Dafeng Xu, "Chinatown: San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and the Paradox of American Immigration Policy" (JHU Press, 2026)

Feb 4, 2026

Dafeng Xu, an urban planning scholar who studies immigrant neighborhoods and migration history, traces Chinatown's near-erasure after the 1906 quake and its contested rebuilding. Short segments explore family separation from immigration bans, how burned records enabled paper sons, language and schooling barriers, residential segregation as protection and constraint, and the use of architecture to assert identity.

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INSIGHT

Disaster Met Rising Anti-Immigrant Politics

San Francisco's 1906 earthquake intersected with rising anti-Chinese immigration to reshape Chinatown's fate.
Dafeng Xu used newly digitized census and documents to revisit how disaster, racism, and resilience interacted.

INSIGHT

Overcrowded Work-Home Living Patterns

Pre-1906 Chinatown was overcrowded with low-wage jobs and occupational co-residence.
Residents often lived where they worked in laundries, restaurants, and factories under poor conditions.

INSIGHT

Policy Demanded Assimilation While Blocking It

U.S. policy both demanded assimilation yet legally blocked family formation for Chinese immigrants.
Bans on female immigration produced the 'bachelor society' narrative that policymakers then used to justify exclusion.

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San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. Spanning 30 city blocks and home to tens of thousands of monolingual Chinese residents, its endurance is remarkable—especially given how close it came to erasure.

In Chinatown: San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and the Paradox of American Immigration Policy (JHU Press, 2026), Dr. Dafeng Xu uncovers the contested history of this vibrant community, focusing on the transformative period surrounding the 1906 earthquake and fire that destroyed 80 percent of the city, including Chinatown. White San Franciscans saw the disaster as an opportunity to permanently displace the neighborhood. Instead, Chinatown was rebuilt—but not without conflict or consequence. Using detailed census data and other historical documents, Dr. Xu examines how this rebuilt Chinatown differed socially and physically from its earlier form—and the many ways it stayed the same. He explores whether the earthquake shifted patterns of segregation, if and how Chinese immigrants navigated pressure to assimilate—including adopting English, changing their names, and leaving ethnic neighborhoods—and whether they gained economic ground in the city's new landscape.

Dr. Xu's study reveals a striking contradiction: while Chinese Americans were often criticized for not assimilating, systemic barriers made that very process nearly impossible. The post-disaster Chinatown became a symbol of cultural resilience, shaped by both community agency and persistent exclusion. Rich in insight and original research, Chinatown offers a powerful look at how disaster, racism, and resistance shaped one of America's most storied immigrant neighborhoods.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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