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A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure across the Pacific Hardcover – June 7, 2016

by Hua Hsu (Author)

3.2 9 ratings

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Who gets to speak for China? During the interwar years, when American condescension toward “barbarous” China yielded to a fascination with all things Chinese, a circle of writers sparked an unprecedented public conversation about American-Chinese relations. Hua Hsu tells the story of how they became ensnared in bitter rivalries over which one could claim the title of America’s leading China expert.

The rapturous reception that greeted The Good Earth―Pearl Buck’s novel about a Chinese peasant family―spawned a literary market for sympathetic writings about China. Stories of enterprising Americans making their way in a land with “four hundred million customers,” as Carl Crow said, found an eager audience as well. But on the margins―in Chinatowns, on Ellis Island, and inside FBI surveillance memos―a different conversation about the possibilities of a shared future was taking place.

A Floating Chinaman takes its title from a lost manuscript by H. T. Tsiang, an eccentric Chinese immigrant writer who self-published a series of visionary novels during this time. Tsiang discovered the American literary market to be far less accommodating to his more skeptical view of U.S.-China relations. His “floating Chinaman,” unmoored and in-between, imagines a critical vantage point from which to understand the new ideas of China circulating between the world wars―and today, as well.

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Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard University Press
Publication date

June 7, 2016
Dimensions

6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0674967909
ISBN-13

978-0674967908
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Hua Hsu

1,618

Paperback

in Asian American Studies

66 offers from $8.48

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] lively debut…[H. T.] Tsiang’s eclectic writings and unusual life provide a great deal of grist for Hsu…Hsu writes in a graceful manner about Tsiang and the people he considered rivals…Tsiang comes across as a fascinating and sometimes maddening figure.”―Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Wall Street Journal

“[A] smart new book.”―Viet Thanh Nguyen, New York Times Book Review

“Hsu frames [H. T.] Tsiang’s marginal status as a deliberate act of rebellion. His incomprehensibility staked out the boundaries of the possible. Americans were eager for a white woman [Pearl Buck] to tell them about the rural China of yesteryear; they were not so ready for a prickly Chinese immigrant to spell out the limitations of their own political system.”―Jamie Fisher, Times Literary Supplement

“This tome documenting the race between historians competing for the title of America’s foremost expert on China is an absorbing read that transcends the stuffy corridors of academia…A Floating Chinaman is destined to become required reading.”―Liz Raiss, The Fader

“Hua Hsu gives us a playful, colorful, formidable book, overflowing with archival research and without a single dull moment. A complex weave of authority and knowledge is presented here through many self-appointed spokesmen for China, all unforgettable. The stakes of rediscovering China, over and over again, have never been higher, or more absorbing to read.”―Wai Chee Dimock, Yale University

“It’s no secret that Hua Hsu is one of the finest cultural critics writing today. Now, in the barely-remembered Chinese-American H. T. Tsiang, Hsu has found a fascinating, unruly figure worthy of his own prodigious gifts. I loved reading A Floating Chinaman, and I wonder what Tsiang―that fame-seeking outsider, literary hustler, and New York ghost par excellence―would have made of this book, which informs and surprises on every page.”―Ed Park, author of Personal Days

About the Author

Hua Hsu is Associate Professor in the English Department at Vassar College.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (June 7, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674967909
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674967908
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.33 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,823,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #70 in Asian American Literary Criticism (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.2 9 ratings

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3.2 out of 5

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Sister Teresa

Worth a Read

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2017

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This was an extremely interesting book. Character H.T. Tsiang reminds me of a man I met in New York's Chinatown. He asked if he could help me and I said, "Yes, I'm looking for a shop with pastries." After I made the request -- he started repeating "pastries" very loudly and walked up the street repeating the word. He didn't help but his approach was unique. Character Tsiang, gregarious, bold and a little left of center strives to be an artist and this book sheds light on his journey. "A Floating Chinaman" deserves to be read. The research delves deeply into the 1930's and 40's after the publishing of the "Good Earth" by Pearl Buck and asks the question 'who speaks for China' and 'who is qualified to write about China and her people'. It's been several weeks since I've finished the book and I'm still thinking about the questions it raises and Tsiang's journey.

6 people found this helpful

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Stuart Aque

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2017

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One person found this helpful

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Charles

Good book to know about the history

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2016

Just finished the sample, an interesting book. However, due to different ways of spelling, if the publisher or the author could put down those names in the Chinese characters, that would be perfect, it would help the readers, in particular the Chinese readers, to check the historical records or references.

7 people found this helpful

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Kurt

Brilliant Thesis....but....

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

I’m a big fan of the authors NY’er work. I live a lot of each year in China and am continually distressed at the misrepresentations of China, it’s people, and it’s issues. I was hoping this would be the shot over the bow that put things in order. His underlying thesis is spot on and very necessary in this time when it seems like everyone is trying to be the expert on China, but it simply falls apart in digressive wandering. The structure is not engaging. As example, the author explains why he wrote the book in about 5 (maybe more, it’s that bad) different locations, unnecessarily filling up column inches with redundancies. Where was the editor on this? MIA is how it reads. Take it back into the shop for an overhaul.

4 people found this helpful

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