Speaker: Shouyue Zhang is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Melbourne. His dissertation examines the Chinese exclusion laws and the resilience of Chinese immigrants in twentieth-century Texas. His 2025 fieldwork in Texas was supported by the Alma Hansen Scholarship and the Arts PhD Fieldwork Grant. His article and book review are published in the New York Archives and Journal of American Ethnic History.

Discussant: Jian Gao is a historian of Chinese migration to the Americas, specializing in transnational networks, identity, and emotional history. His award-winning scholarship has appeared in leading journals and earned honors from LASA, WHA, and other major associations. His forthcoming monograph, Journeys of Longing and Belonging, is under contract with UNC Press. His second book examines post-1965 U.S. immigration control. Fluent in four languages, he is a Presidential Scholar at ASU and a recipient of major national fellowships.

Moderator: Shana Brown is an associate professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She specializes in the history of science and visual culture, focusing on modern China in global and local context. Her recent publications include articles on a 19th-century female Chinese painter and women in Chinese archaeology in the 20th century. Her book Pastimes was published in Chinese translation in 2024 by Zhejiang University Press.

University of Hawai'i at Manoa Center for Chinese Studies

Director, Ming-Bao Yue

Associate Director, Ni Zhang

Academic Support Specialist, Adriana Choi

Shouyue Zhang’s research examines a little-known chapter of U.S. immigration history by shifting attention from the Pacific Coast to the U.S.–Mexico border. Beginning with the startling 1901 arrest of Wong Kim Ark—despite his Supreme Court–affirmed U.S. citizenship—this talk explores how Chinese exclusion laws were enforced in Texas and along the southern border from the 1890s through the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on more than one hundred immigration interviews, the presentation uncovers the lived experiences of Chinese migrants and families navigating interrogation, deportation, and hybrid national identities. By tracing how exclusion practices evolved into enduring border control mechanisms, the talk reveals how this region shaped modern U.S. immigration policy. It also highlights the social mobility of later-generation Chinese Texans and their transnational influence. Connecting past and present, this research offers timely insights into contemporary debates on citizenship, borders, and migration.