The Chinese in America: A Narrative History的笔记(7)

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  第49页

  Xin|Faith (Pray)

  As an international student in the US, I have been struggling about acculturation. Many have told me that "Lucy, you are a total American. The way you act and think are no different from us." However, I did not feel it in any way. Instead, I always have the feeling that I will always be the only foreign-born girl in the classroom full of Americans. Of course, my situation is not like a h... (更多)

  As an international student in the US, I have been struggling about acculturation. Many have told me that "Lucy, you are a total American. The way you act and think are no different from us." However, I did not feel it in any way. Instead, I always have the feeling that I will always be the only foreign-born girl in the classroom full of Americans. Of course, my situation is not like a hell. At least, I know English pretty well and know there is such a country since I can remember.

  I cannot help picturing Chinese people with braids behind getting off vessels. They needed luck to survive the tough voyage. That was just a start of a long misery life. Whites were not even close to friendly as they claimed. Chinese were diligent, smart, and live almost only within the comfort social circle with other Chinese. Thus, they were productive and easily became target of Whites. Though in the decent East-coasters' eye, Whites who did labor job in gold rush were not the same as them, the White miners still viewed them as a better race than people with color. They started crime, later add unreasonable taxed, worse thing followed: Chinese people's rights to do testimony were taken by "law." Yet against all odds, some really lucky and capable Chinese men still made a ton. Though it was very rare.

  "All men are created equal." That was written years before the Gold rush. I assume the Whites' definition of men was only limited to Whites. Even today, the so called diverse country still have glass ceilings and discrimination against colored people. No matter how hard they tried, a large number of aggressive and arrogant Whites, which has nothing to do with their socialecnomic status, still look down on other races. I agree things are getting better, especially among people with high education, but the social status of minority, especially recent immigrants may still be labeled as second class. Let alone those like us who have no rights to stay here forever.

  Asians are too gentle and too tolerant. We live under all circumstances. That may be why we are not even close to the status of Blacks. It has not changed drastically since 1850s. (收起)

  2012-04-26 12:01:41   回应

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  第256页

  Wood

  Tsien: "That this government permitted this genius, this scientific genius, to be sent to Communist China to pick his brains is one of the tragedies of this century. " (更多)

  Tsien: "That this government permitted this genius, this scientific genius, to be sent to Communist China to pick his brains is one of the tragedies of this century. " (收起)

  2011-12-15 13:07:43   回应

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  第255页

  Wood

  China, while another--primarily immigration authorities--believed he should be packed off. Meanwhile, the government would not let Tsien leave the boundaries of Los Angeles until his case was resolved. For five years, from 1950 to 1955, he lived under constant FBI surveillance, with his phone bugged, his mail opened and read, his family followed in the streets. Finally, on September 17, 1955, the... (更多)

  China, while another--primarily immigration authorities--believed he should be packed off. Meanwhile, the government would not let Tsien leave the boundaries of Los Angeles until his case was resolved. For five years, from 1950 to 1955, he lived under constant FBI surveillance, with his phone bugged, his mail opened and read, his family followed in the streets. Finally, on September 17, 1955, the U.S. government deported Tsien and his family to mainland China.

  Whether Tsien was a Communist in the United States cannot be determined, but the evidence suggests that he was not. His wife was the daughter of a top military strategist for Chiang Kai-shek, and survivors of the Cal Tech Communist cell to which Tsien had allegedly belonged insist he was not a member. After a five-year investigation, the INS failed to turn up any documentary proof of Tsien's Communist involvement. As it later turned out, however, his political leanings had not bearing whatsoever on the final decision to deport him. Decades later, declassified State Department documents revealed that the United States and the PRC had negotiated a secret prisoner swap: Tsien Hsue-sen for a group of American POWs captured during the Korean War.

  In the end, the case against Tsien hurt rather than helped U.S. national defense. By deporting him, the nation lost a first-class scientist who almost certainly would have been a valued adviser to the American lunar and missile programs. As early as 1949, Tsien had predicted that a trip to the moon would be possible within thirty years and that the journey could be accomplished in a week. Meanwhile, with Tsien's return the PRC gained a man who helped launch a technological revolution in his homeland. As the director of the Fifth Academy of National Defense, China's first missile institute, Tsien oversaw the development of China's first generation of nuclear missiles, the Dongfeng "East Wind" series. He also proposed and guided the development of the first artificial Chinese satellite, a tracking and control telemetry network for ICBMs.

  Perhaps Tsien's attorney, Grant B. Cooper, best summed up the repercussions to the Untied States of its irrational persecution of (收起)

  2011-12-15 12:55:02   回应

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  第254页

  Wood

  FBI accused him of being a former member of the American Communist Party, on the grounds that during the 1930s he had befriended a number of pro-Communist Cal Tech students. Although Tsien fervently denied being a Communist, the U.S. government revoked his security clearance, something Tsien considered an unforgivable insult, especially after his record of substantial contribution to the U.S.... (更多)

  FBI accused him of being a former member of the American Communist Party, on the grounds that during the 1930s he had befriended a number of pro-Communist Cal Tech students.

  Although Tsien fervently denied being a Communist, the U.S. government revoked his security clearance, something Tsien considered an unforgivable insult, especially after his record of substantial contribution to the U.S. war effort. A proud man, he impulsively decided to return to China. After informing Cal Tech that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence, he booked passage for himself and his family to mainland China. His real troubles began when a U.S. customs agent found thousands of pounds of scientific papers in his luggage. Believing he had nabbed a spy red-handed, the agent held a press conference to announce that he discovered secret "code books" in Tsien's possession.

