Chinese Studies

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American Born Chinese is a graphic novel published in 2006 by the American author and illustrator Gene Luen Yang, who also wrote the graphic novel Boxers (2013) and the graphic memoir Dragon Hopes (2020). Through three interweaving stories that span from the 16th century to the present, American Born Chinese explores issues of Chinese American identity, anti-Asian racism, and assimilation. American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book... Read American Born Chinese Summary

The Analects is a text compiled of the remarks and conversations of the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, during the later years of his life (72-75 years old). The text, with its dialogues and reflections, takes place during the Warring States Period (475-222 BC)—a period of great turmoil and geopolitical restructuring when the vassals of the then incumbent sovereign (Zhou Dynasty) defected and declared themselves independent of Zhou, thereby becoming kingdoms in their own right. It is... Read Analects of Confucius Summary

A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity is a nonfiction book published in 2014 by the husband-and-wife team of Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The book speaks to altruism and how people can do something to promote more opportunities for others around the world. The authors declare, “We wrote this book mostly to encourage others—rich and poor alike—to join in this push to improve the world” (16). They promote three ways of doing so:... Read A Path Appears Summary

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2000) is a short, semi-autobiographical novel by Dai Sijie. The narrative is set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and follows two teenage boys who are sent to a remote mountain village for re-education. The boys become close with the local tailor’s daughter and uncover a hidden stash of forbidden Western literature. The books introduce them to ideas, emotions, and freedoms they have never known, and awaken in the Little... Read Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Summary

Amy Chua’s memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011), depicts Chua’s experience raising two American daughters according to Chinese cultural standards. Chua is a Yale law professor specializing in globalization and ethnic conflict. She is also a second-generation Chinese American, and her husband is Jewish. Chua’s strict approach is influenced by the parenting methods used by her own parents, which clash with those of her husband. Chua’s memoir was a New York Times bestseller... Read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother Summary

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China Rich Girlfriend is an adult novel published by Doubleday in 2015, the sequel to Singapore-born author Kevin Kwan’s internationally bestselling romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2013) and second in a trilogy which concludes with Rich People Problems (2017). Billed as a satire, a mock-epic, and a sprawling family saga that peers into the lives of the ultra-wealthy in Asia, China Rich Girlfriend depicts the efforts of Rachel Chu, a Chinese-born American university professor, and... Read China Rich Girlfriend Summary

Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter (1999) is the autobiography of Adeline Yen Mah and covers her experience growing up in an abusive household during a politically tumultuous era in Chinese history (1937-1952). Yen Mah, who now lives in the United States, made the decision to fulfill her childhood dreams of writing professionally after practicing medicine for several decades according to her father’s wishes. Chinese Cinderella is an abridged version of her... Read Chinese Cinderella Summary

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Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" was first published in China in 1918, during a period of significant cultural and political upheaval in the country. The Qin dynasty, in power since 1644, had recently collapsed from internal and external pressures in the 1912 Xinhai Revolution, marking a dramatic break from the past. New ideas about government, philosophy, and science prompted many Chinese intellectuals to reflect on long-held traditions and look toward a rebirth of the... Read Diary of a Madman Summary

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a novel by Madeline Thein, which focuses on the 20th century Communist Revolution in China and its effects on multiple generations of Chinese citizens. This book won the Scotiabank Giller Prize as well as the Governor General’s Award. It was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. This guide refers the American paperback edition published by W.W. Norton.Plot SummaryDuring the first horrific years of the Revolution... Read Do Not Say We Have Nothing Summary

Originally published in 1975, Dragonwings is a children’s historical novel by Chinese American author Laurence Yep. The story was inspired by the life of Fung Joe Guey (Feng Ru), a Chinese immigrant who came to the United States in the early 1900s and earned acclaim for his work as a pioneer airplane designer and aviator. The book is part of Yep’s Golden Mountain Chronicles, a series of 10 novels that explore the long history of... Read Dragonwings Summary

The Story of the Stone, also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber, is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China. Cáo Xuěqín wrote the work sometime in the 18th century, during the Qing dynasty—the last volume in the five-volume sequence was compiled and published many years later by Gao-E, who added additional chapters to complete the unfinished work. Many scholars consider the novel to be semi-autobiographical; Cáo Xuěqín was part of... Read Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 1 Summary

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Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel written by British author J.G. Ballard. In it, Jim, the 11-year-old son of a wealthy British family, is living in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China on the eve of Pearl Harbor, 1941. When Japanese forces attack the Settlement, Jim is separated from his parents. He survives for several weeks by scavenging food from abandoned houses, before being arrested by the Japanese. He is then taken to... Read Empire of the Sun Summary

