This book discusses 150 years of immigration to the United States by Chinese citizens. There has been a steady stream of Chinese immigrants to the United States, but there were a couple of major waves in the early 19th Century that are very important and notable. Many Chinese immigrants came to work during the California Gold Rush and also worked for the Central Pacific Railroad. (I had never known that Chinese immigrants worked during the Gold Rush, but was aware that they worked on the railroad.) During this time, they faced a lot of racial discrimination. (And still do, because despite what people want to say, the United States is very full of racist people.) In fact, the United States Government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which banned Chinese immigrants for ten years, and was the only racially based ban every put forth. (I had never heard of this either.)  Because of the discrimination and exclusion from mainstream society, Chinese neighborhoods sprang up in many cities, often referred to as Chinatowns. (I never knew that was because of exclusion. I just thought that it was the same as Little Italy, where people congregated because of shared language and culture, which is probably also a factor in that.)

It was very interesting to read this book, after having read one about American's rushing to adopt Chinese babies because they thought they were cute and would be genius level in academics. I learned so much from this book about the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States and what all they went through. I really have a difficult time grasping why people think that they are better than someone else because of ethnicity or origin of birth. It makes zero sense to me. It is really abhorrent the way that Chinese (and literally everyone else who immigrates here, as well as indigenous people) were treated upon arrival and for generations afterwards. I have read other work by this author, Iris Chang, and have thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. It is such a shame that her life ended so soon, because she had such a voice for the Chinese community. At least her written words can carry throughout other generations and teach people like me who are essentially ignorant on Chinese history a few things. I highly recommend this book if you are wanting to learn more about this topic. It was worth the read.