 First edition cover | |
| Author | Iris Chang |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Nancy Wu |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History of Chinese Americans |
| Genre | |
| Publisher | Viking Penguin |
Publication date | April 2003 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 448 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-670-03123-8 |
| OCLC | 779670934 |
| 973.04951 | |
| LC Class | E184.C5 C444 2003 |
The Chinese in America: A Narrative History is a non-fiction book about the history of Chinese Americans by Iris Chang. The epic and narrative history book was published in 2003 by Viking Penguin. It is Chang's third book after the 1996 Thread of the Silkworm and the 1997 The Rape of Nanking. Chang was inspired to write the book after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she had conversations with key figures in the Chinese-American community. She spent four years researching and writing the book, having conducted interviews and reviewed diaries, memoirs, oral histories, national archives, and doctoral theses.
The book provides an overview of Chinese immigrants to the United States and their descendants. It covers several waves of migration: the first was triggered by the California gold rush and the first transcontinental railroad in the 1850s, the second after the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949, and the third after China's opening up after the late 1970s. The book describes the discrimination that the Chinese experienced including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the holding of arrivals at Angel Island Immigration Station, and the Wen Ho Lee case. It covers how Chinese Americans engaged in activism against the oppression such as the 1867 Chinese Labor Strike, suing plantation owners who breached agreements, and protesting against the United States' shipping scrap metal to Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She weaves people's stories into the overarching historical narrative including vignettes about the "Siamese twins" Chang and Eng Bunker, the news anchor Connie Chung, the architect Maya Lin, the horticulturalist Lue Gim Gong, the Air Force officer Ted Lieu, the author Amy Tan, the actress Anna May Wong, and the entrepreneur Jerry Yang.
Alongside some negative reviews, the book received mostly positive reviews. Reviewers praised the book for being engaging, well-written, and comprehensive. They liked its numerous anecdotes about Chinese Americans. Some commentators criticized the book for being biased and unbalanced in repeatedly bemoaning how poorly Chinese Americans have been treated. They faulted the book for lacking depth in certain areas and for lacking a clearer narrative. An audiobook version was released in 2005.