This book concerns Qing perceptions of Anti-Chinese
violence in the United States. Before the Opium War,
the number of overseas Chinese was ignored by the
Qing government, which labeled them as "deserters" or
"political conspirators". The Opium War (1839-1842)
resulted in a humiliating treaty, and the opening of
the Treaty ports in the 1840s quickened the process
of Chinese immigration. These increases in the number
of overseas Chinese immigrants led to ill-treatment
and violence in the American West including the 1880
Denver Riot and the 1885 Rock Springs Chinese
massacre. After an initial...