A Brief Introduction to the Author of Hundred Years of Jinshan

Lisa See, Chinese, was born in Foshan, Guangdong, and now lives in Los Angeles. She is a famous writer on the best-seller list in The New York Times, USA. "Hundred Years of Golden Mountain" is Sirisha's first work, which became an American bestseller from 65438 to 0995. Since Hundred Years of Jinshan, many works have been published, including Keel, Snowflakes and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (nominated by Poe Prize) and so on. ), are set in China. Her works reflect the history of China immigrants taking root in Jinshan earlier, which has a great influence on American society. The exhibitions and films adapted from his novels received enthusiastic comments. Recently, Wendi Deng and Zhang Ziyi in Hollywood are planning to make a movie of the same name based on snowflakes and secret fans. As the great granddaughter of Kuang Si and the fourth generation descendant of her family, Silisha has a strong "Chinese root" complex. In order to write "Hundred Years of Jinshan", she traveled between two relatives, Kuang and Si, who were scattered all over the United States, and listened to the family stories told by the old people. In the book, she tells the story of the hardships and miracles of two surnames handed down from generation to generation, the lingering love story of later generations, and even the inevitable grievances between relatives of many ethnic groups, which makes people deeply moved and intoxicated. In addition, nearly 100 precious images included in the book effectively present the vicissitudes of the Jinshan family in the past 100 years.

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My great-grandfather Kuang Si was a young man when 187 1 left China. He developed his career in Jinshan (China's old name for the United States) and lived to the age of 100. He emerged from a large number of unknown Asian immigrants and became the richest and most outstanding Chinese in this country. He lured customers to his Asian art store and sold them tickets to visit mermaid specimens. He loves money and is as crazy about expensive cars as a child; He also likes women, and everyone in my family knows that he has two wives. The marriage between Kuang Si and my great-grandmother, Leticia Pruett, later gave birth to the surname Si. His second wife, a China tramp, made fireworks for a living. She was only 16 years old when she married my great-grandfather, and he was 64 years old. The family has always used the surname Kuang. Kuang Si gave birth to twelve children: five Eurasian children and seven China children. The youngest was nearly ninety years old when he was born. This book describes the family story of Si and Kuang, and also tells the story of how they integrated into American society.

When I was a child, my grandparents and I spent many weekends and most of the summer holidays in Chinatown. We passed through a moon gate with two huge stone lions on both sides, and then entered our dark and cool China antique shop-Kuangcuian Company. This is a huge commercial museum, not to mention other items. There are not only porcelain fired in the official kiln, transported along the river by sampan and shrines looted from rural temples, but also a huge architectural sculpture that was dismantled and transported away and then reassembled by Kuang Si's sons in his numerous warehouses.

Grandma Stella and I always go to the restaurant at lunch. The restaurant must have its real name, but we just call it a "small place". On the way, we always talk to Xiaohei in Samsung butcher shop. There is a golden roast suckling pig in his window. We will also walk into Margaret international grocery store and browse the shelves on both sides of the aisle, such as plums, dried squid and tofu milk. In the hotel, we will go into the kitchen, talk to the chef and watch him pack our lunch.

Back in the shop, I will go to the workshop upstairs, where there are huge machines and huge portraits of dignified China women. Here, my grandfather and my second grandfather Benny are drowned in the noise of flying sawdust and sawtooth. Benny always stared at me with angry eyes and shouted, "I'm going to throw you in the trash can." I was frightened and ran downstairs at once. Grandpa and grandpa two bathed themselves with lava soap after they finished.

After lunch, I played on a mountain of hay, or climbed into the arms of the giant Buddha, or made a fortress under a huge shrine; Later, if I get tired of playing, Grandma Stella will let me "help" her while she is repairing the rosewood screen. I clean the brush or color, and sometimes she makes me press the mud into the broken place with my fingertips. I may help when Aunt Xixi cleans the floor and waxes from the bronze room to the art room, picture scroll and silk room. We are busy from one side of the hall to the other, and there are exquisite furniture of the sculptor in the hall.

In the late afternoon, Grandma and Aunt Xixi will sit leisurely in the wickerwork chair behind the store and drink strong tea. In this quiet and warm time, they always think of the past. They told trivial but fascinating stories about missionaries, prostitutes, gang fights, women's drum bands and baseball teams all made up of China people. They talked about how the family overcame racial laws and discrimination. Benny, the second grandfather who always threatened to throw me in the trash can, would also echo grandma's words: "Yes, during the war, Lao Fan (white people) made all of us in China wear badges, so that they would know that we were not Japanese."

Grandma taught me how to clean the water when washing rice, and then added water to the first knuckle of the steamer without measuring the cup. She explained that it doesn't matter whether it's her knuckles or mine, because it's been done for five thousand years. Finally, she will put some sausages, a delicious pork sausage, on it. When the rice is steamed, the sausage is cooked. At the same time, my grandfather will cut other ingredients. As soon as the meal was steamed, I became grandpa's second chef. He always said, "You are my best second chef." We will make a tomato and beef together. Although I don't remember anything after so many years, everyone still remembers his death for decades.

