LET’S SEND HIM TO AMERICA

BY PETER DESBERG

Let’s Send Him to America – one of the known historical fiction novels – is the story of a powerful Chinese Chancellor who swore revenge against a nineteen-year-old healer for failing to save his only daughter. He craved revenge—deep, painful, and long-lasting revenge. He did it by sending the young healer to California, a move that intensely impacted his cultural heritage and sense of identity.

In 1908 there were 500,000 people living in California, and 150,000 of them were Chinese. These unskilled laborers couldn’t speak the language, didn’t know American ways, and had no means to return home—which they desperately wanted to do. The need for Chinese labor was over, and these immigrants were now hated by everyone. Nevertheless, they still had to continue their journey of hope. This is the America the young Chinese healer was dropped into. This harsh reality forms a dramatic backdrop reminiscent of a historical drama, and it was into this challenging environment that the young Chinese healer was thrust.

What the Chancellor didn’t know was just how resourceful a misplaced nineteen-year-old healer could be.

What the Chancellor didn’t know was just how resourceful a misplaced nineteen-year-old healer could be—a resilience that could challenge the protagonists of the best historical novels and echo the themes of a quest for a better future.

Online booksellers and associated organizations committed to cultural survival and heritage often highlight historical stories like this one to shed light on the resilience and adaptability of immigrants.

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