Treatment of half-Chinese child/teenager in 1890s "Western" setting?

[cheetahstripes]

I've been trying to focus on one of my characters' backstory lately and am having a hard time figuring out the finer details. He grows up during the American Wild West era; his father was Chinese and his mother was a white woman. I need to work out the finer details of how his parents even met but I've been puzzled with how he would be treated

Comments

[beesandbrews]

Another thought, location dependent: Granddad could send Jr to a mission school or other religious enclave. As a priest or novice, the kid would have greater community standing than he might otherwise.

[cattraine]

At this time your character would be more likely to have a Chinese mother. White women of that era, even the whores, looked down on Chinese men. A Chinese woman would have had no choice if she was forced into prostitution, or assaulted by whites.

[wildflower399]

This is not really a useful comment, but... I am vaguely reminded of the tv series "Kung Fu". Half-Chinese main character living in the American wild west, badly treated by Whites, etc.

[bee_on_your_hat]

+1 to the sentiments that white woman/Chinese man would be much less acceptable than the other way around. I find it interesting that 1920s Japanese-American movie star Sessue Hayakawa was considered an idol by many women, but anti-miscegenation laws still barred him from interracial romance even in fiction