Tenement Talk: The Chinese Question

Watch a special Tenement Talk honoring the 2022 Bancroft Prize-winning book, The Chinese Question!

Author and historian Mae Ngai discusses her decade of research into the global politics of Chinese immigration through history across five continents. Born from the need to debunk myths of 19th-century Chinese immigration, The Chinese Question weaves together economics and global history to explore the interactions between Chinese and Western settler populations in gold mining regions. Ngai details the perspectives of Chinese arrivals in colonies and territories, the differences and similarities they encountered, and ultimately, how the tensions and racism born from these areas gave rise to restrictive immigration laws and new understandings of race. In this conversation, we’ll explore this critical history and how it helps us understand the roots of anti-Asian racism prevalent today.