The Chinese Question

This history explores the Chinese diaspora during the late 19th century, focusing on the global impact of Chinese migrants drawn by gold rushes and their subsequent communities in the West. Narrated by prize-winning historian Mae Ngai, it examines how race, capitalism, and immigration policies intertwined, leading to the racialized myth of the "coolie" laborer and restrictive laws that shaped Chinese exclusion in the United States and the British Empire, reflecting broader economic and social transformations of the era.