Ted Chiang’s Exhalation is a collection of nine science fiction short stories. Published in 2019, the stories feature time travel, robots, artificial intelligences, and human beings grappling with an everchanging world. Seven of the nine stories appeared in previous publications, going on to win multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Through the science fiction/dystopian genre, Exhalation explores forgiveness, parenting, technology ethics, free will, and climate change. This is Ted Chiang’s second collection, following Stories of... Read Exhalation Summary

Falling Leaves is an autobiography by Chinese-American author, physician, and activist Adeline Yen Mah. Based on her traumatic childhood and her relationship with an abusive stepmother, as well as her later life in the United States and her troubled first marriage, Falling Leaves explores the Chinese concept of filial duty and the role of women in traditional Chinese culture. Detailing the broader sociocultural and economic changes that form the background of her family’s legacy—spanning from... Read Falling Leaves Summary

William Bell’s 1990 young adult fiction novel, Forbidden City: A Novel of Modern China, dramatizes the story of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The coming-of-age story is told in diary form, narrated from the point of view of a 17-year-old Canadian high school student, Alex Jackson. During the massacre, Alex comes very close to losing everything he holds dear, as he becomes separated from his reporter father, Ted Jackson, and has to trust to the... Read Forbidden City Summary

Front Desk is the debut novel of Asian-American author Kelly Yang. First published in 2018, the children’s book became a New York Times bestseller and was mentioned on multiple Best Books of the Year lists including NPR, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, the Washington Post, Amazon, School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, and the Chicago Public Library. Front Desk also made ALA’s Booklist of the Top Ten Debut Novels of 2018. It won the 2019... Read Front Desk Summary

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a nonfiction book divided into three parts and dealing with the early life and rise to power of Temujin, the man who would become known as Genghis Khan. The text details his conquests and the establishment of the Mongol Empire, and the changes undergone by the empire after his death, and up until its collapse. Throughout, Weatherford makes the argument that the Mongol Empire played... Read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Summary

Jean Kwok's Girl in Translation details the first decade of the lives of Kimberley Chang and her mother after they emigrate from Hong Kong to New York City in the 1980s. The novel is told from Kim's perspective. Each chapter corresponds roughly to a year of her life, beginning in early elementary school and ending shortly before Kim goes to college. Kim struggles as she attempts to balance her doublelife as a brilliant student during... Read Girl In Translation Summary

Angela Duckworth’s best-selling 2016 book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance describes how persistent practice, and not mere talent, is the key to success among students and professionals. Duckworth’s extensive research demonstrates that young people do best in activities that hold their interest and give them a sense of purpose. This encourages them to practice hard and overcome obstacles until they achieve mastery and success in school and, later, in their professional lives. The... Read Grit Summary

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“In the Land of the Free” is the first short story written by British Canadian author Edith Maude Eaton, who was of British and Chinese descent. As one of the first Asian North American writers, her works explored themes of racial discrimination, the difficulties of assimilation, and the effects of the legal system on immigration and kinship. “In the Land of the Free,” originally published by the Montreal Daily Witness in 1890, explores the latter... Read In the Land of the Free Summary

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Little Fires Everywhere is a New York Times bestselling novel by Celeste Ng published in 2017. In the town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Elena Richardson rents her family’s property on Winslow Road to Mia and Pearl Warren, a mother and daughter duo who inspire her sense of charity. Mia is an artist, and her lack of rootedness and intense focus on her art unnerve Mrs. Richardson, who lives an orderly life. Their lives become further... Read Little Fires Everywhere Summary

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Mencius is a philosophical text based on the thought and teachings of fourth-century BCE Confucian Chinese philosopher Mencius, or Mengzi. According to the latest scholarship, written in the late fourth century BCE by Mencius’s disciples from notes on what Mencius said, it details conversations he had with various kings, rulers, and officials. These discussions cover a range of topics, from moral and political philosophy to human nature and selfhood. The following guide uses the translation... Read Mencius Summary

Monkey: Folk Novel of China is a 1943 translation by Arthur Waley of Wu Ch’êng-ên’s novel originally written in Chinese in the 16th century. This summary refers to the American edition. Wu’s original novel is more typically translated as Journey to the West in modern scholarship, and Waley’s translation excises considerable portions of the original story. While he keeps most of the first two parts intact (Monkey’s story and the origins of Tripitaka), the actual... Read Monkey: A Folk Novel of China Summary

“Mother Tongue” explores Amy Tan’s relationship with the English language, her mother, and writing. This nonfiction narrative essay was originally given as a talk during the 1989 State of the Language Symposium; it was later published by The Threepenny Review in 1990. Since then, “Mother Tongue” has been anthologized countless times and won notable awards and honors, including being selected for the 1991 edition of Best American Essays.The original publication of “Mother Tongue,” which this... Read Mother Tongue Summary

