Cultural curiosity : thirteen stories about the search for Chinese roots / edited by Josephine M.T. Khu.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Khu, Josephine M. T., 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese--Foreign countries.

Chinese.

Ethnicity--China.

Ethnicity.

National characteristics, Chinese.

China.

Physical Description:

xiv, 272 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2001]

Summary:

This anthology of autobiographical essays reveals the human side of the Chinese diaspora. Written by ethnic Chinese who were born or raised outside of China, these moving pieces, full of the poignant details of everyday life, describe the experience of growing up as a visible minority and the subsequent journey each author made to China. The authors -- whose diverse backgrounds in countries such as New Zealand, Denmark, Sri Lanka, England, Indonesia, and the United States mirror the complex global scope of the Chinese diaspora -- describe in particular how their journeys to the country of their ancestors transformed their sense of what it means to be Chinese. The collection as a whole provides important insights into what ethnic identity has come to mean in our transnational era.

Among the pieces is Brad Wong's narrative of the visit he made to his grandfather's poverty-stricken village in China's southern Guangdong province. He describes tilling vegetables with a few of the peasants and compares life in the village with his middle-class upbringing in a San Francisco suburb. In another essay, Milan L. Lin-Rodrigo tells of her life in Sri Lanka and of the trip she made to China as an adult. She describes the difficult and sometimes humorous cultural differences she experienced when she met her Chinese half sister and her father's first wife.

Josephine M. T. Khu's lively preface and epilogue provide background information on the Chinese diaspora and give a theoretical framework for understanding the issues raised in the essays. This intimate and rich anthology will be compelling reading for all who are seeking answers to the increasingly complex issue of ethnic and personal identity.

Contents:

Full Circle / Nancy Work 1

Through A Window / Graham Chan 20

Travels Afar / Maria Tham 39

In Search of Lin Jia Zhuang / Milan L. Lin-Rodrigo 58

No Roots, Old Roots / Graziella Hsu 77

My Father's Land / Meilin Ching 95

Ears Attuned to Two Cultures / Henry Chan 111

Guilt Trip to China / Richard Chu 128

In Search of My Ancestral Home / Myra Sidharta 145

A Yellow American in China / Brad Wong 160

One Family, Two Fates / Carolyn Koo 173

In My Father's Shadow / William Shang 187

Coming Home / Lily Wu 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-272).

ISBN:

0520223403

0520223411

OCLC:

45446306