The story of the intertwined — and often convoluted — 20th-century foreign and domestic policies of the Republic of China (ROC), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the US is complicated enough on its own — and author Meredith Oyen takes it a step further by framing the whole issue through their respective transnational migration policies.
The stakes were often low and involved a small proportion of affected citizens, but Oyen does a clear job demonstrating how it was exactly because these issues were considered low level that they often became symbolic gestures made to achieve larger goals.
She also explains that the way these issues were handled often represented a microcosm in foreign relations. As a result, the book isn’t just a history on Chinese migration — although Oyen covers that part thoroughly and well — it also uses migration as a way to pull together a variety of issues, events, conflicts and decisions that make up the post-1940 American, Taiwanese and Chinese relations in a way that actually makes the issue easier to digest rather than further complicating it.
One way Oyen does so is by identifying patterns and themes in each migrant issue, from the World War II repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act to Chinese refugees in Hong Kong to how the US handled Taiwanese independence activists fleeing the country.
The book begins during World War II, as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had become an important ally of the US’s fight against Japan and past discriminatory practices against Chinese migrants were no longer fit for the times.
How symbolic these gestures of migration policy are is already obvious here — the initial US repeal of the exclusion act only allowed a minuscule quota per year and forbade the arrival of family members — and the cancellation of extraterritorial rights of US citizens in China was bound to happen after the war anyway, Oyen writes.
Probably the most intriguing point Oyen makes is how it was pretty much a race for everyone to look good — the US repealed the act to combat Japanese anti-American propaganda and keep the Nationalists motivated to continue fighting by offering a “symbolic gesture toward equality that did not require a shift in wartime strategy,” Oyen writes.
The Nationalists, on the other hand, pushed for repeal to show that they cared for the Chinese in America so they would keep sending money to fund the war. It also sought to redress years of unequal treatment by European powers.
But again, everything was largely low stakes with little actual effect — a pattern that would repeat itself throughout history and does so throughout the book. Through examining the reasons behind each decision, we get a good sense of how things change, yet remain the same.
Although it’s an academic text, Oyen’s prose flows well and does not devolve into needlessly big words, perplexing sentences and dry theoretical discussion. It doesn’t get too formal either, with a clear introduction to each chapter, examples and details followed by a summary that links it to the next chapter.
Furthermore, she manages to make the anecdotes vivid. For example, chapter six starts by featuring several Chinese refugees who managed to get to Hong Kong in various ways.
After a brief chapter summary, we revisit these refugees in an overview of their lives after they are in Hong Kong and their ultimate fate before it gets into the political stuff. By that time, the reader is hooked — something few academic texts manage to do.
The situation also gets the messiest in chapter six, as Oyen has to juggle the interests of the now Taiwan-based ROC, PRC, Hong Kong and its British colonial masters and finally the Chinese immigrants themselves, who often don’t act according to plan and use the situation for their own interests.
Throughout the book, we also see the gradual downfall of the ROC government on the international stage. They went from a US ally striving for equality to a state that became increasingly desperate to maintain their international legitimacy, and migrant policy to them changed from a low-risk game to their only means of keeping their footing in the international door.
The methods the ROC used are also fascinating — including extensive screening (party doctrine exams, for example) to ensure the person going abroad was “pro-Nationalist, anti-communist, educated and accepted.”
The final chapter illustrates the changing balance of power and Taiwanese nationalism and links it to the current situation between the three nations, which remains unresolved. It’s impressive how Oyen takes so much material over such a timespan and presents it in a way that is in no way overwhelming.
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