China's gone to hell, but I'm still proud I'm a Chinaman. In
America, if you sit in a corner and be quiet, nobody pays atten-
tion to you. You gotta stand up and say what you think and be
yourself.

-- Nee Wong, a vaudeville singer, 1950

"Today the doors are closed," stated Rose Hum
Lee, a prominent sociologist who frequently wrote for the newspa-
per Chinese Press, referring to China having turned communist. She
warned that the American-born generations "must learn to adjust
themselves to the society here as never before." Their survival under
these potentially volatile circumstances hinged upon the American-
born becoming "a more integral part of the American society." ¹ In
1949, when the defeated Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek
retreated to Taiwan and the Communist Party leader, Mao Tse-dong,
emerged as China's new ruler, Chinese America, although separated
from China by the vast sea, was profoundly affected. Given the history

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