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In this foundational study, Shehong Chen investigates how Chinese immigrants to the United States transformed themselves into Chinese Americans during the crucial period between 1911 and 1927. As the search for a modern China climaxed with the 1911 revolution in China, debates over reform and revolution politicized and divided Chinese communities across the United States. When the new Chinese republic faced its first serious threat from Japan in 1915, the Chinese response in the United States revealed the limits of Chinese nationalism and the emergence of a true Chinese American identity. In addition to using multiple Chinese-language newspapers to identify ideological elements of this identity, Chen also documents the emergence of permanent Chinese American communities, or Chinatowns. ... Read more

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Chapters: Chinese American, Asian American, Filipino American, Family of Barack Obama, Indian American, Nicole Scherzinger, Japanese American, B.j. Penn, Vietnamese American, Military History of Asian Americans, List of Asian American Medal of Honor Recipients, Pakistani American, List of Asian American Jurists, Korean American, Taiwanese American, Hmong American, Education Outcomes in the United States by Race and Other Classifications, Cassie, Marié Digby, Tibetan American, Amerasian, Carmit Bachar, Asian American History, Ben Henderson, Mongolian American, Sikhism in the United States, Jimmy Wang, Thai American, Bangladeshi American, Betty Liu, Laotian American, Raj Mukherji, Dante Basco, Edwin Ushiro, Indonesian American, Sri Lankan American, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Carl Choi, Brenda Shaughnessy, Patricia A. Shiu, Kirk Acevedo, Xi Kappa, Victoria Chang, Austin St. John, Biju Viswanath, Greater Washington Area Asian American Demographics, Aamir Ali, Tabitha Yim, Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Chánh, Index of Asian American-Related Articles, Asian Pacific American, Madame Nguyen Cao Ky, Mike Relm, Red Guard Party, China Chow, Asian Professional Exchange, Kit Dezolt, Eunice Yoon, Jeff Chan, Jimmy Tsai, Joel de La Fuente, Tran Van Khiem, Allen Evangelista, Thomas Chung, Laotian Chinese American, Madame Nguyen Van Thieu, Galen Yuen, Lillian Lim, Claudine Wong, Macel Leilani Wilson, I Wor Kuen, Derek Basco, Dion Basco, Paul Gallo, Darion Basco. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 229. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Commonly Asian languages and English Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. In popular American consciousness, the term generally refers to persons with ancestry from East Asia, which includes Chinese, Korean and Japanese Americans, though in defini...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=148898 ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Good Read but some weaknesses
I don't know how well this book has sold but I seem to fit the demographic almost perfectly.I'm Chinese American, born in San Francisco and familiar with various locations referred to in the book:Chinatown, Chinese Playground and St. Mary's Catholic Center.I'm also an avid basketball fan as I watch, coach, play and officiate basketball.

Therefore reading this book was a treasure trove.The chapters on the Hung Wah Kues, Helen Wong Lum and Willie "Woo Woo" Wong were terrific.Books on Chinese immigration to America are great in number.There are not many that focus on the Chinese athletic experience and this book was the first one that I was aware of.

While the historical aspects were great, I did find room for improvement.The book is quite short at 120+ pages with the rest being bibliography information.The author also tries to squeeze in some analysis of the portrayal of Asian-Americans during the early days.While some of the imagery and analysis are good, some I feel may have missed the mark a bit.

Also, being very familiar with the sport of basketball, I feel the author didn't know the sport that well.Some of the basketball terms she used did not seem to match the imagery she was trying to portray.

Despite some of the negatives, I give the book a 4-star rating because the history is a good read.I hope this book encourages other authors to detail the athletic experiences that Asian-Americans have but may not be as well known.

