Iris Chang made headlines in 1997 with the publication of The Rape of Nanking - aeticulously researched and brilliantly rendered examination of the sacking of that great city by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Many readers of The Rape of Nanking responded to its themes of the fight for justice and the assertion of cultural identity-themes Chang expands upon in her new book, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History Viking; On-sale Date: April 28, 2003; 496 pages; $29.95 Viking Penguin is a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Chang, the daughter Chinese immigrants, has written an extraordinary narrative that encompasses the history of one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States, an epic story that spans 150 years. Buffeted between the exclusionary immigration acts and an outpouring of good will precipitated by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Chinese in America have faced immense hardships but have also achieved great success. Chang explores the stories of these individuals-the laborers whose initiative made possible the laying of railroad track across precipitous mountain ranges; the immigrants who were detained, sometimes for years, at San Francisco's Angel Island; the cooks who (inadvertently) invented chop suey and chow mein; and many, many more.
Chang challenges commonly-held notions to reveal the breadth of the Chinese experience in this country. Often stereotyped as a passive group, Chang shows how the Chinese in America actually have a long history of activism, from a week-long strike by Chinese railroad workers in the 1800s to the joint efforts of the San Francisco Bay Area's Red Guard Party and the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Chang also discusses the unique position of the small and little-known Chinese community in the Deep South, where for generations they have delicately straddled the racial divided. Perhaps more unknown still is the frequency of intermarriage between Chinese men and women of other ethnicities in the 19th century. In fact, a popular play of the time mocked Chinese-Irish unions. The story of the Chinese in America is also one of an extended struggle for civil liberties, an all too familiar refrain to virtually all the ethnic groups who have settled in this country over the centuries. In 1894, the outcome of a lawsuit brought by American-born Wong Kim Ark protected the American doctrine of birthright citizenship. But since then, citizens from many cultural backgrounds have had their rights abridged in times of crisis, and this remains a concern even today.
In The Chinese in America, Chang takes a fresh look at what it means to be an American and draws a complex portrait of the many accomplishments of the Chinese in their adopted country-it is a saga of raw human tenacity and a testament to the determination of a people to forge an identity and destiny in a strange land. Iris' book tour can be located at http://vikingphoenix.com/public/rongstad/bio-0002/irischangbooktour.htm