From the earliest days of non-Native settlement of the West, Chinese pioneers played a key role in the region’s development. Yet this population remains underrepresented in historical accounts. Using documents left by Chinese pioneers, translated into English for the first time, The Middle Kingdom under the Big Sky recovers the stories of Montana’s Chinese population in their own words and deepens understanding of Chinese experiences in the West through a global lens. Through these experiences, Chinese Montanans emerge as empowered and active, advocating for their rights in America while both shaped by and shaping events in China.