Lotus Among the Magnolias: The Mississippi Chinese is a 1982 book by Robert Seto Quan, published by University Press of Mississippi, with Julian B. Roebuck contributing. It is about the Chinese Americans in the Mississippi Delta.
Quan, a Chinese American, had sociology as his specialty. [1] He conducted interviews through using Cantonese. [2] Quan recalled several from memory, and he did not record them. [3] He had a total of about 1,400 subjects interviewed. [1] Quan's historical information came from James W. Loewen of the University of Vermont. [4]
Loewen wrote that the work is " an alluring and informative small book" due to the presence of photography and quotes, [5] and he praised how the book "makes a distinctive ethnographic contribution" with Quan having distance from his recordings while having them be accurate. [2] Loewen added that the photography items "are poorly reproduced". [5] Loewen criticized the lack of explanation of how extended families or other sociological dimensions and that the author "does not probe some issues deeply enough." [2]
Ronald Love of Mississippi Valley State University praised the study of the impact of particular generations, arguing that the book "takes Loewen's analysis to a new level of understanding." [6]
Gary B. Mills of the University of Alabama criticized the reliance on unrecorded and memorized interviews. [3] He stated "To the historian Lotus is disappointing." [3] He added that there was entertainment value in reading the book. [3]
Shih-shan H. Tsai of the University of Arkansas stated "As a whole, [the work] is a successful one" though he stated that because Quan he got his historical data from Loewen, which Tsai stated had been contradicted, "historians will find it disappointing." [4]