| From the launching of the first American trading vessel bound for Canton to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, ordinary Americans demonstrated a strong fascination with China. To capitalize on this curiosity, enterprising individuals organized popular events designed to simulate actual travel to China: museums, store layouts, travelogues, panoramas, battle reenactments, stereographic guided tours, and moving pictures. While learning about China, ordinary people could play the role of Marco Polo.; In the past, representations of the Asian “other” have been understood mostly in terms of power. According to historians, Americans described China with mainly malevolent intentions: to celebrate their own racial and cultural superiority, to justify the economic domination of China, or to marginalize Chinese immigrants inside the United States. Though nationalism, imperialism, and racism do play prominent roles, other factors complicate this story in ways that historians have thus far overlooked. This dissertation offers a revisionist view of American representations of China that is more sensitive to their complexity.; First, the individuals who described China never reached an anti-Chinese consensus. Since they came from different backgrounds, possessed different ideologies, and viewed China during different historical eras, they each constructed China in a unique fashion. Indeed, many confronted in China a rich culture that earned their admiration—not their condemnation. And since they all hoped to influence popular opinion, they were far too busy contesting one another's ethnologies to align themselves against the Chinese. Second, representations did not emanate solely from a white consciousness and reflect only white power. The Chinese, far from being passive and powerless, often participated in the representation process in overt or subtle ways. And finally, audiences looked to China to fill a variety of needs, only one of which was a complacent desire to confirm their own superiority. Many hoped to acquire knowledge about the outside world; others sought a brief escape from their own customs and institutions. That audiences possessed not one but many motivations adds to the overall complexity argued for in this dissertation. |
