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© 1996 by University ofHawai'i Press Reviews 151 2.See Naba Toshisada," Ushu kö," Shisö 30 (1971): 68-104. 3.Tanigawa Michio, Medieval Chinese Society and the Local "Community," trans. Joshua A. Fogel (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1985). 4.Contrast Xiang and Guo's statement—"Since non-being is notiiing, it cannot produce being [or 'existing things']" &%&£A1J ^f tk±%—with that ofWang Bi: "Whatever exists comes from non-being" JL^ ?-ièu-^k. The Xiang/Guo position in fact seems more metaphysically nihilistic uian that ofWang Bi—except that, owing precisely to die extremity of their position , Xiang and Guo have no reason for recourse to wu: tìiings simply "produce themselves . . . are so ofthemselves" è ? . . . il cLií7#i. See Guo Qingfan, comp., Zhuangziji shi (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1961), 1B.50, and Wang Bi, Laozi zhu, in Zhuzijicheng, vol. 3 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1954), A.i. 5.Harold D. Rom, "Psychology and Self-Cultivation in Early Taoistic Thought," Harvard Journal ofAsiatic Studies 51, no. 2 (1991): 599-650. 6.Chen Yinke, "Tianshi dao yu binhai diyu zhi guanxi," Chen Yinke shixue lunwenji (1934; Shanghai, 1992 ), pp. 150-189. 7.See, e.g., Kawakatsu Yoshio, "Kanmatsu no rejisutansu undo," Töyöshi kenkyâ 25, no. 4 (1967): 23-50. 8.Prasenjit Duara, Culture, Power, and the State: Rural North China, 1900-1942 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), esp. pp. 15-41. Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. The Chinese American Family Album. Introduction by Bette Bao Lord. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. 128 pp. Hardcover $19.95. Hardcover $19.95, ISBN 0-19-509123-x. The ChineseAmerican Family Album is a volume ofsix chapters dealing with the experience ofthe Chinese in the United States. The book is organized according to the following major chronological themes: nineteenth-century China, Chinese immigration to the U.S., settiement, and the contemporary Chinese American experience . The chapter tides are "The Middle Kingdom," "Voyage to America," "Arrival in the Land ofthe Flowery Flag," "A New Life," "Putting Down Roots," and "Part ofAmerica." The chapters are further divided into twenty-nine subthemes . For instance, in chapter 3, "Arrival in the Land ofthe Flowery Flag," the subheadings are "A First Look at America," "Angel Island," "The Poems ofAngel Island," "The Grilling ofa 'Paper Son'," and "Everybody . . . Had a Split Personality." Aimed at the general public, this book makes for easy reading. The primary audience is lay people mildly curious about Chinese Americans as part ofthe American multiethnic experience. The photographs and short paragraphs that describe each theme will be of interest to this kind of reader. 152 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1996 However, for the academic community and those with a strong interest and background in Chinese American studies, this book is severely lacking in many areas. There is little in the way oforiginal research and no new information. The treatment ofeach theme is descriptive and superficial; there is no probing into the different subject areas. In chapter 1, under the subtheme "The Decision to Leave," the authors explore the reasons why Chinese immigrated to America. This four-page section, consisting offive photographs and four short case studies, presents the experiences ofChinese immigrants who left their respective homelands in 1865, 1906, 1949, and 1979, respectively. There is little analysis oftheir experience , only the photographs and case-study summaries. The book would have been more useful if the case studies had been developed further and placed in the context of the transition from one culture to another. For instance, the 1979 case study ofa Chinese refugee from Vietnam exemplifies the need for more depth and detail. Many of the recent Chinese immigrants come from Vietnam and other countries of Southeast Asia. For centuries, Chinese people migrated to China's neighboring countries in search of greater economic opportunity. When North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam in 1975, almost two million ethnic Chinese lived there. The victorious Vietnamese treated the minority Chinese population cruelly, and many fled. A young refugee who graduated from a Seattle high school tells his story: I am a foreigner who has grown up in a mass offire and war called Vietnam. My family was not rich but we were happy. In 1975 the...

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