A significant concern in China Men is the place of Chinese Americans in the Chinese diaspora. Although each of the book’s sections and chapters can stand alone individually, they share an attempt to reach back to some sort of beginning from China that would validate Chinese Americans’ presence in America. In “On Discovery,” where Kingston retells the tale of Tang Ao’s being turned into a woman, the “Women’s Land” is identified as in North America and thought to be discovered in either the seventh or the fifth century—a fanciful but critical revision of the myths of Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims. Similarly, in “The Li Sao: An Elegy,” where Kingston alludes to the poet Ch’ü Yüan (best known for his poem “Li Sao,” which can mean “The Sorrow of Departure”), it is hinted that the Chinese diaspora, part of which resides in America, can be traced back to the exile of the “incorruptible” poet. These two allusions allegorize the misplacement and displacement, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, of the China men who traveled overseas not only to make a fortune but also to escape cataclysms and natural disasters in China. The author’s frequent references to political situations in modern China, especially the suffering of relatives under the Communist regime, suggest that Chinese Americans continue to be burdened by the question of the Chinese diaspora despite—and because of—their having settled in America. As the cases of Mad Sao and Uncle Bun illustrate, such a burden can be so heavy that it leads to derangement whether the place of origin is embraced or displaced.

The “place” of Chinese Americans in America is another major concern of the book. Whether as voluntary or involuntary immigrants, the lives of the China men are beset by nostalgia and poignancy, which in turn is compounded by real hardships and suffering in their day-to-day life in Hawaii and America, foreign lands that they have inadvertently helped to develop and therefore have a right to claim for themselves. Their struggles begin modestly as personal revolts; as the personal revolts of many China men become connected and their destinies intersect, however, they expand into a collective struggle. This pattern is illustrated in the cases of Bak Goong and Ah Goong. Lured into hard labor on a sugar-cane plantation in Hawaii, where he was harshly treated by the foreman and forced into silence, Bak Goong initially rebelled by disguising his curses as coughs; realizing the therapeutic potential of speech, he later resorted to talk-stories. Resisting popular distractions such as opium, gambling, and women, Bak Goong did his best not only to maintain his own sanity but also to help others relieve their psychological burdens by digging a hole in the ground and encouraging them to pour their homesick yearnings into it. Ah Goong’s struggle also started as a personal one. Building the Central Pacific Railroad, he found himself in a world full of hazards and without women. Partly to satisfy his sexual urges and partly to vent his pent-up emotions, he ejaculated while working from a suspended basket. Significantly, this personal eccentricity was followed by his participation in a strike, which resulted in a moral victory for the China men. Yet the distinguished contributions to the development of the American continent as exemplified by Ah Goong and his team were erased from history, and upon the completion of the railway the China men were systematically persecuted and dispersed, causing them to become fugitives. Each in his own way, Bak Goong and Ah Goong have labored to clear the ground and make a place for themselves and their descendants....