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

255 Pages·2011·2.109 MB·English

by  Stacilee Ford

Troubling American Women

Troubling American Women
Narratives of Gender and Nation in Hong Kong
Stacilee Ford
Hong Kong University Press
14/F Hing Wai Centre
7 Tin Wan Praya Road
Aberdeen
Hong Kong
www.hkupress.org
© Hong Kong University Press 2011
ISBN 978-988-8083-11-4
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound by Condor Production Ltd. in Hong Kong, China
In loving memory of
Denece Johanson and Leland DeVon Ford

Contents
List of figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction Women, Nation, and the Cross-Cultural Encounter 1
Chapter 1 “American Girls” in Three Acts
Encounters in Nineteenth-Century Macao and
Hong Kong 17
Chapter 2 “I’m in the Middle of a War, I’m in the Middle of a Life”
Women, War, and National Identity 57
Chapter 3 “A Second Voice of America”
Women’s Performances of Nation in Cold War
Hong Kong 103
Chapter 4 Home for the Handover
Muted Exceptionalisms in Transnational Times 141
Conclusion 179
Notes 183
Bibliography 215
Index 235

Figures
1.1 Henrietta Shuck, portrait 37
2.1 Gwen Dew’s photograph of the Japanese “peace mission” 72
2.2 Gwen Dew returns to the US after internment in Stanley Camp 78
2.3 Book cover: Emily Hahn’s Hong Kong Holiday 81
2.4 Graduation photo of Eleanor Thom Wai Chun 92
4.1 Betty Wei, present day 150
4.2 Teresa Norton, 1990s portrait 161
4.3 Teresa Norton, Back to the Wall publicity shot 161
4.4 Crystal Kwok, present day 168