captrose@magicaldesk.com wrote:
<<in China during the Weird West? That's the only complaint that I have about Deadlands. Other than the slight tidbits mentioned in the Marshall's Handbook, nothing is ever said. (ok, maybe a few more tidbits here and there, but you know what I mean) I had a character that came from China (Hong Kong, to be exact) and we left his background blank in hopes of finding something out. No offense to our friends to the Great White North, but I wouldn't mind a bit more news about the rest of the world.
I'll gladly take any suggestions that this august body has... :)>>>
To this day, the Chinese refer to the period between 1842-1949 as the "Hundred Years of Humiliation." During this period, starting around the First Opium War, an increasingly ineffectual dynasty sought vainly to repulse the increasingly rapacious West and to keep the dissatisfied (and often starving) peasants at bay. Unfortunately, all the Manchus were able to do was appease the west through many unequal treaties, which further angered and incited the peasantry. Deadlands Chinese characters can come from a number of viewpoints, depending on which side they were on. They could range from the son (or daughter) of a wealthy Manchu who views education in the west as a road to power to a dirt peasant who was forced to flee China because of the many wars and rebellions to a worker who has adopted the western way and seeks a better life in the West. Know matter what the character, this sense of humiliation and hubris over the superiority of the "Middle Kingdom" should play some sort of role.
Mary
P.S. a really good book for digging up history is "Return of the Dragon: China's wounded nationalism" by Maria Hsia Chang. Especially chapters 3-5. Later.