At the family wedding, we will sit at the table and wait for the arrival of the bride. My grandmother will ask me to give "Li" to the bride on behalf of our dining table, that is, "Xi Qian", in a red envelope with auspicious wishes written in gold letters on the outside. My grandmother will take me through several huge banquet halls and sit at the table to explain to me who everyone is and what their relationship is with me. "This is your cousin's eldest son. This is your third cousin. "

1989, Aunt Xixi celebrated her eightieth birthday with a traditional banquet in China. I will never forget that my cousins and I left the banquet hall to peek at the wedding held in the hall. Here, at least 500 guests beat their bowls and cups with chopsticks, making amazing noises. "Oh, they must be from Taiwan Province Province." One of my cousins said disdainfully, "You know, F(]Bs (just disembarked), just disembarked." Since Kuang Si's first voyage and his early career of selling crotch underwear to brothels, this family has become a veteran aristocrat. We are ABC (American-born China people): China people born in the United States are no longer people who just got off the boat.

That night, I gave Xixi a book by Luciano Lum Maikang, which is a portrait of Chinese Americans. Although this book describes many misfortunes, privacy and brilliant achievements made by improper means, it also expresses a strong cultural and artistic temperament. Three days later, my cousin Leslie came. She wants me to know that her mother Xixi, who is also my great-aunt, thinks it's time to write a book for our family. This book should be written by me. My aunt is the only one who is still alive in my great-grandfather's half-Chinese-half-white family. The next week, I came to the store with a tape recorder and listened to Xixi's aunt, grandmother and relatives telling family history. On the first day, I learned that Kuang Si was not the first person in my family to come to Jinshan. His father, my great-grandfather, was a herbalist on the construction site when the Trans-American Railway was built. I also found that Kuang Si had not only two wives, but four. Over the years, my relatives have kept these marriages secret, because concubinage is not only illegal, but also embarrassing for their children.

Two months later, Xixi died suddenly, but Leslie encouraged me to continue writing this book. She pointed out: friends and old people at home are all 80 or 90 years old. Once they die, everything they know will go with them. With Leslie's encouragement, I spent time. All my relatives joined, including my father, but he didn't want to join. I believe this is to fulfill my aunt's wishes.

In the past five years, I have interviewed nearly 100 people: the rich and the poor; There are China people and white people. I am embarrassed by the problems caused by different names of people. Milton, Ming, Ming A and Ming are all my great grandfather's names. Kuang Si, Cui An and Si Bo are all my great grandfather's names. At that time, in this city, I tried my best to identify the English of the old man with a strong accent who confused her with him and him with her. I also talked to some people who can't remember their mother's name. Someone said to me, "That was a long time ago."

I absorbed myself in reading the documents of the National Archives and found that the Immigration Bureau had records of my relatives from the beginning, but never made a clear record of what they did. I get help from many libraries, historical societies and scholars. I keep asking my relatives, friends and customers to rummage through their attics, basements and closets for photos, documents and other souvenirs of trade exhibitions, art exhibitions and major family activities. I watched movies and videos, scrapbooks, letters, bound notes and tax records. I have a lot of difficulties in writing Chinese because I don't know whether to use Mandarin or Cantonese. Do I use Webster's pronunciation or Pinyin? How can it be romanized? I finally decided to use Cantonese and old Webster's pronunciation to keep the book updated. However, it is more appropriate to express medical terms in Mandarin or Pinyin. )

This book shows the story of integration, the all-round integration of people and culture. What I didn't mention was that my grandmother listed herself as a native of China. They wore badges during the war, and she would tie her loose red hair in a bun. My grandmother, like my great-grandmother, is white, but she is from China at heart. She has merged into the other side. Over the years, she has put away her tight-fitting tunic dress with small angular holes, wearing black pants and a loose jacket, and always accompanied by a beautiful Chinese jewelry. She learned how to make soup, how to give Li to the bride and how to be a decent daughter-in-law. My great-grandmother, grandmother and mother were all pure white, however, they all voluntarily married men with completely different cultural backgrounds.

When talking about whites, many China people I interviewed always use words like "old fan, fan ghost, white man" and "Honky". People often explain, "You know, she is white like you." They will never know how surprised I was when I heard this. Because for many years, I thought I was from China when I was in a store or attending a wedding reception. This is reasonable because these people are all my relatives. I never cared that I had the same red hair as my grandmother, while everyone else had straight black hair. But I have other evidence to prove it. All China babies are born with a temporary birthmark in the shape of Mongolian spotted cabbage on their buttocks. I was born with this scar. Although physically and physically, I am not from China, like my grandmother, my heart is from China.

Finally, I would like to say that it is not easy to read any books about China immigrants or China experiences, because these books are not as eye-catching as other books based on similar materials. They have their own views on racial discrimination, poverty, female roles, language, politics, art, love and beauty. I don't know who is right or wrong, or who is more accurate than political correctness from a historical perspective. I hope all I do is tell our story. "Golden Mountain Hundred Years" is not to explain all the truth, but just a truth, a truth filtered through my mind, my experience and my research.

-dedicated to letizi and quantico's great-grandchildren, Alexander S. Kendall and Christopher Copland Kendall.