In the first decades of the 20th century, almost half of the Chinese Americans born in the United States moved to China—a relocation they assumed would be permanent. At a time when people from around the world flocked to the United States, this little-noticed emigration belied America’s image as a magnet for immigrants and a land of upward mobility for all. Fleeing racism, Chinese Americans who sought greater opportunities saw China, a tottering empire and then a struggling republic, as their promised land.
American Exodus is the first book to explore this extraordinary migration of Chinese Americans. Their exodus shaped Sino-American relations, the development of key economic sectors in China, the character of social life in its coastal cities, debates about the meaning of culture and “modernity” there, and the U.S. government’s approach to citizenship and expatriation in the interwar years. Spanning multiple fields, exploring numerous cities, and crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean, this book will appeal to anyone interested in Chinese history, international relations, immigration history, and Asian American studies.
Charlotte Brooks is Professor of History at Baruch College, CUNY. She is the author of Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years and Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California.
"In this startling new study Charlotte Brooks upends the standard narrative of eager immigrants clamoring to enter America by focusing on US-born Chinese American citizens. Facing racism and closed doors at home, a strikingly large number—especially college educated—chose instead to leave America and seek their fortune in Republican-era China."—Parks M. Coble, author of China’s War Reporters: The Legacy of Resistance against Japan
"The stories of numerous forgotten Chinese Americans, skillfully woven together, shed new light on US-China relations and reveal neglected aspects of modern Chinese history. Highlighting the long-term consequences of continual migration beyond the first generation, Brooks makes a crucial contribution to migration studies."—Elizabeth Sinn, author of Pacific Crossing: California Gold, Chinese Migration, and the Making of Hong Kong
336 pp.6 x 9Illus: 20 b/w illustrations
9780520302686$29.95|£25.00Paper
Aug 2019