Ang Li on William Gow’s *Performing Chinatown*

William Gow’s Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community is an in-depth examination of Chinese American history in Los Angeles. Drawing from an interdisciplinary approach and extensive primary sources that include oral interviews, archival collections, and family materials—this book is a powerful record of Chinese American lived experiences. [1] Such a broad array of sources allows Gow to investigate how Chinese American identities changes depending on their roles within the contexts of Hollywood, tourism, and racial performance. He divides it up into three sections. In the first section, Gow introduces the concept of “Chinatown Pastiche,” Read more