Fantastic telling of a little known aspect of Chinese-American history.
This was a fantastic read, with vividly-drawn writing.The quotes from
the players were great.I particularly liked the chapters about
the Hong Wah Kues and the Mei Wahs, and how they toured the US.
Also appreciated the parallels Prof. Yep drew between other minority
groups, and her comments on the current state of media coverage.
... Read more

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Chapters: American Chinese Cuisine, Asian American, Yellowface, List of Asian Americans, Little Manila, Asian Arts Initiative, Nisei Week, Pi Delta Psi, the Hapa Project, New England Anime Society, Asian Americans in Arts and Entertainment, Forbidden City, Philippine Independence Day Parade, Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, California, Asian Pride, Secret Asian Man, Asian American Studies, Kogi Korean Bbq, Sigma Psi Zeta, Imaginasian, Import Scene, Cedar Grove Productions, the Slants, National Apia Panhellenic Association, Philippine Fiesta, Asian American Arts Centre, Notorious Msg, Asianave, Visual Communications, Sigma Omicron Pi, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Carl Choi, Myx North America, Little Manila, Stockton, California, Filipino American History Month, Azn Television, Center for Asian American Media, Victoria Chang, Yellowworld, Wing Luke Asian Museum, Got Rice?, Index of Asian American-Related Articles, Jook-Sing, Asian Boston, Asian American Jazz, Badmash.org, Joy Dietrich, Chinese School, American Knees, Japanese American National Museum, Miss National Asia, Ear of the Dragon, Wpbs, Alpha Phi Gamma, Mtv Chi, Mtv Desi, Asian American Writers' Workshop, Kearny Street Workshop, Fresh Off the Boat, Stir Television Show, Miss Asian America, Flip, Filipino-American Friendship Day, Mtv K, Filcom Center, Cinema Azn, Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival, San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade, Asian Heritage Street Celebration, Movies for the Imaginasian. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 366. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Yellowface is the practice in American cinema, American theatre, and American television where East Asian characters are portrayed by predominantly white actors, often while artificially changing their looks with makeup in order ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=7188425 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Jade Ribbon Campaign was launched by the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University in May 2001 during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to help spread awareness internationally about hepatitis B and liver cancer in Asian and Pacific Islander communities. The objective of the Jade Ribbon Campaign is twofold: to eradicate HBV worldwide; and to reduce the incidence and mortality associated with liver cancer. Considered to be the essence of heaven and earth, Jade is believed in many Asian cultures to bring good luck and longevity while deflecting negativity. Folded like the Chinese character ??? meaning "person" or "people," the Jade Ribbon symbolizes the spirit of the campaign in bringing the Asian and global community together to combat this silent epidemic. ... Read more

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Chapters: Chinese American Gangs, Born to Kill, Wah Ching, Ghost Shadows, Black Dragons, Asian Boyz, Fullerton Boys, Golden Dragon Massacre, Flying Dragons, Chung Ching Yee. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Born to Kill was the name of an New York-based street gang comprising members of Asian, primarily Vietnamese but also Cambodian and Chinese, descent. The gang's peak was in the late 1980s following its break-off from another gang through the early 1990s following the arrest and prosecution of most of their New York-based operatives by the fall of 1992. Born to Kill was founded by David Thai, who arrived from Vietnam in 1975 following the Fall of Saigon. He first joined the Flying Dragons, a Chinese gang, as an enforcer and formed Born to Kill in 1988 after breaking away from the Flying Dragons. The gang adopted its name from the phrase American soldiers had on their helmets during the Vietnam War and the gang's prowess is often attributed to the chaotic environment of guns and drugs in Vietnam. They are considered to be the most notorious and violent Asian gang known to date and were known to challenge the authority of established Chinatown gangs. While identified by some as predominantly Vietnamese, Born to Kill consisted of New York native Vietnamese as well as immigrants new to the tri-state area. David Thai and his operations birthed the Canal Street counterfeit market and made it a worldwide tourist visit location for bootlegged items. Vietnamese Gang members were predominantly in their teens and 20s, although they ranged from fifteen to thirty-five, and were known to target restaurant owners and storekeepers along Canal Street. Some members were recruited from areas near the Bronx High School of Science. In July 1990 there were believ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=12775543 ... Read more

