In chapter 5, “Chinatown’s Informal Political Structure”, Kwong further expands on the notion that of exploitation in Chinatown. Throughout the reading, I sensed the gap between the upper and lower class Chinese immigrants increasing drastically due to the nature of the concealed internal politics. The population of Chinese immigrants in NYC is very unique compared to the other groups we’ve studied because of their tendency to isolate themselves completely from the rest of society. Other immigrant groups eventually separated from their groups through marriage or unemployment, but the Chinese failed to do so. At first, Kwong explained that the Chinese were accustomed to such conditions which persisted in China and brought them over to America.  Although we touched upon this in earlier chapters, Kwong emphasized the seclusion specifically in this chapter when discussing the politics. I realized that the Chinese were separated in so many aspects of their lives but the main reason remained constant: exploitation. Unlike other groups, however, the most immigrants were unable to leave due to suppression from powerful associations. This further lead, in my view, to their inability to adapt to American life later in life when Chinatown was not offering them a sufficient life (i.e. when they grew too old for certain jobs).

The existence of such corruption in Chinatown made me wonder about the role of the American government in the situation. When discussing ‘citizenship’, we stated that a citizen is one who is protected/provided for by the government. I was surprised to read about the reality of underground politics in Chinatown because it survived for so long without outside interference. As described in Chapter 6, Benny Eng and Eddie Chan were prime examples of people with unlimited power and no opposition. In addition, I was surprised by the capability of the CCBA and other organizations to maintain influence in an advancing city up until recently, as Kwong described it.