Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America [Paperback]

Escape to Gold Moun­tain : A Graphic His­tory of the Chi­nese in North Amer­ica by David H.T. Wong is a graphic novel telling the story of the Chi­nese immi­gra­tion to the United States and Canada. Mr. Wong is an Asia Cana­dian activist and an archi­tect in Vancouver.

The graphic novel is laden with dis­honor and mis­ery as is the his­tory of Chi­nese immi­gra­tion to North Amer­ica. The Chi­nese encoun­tered lynches, sub­ju­ga­tion racial, cul­tural and legal dis­crim­i­na­tion from both countries.

I do remem­ber learn­ing in school (but mainly on my own) about Chi­nese rail­road work­ers in the United States. I did not real­ize how badly they were treated after they fin­ished work­ing and that the same thing hap­pened in Canada. The graphic novel shows very clearly how badly these work­ers were mis­treated as well as their ances­tors who stuck around either unable or unwill­ing to go back to China.

This graphic novel is an excel­lent intro­duc­tion to the com­plex issue of Chi­nese immi­gra­tion and is told from the Chi­nese point of view. The graphic nov­els cov­ers the indi­vid­ual head tax (up to $500, a price of a house) to enter Amer­ica as well as the 1882 Chi­nese Exclu­sion Act that basi­cally elim­i­nated Chi­nese immi­gra­tion as well as other leg­is­la­tion, lynch­ings and atrocities.

The story fol­lows the Wong fam­ily through the gen­er­a­tions and how strong fam­ily bonds helped sur­vive eco­nomic hard­ships, dis­crim­i­na­tion and rough times all around. The author used his­tor­i­cal resources, inter­views as well as fam­ily sto­ries to tell his tale.

The art­work is sim­ple but effec­tive enough to con­vey the infor­ma­tion pre­sented and move the story along. This is an intro­duc­tion to the com­plex issue of immi­gra­tion in gen­eral and Chi­nese immi­gra­tion in par­tic­u­lar. While I don't feel I know the issue I cer­tainly have much more knowl­edge about it then when I started and am encour­aged to do some more research on the subject

David Wong does an excellent job in presenting a complex and controversial history of Chinese immigration in both the US and Canada. A rollicking good story. All immigrants face adversity -- both economic hardship and racial prejudice, but the history of Chinese in North America is particularly vivid. Wong's decision to present their story as a graphic novel is effective. His history illustrates how a once-despised group overcame exceptional challenges to achieve success in their new home land. He manages to avoid platitudes pity and anger in showing the role of racism affected the Chinese. I thought I knew this history but I learned many fascinating details I hadn't realized by reading Wong's book.

This is a wonderful book that provides rare insight into the trials and tribulations of early Chinese immigrants who sacrificed and persevered, not for themselves, but mostly for their families back home and future generations. As a second-generation Chinese American, I had the opportunity to hear, firsthand, from my parents, community elders, and others who experienced the hardships detailed in this book. For younger generations and folks from other cultures, the graphics and dialogue balloons keep the stories simple, while highlighting the dramatics.

I believe "Escape to Gold Mountain" should be on the shelves in all school and public libraries. Although my initial reaction to hearing of the racism and injustices endured by our ancestors was deep anger, which I harbored for many years, I hope others will read this book and be inspired by the resolve and resiliency of our forefathers when they left everything behind in China and ventured to Gam Saan. As Mr. David H.T. Wong writes so eloquently at the end of the book, "Let's share knowledge and learn about each other's history and culture so our children may enjoy the enlightened future we all desire."

Bill Lee, author of "Chinese Playground: A Memoir"