Yan Phou Lee

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 ChineseAmerican 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
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“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.