eBook - PDF
The China Mystique
Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism
- 260 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
The China Mystique
Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism
About this book
Throughout the history of the United States, images of China have populated the American imagination. Always in flux, these images shift rapidly, as they did during the early decades of the twentieth century. In this erudite and original study, Karen J. Leong explores the gendering of American orientalism during the 1930s and 1940s. Focusing on three women who were popularly and publicly associated with China—Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, and Mayling Soong—Leong shows how each negotiated what it meant to be American, Chinese American, and Chinese against the backdrop of changes in the United States as a national community and as an international power.
The China Mystique illustrates how each of these women encountered the possibilities as well as the limitations of transnational status in attempting to shape her own opportunities. During these two decades, each woman enjoyed expanding visibility due to an increasingly global mass culture, rising nationalism in Asia, the emergence of the United States from the shadows of imperialism to world power, and the more assertive participation of women in civic and consumer culture.
The China Mystique illustrates how each of these women encountered the possibilities as well as the limitations of transnational status in attempting to shape her own opportunities. During these two decades, each woman enjoyed expanding visibility due to an increasingly global mass culture, rising nationalism in Asia, the emergence of the United States from the shadows of imperialism to world power, and the more assertive participation of women in civic and consumer culture.
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Yes, you can access The China Mystique by Karen J. Leong in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
1.
Portrait
of
the
Sydenstricker
family
in
China,
ca.
1900.
Buck
stands,
Grace
sits
in
their
mother’s
lap;
the
amah
is
in
the
background—Edgar
is
not
pictured.
(Courtesy
of
Pearl
S.
Buck
International,
www.pearlsbuck.org)
2.
Wedding
photograph
of
Pearl
and
J.
Lossing
Buck,
1916.
(Courtesy
of
Pearl
S.
Buck
International,
www.pearlsbuck.org)
3.
Pearl
S.
Buck,
1932.
From
an
article
in
her
college
yearbook,
which
had
a
Good
Earth
theme.
(1932
Helianthus
,
Lipscomb
Library,
Randolph-Macon
Woman’s
College)
4.
Pearl
S.
Buck
and
Eleanor
Roosevelt
at
a
China
relief
fund-raising
event,
1936.
(Reproduced
from
the
collections
of
the
Franklin
D.
Roosevelt
Presidential
Library)
5.
Pearl
S.
Buck
at
home,
1943.
She
looks
up
at
a
work
of
Chinese
calligraphy
by
Li
Chengmou.
(By
Peter
Stackpole
for
Time-Life.
©
Getty
Images)
6.
Photographs
of
the
Wong
family,
ca.
1906
or
1907.
Anna
May
Wong
is
at
the
lower
left,
LuLu
above
her;
such
photos
served
to
identify
and
verify
the
rela-
tionship
of
individuals
claiming
kinship.
(Courtesy
of
National
Archives
and
Records
Administration,
Seattle,
WA)
7.
Anna
May
Wong
as
Annabelle
Wu
in
Forty
Winks,
1925.
(Reproduced
from
the
British
Film
Institute’s
Stills
and
Photograph
Collection)
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- 1. Gendering American Orientalism
- 2. Pearl Sydenstricker Buck
- 3. Anna May Wong
- 4. Mayling Soong
- 5. Transforming American National Identity—The China Mystique
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- Photo Section