In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity during the Chinese Exclusion Era.

Drawing on oral histories and archival research, the book reveals how these performances were tied to restrictive immigration laws, beginning with the 1875 Page Act. By focusing on the experiences of everyday people—from movie extras to merchants—Performing Chinatown uncovers the long-overlooked history of how Los Angeles’s Chinatown and Hollywood shaped each other and, in turn, shaped Asian American identity.