Edith Maude Eaton, who wrote under the pen name Sui Sin Far, wrote Mrs. Spring Fragrance in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. A Chicago press published the collection in 1912. Eaton, who is of Chinese-English heritage, was born in England and grew up in Canada. When she migrated to the western United States as an adult, Eaton penned her first published collection of short stories, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, which details the Asian-American experience. During the... Read Mrs Spring Fragrance Summary

First published in 1994, Anchee Min’s Red Azalea has won a fair bit of acclaim. It was named a New York Times Notable Book and also won the 1993 Carl Sandburg Literary Award in 1993. As a genre-defying blend of autobiography, memoir, and novel, Red Azalea focuses on the struggle to gain freedom and individual identity amid state-sponsored oppression. As the sole narrator of the novel, Min depicts her own views of the Cultural Revolution... Read Red Azalea Summary

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution (1997) by Ji-li Jiang covers two and a half years in the author’s life, from the spring of 1966 when she was 12 years old to the fall of 1968 when she was 14 (although the Cultural Revolution continued until Mao Ze-dong’s death in 1976). The memoir is also Jiang’s coming-of-age story, as it focuses on a key time in her adolescent development. This study guide... Read Red Scarf Girl Summary

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“Rules of the Game” is a story in Amy Tan’s 1989 collection, The Joy Luck Club, which was adapted into a film by the same name. Tan was born in California to Chinese immigrant parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She wrote the short story in response to an article she read about Chinese Americans playing chess.The story is told by Waverly Place Jong, the daughter of Chinese immigrants living in... Read Rules of the Game Summary

Sea of Poppies, a novel by Amitav Ghosh published in 2008, tells the intertwining stories of several people who find themselves aboard the Ibis, a former slave ship, in the early 19th century. The principal characters are aboard the ship under varying and more and less desirable circumstances, and employing varying levels of deception. The novel takes place shortly before the First Opium War, and its major themes are of imperialism and colonialism under a... Read Sea of Poppies Summary

See You in the Cosmos, a 2017 middle-grade contemporary novel by Jack Cheng, features 11-year-old Alex Petroski as its main character and narrator. Inspired by scientist Carl Sagan, Alex wants to use a hand-built rocket to send audio recordings about life on Earth to extraterrestrial creatures. Though his quest to communicate with alien life fails, Alex finds himself on a much larger journey toward self-identity and truth. The novel is a Golden Kite Award Winner... Read See You in the Cosmos Summary

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Shanghai Girls (May 2009) is a New York Times bestselling historical novel by Lisa See. It is the first of a two-book series that concludes with Dreams of Joy (2011). The author’s paternal great-grandfather emigrated from China, and many of See’s books examine the Chinese immigrant experience in America. Other titles that cover similar subject matter are Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), Peony in Love (2007), China Dolls (2014), The Tea Girl of... Read Shanghai Girls Summary

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a frame tale, a story within a story, as told by an eighty-year-old Chinese woman, reflecting on her life and preparing for her death. In the first and last chapter, the narrator Lily reveals that she is dictating the story to Peony, the wife of her grandson, as a form of confession to her friend Snow Flower who is now in the afterworld. Lily was born to a... Read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Summary

Son of the Revolution (1983), written by Liang Heng with his wife, Judith Shapiro, is a memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and is both the story of Liang’s own coming-of-age and a chronicle of China’s political and cultural upheaval following the Communist Party’s rise to power in the mid-1900s.Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain references to violence and death by suicide.Liang Heng is born in Changsha, a large city in central... Read Son of the Revolution Summary

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Stories of Your Life and Others is a collection of short stories published in 2002 by the American science fiction and fantasy writer Ted Chiang. The book contains eight stories that belong to science fiction, science fantasy, alternative history, and magic realism genres. Seven of the eight stories appeared in previous publications. In the stories, Chiang explores concepts including the ethics of science, the benefits and dangers of intelligence, and cultural differences in alternate realities... Read Stories of Your Life and Others Summary

Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans is a 1989 book by American historian Ronald Takaki. Takaki analyzes the long and diverse history of Asians in America, explaining the personal and economic circumstances that prompted their immigration, and recounting their myriad experiences in their new country. Takaki argues that, traditionally, historians’ Eurocentric histories have neglected to analyze and explain Asian Americans’ role in American history. This has led to a distorted perception... Read Strangers from a Different Shore Summary

The Tao Te Ching is a guide to the philosophy of Taoism and commonly credited to 6th-century BCE Chinese philosopher and writer Lao Tzu, though some portions of the text date back to the late 4th century. Taoism was a school of thought and method for survival in turbulent times, and its eighty-one short books explain what the Tao (roughly translated as “the way”) consists of.The Tao Te Ching begins with the idea that the... Read Tao Te Ching Summary