Product Details

• Producers: Bill Moyers
• Format: Color, Box set
• Subtitles: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002UCI4Y
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,233 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

What does it mean to become American? What is lost and what is gained, both personally and culturally, when one sheds part of one's heritage to make way for a new self-identity? This powerful Bill Moyers documentary explores these questions through the dramatic experience of the Chinese in America. Beginning with the harsh conditions at home that drove thousands to seek their fortune in the California Gold Rush, This fascinating saga traces the ongoing struggle of Chinese immigrants and their descendants to be fully accepted as Americans. Told in 3 installments, the story is complemented by a series of Personal Journeys - Bill Moyers' candid conversations with prominent Chinese Americans. 6 hours on 3 DVD's.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, excellent documentary!, February 5, 2005

By 

D. Pawl "Dani" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Bill Moyers Special "Becoming American" The Chinese Experience (DVD)

I want to start by thanking Bill Moyers for bringing this documentary to fruition, and that it was aired on PBS. It is very well narrated, and we, as an audience, get a true sense of the Chinese and Chinese-American experience in the United States, from the turbulent beginnings of immigration to "Golden Mountain" (California), where the Chinese came seeking a new opportunity in this country. (Part 1) We hear accounts of immigrants' experience building the railroad, the extreme injustice of the Chinese Exclusion Act that prevented Chinese men, who settled in the United States to work and send money back home, from bringing wives to this country. Also, due to miscygenation laws, it was illegal for them to marry and intermix with non-Asian (Caucasian women). The magnificent historical background leads all the way up to contemporary Chinese and Chinese-American experiences in the United States of today. (Part 3) Bill Moyers interviews the founder of Yahoo!, a successful doctor, and a writer who broke away from the mold set by her mother, who insisted she become either a doctor or a lawyer. The interview following the three part series, with Maya Lin, best known as the young architecture major who went on to design the Vietnam War Memorial, is excellent. What an inspiration!

This documentary should be viewed in high school and college classrooms alike. Informative, intelligent and even entertaining!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unearthing Old Ghosts and Bones, September 21, 2006

By 

Elijah Kuan Wong (Elmhurst, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Bill Moyers Special "Becoming American" The Chinese Experience (DVD)

I stumbled upon this documentary during the Spring semester of my sophmore year here at Sarah Lawrence College. I eagerly incorporated this three disk documentary into the independent project i was working on for an Asian Studies seminar. Without getting too too into why it moved me so, I'd like to commend the producers and Bill Moyers for re-asserting the invaluable histories and voices of the Chinese and Chinese-Americans. The scenes involving Helen Zia (bless her mightily) and her recounting her upbringing in a New Jersey Suburb, and her travelling to her father's China, were gorgeous.

As a 2nd generation Chinese-American I am grateful that at least a sliver of our past ('our' as both narrowly indicating Chinese/Chinese-Americans as well as a wider more inclusive pan-asian identity) is being revisted and respected.


It is unfortunate that the availability of this three dvd set isn't as readily on hand sicne it is more than worth wild to watch and learn from.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent depiction of the multi-faceted Chinese American Experience, May 3, 2007

By 

P. Toye (Foster City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Bill Moyers Special "Becoming American" The Chinese Experience (DVD)

Bill Moyers and the writers paid wonderful tribute to and respectfully recounted the pain and gains of the native and immigrant Chinese. The narrative is well written and the speakers quite articulate. The three episodes closely mirrored the three phases of immigration: my parents' and grandparents immigration before 1950 and who tried to adopt American culture, the second wave of immigrants who didn't see the need to assimilate and deliberately kept to their own enclaves, and the new, highly educated wave that straddles both worlds. A must-see for anyone wanting to understand the American Chinese experience. I was glad the Vincent Chin tragedy was included--we must never forget how easy it is for prejudice to manifest itself to violence.