Stevan Eldred-Grigg

White Ghosts, Yellow Peril: China and NZ 1790-1950 Stevan Eldred-Grigg

White Ghosts, Yellow Peril is the first book to explore all sides of the relationship between China and New Zealand, and the peoples of China and New Zealand during the whole of the seven or so generations after these two countries initially came into contact. The Qing Empire and its successor states from 1790 to 1950 were vast, complex, and torn by conflict. New Zealand, meanwhile, grew into a small, prosperous, orderly province of Europe. Until now, the story of the links and tensions between the two countries during those years hasn't been so broadly and thoroughly presented. The book is a highly readable portrait of the lives, thoughts, and feelings of the Chinese who came to New Zealand, as well as the New Zealanders who went to China. It is a scholarly but stimulating discussion of race relations, government, diplomacy, war, literature, and the arts. For some years to come, White Ghosts, Yellow Peril will be the key general text in the field of the early history of New Zealand and China.