Seeing the Light: Four Decades in Chinatown

by Dean Wong

Photojournalist Dean Wong has been chronicling life in America's Chinatowns for four decades. His sensitive eye and man-of-the-people interviews bring these ghettos disguised as tourist traps to life. Through Wong, we meet the drag queen deciding to stop his medications and die of AIDS with dignity; the elderly Chinese American facing eviction as the neighborhood gentrifies; the artist told by the city that his shop is a fire hazard, and the man who challenged Bruce Lee to a fight . . . and lost. Wong focuses his attention on the Chinatowns of Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, and New York. He reveals how "Chinatown" is sometimes a misnomer because these neighborhoods often include large pockets of Vietnamese, Japanese, and other Asian American families. He also chronicles the celebratory side of life in these communities, from the events around Lunar New Year to a much-anticipated visit by the Dalai Lama. Building on the groundwork of Bonnie Tsui's American Chinatown (2009), Seeing the Light exposes an oft overlooked American community and reminds the reader that these neighborhoods are filled with much more than good places to get dim sum. Dean Wong is an award-winning photojournalist who has been chronicling Asian American life for nearly forty years. The city of Seattle and King County, Washington, declared March 8, 1995, Dean Wong Day to honor his efforts documenting the Asian and Pacific American community.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2015

Reviews

[Nanako Water]

I have the unfair advantage of letting the author, Dean Wong, take me on a private tour of Seattle's old Chinatown. Every corner store, nook and cranny holds a story Dean reveals. While his book is limited to photographs and text, he tells me a story with each dumpling, savory bun and sweet custard tart I try. In the book, Dean's seven essays shine the light on A Place, San Francisco 1992, A People, A Family, A Fight, San Francisco 2010 and (my favorite) A Kitchen Table. Together with his many photos, I felt as if I met many wonderful people I would otherwise never know. These enclaves of the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and more recently, Hmong, Cambodians and other refugees from Asia are a rich resource of culture and wisdom. In his book, Dean gives intimate glimpses into the lives of these people and into his own life, a child of immigrants. Unlike my parents, Dean's parents settled into a community of fellow immigrants. Back in the 1800's these communities were first formed out of desperation, to survive in this harsh new wilderness under white rule. Eventually they became tourist attractions, the forerunners of Disneyland. As Seattle, San Francisco and New York City grew and prospered, the old Chinatowns became more distinct. White Americans ventured into Chinatown to try exotic foods, see exotic people, and feel as if they had stepped into a foreign land. But for the most part, most people had little idea what really went on inside Chinatown. What did it feel like to grow up American in Chinatown? Dean's book preserves his memories of these old communities before they disappear with the onslaught of globalization, gentrification and the online market. I am grateful Dean wrote this book on Chinatown and only wish that someone had done the same for the Japantowns before they were wiped out by the forced relocation of their residents in 1942.

[T]

Love Dean's work, local Seattle photog.