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Chapters: Chinese Exclusion Act, Asian American, Korean adoptee, Yellowface, List of Asian Americans, Model minority, Coolie, Custody battle for Anna Mae He, Murder of Robert Eric Wone, List of Asian American jurists, Flower Drum Song, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, Yellow Peril, Ching chong, Education outcomes in the United States by race and other classifications, Vincent Chin, Chinaman, 80-20 Initiative, Chink, Asian American theater, The Hapa Project, Ronald Ebens, Demographics of Asian Americans, Dragon Lady, Asian Americans in arts and entertainment, Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, Sepia Mutiny, Philippine Independence Day Parade, Asian pride, Alcohol flush reaction, Asian American studies, United States foreign born per capita income, Filipino Veterans Fairness Act, Cedar Grove Productions, Chinese massacre of 1871, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Philippine Fiesta, Deportation of Cambodian Americans, Jap, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, List of Asian American theatre companies, Asiatic Exclusion League, Filipino American History Month, Wing Luke Asian Museum, Making Tracks, Balbir Singh Sodhi, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, Racist love, Asian Boston, Got Rice?, Index of Asian American-related articles, Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, Chinese school, Takao Ozawa v. United States, Joy Dietrich, List of U.S. communities with Asian American majority populations, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, SAAN, U.S. per capita income by ancestry, Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Turban Tide and Hindoo Invasion, Lili Wang, USA for Indonesia, Mr Wong, The Slanted Screen, Fresh off the boat, Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Asian American Journalists Association, John Chinaman, Filipino-American Friendship Day, Asian Survey,. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 433. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher...http://booksllc.net/?id=148898 ... Read more

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The story of a Chinese immigrant town, Locke, on the Sacramento River in the early years of the 20th century. Main characters are Richard Fong, a gambling house manager; Poppy See, a brothel madam and seer; Chloe a white teenage prostitute favored by Richard Fong; Sofia, the minister's daughter and Chloe's friend; and Ming Wai, Richard Fong's wife who arrives unexpectedly from China. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A watery look at a Chinese town in California
This book has been quite controversial in the reviews, and I can see why.The author deals with race, class, gender and sexual orientation in this story of the manager of a gambling hall, the prostitute he frequents (and abuses), the minister's daughter she's in love with, the minister's wife and her suicidal thoughts and three mysterious Chinese women who come to town in a small boat.It's true that not all the characters are especially likable, but they all are well drawn and their interactions are believable and telling.This book would be especially good for a class on American fiction engaging in these kinds of issues.

Excellent debut novel, looking forward to follow-up
I think this is an excellent book. It does a fantastic job of touching on interpersonal relationships within a specific historical context and invoking emotional responses to spiritual/fantasy possibilities. I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone. It is not my type of writing, along the lines that Toni Morrison is not my type of writer. Which is to say, anything this good goes beyond type.

Shawna Yang Ryan evokes complex emotional responses with simple words, simple interactions; her characters intrigue, seem complete, and in what is left out they must be followed. And when they are followed, as they must be, what comes is what Borges stated was necessary for a story's ending: it is inevitable yet surprising.

This is a beautiful book, driven by characters, plot and setting.

So, and this is by no means derogatory, just what it would take for a book to go from 4 stars to 5, a list of 5 star books:

Crime and Punishment
The Trial
Labyrinths
1984
Grapes of Wrath
Beloved

You know, that sort of thing. Not an easy list to make, and it probably takes more than one reading to stay there.

One of the things Water Ghosts has going for it is I look forward to rereading it. And I'm hoping that Shawna, like fellow Berkeley-ite Ken Kesey, will dramatically improve from her excellent first novel (and yeah, Sometimes A Great Notion would be on the five star list, whereas One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest would not.)

