Afong Moy | Barnum & Baileys "Chinese Lady": The First Chinese Woman to Come to the United States: EP1

Today, we’re going to be taking a look at Afong Moy | Barnum & Baileys "Chinese Lady": The first ever documented Chinese woman to come to the United States in 1834. Afong Moy’s case is a fascinating one, as it crosses lines between capitalism and exoticism. Afong Moy, as a Chinese woman, as a person rather, was used as an exhibition. And it sounds bizarre —because it is. She was marketed as a “Chinese Doll” and put into a literal box, ornamented with paintings as she drank tea, used chopsticks and spoke Chinese. This was done as a capitalistic strategy to garner American interest in buying Chinese goods. Unique for her time, Afong Moy experienced the conjoining of two worlds—that of the market and the theater. 

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