From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express

HAIMING LIU is a professor of Asian American studies in the Ethnic and Women's Studies Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is also the author of The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration (Rutgers University Press).

"Haiming Liu turns the topic of restaurants into a discussion of Chinese American history and explores complex issues concerning race relations and ethnic identity, as well as political and regional affiliations among the Chinese in the United States."— Xiaojian Zhao, author of The New Chinese America"Liu's book is accessible and impressive with is scope....Overall, the book is one of the best American Chinese food history books out there and should be read by a wide audience in the United States and abroad."— Pacific Historical Review"Liu perhaps makes more general readers aware that Chinese food in America is more than just a quick and inexpensive meal. It represents a rich and complex history of people, the food they eat, and the food they serve to others."— Digest"Liu exercises his considerable talents as a transnational historian to reveal the United States as a culinary crossroads where food and business acumen circulate along many paths across continents and oceans—a must read."— Donna R. Gabaccia, University of Toronto Scarborough"This slender book delivers its tales with lively storytelling and well-placed details, with obvious relish for the telling anecdote, and a careful folding of such into its narrative."— China Review International"Haiming Liu writes with a mission: to correct a misunderstanding about Chinese food in the United States … Liu offers a refreshing spin on late twentieth-century Chinese culinary history that speaks to people interested in the global Cold War, food, and U.S. history."— The Journal of American History"Liu explores the evolution of Chinese restaurants in the US as a window into global history. In short, clear chapters, the author traces the complicated paths of Chinese migrants while highlighting how both culinary insights and people have traveled back and forth between China and the US ... Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."— CHOICE

• AcknowledgmentsNote on RomanizationIntroduction1          Canton Restaurant and Chinese Forty-niners2          Flags of Yellow Silk3          "Chinamen Live on Rice"4          Chop Suey and Racial America5          Kung Pao Kosher: Jewish Americans and Chinese Food6          General Tso's Chicken Made in Taiwan7          San Gabriel Valley as a Capital of Chinese Food8          Who Owns Culture?9          Din Tai Fung as a Global Dumpling HouseConclusionNotesSelected BibliographyIndex