This is a cover of a book I’ve had since my days working at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). I got to keep it as MOCA was purging its archives and was immediately drawn to the cover - a black & white group portrait of a family of Chinese descent, some wearing “western clothing” and some wearing traditional “Chinese dress” with the words GOING BACK written in English and Chinese. Even before opening the book, I knew I had to keep it.
I had the intent of reading it but as it often happens, I buried it away under a pile of “TO DOs”. It was not until a few days ago while I was cleaning around the house that I found the book again. But this time, I didn’t set it aside - I stopped what I was doing and started to read it.
It’s a book of first hand accounts of Chinese Americans visiting their ancestral home - in the early 1970’s. One thing that stood out is the geopolitical context when these visits took place such as the opening of China and the Vietnam War. Many of the accounts reference these historical events - even referring to their relatives as comrades. At the end of the book, there are suggestions on how to travel to China during a time when the US and China were just establishing formal relationships.
It would be another 20+ years I would first step foot in China - when major economic reforms were being implemented - many of which we see the impact playing out today, and it would be another 20+ years later before I attempt to make my way to the Pearl River Delta Region in Southern China.
I flipped to the introduction of the book and learned that this group of Chinese Americans were “going back” during the summer of 1972 and expressed thoughts of what their trip would be like. Forty-seven years later, I find myself faced with similar questions and wonderings as I too attempt to “go back” to my ancestral villages. ■