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America's Lost Chinese

The Rise and Fall of a Migrant Family Dream

Hugo Wong

$59.99

Hardback

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English
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
10 November 2023
From the 1850s, as the United States pushed west, Chinese migrants met ordinary Americans for the first time. Alienation and xenophobia lost the US this chance for cultural and economic enrichment - but America gave the Chinese new perspectives and connections. They developed a dream of their own.

As teenagers, Hugo Wong's great-grandfathers fled poverty in China for California. A decade later, they were excluded from the States. They helped establish a Chinese settlement across the border in Mexico, led by a world-famous dissident-in-exile with visions of a New China overseas. They would be among the Americas' first Chinese magnates, meeting with presidents, generals and missionaries, living through astonishing victories and humiliating defeats. The bitterest of all would be the colony's tragic demise amid a violent Mexican revolution, leading to the largest massacre and deportation of Chinese in American history.

This epic 100-year drama follows the lives of the author's ancestors, via untouched personal papers. Though no Chinese group had ever gained such influence over a Western population and territory, their home in Mexico would long be forgotten. Today, this family story is reborn: one of nationhood, state racism and a turbulent century; of exile, grit and new ways of belonging.
By:  
Imprint:   C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 138mm, 
ISBN:   9781805260561
ISBN 10:   1805260561
Pages:   364
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Hugo Wong grew up between Paris and Mexico City. Since 1995, he has lived intermittently in Beijing, where he has helped to found Sinoforeign joint ventures, including China's first investment bank. He built his career in emerging markets investment at major Hong Kong, London and New York financial institutions.

Reviews for America's Lost Chinese: The Rise and Fall of a Migrant Family Dream

'This is not only a family memoir but a fascinating social history of early Chinese migrants who gave the prime of their lives to building industries and wealth of America, and struggled to find their place within and beyond its margins. A brilliant and informative book.' -- Hsiao-Hung Pai, journalist and author of 'Scattered Sand: The Story of China's Rural Migrants' 'A vivid telling of global politics, and a social and critical understanding of the changing landscape of the Americas, whilst also keeping an intimate family story at its heart. A gripping and touching read.' -- Anna Sulan Masing, author of 'Chinese and Other Asian' 'Spanning the trans-Pacific from China to America to Mexico, Wong’s family memoir is at once riveting and passionate in capturing the diasporic spirit of patriarchs Leung Hing and Wong Foon Chuck, and sober and dispassionate in carefully situating them in the turbulent histories of three countries.' -- Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Professor of History, American Studies and Ethnic Studies, Brown University 'A well-researched account of Wong's ancestors who experienced pivotal changes in both the US and Mexico, most notably the Mexican Revolution. Inspired by the documents and artefacts found in a family trunk, we are lucky to have such an intimate portrait written with insight and depth.' -- Jason Oliver Chang, author of 'Chino: Anti-Chinese Racism in Mexico, 1880–1940'


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