No.3 Frank Chin

Introduction

Frank Chin is an American author and playwright. He was born in Berkeley, California. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley. He is regarded as a pioneer and activist in Asian American writers. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Selected Works

• The Chickencoop Chinaman 1971
• The Year of the Dragon (play) 1974
• Aiiieeeee: An Anthology of Asian American Writers 1974
• The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R.R. Co 1988
• Donald Duk 1991
• The Big AIIIEEEEE!: An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature 1991
• Born in the USA: A Story of Japanese America, 1889-1947, 2002

Recognition&Awards

Chin received an American Book Award in 1989 for a collection of short stories, and another in 2000 for Lifetime Achievement.

Influences

Chin is considered to be one of the pioneers in Asian American Theater. His opinions are radical and hence arouse great controversy. In his works, he expresses the rage against the stereotypes of the

Asian male. He founded the Asian American Theater Workshop, which became the Asian American Theater Company in 1973. His play, the "Chickencoop Chinaman" was the first by an Asian American to be produced on a major New York stage. Frank Chin criticizes other Asian American writers, particularly Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan, of furthering such stereotypes and misrepresenting the traditional stories by faking Asian literature and history. He is the pioneer of Asian American literature and makes constant efforts to eliminate racism and stereotypes of Asian Americans in America society.(Wikipedia)

No.4 Eileen Chang

Introduction

Eileen Chang was one of the most famous Chinese-American writer of all time. She was born in Shanghai and has a really unhappy childhood in a broken family. She lives in wartime for most of her life and had to drop out of university. She showed her writing talents at an early age and in 1943, she was introduced to editor Shoujuan Zhou and became one of the most famous writers in China. She married twice and moved to New York with her second husband. She died in 1995 in her apartment in California

Selected Works

• Love in a Fallen City, 1943
• Eighteen Springs, 1951
• Bu Liao Qing, 1947
• Tai Tai Wan Sui, 1947
• The Golden Cangue ,1950
• Yi qu nan wang, 1964

Recognition&Awards

Chang is recognized as one of the best writers of all time in China and in US. Her works are really popular among Chinese readers and are still bestsellers ten years after her death. Many of her novels are adapted to films. A poet and professor at University of Southern California, Dominic Cheung, said that "had it not been for the political division between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese, she would have almost certainly won a Nobel Prize".

Influence

“Chang’s works frequently deal with the tensions between men and women in love, and are considered by some scholars to be among the best Chinese literature of the period. Chang's portrayal of life in 1940s Shanghai and occupied Hong Kong is remarkable in its focus on everyday life and the absence of the political subtext which characterized many other writers of the period” (Wikipedia). She is the inspiration and idol to many other writers. Her unique writing style and straight description to sex let her receive some criticism but also make her stand out among others. Her life has also been a legend, especially her own love stories and her two marriages. Her influence, however, are more on China than on America because she mainly writes in Chinese.

No.5 Amy Tan

www.amytan.net

Introduction

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. She is one of the best A/PIA writers of all time and won numerous awards around the world and received widely acclaim. Tan received her bachelor's and master's degree in English and Linguistics from San Jose State University, and later did doctoral linguistics studies at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley. She is the literary editor for West, Los Angeles Time Sunday magazine.

Selected Works

• The Joy Luck Club (1989)
• The Kitchen God's Wife (1991)
• The Hundred Secret Senses (1995)
• The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001)
• Saving Fish from Drowning (2005)

Recognition&Awards

Tan was the finalist for National Book Award,National Book Critics Circle Award and Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize. She won Commonwealth Gold Award, American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults and New York Times Notable Book. She also won a Emmy Award and a Grammy Award.

Influences

Amy Tan has written many popular books. Her most famous work is Joy Luck Club, which was also adapted to a really successful movie. Her works concentrates on the family relationship in immigrants’ families, especially on Chinese female immigrants. They not only need to face the issues of identity and ethnicity, but also get pressure from parents. Her works vividly depicts the conflicts and cultural misunderstanding between traditional Chinese and their children. Her works talk about her feelings and understanding about suffering and inspires countless readers both in American and in Asia.(Wikipedia)

No. 6 Jin Xuefei

Introduction

Jin Xuefei (pen name Ha Jin) is a Chinese American writer. He was born in Liaoning, China. He came to America in 1984 and began to write about China only in English. He published his first book of poems, Between Silences, in 1990. After June 4^th incident in China in 1989, he decided to stay in the US and finished his Ph.D. in 1992.

Selected Works

• Between Silences (poetry) (1990)
• Ocean of Words (short stories) (1996)
• Under the Red Flag (short stories) (1997)
• Waiting (novel) (1999)
• War Trash (novel) (2004)
• The Writer as Migrant (essays) (2008)

Recognition&Awards

Ha Jin is the winner for numerous awards. Many of his short stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories anthologies. He has won the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel, Waiting (1999). Ocean of Words (1996) has been awarded the PEN/Hemingway Award . The novel War Trash (2004) won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Influences

He sets all of his stories in China and increased western attention to Chinese culture and history. He lives in the chaos of communist in China and his poetry collections and novels provide a new perspective for the Americans to look at China. English is Ha Jin’s second language, which is different from other A/PIA writers, and most of his books are written in English. He is one of the three writers in history that won Faulkner Award two times. He is the first Chinese American who won the National Book Award and is well known in the English literary world. (Wikipedia)