New York before Chinatown : Orientalism and the shaping of American culture, 1776-1882 / John Kuo Wei Tchen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tchen, John Kuo Wei.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public opinion.

History.

China--Foreign public opinion, American--History--18th century.

China--Foreign public opinion, American--History--19th century.

Public opinion--New York (State)--New York--History--18th century.

Public opinion--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

New York (N.Y.)--History--1775-1865.

National Book Committee.

New York (N.Y.)--History--1865-1898.

New York (State)--New York.

China.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 385 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Orientalism and the shaping of American culture, 1776-1882

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

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 Cheng and Eng (the "Siamese Twins"), to rising fears of the "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.

Piecing together various historical fragments and anecdotes from the years before Chinatown emerged in the 1870s, historian John Kio Wei Tchen redraws Manhattan's historical landscape and broadens our understanding of the role of port cultures in the making of American identities. Tchen tells his story in three parts. In the first, he explores America's fascination with Asia as a source of luxury items, cultural taste, and lucrative trade. In the second, he explains how Chinese people and things became objects off curiosity in the expansive commercial marketplace. In the third part, Tchen focuses on how Americans' attitude toward the Chinese changed from fascination to demonization.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0801860067

OCLC:

40602867