Description
Book SynopsisUncovers the story of the Tape family in post-gold rush, racially explosive San Francisco. The author paints a picture of how the role of immigration broker allowed patriarch Jeu Dip (Joseph Tape) to both protest and profit from discrimination, and of the Tapes as the first of a new social type - middle-class Chinese Americans.
Trade Review"[A] fresh portrait of Chinese immigrants, America and the past century ... deceptively novelistic and evocative... [A]n absorbing story."--Anderson Tepper, New York Times Book Review "Ngai fashions a terrifically readable, compelling work about the little-known middle-class in the Chinese immigrant experience."--Publishers Weekly "[F]ascinating... With meticulous research into the Tapes' daily lives, [Ngai] sheds light on the choices certain family members made to secure a future for themselves and their children."--Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times "Ngai paints a vivid picture of an exceptional Chinese American family making its own history while ably weaving the Tape family saga into the history of Chinese exclusion... [This] is an important contribution to the history of Chinese America."--Robert G. Lee, Journal of American History
Table of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition viii Author's Note x Tape Family Tree xiv Maps xv Part I : Strivings (1864-1883) 1. The Lucky One 3 2. The First Rescue 14 3. Joseph and Mary 24 Part II : School Days (1884-1894) 4. "That Chinese Girl" 43 5. Chinatown's Frontier 58 Part III: Native Sons and Daughters (1895-1904) 6. Suburban Squire 71 7. Two Marriages 83 8. The Chinese Village 95 Part IV: The Interpreter Class (1905-1917) 9. Blood and Fire 119 10. In Pursuit of Smugglers 135 11. Modern Life 150 12. The Trial 161 13. "Sailors Should Go Ashore" 173 Part V : Reinventions (1917-1950) 14. The New Daughter-in-Law 189 15. Loss 201 16. Service 207 Epilogue 223 Glossary of Chinese Names 231 Acknowledgments 233 Notes 235 Appendix: Documents from the Chinese Exclusion Era 277 Index 315
