In the early and mid-twentieth century, Chinese migrants evaded draconian anti-immigrant laws by entering the US under false papers that identified them as the sons of people who had returned to China to marry. Wayne Hung Wong tells the story of his life after emigrating to Wichita, Kansas, as a thirteen-year-old paper son. After working in his father's restaurant as a teen, Wong served in an all-Chinese Air Force unit stationed in China during World War II. His account traces the impact of race and segregation on his service experience and follows his postwar life from finding a wife in Taishan through his involvement in the government's amnesty program for Chinese immigrants and career in real estate. Throughout, Wong describes the realities of life as part of a small Chinese American community in a midwestern town.

Vivid and rich with poignant insights, American Paper Son explores twentieth-century Asian American history through one person's experiences.

|Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: A Paper Son in the Midwest Benson Tong 1. Coming to America 2. Life in Wichita, 1936-42 3. In the Army 4. Finding a War Bride 5. Raising a Family in Wichita 6. New Enterprises Final Reflections Appendix: Methodology Notes Index |"This is a fascinating personal story of a Chinese immigrant. . . .With his amazing memory, keen observations and vivid story-telling ability, Wong's personal accounts put a human face on a 'historical saga' of the Chinese American experience. . . . Written with humour and clarity, the book will be interesting to the scholar as well as the lay person."—Pacific Affairs
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Wayne Hung Wong served in the U.S. Army 987th Signal Operation Company all-Chinese American unit during World War II and lived in Wichita, KS. Benson Tong is an independent scholar.