This study investigates how recent Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area leverage ethnic and personal resources to navigate economic adaptation and entrepreneurship within the United States. Bernard Wong, an anthropologist, utilizes an actor-oriented framework to shift the focus from passive assimilation to active agency. By examining the decision-making processes of these immigrants, the text argues that individuals are primary architects of their own economic success and social integration.

The subject matter points to a specialized academic text intended for sociologists, anthropologists, and researchers of migration patterns. The framing suggests a rigorous, evidence-based exploration of immigrant agency that remains a foundational reference for understanding late 20th-century Chinese American economic history.