Peter Kwong (1941–2017)

I'm very interested in the history of New York's Chinatown and so appreciated this book. It lays out a clear, chronological account of the social history of the neighborhood, the various different waves of Chinese immigration to this country, and the relationship between Chinatown and the rest of New York City.

I personally find labor history a bit dreary, so the chapters of "The New Chinatown" focusing on this were a slog for me. Although it was like taking medicine, acquiring an better picture of this aspect of Chinatown history did enrich my overall understanding of experience of those of Chinese descent living in New York.

While the revised version brings events up to 1996, I was yearning for information regarding the past decade or so -- labor history and all.… (altro)

While reading histories of the Chinese in America, I became curious about the illegal side of this subject. I found this book by accident and picked it up. It provides an interesting and easy to read account of groups that facilitate illegal emigration from China -- mainly from Fuzhou -- to mostly New York and California, and of the lives the immigrants then live. The illegals incur debts of $30,000+ to "snakeheads," who arrange for transport and entry and then brutally enforce payment. Because of their illegal status and threats from their creditors, Chinese illegals usually accept jobs that pay less than the minimum wage and violate American labor standards, for which they have no legal recourse. The book talks about the history and socio-economics in China that lead to the desire of the people to become illegal immigrants and burden their families with such huge debts. It also points the finger at the Taiwanese government and military as being involved in the trade and at the PRC leaders of being aware of the activities and ignoring it. Once in America, the book goes into detail on the sweatshops and other conditions the illegals live through. But there is a clear agenda by the author expressing his views on how we need to protect the illegals with laws, etc. in order to better everyone in labor. Altogether this was a very interesting read until about the last two chapters that were full of how we need to bring back unions and other things we could do to protect the illegals. It’s worth picking up at the library if even just to open your eyes a little about the really horrible things that are done to people in the US.… (altro)