The New China and Chinese-Americanness

Abstract

Eager to shake off the trappings of the Manchu-dominated Qing Dynasty, the new government of the Republic of China sought to present an image of itself at the 1915 San Francisco exhibition as both inheritor of a long and proud civilization as well as a country embracing modernity. Complicating the situation was the San Francisco Bay area’s large Chinese population, a group that in spite of their many years on American soil, was much maligned and stereotyped by the general population. China’s government largely followed Japan’s model, with a series of attractive pavilions in a garden compound, while the so-called “Chinese Village’ in the fair’s entertainment zone featured an exhibit that provoked much controversy.