This "larger-than-normal-size" book is a documented-in-detail history of Chinese immigration in the Monterey Bay region of California. Chinese who read it may be provoked at times to anger (or sadness) but will certainly have a greater appreciation for the contributions of Chinese immigrants to the development of California and other regions of the U.S.
Many incidents of social injustice are recorded in this book. From a historical point of view, as author Lydon correctly points out, the very fact that local historians omitted mention of Chinese participation in the region's economic development, is at the peak of all injustices. Says the author in his introduction:
No monuments, no prominent place names, no gilded "Chinese-style" buildings, and no large concentrations of Chinese people attest to the Chinese presence in the Monterey Bay region....Yet Chinese contributions were fundamental to the region's economic development.
To support this statement, Lydon offers concrete examples:
In Watsonville, known for its diverse agriculture, Chinese farm laborers provided the muscle and ingenuity which led to agricultural diversification in the Pajaro Valley. Until their arrivals in the 1860s, wheat was the dominant crop. The sugar beet industry, which led an agricultural revolution in both the Salinas and Pajaro Valleys, was built on the backs of dependable Chinese workers.
In Monterey, where Cannery Row is now a tourist attraction, the Chinese founded the commercial fishing industry and, for a half-century, inspired other fishermen in the area to expand the definition of marketable products to include squid, mussels, abalone, and seaweed.
Santa Cruz became a resort town because Chinese made the cuts, drilled the tunnels, and laid the rails which brought trainloads of tourists into Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.
In spite of such significant contributions, according to Lydon, regional histories written in the 19th and early 20th Centuries often fail to mention the Chinese at all. He ought to know; his research before writing his massive history of the region was exhaustive.
The blame for the exclusion of Chinese from previous works on local history may be apportioned mostly to the historians, but also to the Chinese themselves. Most Chinese immigrants during the earlier period—say, leading up to the Second World War—were either illiterate laborers, or "sojourners" who had no intentions of sinking roots in America. Also, there were "ferocious" struggles between Chinese immigrants and all levels of government in the U.S. The Chinese wished to avoid further harassment by immigration officials, and the authorities, to cover up the embarrassing facts of the conflict. Total omission of the Chinese presence from formal histories was one result.
Of course, times have changed. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 has long been repealed. And new Chinese immigrants are no longer illiterate laborers. Indeed, there are more and more well-educated Chinese-Americans—immigrants and native-born citizens alike—entering the mainstream of American society and making significant contributions in all the different fields.
To interpret such changes and new phenomena, Chinese-Americans do need to look back and understand what their forbears or predecessors did—and how they lived. Lydon's Chinese Gold is a most welcome addition to the growing body of literature that is helping to satisfy such a need.
A native Californian, though not a Chinese-American, Lydon is well-qualified to write a scholarly book on the subject. His career work has included numerous articles on regional and Chinese-American history, and the book, The Anti-Chinese Movement in the Hawaiian Kingdom. And for Chinese Gold, he had the valuable assistance and close cooperation of the Chinese Historical Society of America, through its founders Philip Choy and Him Mark Lai as well as Thomas W. Chinn, whom Lydon describes as "the patriarch of all Chinese-American historians."
Chinese Gold is presented in four parts: "Chinese Pioneers," "Chinatowns," "Demise of Chinatowns," and "Generation After."
Among the first Chinese pioneers were the immigrants who helped develop California's Monterey Bay region through their hard work as fishermen, farmers, and railroad laborers. Chinatowns founded by these pioneers grew up in such places as Monterey, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Castroville. In time, gradually, one Chinatown after another died out as the number of Chinese immigrants was reduced through attrition or as a result of legislation. Today, Lydon notes, "little evidence remains of the region's once bustling Chinatowns and villages."
But many maps in the book pinpoint locations of the former Chinatowns, and pictures illustrate the lives of these early Chinese settlers. And for those more academically oriented, there are copious notes, an index, and a list of references on the subject.
Surely, all Chinese are now in Lydon's debt for this valuable book. It not only helps dispel long-standing stereotypes of Chinese immigrants (as the author set out to do), but preserves for posterity a complete historical record of the Monterey Bay region Chinese. Who knows, it may even inspire others to follow with more works of this kind, to complete the picture of Chinese immigrants in other American areas.—(Dr. Chiang is a senior researcher-reporter with Time magazine, specializing in Asian affairs).