Burlington Public Library MA

The Middle Kingdom under the big sky, a history of the Chinese experience in Montana, Mark T. Johnson

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

The Middle Kingdom under the big sky

bibliography

1261878606

Mark T. Johnson

a history of the Chinese experience in Montana

"From the earliest days of non-Native settlement of Montana, when Chinese immigrants made up more than 10 percent of the territory's population, Chinese pioneers played a key role in the region's development. But this population, so crucial to Montana's history, remains underrepresented in historical accounts, and popular attention to the Chinese in Montana tends to focus on sensational elements--exoticizing Chinese Montanans and distancing their lived experiences from our modern understanding. The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky seeks to recover the stories of Montana's Chinese population in their own words and deepen understanding of Chinese experiences in Montana by using a global lens. Mark T. Johnson has mined several large collections of primary documents left by Chinese pioneers, translated into English here for the first time. These collections, spanning the 1880s through the 1950s, provide insight into the pressures the Chinese community faced--from family members back in China and from non-Chinese Montanans--as economic and cultural disturbances complicated acceptance of Chinese residents in the state. Through their own voices Johnson reveals the agency of Chinese Montanans in the history of the American West and China. "--, Provided by publisher

"His death avenged!" : Telling the history of Montana's Chinese pioneers -- "Your hands are covered in gold" : pressures on Butte's Chinese residents, 1880s-1920s -- "They shall be diminished to extinction" : Chinese resistance to the 1892 Geary Act -- "To do my part in the awakening of China" : the Chinese Empire Reform Association -- "The sleeping lion has awakened" : the anti-American boycott of 1905 -- "With all the mystic rites of the Orient" : Chinese religious and burial practices -- "A worthy ambition for a Chinese girl" : the changing status of Chinese women, 1860s to 1950s -- "Brother, I beg you to help me, I am in a dire situation" : Cold War fears and Chinese communities, 1930s to 1950s -- Conclusion: "An honest living by the sweat of our brow"