, and calling "The Chinese in America" a narrative history gives Chang leeway not otherwise allowed by a more rigorous, scholarly work. While this adds to the readability of the work, it detracts from its credibility.

For one thing, she infuses 21st century moral judgements onto historical occurrences and eras in which it was not even a question. In one instance, she calls Manifest Destiny "arrogant". I'm not arguing that it wasn't, but an outright moral judgement like that does not belong in a work of non-fiction, even if that work is a narrative history. Judgement like that is akin to calling Nazi Germany a period of deranged lunacy. Few would disagree with your assessment, but from a point of historical understanding, its benefits are at best minimal. It's just not good scholarly writing.

Similarly, why should I believe what "one Chinese woman" says from such and such a time, or an oral history as told to so and so who told Chang herself? And what is a floating quotation, supported by no evidence from the author, supposed to tell the reader?

What also bothers me about Chang's book is her use of (for lack of a better term) 'common sense wisdom'. The chapter on the Great Depression opens with a generalized statement about how people in times of trouble tend to turn to groups different from themselves in order to lay blame for all their woes and ills (in this case they turned to the Chinese), and she hearkens it back to caveman tribal instincts. Where is the basis for this anthropological assessment, and why is it applicable here in particular?

To Chang's credit, she was not a scholar at all and to have written the books she did and researched them the way she did without graduate training is an impressive achievement. Also, she was clear from the beginning that this was a narrative history, and not some scholarly work published by Yale or some such other academic institution. I enjoyed this book, and I would definitely recommend it as a starting point to further explorations in Chinese and Chinese American history. All I am saying is that it is by no means a perfect work.

I came across 'The Rape of Nanking' in my libray the other day, and it is curiosity that prompted me to have a look at the book. Though I only skimmed it, I was terrified by some of the passages depicting the atrocities the Japanese army did to the Chinese civilians. It even surprized me more to know that the author of the book, Iris Chang,is a woman - I, a man, cannot think of myself going through such frightening documents and writing a book about what I find. Thus, I feel deep respect and admiration towards her and almost came to a shock with her death. She was a model advocate for justice, and I belive that her works will be a reminder for us all of the struggle that we have to fight for justice and equality.

May her rest in peace

Viet

This is a fascinating book. As a Chinese American, I¡¦m not aware of many historical facts about Chinese in America, especially the contribution of Chinese American in the area of immigration law, e.g. the law suit brought by Wong Kim Ark in 1890s eventually declaring by U. S. Supreme Court that all Children born in the U. S. are American citizen even if their parents are ineligible for naturalization. There are many other historical facts are worthwhile knowing. The book is not for only Chinese or Asian American, it should be read by all ethnic groups in this country. Education and only education by reading books like this can dispel the myths, the stereotypes and the racial discrimination that victimize all minority groups in this country. It¡¦s a must-read!!

As I thought back over this history of Chinese experience in America the first thing I came to realize was that, overall, their experience was the typical American immigrant story. The first generation works hard to survive and provide for the second generation. The second generation (partially because of Old World discipline and likely a desire to help struggling parents) uses education and opportunity to become successful. Finally, the third generation and beyond are fully "Americanized." I see a lot of similarities to the story of my own Irish ancestors.

Still, the experience of the Chinese and other Asian Americans is unique in certain respects. In particular, like African Americans, Asian Americans will always stand out in our society simply because of obvious differences in looks--Asians do not look like Europeans. This makes Asian Americans easier to marginalize and persecute, particularly in times of economic depression and civil unrest. And there certainly have been many instances of this, which Ms. Chang does well to describe from the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Red scare through the challenges of modern education and global economy. In spite of this, however, many Chinese have managed to do well in America and Ms. Chang describes many instances of this as well, giving at least a touch of balance to her account.

If there is a weakness in this book, it is that Ms. Chang has done her research too well and cannot help sharing the details of what she's learned. Too often, we are buried under a flurry of names. Though specific examples can add a good flavor to a book like this, too many specific examples are simply a challenge to the reader. Ms. Chang would have been better off, I think, pulling back on some of her instincts to share all.

In the end, however, this is a small complaint about a very good book. As the husband of a Chinese immigrant, I was looking for some reading that would help me better understand my wife and her extended family. This book fits the bill very well. If nothing else, I discovered the meaning of some of the terms they toss around (ABC = American-born Chinese), some of the challenges still faced by the Chinese in America and some of the resources available for "Hapa" (mixed-race people of some Asian ancestry) which my children will be. I was very sorry to hear about Ms. Chang's recent death. Fortunately, she has left behind some great work to help us understand the Chinese-American experience.

I knew Iris, we had dinner at a vegan restaurant in the valley once, and corresponded, talked on the phone, a few years back over some political work I was doing. She was smart and beautiful; she had two good books done and was working on this, her third; she loved her husband and was thinking about children.

I was so sorry to hear: our hearts go out to her friends and family.

We deeply miss Iris Chang already in the days following her death. She was a favorite writer, and certainly among the best of current popular historians. Her work is both highly scholarly and superbly readable, suffused with feeling for victims of history and anger at cruelty and injustice. This leads some critics to fault her for bias, but her passionate partisanship compells attention to overlooked injustices of modern history. This is the common thread running through all her work ("Rape of Nanking," Chinese in America," "Thread of the Silkworm"). The horrific subjects she dealt with possibly played a part in the circumstances leading to her death, although we should refrain from passing judgement. She was working on a book on Americans in the Philippines during the Pacific War; we can only hope that enough progress was made so that a final gem will appear under her name.

Iris Chang is one of Chinese Americans Heroes. She is a symbol of truth, an advocacy of human rights, and a spokeswoman for Chinese wartime victims.

I am very sorry to hear what happened to her. I want to send my deepest condolence to her family. Nov.12, 2004.

Ming Truong, Virginia, USA.