Huping Ling
Huping Ling is Professor of History at Truman State University teaching Asian American and East Asian history.
She is the Executive Editor for the Journal of Asian American Studies. She has published ten books and over hundred articles.
She is a recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Ford Foundation Book Award, American Fellow of AAUW, Walker and Doris Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence 2005-2006 with $10,000 prize, and Best Article Award at 2006 Missouri Conference on History. She serves as a consultant to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Guangdong Provincial Government. She is noted for her many contributions to Asian American studies, especially on Asian American women, Cultural Community model, and Asian Americans in the Midwest. She has been featured in The World Journal (Jan. 15, 2006), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 2, 2005), West End Word (Feb. 4, 2005), St. Louis Chinese American News, St. Louis Chinese Journal ,the Overseas Chinese World, River Front Times, and others, and appeared at “Charles Brennan Show” KMOX 1120, “Voice of St. Louis” (Feb. 4, 2005) and KWMU 90.7 (NPR in St. Louis) “St. Louis on the Air” (July 5, 2005). She has also been included in numerous books/encyclopedias on famous Chinese Americans and authors.
Education and Career
Ling graduated from Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, PRC, with her bachelor's degree in history in 1982. She was first in her class. She earned her master's in 1987 at the University of Oregon, and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Miami (1991).
Dr. Ling has been teaching at Truman since 1991 and served as the Convener (department chair) for the school's history department from 2004 to 2006. She is a visiting professor for Jinan University (Guangzhou, China) and for Central Normal University (Wuhan, China). She serves as a consultant to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Guangdong Provincial Government.
She currently serves as the Executive Editor of the Journal of Asian American Studies. She is fluent in Chinese, English and can read Japanese.
Research and Awards
Dr. Ling's research focuses on Asian American studies including immigration and ethnicity, assimilation and adaptation, family and marriage, feminism, employment patterns, and community structures. A prolific author, she has published ten books and over hundred articles in the field. She has earned numerous rewards for her work, including the Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence (with a prize of $10,000) from Truman in 2005-2006. She won the Ford Foundation Award for her book, Jinshan Yao: A History of Chinese American Women.
Winner, “Incorperating Online Sources into History Teaching,” TruTech Challenge Competition, 6th Annual Tech Fair, 8th University Conference, Feb. 20, 2008, Truman.
Winner, Walker and Doris Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence, with a prize of $10,000, Truman, 2005-2006.
Winner, Golden Apple Award, Order of Omega and Truman State University’s Greek Community, 2004.
Winner, Fellowship of Teaching and Learning, Truman, 2008-09.
Winner, Truman Faculty Summer Research Fellowship, Truman, 2008.
Winner, College of Arts & Sciences Grants in Support of Scholarly and Artistic Endeavor, Truman, 2008.
Winner, Fellowship of Teaching and Learning, Truman, 2007-08.
Listed in Contemporary Authors, Thomson Gale, 2008.
Featured in Prominent Overseas Chinese, Beijing, 2008.
Speaker, 2007, 2008, 2009 Missouri History Speakers’ Bureau, State Historical Society of Missouri.
Listed in Who’s Who in America, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 editions.
Winner, Diversity Fellow, Truman, 2006-07.
Winner, Best Article Award, 48th Annual Missouri Conference on History 2006.
Winner, Japan Study Tour 2003, one of eight members selected through national competition and sponsored by the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs).
Named as 2001 Chinese American Who's Who, published by St. Louis Chinese American News, 13 December 2001.
Winner, Publishing Award for American Studies Series, Ford Foundation and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1998, Jin Shan Yao: A History of Chinese American Women (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1999).
Listed in 1998 Who’s Who among America’s Teachers, Educational Communications, Inc.
Winner, American Fellow, American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 1995-96
Winner, Faculty Research Summer Grant, Truman, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001.
Winner, Jepson Fellowship Grant in Active Teaching, Truman, 1993-94.
Winner, Jepson Fellowship Grant in World Literature Workshop, Truman, 1993.
Winner, Memorial Award in Women’s Studies, Miami University, 1991.
Winner, Miami Student Recognition Awards, Miami University, 1990, 1991.
Winner, Graduate Achievement Fund, Miami University, 1989.
Publications
Dr. Ling has published ten books and over a hundred scholarly articles.
Books and Reviews
Surviving on the Gold Mountain: A History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives (The State University of New York, 1998). ISBN: 10-0791438643.
Surviving on the Gold Mountain is the first comprehensive work on Chinese American women’s history covering the past 150 years. Relying on archival documents (many of which have never been used) oral history interviews, census data, contemporary newspapers in English and Chinese, and secondary literature. It unearths am unknown page of Chinese American history—the lives of Chinese immigrant women as wives of merchants, farmers, and laborers, as prostitutes, and as students and professionals in nineteenth-and twentieth-century America. It has received a large number of positive reviews.
Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Temple University Press, 2004). ISBN-10: 1592130399
The first empirical and comprehensive study on a Midwest Asian American community, it reconstructs the history of Chinese Americans in St. Louis from the mid-19th century to the present. Drawn upon evidence from archival manuscripts, census data, media reports, oral interviews, and mortuary records, it portrays the saga of a Chinese American community from a Chinatown centered around “Hop Alley” to a “cultural community,” a community without physical boundaries but identifiable through active community organizations and cultural activities, as defined by the author.
