A Historical Reading Of Genny Lim's Paper Angels

Paper Angels written by Genny Lim recorded the history of Chinese immigrants to America before and after the Chinese Exclusion Act. It describes the experiences of seven Chinese immigrants in Angel Island where the Immigrants Detention Center located. With the inhumanity treatment, this is the painful memories unwilling to recall for every American Chinese.The dissertation focuses its study on the historical significance of Paper Angels. The history of this period of time both of China and America is of vital importance during the research. At the end of Qing dynasty, China turned to be semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. Chinese people, especially in Southern China, where is deeply destroyed by the Opium Wars, live in the hell of extreme misery. Meanwhile, America, one of the imperialism countries developing rapidly after Industrialization, is badly in need of labor force for its cultivation on the vast land and the basic construction of the new born country. Chinese poor peasants and bank corrupted handicrafts are eager to cross the Pacific Ocean and start their new lives in America.Through a historical and social aspect, this dissertation will do a profound analysis about the characters and plot of Paper Angels. Different Characters has different endings with the story goes. It is proved that at that time, the Chinese immigrants are inevitably discriminated and excluded. And the cultural identity of the American Chinese varies in accordance with the development of the American Chinese history.