Troubling American Women: Narratives of Gender and Nation in Hong Kong

American women have lived in Hong Kong, and in neighboring Macao, for nearly two centuries. Many were changed by their encounter with Chinese life and British colonialism. Their openness to new experiences set them apart both individually and as a group. Equally, a certain “pedagogical impulse” gave them a reputation for outspokenness that sometimes troubled those around them. Drawing on memoirs, diaries, newspapers, film, and other texts, Stacilee Ford tells the stories of several American women and explores how, through dramatically changing times, they communicated their notions of national identity and gender. Troubling American Women is a lively and provocative study of cross-cultural encounters, shedding light on the connections between the histories of Hong Kong and the US, on the impact of Americanization in Hong Kong, and on the ways in which Hong Kong people used stereotypes of American womanhood in popular culture. Troubling American Women will appeal to students and scholars in history, gender and cultural studies and to all readers with an interest in the encounter between China and the West.