Yan Phou Lee

Tim Male & Harvey Shiver

Background

● Born in Xiangshan, China in 1861.● Immigrated in 1880 to Hartford,

Connecticut as part of the Chinese Educational Mission.

● Was “recalled” after one year, but immigrated back on the condition that he could never return to China.

● Died in 1938. Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/BECK(1898)_p303_YAN_PHOU_LEE,_A_SCHOLAR.jpg

Achievements● Married Elizabeth Jerdine in

1887.● Lee wrote several pieces about

the ways in which Chinese immigrants were mistreated in the United States.

● Spent most of his life advocating for equality for the Chinese-American community.

Contemporary Hardships

● Anti-Chinese riots of 1885 and 1886.● The Scott Act was enacted in 1888 and lasted

until 1943; came to exclude all Asian immigrants in 1924.

● Lee’s works were highly controversial, angering many Americans, but also managed to gain a sympathetic backing, primarily from white middle-class readers.

WHEN I WAS A BOY IN CHINA

● Published in 1887 by D. Lothrop Company

● First book published by someone of Asian descent in English in the U.S.

● The book covers many topics including Chinese religious practices, schooling, architecture, etc.

Critical Conversations around the work

● To some, Lee is seen as “writing from the vantage point of privilege” and so he does not present a story sympathetic to “typical” Asian-Americans

● Yet, Lee acknowledges criticism by saying “I happened to be born into the higher middle condition of life”

● Lee’s work is utlimately complicated because he “understands two points of view…[and is] straddling two worlds” as a result

Works Cited● “Chew Heong v. United States: Chinese Exclusion and the Federal

Courts.” Federal Judicial Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2014.● Kim, Elaine. Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and

Their Social Context. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1982. Print.● Ling, Amy. “Yan Phou Lee on the Asian American Frontier.” Recollecting

Early Asian America: Essays in Cultural History. Ed. Josephine Lee, et al. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2002. 273-287. Web.

● “Scott Act (1888).” The Chinese American Experience: 1857-1892. Harpweek, n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2014.

● “Yan Phou Lee to Marry.” New York Times. The New York Times, 3 July 1887. Web. 6 Sept. 2014.