Do Your Research!!
I wanted this book to be an enjoyable story about Locke in 1928, but I found instead a poorly researched novel with a bad plot. There is no sense of place and no local color, just a turgid plot. Don't waste your money! If you want to read this book get it from your library.
I don't know where Ms Ryan got her information for this book although she acknowledged some of Locke's longtime residents who "warmly welcomed" her to their town. I personally know most of those whose names she cited, and I do not believe that the author interviewed them for this book. She may have talked to them and gotten some tidbits of their stories, but this work of historical fiction is historically inaccurate. I spent my first 18 years in this town, and so I know its physical layout as well as anyone would know his or her hometown. Ms Ryan's descriptions of the locales do not jibe with the lay of the town. It is bounded by the Sacramento River on the west and the slough on the east and consists of just a few streets and several alleyways. How can she spend a month in this town doing research and not get it right?
I was also dismayed that the main character is a sleazy manager of a gambling parlor and the plot consists of his complicated relations with 2 prostitutes and the unexpected arrival of his wife. The morose prose is overblown, the plot has nothing to recommend it. The town of Locke was a happening place in the 1920s, but we sure don't see it in this book. It remains the only town in the U.S. founded and settled by the Chinese. There is no discussion of how the people made their livelihood, or indeed why it was necessary for them to settle there, aside from the fire that is mentioned in the last two paragraphs on page 2. Surely the author could have given some back story. Why did the she choose this town for her story if she respects its history so little? It would be infinitely better had she simply made up a location than to give readers a false impression of the Sacramento Delta and the Chinese who settled in this agricultural region.

Update:
How gratified Ms Ryan must feel to have such ardent defenders of her writing. Within 2 days of my posting this critical opinion of her book there were 3 comments criticizing my post. I acknowledge that I am perhaps too close to the subject to be entirely objective about this book. I wonder how many descendents of Locke's original settlers have picked up this book and read it, and how many of them enjoyed the story? It is obvious to me that Ms Ryan did not write the book for those of us who have sunny memories of their idyllic childhood growing up in Locke.
I think about our great-grandparents and grandparents who lived in 1928 Locke, and I cannot reconcile what is depicted in this novel with their actions and aspirations. Their greatest hope was that their children and future generations would continue to honor their cultural roots and yet succeed in their efforts in life while they had to face discrimination on all sides. The public schools were not integrated in the area until the late 1940s; a Chinese language school was established that children attended after getting home from public school. Most of the residents worked hard and maintained the Chinese ethos while pursuing the American Dream.
I picked up this book thinking that it would refresh some of the memories of the colorful stories I heard in childhood of opium dens, prostitutes, and gambling houses. Sadly, I would describe the book to be "arty", not "artful". I find the writing to be vague and the characters to possess no redeeming qualities. The plot and characters simply do not ring true. But again, I may be too close to the subject and so must decry the book's shattering of illusions still so closely held.
This book purports to be historical fiction. Its original title was Locke 1928. With such a title wouldn't you expect at the very least that the geographical descriptions be accurate? I could not recognize the town of Locke as it is described in the book. But Ms Ryan wrote this book for a much wider audience who would appreciate it for its "dreamlike haze" and "magical writing", and if that is what readers want, why, then go for it. It can be had for a paltry amount (like new!) at Amazon's used bookstore, but I still recommend that you get it from your local library.

A fine novel of ethnic tensions and understanding evolves
In 1928 in California's town of Locke three Chinese women appear - and they will turn the community upside down. A woman's premonitions of disaster appear to be true as the women's connections to the town deepen and create controversy. A fine novel of ethnic tensions and understanding evolves.

Beautifully Surreal
Really a very sophisticated novel.

It generally annoys me when authors do not use quotations marks.However, I soon realized the lack of quotations helps to blur the writing just enough to create the unique setting of the novel; the story takes place somewhere in between the real world and the surreal or supernatural world.

Water Ghosts is, at its core, a ghost story.And as the plot progresses, I literally held my breath to see how and why this immigrant community was being infiltrated by a ghostly one.

The characters are interesting, though it was not the characters that made the book compelling, but the way Ryan weaved together a historical story tinged with romance, the gritty underside of a working-class town, star-crossed lovers, and the lure of something out of the ordinary.

Beautifully written and nearly perfectly executed.

Though I believe Poppy was meant to be the heroine of the novel, if there is supposed to be one particular hero or heroine, I felt Ryan could have delved a little bit more into her own unique story.

