Research Catalog

New York before Chinatown : Orientalism and the shaping of American culture, 1776-1882

Title
New York before Chinatown : Orientalism and the shaping of American culture, 1776-1882 / John Kuo Wei Tchen.
Author
Tchen, John Kuo Wei.
Publication
Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

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Details

Description
xxiv, 385 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
  • "From George Washington's desire (in the heat of the Revolutionary War) for a proper set of Chinese porcelains for afternoon tea, to the lives of Chinese-Irish couples in the 1830s, to the commercial success of Chang and Eng (the "Siamese Twins"), to rising fears of "heathen Chinee," New York before Chinatown offers a provocative look at the role Chinese people, things, and ideas played in the fashioning of American culture and politics."--BOOK JACKET.
  • "Piecing together various historical fragments and anecdotes from the years before Chinatown emerged in the late 1870s, historian John Kuo Wei Tchen redraws Manhattan's historical landscape and broadens our understanding of the role of port cultures in the making of American identities."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [347]-373) and index.
Contents
Pt. 1. A Culture of Distinction. 1. Porcelain, Tea, and Revolution. 2. What Does China Want? 3. The Port's Rise -- Pt. 2. Port Exchanges. 4. A Pioneer Settlement. 5. "Edifying Curiosities" 6. Self-Possessed Men. 7. Stereotypes and Realities -- Pt. 3. The "Chinese Question" 8. "The Alarm" 9. Visualizing "Ah Sin" 10. Building Community. 11. Descent to Darkness. 12. Appo's Demise. Epilogue: The "American Century"
ISBN
  • 0801860067 (alk. paper)
  • 0801867940 (pbk.)
LCCN
99010665
OCLC
ocm40602867
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries