Imagining the Chinese Homeland from American in the Radical Age, 1969-1976

Abstract

Although they may have appeared interchangeable to outsiders in the mid-twentieth century United States, affluent Taiwanese university students and working-class residents of American Chinatowns had little in common. How then did some members of these communi- ties come together around a shared vision of China? Set against the backdrop of radical political movements in the late 1960s and 1970s, Yibing Du's essay tackles this question. "Imagining the Chinese Homeland from America in the Radical Age, 1969-1976," analyzes the Tiao-Yu Tia movement to uncover both the literal connections forged through activism and the shared imaginary developed around Communist China. A territorial agreement shifting sovereignty of the Tiao-Yu Tai islands from the United States to Japan catalyzed a social movement that caused both students and Chinatown activists to rethink their relationship to China and Taiwan. Drawing on stu- dent publications, mainstream news accounts, fiction, memoir, and oral history, Yibing deftly outlines the dreams, challenges, and social problems that resulted in a new vision of China as homeland. While the intersections of race and politics of the 1960s have a robust his- toriography, by taking a transnational angle Yibing has found a fresh approach. Yibing's research, which she plans to continue in a senior thesis, is particularly noteworthy as the 50th anniversary of these events approach. History suffers when the only chroniclers of social movements are those who participated. Yibing's scholarship breaks new ground by offering a perspective based in archival research and oral history, mediating between personal memories and the larger significance of transcontinental political movements.