The Chinese Exclusion Act (2018)

The Chinese Exclusion Act is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2018. It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience (season 30, episode 7). The title refers to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a law about immigration to the US. Here is some basic information about this film:

** Directors: Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu

** Writers: Rick Burns, Li-Shin Yu and Robin Espinola

** Narrator: Hoon Lee

** Run time: ca 110 minutes

Several persons are interviewed in this film. Here are their names:

** Erika Lee – University of Minnesota

** David Lei – community advocate

** Mary Ting Yi Lui – professor of history and American studies – Yale University

** Mae Ngai – historian - Columbia University

** Kevin Starr (1940-2017) – historian

** K. Scott Wong – historian – Williams College

** Renqiu Yu – historian

** Jean Pfaelzer – historian – University of Delaware

** John Kuo Wei Tchen – historian

** Ling-Chi Wang – emeritus professor of Asian-American studies – University of California, Berkeley

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 says no person of Chinese origin is allowed to immigrate to the US. As for the Chinese who already are in the US, the law says they can never become US citizens. The law was first extended and then made permanent. In 1924 it was supplemented by a law which bars all Asians from immigrating to the US.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was in force for more than sixty years. It was repealed in 1943, during World War Two, when China was an ally of the US. Since China was an ally in the war, it was an embarrassing fact that the US barred all Chinese from immigrating to the US. That is why it was decided to abolish it.

This film covers the history of the law in great detail. The background. How and why it was enacted. The consequences over six decades. And finally the abolition of the law during World war Two.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 74 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. On the US version of Amazon there are at the moment five reviews of this product. The average rating is five stars.

If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is fully justified. This film covers a dark chapter of US history, which deserves to be told, and in this film it is done very well.

I want to offer a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information, see the following books:

** At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 by Erika Lee (2003)

** The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 by John Soennichsen (2011)

** 25 Events that Shaped Asian-American History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic edited by Lan Dong (2019)

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