  The Los Angeles media went wild, printing articles with headlines such as "SECRET DATA SEIZED IN CHINA SHIPMENT." The putative codebooks in Tsien's luggage turned out to be logarithmic tables, and a subsequent government investigation disclosed that nothing at all in the shipment had been classified. But the newspapers did not run a retraction or even a follow-up story, leaving many readers believing that Tsien was indeed an agent for the PRC.

  Within days of the seizure of his baggage, Tsien was arrested and locked in a cell in San Pedro for more than two weeks. Confused if not panicked, he lost twenty pounds. The renowned physicist Robert Oppenheimer offered his help, suggesting that Tsien move to Princeton University. That turned out to be an option for Tsien. Upon his release, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to the surprise of everyone, started deportation hearings against him, proceeding on the grounds that Tsien, a foreign national Communist, was an undesirable alien deportable by law.

  The government kept Tsien in a state of limbo while trying to decide what to do with him. One faction--mainly defense officials--fought to keep him in the United States, arguing that his technical knowledge was too valuable to let fall into the hands of Communist (收起)

  2011-12-15 12:43:12   回应

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  第253页

  Wood

  Nationality Act of 1952, and President Harry Truman's proclamation of 1953, the American government assumed the power to stop the departure of foreigners whose knowledge might jeopardize national security. As a result, some 120 Chinese intellectuals were detained and not permitted to leave for years. One of these was Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen, a top Chinese aerodynamicist who helped pioneer the Ame... (更多)

  Nationality Act of 1952, and President Harry Truman's proclamation of 1953, the American government assumed the power to stop the departure of foreigners whose knowledge might jeopardize national security. As a result, some 120 Chinese intellectuals were detained and not permitted to leave for years.

  One of these was Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen, a top Chinese aerodynamicist who helped pioneer the American space program before becoming involved in one of the strangest episodes of cold war history. His story illustrates not only the capriciousness of the American government during the McCarthy era, but also the disastrous consequences for U.S. defense brought about by the frenzied witch hunts of the time.

  Though much of Tsien's later life is hidden in shadows, the story of his early days is relatively straightforward. In 1935, Tsien arrived in the United States on a Boxer Rebellion scholarship to study at MIT, and then later at Cal Tech. He rapidly ascended to the very top of his profession, making substantial contributions to both American science and national defense. He revolutionized the fields of fluid dynamics, the buckling of structures, rocketry, and engineering cybernetics, all of which helped the U.S. enter into the space age early. While still a graduate student at Cal Tech, he helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where he was intimately involved in designing some of America's earliest missiles. Because his contributions during World War II were so valuable, the U.S. government repeatedly granted Tsien clearance to work on classified government projects, despite his legal status as a Chinese national. By the end of the war, Tsien had received numerous commendations and praise from the American military establishment.

  In 1949, the year China fell to the Communists, Tsien must have decided that his future no longer lay with his homeland, but with the United States. He applied for U.S. citizenship and accepted a professorship at and directorship of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology. What he had not counted on, however, was America's entrance into cold war hysteria. In 1950, the (收起)

  2011-12-15 12:30:00   回应

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  第252页

  Wood

  Another group vulnerable to accusations of espionage were Chinese intellectuals at the universities who were capable of designing technology vital to national security. As Communist China developed into a world power and technologically competent cold war opponent, many American officials failed to distinguish between Chinese Americans and foreign Chinese nationals, nor did they overcome the suspi... (更多)

  Another group vulnerable to accusations of espionage were Chinese intellectuals at the universities who were capable of designing technology vital to national security. As Communist China developed into a world power and technologically competent cold war opponent, many American officials failed to distinguish between Chinese Americans and foreign Chinese nationals, nor did they overcome the suspicion that members of both groups were passing secrets to the PRC. With new State Department regulations, the Immigration and (收起)

  2011-12-15 12:24:15   回应

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  第28页

  Xin|Faith (Pray)

  中国人骨子里对故土的感情和依恋是无法割舍的，所以我们才讲究落叶归根。作者在书中说，最早移民到美国的中国人选择背井离乡，最大的原因并不是美国有多好，而是中国的环境实在让人很难生存了。他们出来，是抱着衣锦还乡的心，他们甚至根本不清楚美国这片大陆距离是多么的遥远。 美国人曾经非常排华，他们认为中国人抢了他们的饭碗和机会。中国人确实非常的勤劳，确实非常的能生存。其实今天也是一样，在美国失业率如此，经济如... (更多)

  中国人骨子里对故土的感情和依恋是无法割舍的，所以我们才讲究落叶归根。作者在书中说，最早移民到美国的中国人选择背井离乡，最大的原因并不是美国有多好，而是中国的环境实在让人很难生存了。他们出来，是抱着衣锦还乡的心，他们甚至根本不清楚美国这片大陆距离是多么的遥远。

  美国人曾经非常排华，他们认为中国人抢了他们的饭碗和机会。中国人确实非常的勤劳，确实非常的能生存。其实今天也是一样，在美国失业率如此，经济如此的情况下，周围的华人朋友们依旧可以用双手讨得一份工，养活自己。

  在第一批中国移民到来的时候，正是美国西进的时候。这些所谓的文明人杀害印第安人，抢占土地。可见，中国移民的命运，也不可能如预期般美好。 (收起)

  2011-09-12 02:10:50   回应

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