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of the Silkworm, told the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, father of the People’s Republic of China’s missile program. Her second, the international bestseller The Rape of Nanking, examined one of the most tragic episodes in World War II. Her third and last book was The Chinese in America, an epic history spanning 150 years. As one of America’s leading young historians, Iris Chang received numerous honors, including the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation’s Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award, the Woman of the Year Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and honorary doctorates from the College of Wooster in Ohio and California State University at Hayward. Her work appeared in many publications such as Newsweek, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, she was featured on numerous television and radio programs, and she lectured widely. She died in November 2004.

THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS

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First published in the United States of America by Viking 2003

Published in Penguin Books 2004

Copyright © Iris Chang, 2003

All rights reserved

eISBN : 978-1-101-12687-5

1. Chinese Americans—History I. Title.

E184.C5C444 2003

973’04951—dc21 2002044858

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INTRODUCTION

The story of the Chinese in America is the story of a journey, from one of the world’s oldest civilizations to one of its newest. The United States was still a very young country when the Chinese began arriving in significant numbers, and the wide-ranging contributions of these immigrants to the building of their adopted country have made it what it is today. An epic story that spans one and a half centuries, the Chinese American experience still comprises only a fraction of the Chinese diaspora. One hundred fifty years is a mere breath by the standards of Chinese civilization, which measures history by millennia. And three million Chinese Americans are only a small portion of a Chinese overseas community that is at least 36 million strong.

This book essentially tells two stories. The first explains why at certain times in China’s history certain Chinese made the very hard and frightening decision to leave the country of their ancestors and the company of their own people to make a new life for themselves in the United States. For the story of the emigration of the Chinese to America is, like many other immigration stories, a push-pull story. People do not casually leave an inherited way of life. Events must be extreme enough at home to compel them to go and alluring enough elsewhere for them to override an almost tribal instinct to stay among their own.

The second story examines what happened to these Chinese émigrés once they got here. Did they struggle to find their place