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27 When the World Came to Omaha (1897–98) Wong had had nothing but praise for Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition and the men who had stepped in to plan, finance, and build a Chinese village, after the Manchu government declined to participate. He had written about the significance of the Fair in the second Chinese American, spotlighting the Chinese American entrepreneurs who had made the exhibit possible. But at the end of the day, these men had lost money at the Fair. The Wah Mee Exhibition Company, the vehicle they had incorporated to manage their Exposition business, went bankrupt, not because its exhibit was a failure, but because of malfeasance on the part of agents it had sent to China to recruit actors and artisans and to purchase goods. Hong Sling, one of the investors, acknowledged losing $30,000 in what he complained was a “giant swindle from start to finish.”1 Still, there was a persistent belief that money could be made from such enterprises on both sides of the Pacific. Besides admission fees and profits from the sale of food and souvenirs that would be collected at the Fair itself, there were opportunities to sell stock in the company back in China; there is evidence that Wah Mee’s agents did just that, although they pocketed the proceeds.2 There were also fees to be assessed from Chinese laborers seeking entry into the United States, if the organizers could secure entry permits for them to work at the Fair. When plans began in earnest for America’s next major international exhibition, Omaha’s Trans-Mississippi International Exposition, Chicago’s Chinese community therefore signaled its interest in participating. As before, two groups bid against each other for the concession to build and operate the Chinese Village, which was to include a joss house, a restaurant, a tea garden, and a bazaar. This time, however, one syndicate was led by Hong Sling in partnership 276 The First Chinese American with Hip Lung, his former rival for the Chicago World’s Fair franchise who was one of Wong’s chief antagonists. The other was a creation of Wong himself, with backing from friends in New York and Chicago. Wong had teamed up with Wong Kee, Yee Ming, Wong Aloy, and Wong How, among others.3 Each syndicate had the support of a prominent railroad eager to transport people and goods to Omaha. In Wong’s case it was the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad—the “Milwaukee Road”; it was the Union Pacific that supported Hong Sling, who had served as its agent for years. The two proposals were apparently quite similar, as were the figures that the two men cut when they presented them in Omaha on June 7, 1897. “Mr. Sling and Mr. Chin Foo each had their hair cut, and combed it as other citizens of this country are wont to comb theirs,” the Omaha Daily Bee noted. “They attire themselves after the style in this country, and speak English very readily. They were about the same size and build, and about the same age, very close to 50 years.”4 After consideration, the executive committee of the Exposition voted to award the contract to Hip Lung and Hong Sling, who were, after all, more experienced in mounting exhibitions. A few days later, however—perhaps because Wong complained, or more likely because the Milwaukee Road weighed in—the committee agreed to add a separate $10,000 Chinese exhibit as an annex to the Manufacturers’ Building, awarding the contract to Wong’s company.5 At the same time, they also gave him a title: Commissioner of the Chinese Exhibit.6 It was understood from the beginning that Wong’s project would be entirely separate from Hong’s Chinese Village, administratively and physically. Hong’s Village would be located on the Midway, while Wong’s, under the Department of Exhibits, was to occupy 5,000 square feet on the Bluff Tract. Its object was to display “first-class Chinese handiwork and to prove that there are Chinese artisans of great skill and that all Chinamen are not coolies.” The Bee, in an explanation that sounds suspiciously as if it had been scripted by Wong himself, reported that Hong Sling’s exhibit would display “the life and manners of the Chinese in their native land, with their religion and amusements,” while Wong’s would demonstrate “the higher civilization and work of the better class of the Celestials, few of...

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