Chinatown kids

Chinese culture in the Bay Area has a long and challenging past. Wendy Rouse Jorae, who teaches history at St. Francis High School, Sacramento State and UC Davis, focused on the early challenges of San Francisco’s Chinatown in her book The Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1850-1920. She particularly featured American-born Chinese children who faced segregation in schools, child labor, social exclusion and even dislocation. In some cases, there was extreme discrimination against Chinese-Americans, while at other times, there was an obsession with Orientalism, especially among tourists desiring to experience an exotic Chinatown. Jorae frames the study within the larger context of racism and fight for equality in the United States.

Wendy Rouse Jorae will read, discuss and sign copies of her recent book, The Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1850-1920, on Sunday, March 28, at 7 p.m.; free; Time Tested Books, 1114 21st Street; (916) 447-5696; www.timetestedbooks.net.