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Book LaunchWay of the BachelorEarly Chinese Settlement in Manitoba by Alison R. Marshall
Date: Tuesday March 22, 2011 Time: 7:30 pmLocation: Winnipeg Chinese Cultural & Community Centre2nd Floor, 180 King StreetWinnipeg Manitoba R3B 3G8Contact: Kevin Fan [email protected]
“A beautiful, deeply moving portrait of the lived experience of Chinese immigrants in Manitoba. Her book opens up a host of new perspectives on Chinese religions in practice and on the immigrant experience.” – Michael Puett, author of To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China
“The Way of the Bachelor enriches our understanding of the Chinese immigrant experience by drawing attention to the life of these new Canadians outside of coastal areas or large urban centres.” – Paul Crowe, Director, David Lam Centre, Simon Fraser University
www.ubcpress.ca
The Way of the Bachelor documents the religious beliefs and cultural practices that sustained and leant meaning to Chinese bachelors in Manitoba. In the absence of women and family, these men opened the region’s first laundries and, by the turn of the twentieth century, developed a new kind of restaurant – the Chinese cafe. They maintained their ties to the Old World and negotiated a place for themselves in the new through a process called Dao – the way of the bachelor. At cafes and restaurants, churches and Christians associations, and the offices of the Chinese Nationalist Party, bachelors fostered a vibrant homosocial culture based on friendship, everyday religious practices, the example of Sun Yat-sen, and the sharing of food.
This fascinating exploration of the intersection of gender, migration, and religion in small Prairie towns and cities broadens our understanding of the Chinese quest for identity in North America. With a Foreword by the Honourable Inky Mark, former Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette.
Alison R. Marshall is an associate professor in the Department of Religion at Brandon University.
