Society & Culture / Social Issues / Race & Ethnicity
From Secret Pacts to Paper Sons: How One Chinese Family Outsmarted Racist Laws for 100 Years
On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese American Family
This is the story of the See family, as told by bestselling author Lisa See in her book 'On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese American Family.' It's not just a family history—it's a masterclass in survival, adaptation, and pure hustle. Fong See arrived in America in 1871 and built a fortune by selling silk underwear to brothels, then pivoted to high-end antiques. But the real drama? He married a white woman through a secret contract because interracial marriage was illegal. His family used 'paper sons' and fake documents to bypass the Exclusion Act. They faced lynchings, legal bans, and identity crises—yet they thrived. You'll discover how a single family's journey reveals the hidden history of Chinese America: from railroad workers to art dealers, from poverty to power. And you'll see why, even after 100 years, the fight for belonging never ends.
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