Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community

In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity during the Chinese Exclusion Era. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, the book reveals how these performances were tied to restrictive immigration laws, beginning with the 1875 Page Act. By focusing on the experiences of everyday peoplefrom movie extras to merchantsPerforming Chinatown uncovers the long-overlooked history of how Los Angeless Chinatown and Hollywood shaped each other and, in turn, shaped Asian American identity.

You can listen to Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community is an episode from AAARI Audio Podcast Feed by AAARI.

This episode is 00:51:18 long.

This episode was published on Nov 8, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from AAARI Audio Podcast Feed when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.