Nancy E. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190645236
- eISBN:
- 9780190937270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645236.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Cultural History
The introduction provides the early history of the American China trade by recounting China trader Captain John O’Donnell’s landing with Chinese seamen in Baltimore in 1785 and a newspaper welcome ...
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The introduction provides the early history of the American China trade by recounting China trader Captain John O’Donnell’s landing with Chinese seamen in Baltimore in 1785 and a newspaper welcome that asserted: “Commerce binds and unites all Nations of the Globe with a golden chain.” Nearly a half-century later, in 1834, a young Chinese woman, Afong Moy, arrived in America, having been coerced to participate in this golden chain of global commerce. As the first Chinese woman to travel the country, her exotic appearance and bound feet elicited commentary in newspapers, diaries, poems, and letters. Unwittingly, she served as the first cultural bridge in the American public’s perceptions of China through the staged presentation of objects, clothing, and images—and herself.Less
The introduction provides the early history of the American China trade by recounting China trader Captain John O’Donnell’s landing with Chinese seamen in Baltimore in 1785 and a newspaper welcome that asserted: “Commerce binds and unites all Nations of the Globe with a golden chain.” Nearly a half-century later, in 1834, a young Chinese woman, Afong Moy, arrived in America, having been coerced to participate in this golden chain of global commerce. As the first Chinese woman to travel the country, her exotic appearance and bound feet elicited commentary in newspapers, diaries, poems, and letters. Unwittingly, she served as the first cultural bridge in the American public’s perceptions of China through the staged presentation of objects, clothing, and images—and herself.
Nancy E. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190645236
- eISBN:
- 9780190937270
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645236.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Cultural History
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an ...
More
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an advertisement and attraction for their Chinese imported wares. Cast by the national press as an exotic curiosity, she also provided insight on Chinese life and material culture to the general public as well as to American presidents and politicians. The everyday goods Afong Moy promoted were widely adopted by the middle class, but acceptance of these goods did not extend to her acceptance as a Chinese woman. Afong Moy’s arrival at a time of great upheaval in American cultural and economic life placed her in the crosshairs of slavery, Native American removal, the moral reform movement, and ambivalent attitudes toward women. During her three-year journey throughout the mid-Atlantic, New England, the South, Cuba, and up the Mississippi River her race provided an occasion for public scorn, jingoism, religious proselytizing, or paternalistic control. As the first researched account of Afong Moy’s life, the book presents the intertwining narrative of her coerced travel, the American merchants who initially sponsored her, and Americans’ reaction to her later presentation of Chinese culture on P. T. Barnum’s stage.Less
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an advertisement and attraction for their Chinese imported wares. Cast by the national press as an exotic curiosity, she also provided insight on Chinese life and material culture to the general public as well as to American presidents and politicians. The everyday goods Afong Moy promoted were widely adopted by the middle class, but acceptance of these goods did not extend to her acceptance as a Chinese woman. Afong Moy’s arrival at a time of great upheaval in American cultural and economic life placed her in the crosshairs of slavery, Native American removal, the moral reform movement, and ambivalent attitudes toward women. During her three-year journey throughout the mid-Atlantic, New England, the South, Cuba, and up the Mississippi River her race provided an occasion for public scorn, jingoism, religious proselytizing, or paternalistic control. As the first researched account of Afong Moy’s life, the book presents the intertwining narrative of her coerced travel, the American merchants who initially sponsored her, and Americans’ reaction to her later presentation of Chinese culture on P. T. Barnum’s stage.
Nancy E. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190645236
- eISBN:
- 9780190937270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645236.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Cultural History
Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations ...
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Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations of the Carnes merchant family, whose business focused on selling inexpensive Chinese goods to middle-class Americans. Having a branch of the Carnes firm in France enabled them to select French goods which were then cheaply replicated in China for the United States market. Their ship captain, Benjamin Thorndike Obear, and his wife, Augusta, brought Afong Moy from China to the United States, entwining their lives with hers in unexpected ways. The Chinese goods that accompanied Afong Moy affected thousands of American households.Less
Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations of the Carnes merchant family, whose business focused on selling inexpensive Chinese goods to middle-class Americans. Having a branch of the Carnes firm in France enabled them to select French goods which were then cheaply replicated in China for the United States market. Their ship captain, Benjamin Thorndike Obear, and his wife, Augusta, brought Afong Moy from China to the United States, entwining their lives with hers in unexpected ways. The Chinese goods that accompanied Afong Moy affected thousands of American households.
Rachel C. Lee
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479817719
- eISBN:
- 9781479813742
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479817719.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter explores traveling performers, gender ambiguity, and the cosmetic construction of bodies through an examination of dancer Cheng-Chieh Yu's Bowl Problems, My Father's Teeth, and She Said ...
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This chapter explores traveling performers, gender ambiguity, and the cosmetic construction of bodies through an examination of dancer Cheng-Chieh Yu's Bowl Problems, My Father's Teeth, and She Said He Said, He Said She Said. Aside from her extraordinariness as a dancer, Yu became a function of a U.S. racialized and gendered history that figures spectatorship of Chinese women as edifyingly entertaining. Linking this dance concert to an earlier showcasing of Chinese femininity—P. T. Barnum's American Museum exhibition of a “Chinese lady,” Afong Moy, in 1834—the chapter presents two arguments. First, that Yu's dance theater puts the Chinese woman on display in America, but via the dental chart's universal scrutiny of oral health. Second, it contours medical-dental theater and the ethnological showcase as entwined somatic theaters upon which Yu's choreography draws.Less
This chapter explores traveling performers, gender ambiguity, and the cosmetic construction of bodies through an examination of dancer Cheng-Chieh Yu's Bowl Problems, My Father's Teeth, and She Said He Said, He Said She Said. Aside from her extraordinariness as a dancer, Yu became a function of a U.S. racialized and gendered history that figures spectatorship of Chinese women as edifyingly entertaining. Linking this dance concert to an earlier showcasing of Chinese femininity—P. T. Barnum's American Museum exhibition of a “Chinese lady,” Afong Moy, in 1834—the chapter presents two arguments. First, that Yu's dance theater puts the Chinese woman on display in America, but via the dental chart's universal scrutiny of oral health. Second, it contours medical-dental theater and the ethnological showcase as entwined somatic theaters upon which Yu's choreography draws.
