"This is an important and necessary book emphasizing the early period of Sino-American interaction. Johnson and his authors reinterpret historical events through the lenses of narrative and literature, showing how the stories people tell about one another become the first drafts of history. This book will change historians' understanding of Chinese- American relations." -- James Fichter, author of So Great a Profit: How the East Indies Trade Transformed Anglo-American Capitalism

Leo Lee Ou-fan is currently Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture at Chinese University of Hong Kong, having taken early retirement from teaching at Harvard University to become a long-term Hong Kong resident, Apart from his academic work, he has been an active participant in the Hong Kong cultural scene, having published in the past decade nearly 20 books of cultural criticism in both Chinese and English, including (in English) City Between Worlds My Hong Kong (Harvard University Press, 2008). Among his scholarly books are Shanghai Modern The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945 (Harvard University Press, 1999). In addition to literature, his other humanistic interests include classical music, film, and architecture.