Highly recommended! 4/5 ... Read more

Product Description
During the height of racist anti-Chinese U.S. immigration laws, illegal aliens were able to come into the States under false papers identifying them as the sons of those who had returned to China to marry and have children. "American Paper Son" is the story of one such Chinese immigrant who came to Wichita, Kansas, in 1935 as a thirteen-year-old 'paper son' to help in his father's restaurant there. This vivid first-person account addresses significant themes in Asian American history through the lens of Wong's personal stories. Wong served in one of the all-Chinese units of the 14th Air Force in China during World War II and he discusses the impact of race and segregation on his experience. After the war he found a wife in Taishan, brought her to the US, and became involved in the government's infamous Confession program (an amnesty program for immigrants).Wong eventually became a successful real estate entrepreneur in Wichita. Rich with poignant insights into the realities of life as part of a very small Chinese American population in a midwestern town, this memoir provides an important new view of the Asian American experience away from the West Coast.Benson Tong adds a scholarly introduction and useful annotations. ... Read more

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During the Second World War, Chinese Americans contributed to the war effort by joining the armed forces and working in the defense industries. In doing so, they improved their social status, often at the expense of Japanese Americans, and positioned themselves to become the "model minority" and the "good Asian in the good war." In "Americans First", K. Scott Wong uses archival research and oral histories to provide the first detailed account of Chinese Americans in the American military. Wong traces the history of the 14th Air Service Group, a segregated outfit of Chinese Americans sent to China in support of the American Army Air Corps and the Chinese Air Force. His ethnic history of inclusion shows how this new generation of Chinese Americans was more socially accepted, moving from the margins of society into the American mainstream during a time of pervasive racism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An untold story
This history of Chinese Americans during WW II goes beyond justh the story but gives the reader a background into the Chinese migration to America.The book is interesting and informative, and its a fast good read.

I was very pleased to find this history and social commentary.
I was very pleased to find this history of the Chinese American experience in World War II and have recommended this book to others. ... Read more

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In Becoming Asian American, Nazli Kibria draws upon extensiveinterviews she conducted with second-generation Chinese and Korean Americans in Boston andLos Angeles who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s to explore the dynamics of race,identity, and adaptation within these communities. Moving beyond the frameworks created tostudy other racial minorities and ethnic whites, she examines the various strategies used bymembers of this group to define themselves as both Asian and American.

In her discussions on such topics as childhood, interaction with non-Asian Americans, college,work, and the problems of intermarriage and child-raising, Kibria finds wide discrepanciesbetween the experiences of Asian Americans and those described in studies of other ethnicgroups. While these differences help to explain the unusually successful degree of socialintegration and acceptance into mainstream American society enjoyed by this "model minority,"it is an achievement that Kibria’s interviewees admit they can never take for granted. Instead,they report that maintaining this acceptance "requires constant effort on their part." Kibriasuggests further developments may resolve this situation—especially the emergence of a new kindof pan–Asian American identity that would complement the Chinese or Korean Americanidentity rather than replace it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not much new...
In the research on contemporary immigration and identity formation, Professor Kibria has done some pretty good work on gender negotiations (In journal such as gender and society) as well as other aspects of identity. In this book however there's just not much in this book here that noone else has touched on, the research is pretty extensive and comprehensive in its scope and does capture the social field of Second generation Asian Americans- but there really is not much depth and in the end, there's nothing new... ... Read more

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Seven years before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 comprehensively disqualified all members of China's laboring class from immigration status, the Page Law sought to stem the tide of Chinese prostitutes entering the United States. Yet during these seven years it was not just prostitutes but all Chinese females who encountered at best hostility and at worst expulsion when they reached the "Golden Door." In this first detailed account of Chinese American women's lives in the preexclusion era, George Anthony Peffer investigates how administrative agencies and federal courts enforced immigration laws. Peffer documents the habeas corpus trials in which the wives and daughters of Chinese laborers were required to prove their status as legal immigrants or be returned to China.He also surveys the virulently anti- Chinese coverage these trials and the issue of Chinese immigration received in California newspapers, confirming that Chinatown's prostitution industry so dominated the popular imagination as to render other classes of female immigrants all but invisible.In the words of one immigration judge, the United States remained favorable to Chinese immigration in the preexclusion period "if they don't bring their women here." This important study amplifies the voices of immigrant women who did not fit into the preconceived categories American officials created and establishes a place for them within the historiographic framework of Chinese American studies. ... Read more