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Reclaiming Chinese American History

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Reclaiming Chinese American History Him Mark Lai: Reclaiming Chinese American History JUDYYUNG AND HIM MARKLAI In this interviewwith colleagueJudy Yung, Him MarkLai discussesat length the drivingforces behind his passion for researchingChinese Americanhistory his working-classbackground, progressive politics, trainingas a mechanicalengineer, bilingualskills, and strongethnic identity. Internationally recognized as the foremost authorityon ChineseAmerican history, Lai describesin detailhis developmentas a pragmatichistorian while researchingand writingabout such new topics as Angel Island poems, Pearl River Delta, Chinese Americannewspapers, regional groups, and Left movements. THIS WASAN IMPORTANTAND RELATIVELYEASY oral history interview for me to do becauseI haveknown and worked with Him MarkLai for overa quarterof a centuly.Indeed, he was the one who inspired me to researchmy ethnicroots through oral history, beginning with our first book project about the Chineseimmigrant experience at AngelIsland.l He laterencouraged me to pursuegraduate studies and makeChinese American women s JUDYYUNG is Professorof AmericanStudies at the Universityof California,Santa Cruz, whereshe teachescourses in AsianAmerican Studies and OralHistory. She is the co-author with Him MarkLai and GennyLim of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 (1980), and the authorof Chinese Women of America: A Pictorial History (1986), Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (1995), and Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (1999). 1. Him MarkLai, Genny Lim, and JudyYung, Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 (SanFrancisco: HOC DOI Project,Chinese Culture Foundation,1980; Seattle: University of WashingtonPress, 1991). 51 The Public Historian, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 50-69 (Winter2003). ISSN: 0272-3433 C)2003 by the Regentsof the Universityof Californiaand the NationalCouncil on Public History.All rightsreserved. Send requestsfor permissionto reprintto Rightsand Permissions,University of CaliforniaPress, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley,CA 94704-1223. At the Chinese HistoricalSociety of America's35th AnniversaryLuncheon Celebration in 1998, Him MarkLai (center)received the LifetimeAchievement Award. Standing next to him is his wife Laura.(Photo courtesy of Him MarkLai) 52 * THEPUBLIC HISTORIAN historymy dissertationtopic. He hasin manyways been a pioneerand modelpublic historian for thoseof us interestedin reclaimingChinese Americanhistory. HimMark Lai is a second-generationChinese American, born on No- vemberl, 1925in SanFrancisco, California. His parents were immigrants fromChina who worked in a garment factory in Chinatown while raising five children.From an early age, Him Mark learned to lovereading stoxybooks in Chineseas wellas in EnglishHe excelledin bothChinese and public schools,goingon to earn his B A.in mechanical engineeringfrom University of California,Berkeley, in 1947,and then to workat Bechtel for over thirty yearsbefore he retiredin 1984.However, his real love was not engineering buthistoiy, which he pursuedwith a passionthroughout his life. HimMark Lai is internationallyrecognized as the foremost authorit on ChineseAmerican history, havingwritten eight books and over one hundred articlesin Englishand Chinese on topicsranging from Chinese district associationsand Chinese newspapers to the ChineseLeft movement and Chineselanguage schools inthe United States. He is awalkingencyclopedia anda publichistorian who strongly believes in sharingand spreading his knowledgeand understanding of Chinese American history far and wide. I havenever known Him Mark to refuseany researcher needing help, and he alwaysknonvs where to look for the answer to any minute reference question askedof him He hasalso lectured widely at universitiesand conferences locally,nationally, and in Chinaand other parts of theworld. Much of this accumulatedknowledge has come from years of arduousstudy and pains- takingresearch through libraries and archives,oral history interviews, travelsto Chinesecommunities throughout the UnitedStates? and many tripsto China,particularly the PearlRiver Delta of GuangdongProvince, homeof themajority of Chineseimmigrants prior to the 1970s. He recently donatedhis entirecollection of informationfiles twohundred boxes of articlesand news clippings to theEthnic Studies LibraIy at UC Berkeley. Him MarkLai's meticulousness and thoroughnessas a historianis evidencedin the materialhe emailedme afterwe hadset a datefor this interview-achronology of his life andhis autobiographyin sixty-eight pages7complete with footnotes and a listof hispublications. The following interviewwas conducted in twothree-hour