into the islánd
登上埃伦
-PUBLICATION DESIGN
-THESIS PROJECT

This project is a series of publications, part of my thesis work, exploring this history through three parts:

Interrogation and Poem: including some actual interrogations that happened on Angel Island and poems carved on the wall
Fragments of Documents: information about the Chinese Exclusion Act, Paper Sons, and personal identity
Personal Journey: about my personal travel experience on Angel Island

San Francisco has the first Chinatown in America. Starting from the 19th century, a large number of Chinese immigrants, mainly from Guangdong, came to San Francisco. In 1882, the U.S. enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited most Chinese people from entering America. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake caused a huge fire that destroyed public birth records. An opportunity appeared: Chinese men already in America could fake having nonexistent children, selling these identities to immigrants who wanted to come to America. These new immigrants had to pretend they were children of American citizens or born in the U.S.

Angel Island, once the site of immigrant interrogations, has become one of San Francisco’s tourist attractions. Through this journey, I attempt to look back to search for traces of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Paper Sons, and the process of identifying and confirming personal identity. Between permission and prohibition, something remains.History fades but the traces stay, their sorrow etched in poems, their presence held by walls.

Fragments of Documents
文件片段

Information about the Chinese Exclusion Act, Paper Sons, and personal identity.

Interrogation and Poem
审问与诗

Including some actual interrogations that happened on Angel Island and poems carved on the wall.

Personal Journey
我的旅程

About my personal travel experience on Angel Island

Index