The gathering place : stories from the Armenian Social Club in Old Shanghai

**Armenians who fled their homeland and migrated to Shanghai In the turbulent and horrific early twentieth century share nearly forgotten stories.** In times of calamity or economic distress, only a small percentage (roughly two percent) of Armenian people are willing to leave their families, homes, and country to find a new life in exotic or foreign lands. Known as "two-percenters," these are the refugees who made the arduous trek across Asia to gather in the exotic city of Old Shanghai, where they joined a social club in the city's Old International Settlement. Its purpose was first to help refugees get settled, but it became a beloved place of community gathering. __The Gathering Place__ centers on the stories of George and Nadine, two Armenian refugees who married and, after leaving China, made their way to the United States. Placed within the historical context of genocide, revolution, banditry, occupation, and two World Wars, their memories reflect the trauma of the first half of the twentieth century—a time referred to by some as the Modern Dark Age. Their stories of time and again building a new life in a foreign land offer a fresh take on the immigrant experience during a time of momentous change in Asia. In times of calamity or economic distress, there is a small percentage of people (about two percent) who are willing to leave family, home, and their country of origin to set up businesses in exotic or foreign lands. The two-percenters and undocumented immigrants whose stories appear in The Gathering Place made the arduous trek across Asia to gather in the exotic city of Old Shanghai, where they joined a social club in the citys Old International Settlement. Their travels coincide with war, economic depression, revolution, banditry and military occupation during the most turbulent period in modern historya period that covers what some call the Modern Dark Agethe first half of the twentieth century. The personal histories in The Gathering Place offer a fresh take on the immigrant experience during a time of momentous change in Asiafrom the end of World War I to the exodus of Europeans from China.