Publication

1998 - Free Press, New York, New York (State)

Language

English

Word Count

77,000 words, Guess

Page Count

308 pages

Identifiers

  • Internet Archiveteathatburnsfami00hall
  • ISBN-10068483989X
  • ISBN-139780684839899
  • Goodreads948070
  • LibraryThing547934
and 2 more

Classifications

  • DDC974.7/1
  • LCCF128.68.C47 H35 1998

Description

Bruce Edward Hall may have an English name and a Connecticut upbringing, but for him a trip to Chinatown, New York, is a visit to the ghosts of his Chinese ancestors - ancestors who helped create the neighborhood that is really as much a transplanted Cantonese village as it is a part of a great American city. Among these Ancestors are missionaries and reprobates, businessmen and scholars. In Tea That Burns, Bruce Edward Hall uses the stories of these and others to tell the history of Chinatown, starting with the tumultuous journey from an ancient empire ruled by the nine dragons of the universe to a bewildering land of elevated trains, solitary labor, and violent discrimination. The world they constructed was built of backbreaking labor and poetry contests; gambling dens and Cantonese opera; Tong Wars, festivals, firecrackers, incense, and food - always food, to celebrate every conceivable occasion and to confound the ever-meddlesome "White Devils" as they attempt to master the mysteries of chop sticks and stir-fry.

Subjects

Topics

BiographyChinese AmericansChildhood and youthManners and customsSocial life and customsNew york (n.y.), biographyChinatown (new york, n.y.)

People

Bruce Edward Hall

Genres

  • Biography

Other Editions

  • Tea that burnsFree Press1998

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