Chinese in Minnesota

The People of Minnesota

by Sherri Gebert Fuller, Bill Holm (Foreword)

A concise history of Chinese in Minnesota, including immigration patterns, cultural and social organizations, businesses, politics, education, and family life.

Minnesota’s first Chinese settlers, fleeing racial violence in California, established scores of businesses after they arrived in the late 1870s. Newspapers eagerly published reports of their activities, including New Year’s festivities, marriages, and restaurant and laundry openings. Beginning in 1882 federal laws banning Chinese immigration and denying citizenship put particular pressure on the community. Sherri Gebert Fuller relates the story of the Chinese from these early days to the 1960s, when a new wave of immigrants, including students, businessmen, and professionals from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, began to bring new energy and issues to the community and a flourishing of ties between Minnesota and China.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2004

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short account of Chinese immigration to Minnesota. I liked the personal account at the end of the book and I wish there would have been more of them.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing mini-textbook of the people, their culture, and experiences. Dry but solid work.

[Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reason I read this book is the change I observed between the eating habits when I grew up in a small town in Minnesota in the 1960s to the eating habits of 1980 and later. When I was a child, we rarely ate out, and the choice we had if we did was limited to a couple of cafes and an A@W drive-in. In my travels through the U.S. 1980 to the present and visits to my hometown, I have discovered more people eating out and far greater choices. Ethnic restaurants can be found now in even the smallest towns. The town in Minnesota, St. Peter, where I grew up has had four Chinese restaurants, so I was interested in the history of Chinese immigration to Minnesota. The book was interesting as far as it went. Mostly, the book dealt with Chinese people living and working in the Twin Cities with almost no mention of the rest of the state. I wish the book were more far-reaching.