Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge

Reading the book Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge by S. Wyatt while visiting in Hong Kong brought to mind the sad history of the West and their treatment of the Chinese. Living in Canada, the story is much the same. The retelling of the young lawyer's defense was profound and caused me guilt as I compared his passion and effort with some of my more quick and somewhat shoddy efforts. Great read.

In 1997, I accompanied my wife, a nurse, to mainland China. The purpose of the trip was both professional and sight seeing oriented, the former, to visit several hospitals to learn something of the Chinese health care system. Beijing was the first stop on our tour.Accompanying our entourage were two tour guides: a European woman, also a nurse, and a young adult Chinese male. The nurse acted as our intermediary with the medical people we encountered, while the Chinese fellow was our "official" host and tour guide. He spoke excellent English. His role, however, was to make sure we stayed on the scheduled itinerary as structured by the Chinese government. If there was any interest in deviating from the planned tour, we were instructed to take that up with the nurse.The itinerary for the trip was carefully laid out, and we were instructed to stay on schedule. But as for the sight seeing side, I wanted to visit the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get a shirt; however, it was not on the schedule. The nurse not being available, I planned to seek out out our Chinese guide with my request. Luckily, as it turned out, the nurse intercepted my intention and told me to not interact directly with the Chinese guide--that she would. Were I, an American tourist, to ask him directly if we could deviate from the plan, she said, he knowing that we could not would become acutely embarrassed by my request and thus "lose face". From that experience I came to learn during our trip the significance which the Chinese attach to saving face.Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge by Scott Wyatt, is at times an excruciating examination of this aspect of Chinese culture. The story of Hok-Ling and Mei-Yin is highly detailed in its examination of the cultural differences between our Western civilization and that of China's "Middle Kingdom" culture during the period when the railroad was being built in Idaho during the latter part of the 19th century. Chinese laborers (Coolies) built the railroad under what were sometimes extremely harsh and hazardous conditions. Wyatt tells the story with great empathy to the Chinese plight of leaving a homeland and coming to the "Golden Mountain" to pursue employment and thereby return to their native country wealthy. The story is heart rendering in detailing the hardships the Chinese workers had to put up with at the hands of their American bosses. Saving face is at once a central and thought provoking examination of their treatment throughout the book.Clearly, I can not recommend a better examination of the Chinese culture from the stand point of the importance the Chinese attach to saving face than Wyatt's book.

I found Beyond the Sand Creek Bridge to be very skillfully written, almost poetic in its presentation and rich in its vivid description.Scott Wyatt spins a very captivating and sometimes graphic story about a rather past-over part of Pacific Northwest History. The story serves up a full helping of food-for-thought. The Chinese migration to the western U.S., their contributions to mining, the building of railroads, and the provision of various services as well as the subsequent outbreaks of anti-Chinese violence are mere footnotes in our history books. Through his story, Wyatt puts names and faces to these forgotten people. He reminds us that we should not only celebrate the differences that various cultures present but that we must also look for the commonality that joins us all as people.I originally purchased the Kindle version of this book but snapped up a printed copy just to have it in my personal library.I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and heartily recommend it.

This is a sad story done respectfully. It's the tale of two people, McQuade and Mei-Yin, and the situation and intersection of their lives during the late 1800s.The author captured the flavor of life during the building of the railroad and handled the interaction between whites and the Chinese truthfully. McQuade's character, a lawyer & white man of privilege, was developed well as was the Chinese interpreter, Lei Chi-Man. The story also depicted the situation between Hok-Ling and Mei-Yin honestly (however painfully), as the issue of Chinese "honor & obedience" did not override love.Racism, hate, love, history, culture...all handled with honesty and finesse. This was an emotional story and the ending was solemn and soft. Very well done.

For those that enjoy a bit of history entwined with a legal thriller, enjoy. The author brings the characters to life and richly explains the cultural differences between the rural settlers of Idaho and the Chinese workers who came to this country for financial reasons. I was swept away by the story from the beginning and could not see how the story could end happily. Prejudice and cultural differences are dominant themes that never seem to lead to good outcomes. Yet the author stays true to the characters, their hearts and beliefs, and the time period and finds a way to bring the story to a satisfying and realistic conclusion. The author's passion for accentuating that our differences are the same things that should bind us together is a strong central theme. Very enjoyable story.