UA Historian serves as consultant for upcoming PBS documentary

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The scholarly interests of historian Shih-shan Henry Tsai in eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty and in Chinese maritime history merge in the figure of Admiral Zheng He. The admiral, a Muslim who was castrated at 11, had by 34 become one of the most powerful men in the Ming court.

Zheng, also known as the Eunuch of the Three Gems, commanded the largest naval fleet in human history. During his seven voyages, from 1403 to 1435, he led an armada of 25,000 mariners and up to 120 ships, sailing all the way to the Persian Gulf. British author Gavin Menzies even claims that Zheng was the first to discover America, an assertion that Tsai dismisses.

"We do not have any evidence to prove such a claim," Tsai said. "Careful scholarship provides a balance to such sensationalism. Historical scholars give credit when credit is due and dispel myths by searching for documentation and proof."

Impressed by Tsai’s commitment to scholarly accuracy, the producers of an upcoming PBS documentary narrated by Bill Moyers hired Tsai to serve as a consultant for the three-part series, "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience," which tells the story of the Chinese immigration to America, from the 1780s to the present. The documentary airs March 25 — 27 at 8 p.m. CST.

In the series, Moyers and a team of filmmakers collaborate to explore the multifaceted experience of the Chinese in America. They examine what is gained and lost, personally and culturally, by immigrants who must adapt to a new culture while struggling to retain what they can of their heritage.

Part One opens with a scene of a P.T. Barnum carnival coming to a town in America, bringing with it the curiosities of the age - the tattooed man, a diminutive Tom Thumb dressed as Robinson Crusoe, and the "most extraordinary curiosity yet," a living Chinese family, viewed in a living room as though they were animals in a zoo.

The history of the Chinese in America is shown as riddled in contradiction. Alternately embraced, shunned, feared, and respected, they were the only group of immigrants ever formally barred from entering the United States.

"In 1736, the Chinese emperor prohibited his subjects from going overseas. Strictly speaking, the Chinese who came to dig gold in California in the 1850s were violating Chinese emigration laws. These laws were not enforced, though, and after the American Civil War, the U.S. needed cheap labor to develop its huge untapped resources. The Republican-dominated government had to persuade the Chinese government to let its people leave the country without fear of punishment," said Tsai.

In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty repealed the century old prohibition law of the Chinese government and opened a floodgate of Chinese immigration. But a mere decade later, the American economy was in a slump and Chinese laborers were hired as scabs when white workers went on strike. During these years of unemployment and depression, anti-Chinese sentiment built around the country, fueled by demagogues such as Denis Kearney of San Francisco, who would rail in front of crowds that "To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinese."

Working class rage evolved into political power. Politicians soon joined the chorus, demonizing the Chinese as "rats," "machine like," and "secretive" to drive their point home. In 1882 the American government closed the floodgate, passing the Chinese Exclusion Act that barred further immigration from China.

"The peak period of Chinese immigration to the Pacific coast from 1852 until 1882 coincided with the infamous Chinese 'coolie’ trade," said Tsai. "Chinese were kidnapped or tricked into indentured servitude to Cuba, Peru, and other places in Latin America. But U.S. laws and the Burlingame Treated virtually prohibited bonded coolies from coming to the United States. The Chinese immigration here, unlike that in many places around the world, was free and voluntary."

But the myth of Chinese coolies has persisted in America, exerting a pernicious - or as Tsai says, "mischievous" - effect on American perceptions of the Chinese. In popular culture, the myth has given rise to such images as the "opium dens" of San Francisco, of Charlie Chan, the Confucius-quoting gumshoe played by white actors, and Fu Manchu, part of (and possibly master of) a secretive Oriental organization dedicated to conquering the world, supported by a host of nefarious Middle Eastern and Oriental criminal organizations.

Another myth Tsai dispels is that all white Americans in California during the early migrations were opposed to Chinese immigration. In fact, he says, many individuals and groups welcomed the Chinese and helped them, such as the Speers, who established a medical clinic in their San Francisco mission, or the many religious leaders who set up free schools and established various social-welfare programs to aid poor Chinese and prostitutes in the 1860s.

Tsai addresses the ambivalent stand of noted public figures such as Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University. As a businessman, Stanford welcomed the Chinese laborers who cut through the Sierras one mountain at a time to build the eastbound section of the transcontinental railroad. As Governor of California, he wanted the vote of white Americans, and so he pandered to anti-Chinese sentiment, thereby helping to secure massive state investment and land grants for the railroad project.

By the time Stanford and his partners hammered the last spike at a ceremony in 1869, he and his partners were once more singing the praises of the Chinese.

The documentary ends in the present, a time, said Tsai, when Chinese comprise the largest group of international students in most major U.S. universities and when the predominant attitude toward China remains a mixture of apprehension and respect.

"China challenged the hegemony of the West in the Pacific, in Vietnam and Korea. It is a vast Communist state, and so is still a potential adversary."

Tsai is the author of six books, four in English and two in Chinese, including The Eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty and The Chinese Experience in America, a 1986 text still used in classrooms. In his latest book, The Legendary Life of the Eunuch Admiral Zheng He, 1371-1435, Tsai examines how the history of the world and the relationship of East and West would have been vastly different had the Ming court not quit maritime activities after the mid-15th century.

"Zheng is a household name in China, but is virtually unknown in America," said Tsai. "I look at why, despite all their competence, wealth, technology, and sophistication, the Chinese lacked any incentive to reach Europe or to sail across the Pacific and discover America."