Book Review:  "The Chinese in America" by Iris Chang

By George Koo

(Editor note: George Koo is an international business consultant and an occasional contributor to Pacific News Service)

	Even though the Chinese have been living in America for more than 150 years, they are still regarded as strangers in a foreign land.  Along comes Iris Chang and her latest book, The Chinese in America to examine this phenomenon in the land universally admired for its open door to the world's poor and oppressed.  

	Her complex explanation is presented in the form of a remarkable narrative that spans 400 pages.  However, this book is far from dense.  The author has skillfully compressed centuries of history, years of research and hundreds of interviews and conversations into an epic that flows effortlessly and sweeps the reader along for an informative, fascinating and emotional ride.  

	To Iris, the Chinese experience in the U.S. has been more of a series of repetitive cycles rather than a monotonic progression from victims of brutal abuse to becoming widely accepted as a "model minority."

	In 1877, there was Denis Kearney, a demagogue who rose to political power by fanning an anti-Chinese hysteria accusing them of stealing the white man's livelihood.  In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy began a witchhunt to look for communists under every bed and an inquiry on "who lost China" to communism.  

	The Chinese American community especially felt the heavy siege of suspicion and glare of McCarthyism.  Dr. Qian Xuesen, a founder of Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab and a key contributor of America's early missile technology, was hounded, interrogated and kept in house arrest for years before being deported to China.

	In 1853, conviction of killers for the murder of Ling Sing was overturned on the grounds that the "inferior caste of people who were non-citizens," meaning Chinese, cannot testify against the whites.  In 1982, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz used a baseball bat to bash Vincent Chin to death.  Even though Chin was a born-in-America citizen, Ebens and Nitz did not spend even one night in jail.

	Ling Sing's case prompted the phrase "not a Chinaman's chance."  After nearly 130 years, Vincent Chin's chances fared no better.

	Everett Drumwright, then U.S. consul in Hong Kong, concluded in his Foreign Service report, filed in 1955, that nearly all Chinese in America were illegal aliens capable of all sorts of dastardly deeds including spying for China.

	FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover also subscribed to the notion that the Chinese community teemed with spies from China.  Later, FBI analyst Paul Moore was to refine Hoover's theory by suggesting that China recruited spies differently relying on "ethnic affinity" rather than the customary blandishments of cash and sex.

	Moore's proposition led to testimonies before the House Select Committee headed by Congressman Christopher Cox which produced a sensational report alleging that over 10,000 PRC company offices in the U.S. are intelligence gathering stations and all Chinese in the U.S. regardless of citizenship status are potential spies.

	The pressure created by the Cox Report led directly to the railroading of Dr. Wen Ho Lee in 1999.  Opponents of President William Clinton accused him of losing nuclear warhead missile technology to China.  In response, his administration promptly offered Lee as the designated sacrificial lamb.

	Lee was thrown in solitary confinement for months on 59 charges, all but one of which were later thrown out.  He pled guilty to one count in exchange for time spent in jail.  One can argue that Lee's experience was an improvement over the fate of his predecessor scapegoats that were lynched, burned or shot by periodic rampaging mobs in the late 1800's.

	The author also drew positive parallels.  Yung Wing became the first Chinese to graduate from a major university (Yale in 1854) and opened the door for others.  In early 1900's, Chan Chung Wing became the first Chinese to practice law in California and Bessie Jeong was the first Chinese American woman to graduate from Stanford and became a practicing physician.

	By breaking the mold, the trailblazers paved the way for others to follow.  Today, accomplished Chinese Americans occupy every profession from Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang (Nobel laureate physicists), I.M. Pei (architect), An Wang (electronics), Yo-Yo Ma (music), David Ho (medicine), Elaine Chao (government), Gary Locke (politics), Charles Wang (software), Chang-lin Tien (academic), David Lee (high tech entrepreneur), to Jerry Yang (Internet) and many more.

	Sadly, in some essential respects, the Chinese in America have not learned from their past.  In the 1800's, the men from Toishan built the transcontinental railroad, toiled in the farms, washed laundry and did all the menial jobs nobody else wanted.  Their meager remittances to China enabled their wives and children to live in relative splendor and thus reinforced the false image of a husband living on some American easy street paved with gold.  Other men were pressured to cross the ocean lest their families lose face, not realizing the pitiful existence they were about to assume.

	Today men from Fujian illegally scraping by in New York are repeating the same cycle of self-deception.  Their remittances sent home enable their families to become the objects of envy and encouraged others to follow--to the delight of snakeheads that traffic in human cargo for sure fire profit.

	In the 1930's Chinatowns became tourist attractions where guided tours, instead of righting false impressions, actually catered to the white tourists' prejudices of the wicked "Orientals" in opium dens, brothels and gambling dens.  Today, after the outbreak of SARS in Asia, Chinatown denizens promptly don facemasks and then cannot understand why tourists are staying away.

	The publication of Chang's book followed closely the release of Bill Moyers' document on the Chinese experience on becoming Americans.  Both are powerful presentations.  The book is more comprehensive by virtue of having a broader canvas to work with.  Moyers is planning to convert the documentary into teaching material for the classroom.  Chang's book will make a perfect companion.

	Of course, all Chinese Americans should read this book to truly understand how their roots in America were planted and become better braced for the next time they face a random invitation to "go back to where they come from" - even if this means Peoria.  This book is not just for Chinese Americans but also for all newly arrived immigrants and conscientious citizens that care to appreciate the deficiencies of the American democracy.

	Yesterday, the scapegoat of renown was Wen Ho Lee.  Today, it's some college professor of Palestinian ancestry or an Intel engineer from Middle East, not to mention the untold number of gulag residents at Guantanamo Bay.  Tomorrow a government that favors roughshod expediency over the value of civil liberties can certainly and arbitrarily victimize anyone.   

	To read Iris Chang's book is to understand that the only recourse is to stand for what is right and vigorously protect the principles that have made America a diverse nation from which its unique greatness sprang.

(5/10/03)