sessions in the livingroom of HimMarks home in theTelegraph Hill district of SanFrancisco. Like the restof his house,the roomwas filled with books, file cabinets,computer equipment,and piles of magazinesand newspapers. I had prepared a list of questionsDased on hisautobiography bibliography, and what I personally knewabout him. I wantedto knowmore about the influential forces in his lifenhow and why he pursuedChinese American histoly with such passion7 andwhat he sawas his major contributions topublic histoly. Although it did not takemuch prodding on mypart for him to tell his ownstoIy it was difficultto gethim to go into detail about specific research projects because I wasalready so familiarwith them. I subsequentlyfollowed up with a third RECLAIMINGCHINESEAMERICANHISTORY * 53 -o.. )'s :wz ^ The Laifamily, 1946. Him MarkLai is in backrow, center. (Photo courtesy of Him MarkLai) interviewin which he good-naturedlyelaborated on various projects and his developmentas a historian. In his own modestand methodicalway, Him Markseemed to enjoy reminiscingabout the pastand took great pride in hisworking-class back- ground,progressive politics, Chinese language skills, and pragmatic ap- proachto histoIy.He has apparentlyalways had an inquisitivemind and likedto figureout how different pieces of informationfit together to forma largerpicture that explainswhy thingswork the way they do. Without planningit, his Chinese knowledge and training in engineeringwould prove usefulin hiswork as a historian,although he repeatedlysaid that he gotinto historybecause he wasan opportunist:"I neverask to do anything,but I knowhow to seize the opportunitywhen I see it."I haveselected and rearrangedparts of theinterview, deleted false starts and redundancies, and addedfootnotes for clarification and a smootherread, but the words, ideas, andstyle of speakingremain unchanged. * * * Yung:Tell us somethingabout your family background and upbringing. Lai: Myparents were immigrantsfrom China. My fathercame over herein 1910and his ship I thinkwas the Siberia.It wasthe first shipload of 54 * THEPUBLIC HISTORIAN peoplethat were detained on AngelIsland.2 He workedat vaxiousjobs, includingthe garmentindustry. During World War I, he went to Sebastopolto harvestapple crops. After he savedenough money, he went backto Chinato getmarried. I think there was a fifteen-yeardifference in age.He cameback in 1923,probably because of thenew immigration law thatwas about to be passed.3At first they lived in Oaklandfor a yearor so. Theyopened a smallbusiness, lost his pants. [chuckles] He neverengaged in anymore business after that. He movedto SanFrancisco and then workedfor George Brothers [a Chinese-owned garment shop]. And then of course,my mother worked in thegarment shop too. The two of themwere garmentworkers for the restof theirlives. So myupbringing is working- classfamily and very much Chinese in thatI knewhow to speakChinese beforeI spokeEnglish. I am the oldest of fivechildren threeboys and two girls.I wasborn November 1, 192S. Yung:Tell us aboutyour education. Lai:When I startedschool at CommodoreStockton in 1932,I didn't knowa wordof English.That's why I almostflunked first grade. It wasso bad that when the teacher announcedthat there was a holiday, Washington'sBirthday, I remember I went to school.[laughs] But I guess thatmakes a persontry harder because I managedto conquerit bythe third grade.By the fourth grade, I thinkI wasabout at the top of theclass. So by thetime I finished[elementary] school, I wasa prettygood student. From there,I wentto FranciscoJunior High School, which was a littlemore than halfChinese, and the restwere Italians. In general,the racesgot along prettywell except they were pretty segregated. The Italians went with the Italians;the Chinese went with the Chinese.Because I wasone of thetop students,it got thruston me to be classpresident. I neverwanted to do anythinglike that, you know. But the guywith the leastresistance usually getsit. I didn'tknow how to handle the situation-these occasions when the principalawards these trophies for citizenship and as president you have to go upthere and accept the trophy. I usedto hatepublic speaking. I still do. Inthe third or fourffi grade we got our first library cards and I reallyread all thebooks. There was a limitof four books each time that you borrowed, and eveIytwo or three days I wouldborrow books on a wide range of subjects- faiiytales, American Indians, dinosaurs, Chinese histoIy, biographies, the 2. AngelIsland in San FranciscoBay was the point of entryfor the majorityof Chinese immigrantswho cameto the UnitedStates between 1910 and 1940.Because of the Chinese ExclusionActs, theywere detained at Angel Island for anywhere from a fewweeksto twoyears, and subjectedto detailedinterrogations about their identities and rightto enterthe
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