Land Without Ghosts

Americans have long been fascinated with European views of the United States. The many Chinese commentaries on America, however, have remained largely unavailable to the English reader. Land without Ghosts presents for the first time selections on America from Chinese writings over the last 150 years. Included are extracts from the travel diaries of nineteenth-century diplomats, a first-hand account of blacks in 1930s Alabama and of the young white Communists working to organize them.

R. David Arkush is Professor of History at the University of Iowa. Leo O. Lee is Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles.

List of Illustrations
Foreword, by John K. Fairbank

Introduction
Note on the Texts

I. EXOTIC AMERICA

George Washington and the American Political System
Xu Jiyu, 1848

Trains and Treaties
Zhigang, 1868

Strange Customs
Zhang Deyi, 1868

Glimpses of a Modern Society
Li Gui, 1876

Travel in the Interior
Chen Lanbin, 1878

How to Cope with Western Dinner Parties
CaiJun, 1881


II. MENACING AMERICA

Two Poems
Huang Zunxian, 1882-1885

Chinese in America
Zhang Yinhuan, 1886

Translator's Notes to Uncle Tom's Cabin
Lin Shu, 1901

The Power and Threat of America
Liang Qichao, 1903

III. MODEL AMERICA

Report of an Investigation of American Education
Huang Yanpei, 1915

The American Woman
Hu Shi, 1914-1918

The Contradictory American Character
Tang Hualong, 1918

"Things About America and Americans"
Xu Zhengkeng, 1918-1921

Presidential Elections
Li Gongpu, 1928

IV. FLAWED AMERICA

The American Family: Individualism, Material Wealth,
and Pleasure-Seeking
"Gongwang," 1932

Alabama: Reds and Blacks
Zou Taofen, 1935

Impressions on Reaching America
Lin Yutang, 1936

Burlesque
George Kao, 1937

The Shallowness of Cultural Tradition
Fei Xiaotong, 1943-1944

Some Judgments About America
Xiao Qian, 1945

Betty: A Portrait of Loneliness
Yang Gang, 1948

V. FAMILIAR AMERICA: THE VIEW FROM TAIWAN

A Day in the Country
Du Hengzhi, 1946-1948

Americans' Lack of Personal Style
Yin Haiguang, 1954

Black Ghost
Yu Guangzhong, 1965

Eating in America
Cai Nengying, Luo Lan, and
Liang Shiqiu, 1960s-1970s

A Family Christmas
"Jiejun," ca. 1970

America, America
Zhang Beihai, 1986-1987

VI. AMERICA REDISCOVERED: TRAVELERS FROM
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC

Cold War Denunciations
1949-1955

A Glimpse of America
Wang Ruoshui, 1978

Working Students
Xiao Qian, 1979

America Revisited
Fei Xiaotong, 1979

I Do Not Regret Visiting New York
Zhang Jie, 1982

America, Spacious Yet Confining
Liu Binyan, 1982

Six Don'tsfor Chinese Students in America
Wang Yuzhong, 1986

Private Ownership and Public Ownership
Li Shaomin, 1987

Afterword
Source Notes