ABSTRACT
Any such purchase should raise ethical questions about the limits (or lack thereof) of what may be defined as a ‘commodity’ under capitalism. Should a community be a commodity? This question is further complicated in the purchase of Locke for three reasons. First, Locke is the home of the last survivors of a distinctive group-the Chinese farm laborers who were among the earliest of the non-Anglo-European peoples to provide the labor for the large farms of California’s Central Valley. Second, the buyer of the town of Locke was Asian City Development, Inc., a ‘foreign’ investor, ironically in this case a closely held Hong Kong-based corporation. Third, the new owner of the town plans to convert it into a major tourist attraction, connecting it to the already popular restored tourist section of ‘Old Sacramento’ by narrow-gauge railway, with plans for a temple, a giant Buddha, World’s Fair type pavilions representing six Asian countries, a country club, yacht basin, ‘high end’ condominiums, and a floating restaurant.2
