In the late 1870s, thousands of Chinese men left coastal British Columbia and the western United States and headed east. For these men, the Prairies were a land of opportunity; there, they could open shops and potentially earn enough money to become merchants. Cultivating Connections looks at the organizations, relationships, and ties on which these men and their wives depended for sustenance. The result of almost a decade's research and more than three hundred interviews, Cultivating Connections tells the stories of some of Prairie Canada's Chinese settlers – men and women from various generations who navigated cultural difference. These stories reveal the critical importance of networks within these communities, showing how the less connected were more likely to experience racism, and identifying how a sense of belonging varied according to affiliations and practices, including merchant, labouring, nationalist, Confucian, Christian, Buddhist, or Daoist. An important addition to a literature that has tended to examine large coastal Chinese settlements, this book serves as a remarkable record of the voices of some of the Prairies’ most resilient and resourceful pioneers.