|
Mr. Seligman
is not just a writer but a China enthusiast. This is a wonderful
story beginning with the first American husband and wife missionary
team to arrive in Zhifu in 1858 to convert heathen Chinese
to Christians.
Sallie
Holmes was responsible for taking a then young Wong Sa Kee
along on a trip to America in 1867 to make a proper Baptist
Missionary out of him. This set the stage for Wong Chin Foo's
emergence. There were many Chinamen, as they were known, in
America at this time. But in a young Chinese boy's eyes, America
held great interest.
This
is a very inspiring story as well as an interesting time in
American and Chinese history. With the United States deciding
on the fate of Chinese emigrants while respecting China's
control, Chinese were allowed to stay and respected without
the hope of citizenship.
Wong
Sa Kee returned to China after a three-year eastern education,
changed his name, and took a wife. By this time he had given
up on becoming a missionary, probably because of his enthralling
view of America during his travels. The Chinese did not belief
in an afterlife and the probability of Kee's decision to disengage
in the concept seems natural. After a ill fated attempt to
overthrow the Chinese government, barely escaping with his
life, he changed his name again and retained passage to the
U.S. in 1873. Not pausing to catch a breath, he began stirring
up trouble. This would be the beginning of a life long pattern.
Wong
Chin Foo, as he later became known, would champion the injustices
of the hyphenated Americans of the nineteenth century the
rest of his life. He became a social activist, being mentioned
in more than 3,000 newspapers, when Chinese in American small
towns were nearly non-existent.
I recommend
this book highly as a unique and inspiring story and admire
Seligman for his ability to pass this on to other Americans
for their reading enjoyment.
|
