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Article: The angels of America: restoring and preserving the history of Asian Immigration to the United States.(Special Report)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 10, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1934, 12-year-old Wong Kai Chong leaves everything he knows in China and travels to the United States to join his father. When he lands in San Francisco on a cold, gray day, he is detained on Angel Island, an immigration station off the coast of California. Kai is shoved into overcrowded barracks and given soggy rice to eat.
During his stay, Kai is interrogated mercilessly. "What is the name of your village in China?" the immigration officer barks. "How many rooms were there in your house? What did the chairs look like? Were their backs round or square?" Kai knows his answers must match what his father said before him. If they don't, he will be sent back to ...