DH: That was definitely true for many of the early immigrants, for whom the over-riding motive for migrating to the United States was typically to support and sustain their extended family in China. They generally expected to make occasional trips home to marry and have children, and to eventually return permanently to China to retire in comfort. This was especially true of the Chinese who arrived in Milwaukee prior to 1900.

Interestingly, as far as the early immigrants "barely leaving a trace," this was true even after death as it was the custom prior to mid or late 1940s for a national organization (the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association) to, every 15 years, gather the remains of deceased Chinese throughout the United States and ship the bones back to China for permanent burial. When a grave was exhumed, the inscription on the headstone was cut off and the headstone then used for another Chinese, leaving literally not a trace of even Chinese immigrants who died and were buried in Milwaukee.

The history of these earliest Chinese immigrants to Milwaukee is fascinating and an area where we hope to perform future detailed study.

OMC: You hear a lot about other ethnicities here but maybe not as many people know about the history of the Chinese community here, why is that?

DH: I think there are a number of factors, including the relatively small size of the early community, which likely did not exceed 100 members until the mid or late 1920s. Another factor was that the community was dispersed to a greater degree than in many other American cities and had no "Chinatown" area that might have attracted a greater level of attention by historians. A cultural characteristic that may have been a factor in the past was a preference by many of the earlier generations of Milwaukee Chinese to maintain a low profile and avoid actions that would attract attention to either themselves or to the Chinese community as a whole.

OMC: Is there still a vibrant Chinese-American community in the city or has it dispersed and integrated and been replaced by new immigrants?

DH: I think that there is probably a more vibrant Chinese-American community in Milwaukee today than has existed at any time in the past, although it is also probably more dispersed and better integrated than at any time. Reportedly, the population of the Chinese community of Milwaukee is growing more rapidly than that of many better-known Chinese-American communities such as Chicago or Houston. I don't think that the Chinese community has been displaced by other immigrants as much as supplemented by new types of Chinese immigrants, such as large numbers of immigrants from mainland China after the re-establishment by the Carter Administration in 1979 of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

OMC: Does the book try to create a comprehensive history of that community?

DH: Yes -- we definitely tried to present a comprehensive history of the Chinese community of Milwaukee from its beginnings in 1874 to the present day. We also did our best to include representation of the various subgroups that exist within the Milwaukee Chinese community. There is significant diversity within the Chinese community, which includes groups with diverse backgrounds, such as those descended from the early immigrants who spoke Cantonese and arrived from South China in the late 19th and early 20th century, later immigrants (many of whom were university educated professionals) who arrived from Taiwan, Southeastern Asian countries and Hong Kong in the 1960s through 1980s, and recent immigrants from mainland China and other parts of southeast Asia (including the Hmong, who are primarily from Laos but whose ancestors immigrated from Southeast China to Laos and other areas in southeast Asia during the late 19th century).

OMC: What are some of your favorite photos in the book?

DH: Some of my favorite photographs were taken of the Toy family during the 1920s. Charlie Toy, who is featured on the cover of the book, was one of the most successful Chinese American businessmen of the early 20th century, and was the patriarch of a large family that are the subject of many photographs in chapters covering the period 1900 to 1949. One of my favorite images of the Toy family is dated 1929 and shows 14 of Charlie Toy's grandchildren and one daughter in their dress cloths and arranged in a line from shortest to tallest in front of the family home on North 29th Street.

The photograph on the cover of the book is also a favorite of mine and shows a farewell dinner given to Charlie Toy in 1946 at Toy's Chinatown Restaurant on the corner of North Third Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. The dinner was given in honor of Toy's planned departure for China where, at age 86, he planned to finally fulfill a long time dream to retire and live out his remaining years in comfort in his home near Canton. The photograph is more meaningful, knowing that an earlier attempt by Toy to retire to China during the mid-1930s had been cut short by the Japanese invasion of China.

After the invasion, Toy had to flee for his life, lost his home and businesses in China, and returned to Milwaukee to wait nearly 10 more years for the end of World War II. Other favorite photographs are of the Toy Building, a six-story Chinese pagoda style building which was constructed in downtown Milwaukee in 1912-1913 and was reported at the time to be the largest and most luxurious Chinese restaurant building in the world (something which is still hard to believe existed in Milwaukee during this early era).

OMC: The book includes some Yi Jianlian photos, was his arrival important to the community here?

DH: I think his arrival generated a lot of excitement and resulted in some increased business opportunities for the Milwaukee Chinese community as a result of Milwaukee becoming one of the better known American cities in China. His arrival was at least partially responsible for the launch of a Chinese language newspaper in Milwaukee (The Milwaukee Chinese Times). I believe that the arrival of Yi Jianlian was symbolic in many ways of the profound changes in the perception of Chinese since the arrival of the first immigrants to Milwaukee.

I found it significant that Yi was actually from the same approximate area of China as most of the early immigrants. While these early immigrants struggled and endured many hardships, occasional hostility, and general anonymity, Yi's arrival was an international news event, and during his stay in Milwaukee he was arguably the most widely known and recognized Milwaukeean in the world. Quite a change to say the least.

OMC: How has his departure affected Milwaukee's Chinese?

DH: I think his departure after only one year was a disappointment, but I think that the excitement over the Beijing Olympics helped somewhat to temper this disappointment.