The stories of girls or women in China always contain elements of the boys-are-more desirable culture that we're all familiar with. Shanghai Sisters shares more with Falling Leaves in terms of the setting of the story and the status of the family in China as both described families living close to Hong Kong who were relatively well to do. Wild Swans, set later in the 60s dealt more with life in Communist China and with families who were not initially in the upper-classes.
The book tells the story of two sisters, beautiful girls, from Shanghai, who are married off to brothers from America to satisfy a gambling debt incurred by their father. The girls are to follow their new husbands to America, but conveniently miss the boat, intending never to arrive. The invasion of China by the Japanese disrupts their lives and they have few options except to leave China, which they do.
Like many Asian immigrants they enter the United States via Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. Once they make it through that gloomy prison they are virtual prisoners of their father-in-law in Los Angeles. The story unfolds over a number of years and we follow the sisters through their stories in America. The McCarthy era, so well known in communities close to Washington and New York (my in-laws met at a meeting of people concerned about McCarthy's investigations) reached it's ugly arm to California, the movie business and to the lives of frightened Chinese immigrants. The story ends in the 1960s, and is a cliff-hanger that may well spawn another novel.
The story has some aspects that are unbelievable and the time frame of some events is beyond belief, but we can grant the author fictional license to move the story along at an engaging pace and ignore those disconnects. However, the accounts of coming through Angel Island, of living in Los Angeles Chinatown and the challenges faced by Chinese immigrants ring true. As someone born in the South who grew up in the Midwest and who now lives on the East Coast I am much more accustomed to stories of African Americans and the injustices they've suffered at the hands of the American majority than to the plight of Asians. Ellis Island in New York, a place where European immigrants landed is much better known to those of us living on the East Coast.
The book an eye-opener for those who are unfamiliar with Asian immigration beyond simplistic images in movies like Chinatown or Charlie Chan.
Another well-know author of stories about Chinese-Americans is Amy Tan. Her books don't contain the same grim details about discrimination against Asians. Although they are set slightly later, in the 60s instead of the 50s the focus of her stories isn't on witch-hunts for illegal citizens or the near servitude of immigrants to those who lent them money to immigrate. The characters in Amy Tan's world, particularly The Joy Luck Club, are oppressed but the descriptions are less grim.
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| Biking over the Golden Gate Bridge. |
I was not shocked or disappointed to learn about the cruel and unfair things that happened to Asian immigrants in California because I know that prejudice against those of different races runs through out our nation, even as we all proclaim that everyone is equal. I could appreciate how dismal and cold the months the girls spent at Angel Island must have been. But I rationalize that injustice by thinking that it had to have been better than staying in China where we know worse things happened.
Alas, the parent in me pipes up to remind myself that it's not about what's happening somewhere else, it's about what's happening here, in our country. We can't excuse American injustice and misbehavior by staying well it would have been worse for them there. A thought that is worth remembering right now.