Ling’s cultural community model has been warmly received by the academic community. Dr. Ronald H. Bayor, editor of The Journal of American Ethnic History, praises that “Huping Ling provides a well-documented account of the development of a cultural community among Chinese Americans in St.Louis. The book offers an insightful history of the relatively unstudied Midwestern urban Chinese and provides a model for understanding other Chinese as well as non-Asian American communities.” Dr. Roger Daniels, Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor of History at University of Cincinnati and a prominent pioneer scholar of Asian American studies, comments that “Huping Ling’s study of Chinese St. Louis is a breakthrough volume, the first full-scale study of the ethnic group in a Midwestern American city. Only by examining the evolution of such smaller communities can the full scope of the Chinese diaspora in America be understood.” Dr. Franklin Ng, president of the Association of Asian American Studies, notes that “Chinese St. Louisans provides a much-needed addition to the published literature about Chinese Americans. It skillfully places the Chinese in St. Louis in the context of urban history and the Chinese American historiography. Ling’s presentation of the cultural community’ is important as it will help to further thinking about Chinese communities that are not in the form of traditional Chinatowns. It is a wonderful study, rich with insight and sophistication.”
It has also been warmly embraced by the St. Louis community. It has been featured in The World Journal (Jan. 15, 2006), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 2, 2005), West End Word (Feb. 4, 2005), St. Louis Chinese American News, St. Louis Chinese Journal ,the Overseas Chinese World, River Front Times, and appeared at “Charles Brennan Show” KMOX 1120, “Voice of St. Louis” (Feb. 4, 2005) and KWMU 90.7 (NPR in St. Louis) “St. Louis on the Air” (July 5, 2005). It is considered as a classic work on Asian communities in the St. Louis area, having been consulted with in numerous discussions on racial relations in St. Louis. The most recent example is Bill McClellan’s article “Let’s Go back to the Future at Ballpark Village Site” on the front page of Metro section, March 31, 2008 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which cites the book and the commentary article she wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to advocate a revival of Chinese business at the ballpark Village site.
It has been acknowledged as a groundbreaking work on Asian American community in the Midwest. An article derived from it, “Reconceptualizing Chinese American Community in St. Louis: From Chinatown to Cultural Community” (Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 24, No. 2 Winter 2005), won the Best Article Award at the 48th Annual Missouri Conference on History in 2006. Dr. Ling's involvement in and service to the St. Louis Asian American community has won her the inclusion as one of the most significant Chinese Americans by the St. Louis Chinese American News (2001). Dr. Ling has been invited to give numerous presentations and book signings at schools, libraries, and communities nationally and internationally.
Voices of the Heart: Asian American Women on Immigration, Work, and Family (Truman State University Press, 2007). ISBN: 9781931112680. For reviews in Chinese, click here and here.
In this volume fifty-five oral history interviews of Asian American women selected from over three hundred interviews tell the heartfelt stories about their journeys to America, their aspirations, their strives in education and employment, their family life, their cultural heritage, and their senses of identities.
Chinese in St. Louis: 1857-2007. Arcadia Publishing, 2007. Pp. 128. ISBN: 13-978-0-7385-5145-6.
This photographic history book explores the history of Chinese Americans as they settled in St. Louis for better lives and the obstacles they faced during that challenge. Highlights of Chinese in St. Louis: 1857-2007: unfolds the story of the old Chinatown in St. Louis (Hop Alley); reveals the rich ethnic heritage and diversity of the Mound City; tells the story of the earliest Chinese immigrants in midwest America; and highlights key landmarks of the ethnic community in St. Louis.
《金山謠–美國華裔婦女史》中國社會科學出版社﹐1999年﹐ 該書獲美國福特基金出版獎。 Jinshan Yao: A History of Chinese American Women. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 1999. ISBN: 7-5004-2504-X. Chinese review
A winner of 1998 Ford Foundation Award for publication in the American Study Series by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
萍飄美國–新移民實錄》山西北岳文藝出版社﹐2003。 Ping Piao Mei Guo: New Immigrants in America. Shanxi, China: Beiyue Literature and Art Publishing House, 2003. ISBN: 7-5378-2504-1.
Anthologies
Emerging Voices: the Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans (Rutgers University Press, 2008). ISBN: 10-0813543428 Chinese review
Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans is a pioneering interdisciplinary work. It explores the life experiences of the smaller or less studied Asian American groups: Burmese, Hmong, Indonesians, Kashmiri, Laotian, Mong, Romani, Thai, and Tibetan. Unlike the earlier and larger groups of Asian immigrants to America, many of whom made the choice to emigrate to seek better economic opportunities, many of the groups discussed in this volume fled war or political persecution in their homeland. Forced to make drastic transitions in America with little physical or psychological preparation, questions of “why am I here,” “who am I,” and “why am I discriminated against,” remain at the heart of their post-emigration experiences. Bringing together eminent scholars from a variety of disciplines, this collection considers a wide range of themes, including assimilation and adaptation, immigration patterns, community, education, ethnicity, economics, family, gender, marriage, religion, sexuality, and work.
Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia (2 volumes, M.E. Sharpe, 2009, lead co-editor)
Selected Articles
“New Perspectives on Chinese American Studies—Cultural Community Theory.” Overseas Chinese History Studies No.1 (2007).
“Reconceptualizing Chinese American Community in St. Louis: From Chinatown to Cultural Community.” Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 24, No. 2 (Winter 2005): 65-101. Winner of the Best Article Award, 48th Annual Missouri Conference on History 2006.
“Growing up in ‘Hop Alley:’ The Chinese American Youth in St. Louis during the Early-Twentieth Century.” In Asian American Children, ed. Benson Tong, 65-81. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.
“Governing ‘Hop Alley:’ On Leong Chinese Merchants and Laborers Association, 1906-1966.” Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter 2004): 50-84.
“Hop Alley: Myth and Reality of the St. Louis Chinatown, 1860s-1930s.” Journal of Urban History Vol. 28, No.2 (January 2002): 184-219.
“Family and Marriage of Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century Chinese Immigrant Women.” Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 19, No. 2 (Winter 2000): 43-63.
“A History of Chinese Female Students in the United States, 1880s-1990s.” Journal of American Ethnic History Vol.16, No.3 (Spring 1997): 81-109.
“A Study of the Motives for Immigration of Chinese Women in the Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century.” American Studies Vol. 13, No. 1 (1999): 95-121
“A History and Historiography of Chinese American Women in America.” American Studies Vol.11, No.1 (1997): 127-146. Link in Chinese.
Selected Media Reports on Dr. Ling
“Let's go back to the future at Ballpark Village site,” by Bill McClellan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 31, 2008.
Interview by Stella Chavez, reporter for Dallas Morning News, September 4, 2008.
Interview by Amanda Andrei, reporter for Asian Fortune, an award-winning Washington D. C. Metropolitan Newspapers, March 19, 2008.
Interview by Shi Hua, Chief Reporter for Global Times, the largest daily newspaper on international news in China, January 29, 2008. Links in Chinese here and here
Interview by Malcolm Gay, reporter for Riverfront Times, a newspaper in St. Louis Metropolitan area, October 30, 2006
Featured article “Ping Piao Meiguo: A Prominent Historian Huping Ling,” by NengerJin, The World Journal (the largest Chinese language daily newspaper in North America), Jan. 15, 2006
美國行-Meet Me in St. Louis, December 26, 2006
“Asian Business Bloom on Olive,” by Tavia Evans, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 21, 2005.
Featured guest with host Harriett Woods (former Lieutenant Governor of Missouri) at KWMU 90.7 (NPR in St. Louis) “St. Louis on the Air,” July 5, 2005.
Featured article, “New Book Detail St. Louis Chinese Heritage,” by John M. McGuire, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Feb. 2, 2005.
Featured article, “Breaking Out,” by Sara Porter, West End Word, Feb. 4, 2005.
Featured guest at “Charles Brennan Show” KMOX Radio Station, “Voice of St. Louis” Feb. 4, 2005.
Public Appearances
Book Signing, Voices of the Heart: Asian American Women on Immigration, Work, and Family. Truman State University, November 1, 2007.
Presentation and Book Signing, Chinese in St. Louis, 1857-2007, The St. Louis Modern Chinese School, Sept. 23, 2007.
Speaker, “Reconceptualizing the St. Louis Chinese American Community: From Chinatown to Cultural Community.”2007 Missouri History Speakers’ Bureau, State Historical Society of Missouri.
Book Signing, Missouri Historical Society Holiday Fair, November 20, 2005.
Presentation and Book Signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community, the 22nd Annual Conference of the Midwest Chinese American Science & Technology Association (MCASTA 2005), Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis, MO, October 15, 2005.
Presentation and Book Sighing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community, Center for International Studies, the University of Missouri-St. Louis (Room SSB 331), 11am-12, September 7, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community, Carpenter Branch of St. Louis City Public Library (3309 S. Grand Blvd) in conjunction with the International Institute's Festival of Nation, July 25, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), The Coalition for Asian and Pacific Americans, St. Louis, May 7, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), The 22nd Annual Conference of the Association for Asian American Studies, Los Angeles, April 23, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), St. Louis County Public Library Headquarter and East Bank Books, Feb. 4, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 8871 Ladue Road, St. Louis, Feb. 4, 2005.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), sponsored by St. Louis Chinese Association, St. Louis Modern Chinese School, St. Louis Chinese Culture Association, St. Louis Chinese American News, and Chinese American Forum, Nov. 21, 2004.
Presentation and Book signing, Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004), Truman State University Bookstore, Oct. 25, 2004.
Presentation and Book signing, Surviving on the Gold Mountain: A History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives (Albany: The State University of New York Press, 1998), Truman State University Bookstore, Sept. 8, 1999.
References
"Huping Ling" TSU History Department
External Links
Truman History Department Truman History Faculty Review of Surviving on the Gold Mountain