Guest underscores street-by-street observation as an ideal means of data collection within ethnic enclaves particularly within the Chinese community of New York City. Distinct from the institutionalized position of religion in Western societies, religion in China is intertwined into the everyday routines of Chinese immigrants from domestic life to local businesses that incorporate altars. Moreover, the fusion of different religious beliefs such as Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism is near impossible to unambiguously identify through data collection through a predominantly monotheistic lens. Such surveys also undermine the integral role of festivals as practices that demonstrate the religious rituals of many Chinese-Americans. Another aspect that clearly highlights the deficiency of such surveys in better understanding a certain demographic are the ill-representation of undocumented immigrant populations. In fact, Guest recounts the roles of undocumented immigrants in forming entire religious institutions. Rather than being entrenched within American society, temples such as the He Xian Ju Temple serve as a bridge between immigrant communities and their homelands to fortify the reach of such religions. Guest’s description of how Fuzhounese immigrants have used religion as a means to cope with migration and to uphold solidarity within the community particularly resonated with me; it is definitely a characteristic, which is apparent within my own cultural community. Nonetheless, for Fuzhounese immigrants, the He Xian Ju Temple is not merely an extension of religious institutions already prospering in China. Rather, Guest describes how the Fuqi Village in China is fundamentally dependent on the monetary contributions of Master Lu’s religious institution to thrive. In this way, religious beliefs can gradually burgeon within immigrant enclaves removed from the scrutiny and potentially stifling laws of the homelands of immigrants. With a stable financial foundation, Master Lu’s temple was able to endow the Chinese government with provisions, which the government happily accepted; through mutual agreement, Master Lu’s temple was able to gain traction on an international scale. Moreover, other religious temples have taken an even greater altruistic role by serving as a channel from which undocumented immigrants are able to network and attain employment at local businesses associated with the temple. The integral role of such churches upholds the dynamic endurance of such ethnic enclaves from local businesses depending on cheap labor to undocumented immigrants in need of shelter. The ligament which ties all of these diverse bodies together is a simple desire for social mobility that would otherwise be impossible within a rigid, institutionalized social framework. It is thus fundamental to capture such complex dynamics to gain a more accurate perspective of immigrant enclaves.
