Denise ChongReseñas

I was surprised at how easy this was to read and how much background information there was. The families life and background are covered and so much on Vietnam after the war. Highly recommended.

Inhaltlich fand ich das Buch meistens interessant, deshalb die 3,5 Punkte.
Der Großvater der Autorin Chan Sam nahm 1924 ihre Großmutter May-ying in Kanada als zweite Frau. In weiten Teilen verdiente sie das ganze Geld sowohl für die Familie in Kanada als auch in China. Ihre ersten beiden Kinder werden traditionsgemäß der kinderlosen Ehefrau Chan Sams in China übergeben. Die jüngere Tochter, die Mutter der Autorin, bliebt in Kanada.
Dass May-Ying kein glückliches Leben hat, zur Alkoholikerin wird und als Mensch hart und ungerecht ist, überrascht nicht wirklich.
Dennoch ist es für die Tochter in Kanada und alle Angehörigen, auch den Adoptivsohn, kein leichte Leben. Das Buch zeigt anhand von Briefen udn anderen Dokumenten, auch Bildern, auf, wie dieses zerrissene Leben zwischen Kanada und China gelebt wurde, in politisch schwierigen Zeiten.
Die Mutter Winnie schafft es, sich zu lösen und schließlich auch die Annäherung an China und die Familie dort.
Ich fand das Buch allerdings nicht allzu spannend geschrieben, eher additiv. Daher war ich trotz des guten Thema versucht, nur 3 Punkte zu geben.½

A beautifully constructed family memoir.

In this book, Denise Chong tells the stories of various Chinese immigrants to Canada and how they established themselves and their families over the years, beginning around the 1950s. The stories are interesting -- some more so, but all provide an insight into what it was like for Chinese people to move here. They sometimes faced persecution in China; most also faced discrimination in Canada, ranging from schoolyard teasing to racist policies such as the head tax and restriction of immigrants. It is inspirational to see how hard these people worked to make a life for themselves and their families, while often also sending money back to family in China. The writing is in a journalistic style -- not a lot of descriptive narrative: Ms. Chong lets the stories speak for themselves, which works well in this case. I only wish there had been some kind of family/relationship tree as some of the people in various stories were related and it was difficult to keep the relationships straight.

This is a biography of three generations of a Chinese-Canadian family. Chan Sam came to Canada and left his Chinese wife at home, but soon brought a beautiful younger Chinese woman to Canada as his concubine: May-ying. May-ying gave Chan Sam 3 daughters; before the 3rd one (Hing) came along, the other two had been taken back to China to live with Chan Sam’s Chinese wife. Hing, the daughter who stayed in Canada, was mostly neglected by her drinking, gambling mother. Hing’s daughter, Denise, is the author of the book. The book does focus mostly on May-ying, but it also tells the story of the family in China, as well. I can’t recall the phrase in the book, but something along the lines of a split family.

I thought this was very good. It covers a good portion of the 20th century, so it also includes a bit of history of how Chinese people were treated in Canada, and North America, in general, over that century. The story was interesting, and it did primarily focus on the most interesting person, in my opinion, May-ying. There was also a nice set of photos included – photos of those in both Canada and China.

I'm always fascinated to see peoples' full life stories. This book could have only included teen/young woman May-ying and what her life was like; or it could have just included her later adulthood; or her somewhat terrifying turn as the author's fearsome Grandmother. But instead we watch May-ying, the titular concubine, and see how she progresses from one stage of like to another, ultimately bringing a better understanding of what a person's whole life looks like. I learned so much about Chinese history and culture, about the founding of British Columbia, the original Chinatowns, and specifically so much about this one convoluted family tree. Recommended.

A really well written and moving family memoir. Engrossing, thought provoking and true to life depictions of the hard times suffered by Chinese immigrants in Canada. Peopled with flawed, unlikeable, superstitious and stubborn characters. The scenes of early life in Vancouver, the first family in China and the many sacrifices of the Canadian second family were fascinating and heartbreaking. Also interesting was the Communist Revolution and its result on the family members. So well researched and thoroughly revealing, I rate it 5 stars.

The Concubine's Children is the true story of a family cleaved in two for the sake of a father’s dream. In 1913, Chan Sam left an “at home” wife in China to earn a living in “Gold Mountain”, British Columbia. Eleven years later, May-ying, the wilful, seventeen-year-old concubine he bought, sight unseen, travels to join him where she labours in the tea houses of west coast Chinatowns to support the family in Canada, and the one in China. It is not the story of any particularly remarkable person or event. It is rather ordinary actually - something that many Chinese-Canadians experienced. It was the concubine’s third daughter, the author’s mother, who unlocked the past for her daughter whose curiosity about some old photographs ultimately reunited a family divided. The Concubine's Children is an inspiring story of unquestioning sacrifice.

Wow, what a book! The person who reconmended reading it was right, it should be regarded as compulsory reading for history class.

Of course I know the picture. I heared a bit about the background. But ehat followed, I had no idea about.
This book is more than just talking about what happened to Kim Phuc. It also gives insight in Vietnam's development, interdependencies with Russia, China, East-Germany and Cuba.
I'm very impressed with the resilience of Kim Phuc. That she (and her family) in the end got a more out of life than it had given to them until then.

I'm a lot wiser after reading. :-)

What a compelling story!!! It gave an insight to a bit of history of both the Asian community here in Vancouver BC, Canada and the conflicts they dealt with that were unraveling in china. Many were caught between two worlds and powerless to make changes in either.

On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc, severely burned by napalm, ran from her blazing village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph - one of the most unforgettable images of the twentieth century- was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War.

This CD contains a recording of the song "The girl in the picture [napalm girl]" about Kim Phuc, an innocent victim. Kim suffered many years of severe pain from her third-degree burns, but she always longed to reach out and help other children who were victimized by war. She is now the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Culture of Peace and the chair of the Kim Foundation, a non-profit organization established to fund programs for these children around the world. She is the girl in the infamous picture. More info at: www.kimfoundation.com

It is amazing how this photograph has had such an impact. While the photo is familiar to most everyone, the life led by Kim Phuc is not. She is a fighter with an indomitable spirit!

An excellent chronicle of three extremely brave souls who defied and continue to defy the utterly flawed (Anything But)People's Republic. An entire race of 1.3b that has been conditioned and beaten to submission.

An excellent chronicle of three extremely brave souls who defied and continue to defy the utterly flawed (Anything But)People's Republic. An entire race of 1.3b that has been conditioned and beaten to submission.

This is a well written, moving book about a family separated on two continents. It's a biography of Chan Sam and his family. He lives in B.C. with his concubine and one of their children. In China are his wife, their son and two of his daughters by his concubine. This is a family' s story, but also a story of Canada in the 1930s and 40s. It talks of immigration rules, prejudices, racism, the Depression. The author (Chan Sam's grand-daughter) has done a wonderful job of situating well-drawn characters in their proper historical setting. This will be of interest to history buffs as well as anyone who likes a good family story.

Die Geschichte der Kim Phuc

In May, 1989 the Chinese government declared martial law against the student protest being held in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Three young men wanted to widen the student's protest to include a pro-democracy stance. After their approaches to the student leaders failed they decided to take action to bring attention to their democratic beliefs, knowing they could be arrested and imprisoned. They threw eggs full of paint at the large picture of Mao hanging in the Square. Canadian author Denise Chong was approached by Random House to write this important book on human rights in 2007, once the three men and their immediate families were safe in Canada and the United States. Highly recommended.½

Absolutely an eye opener

I picked up this book mainly because of the stories being by Canadian Women. I recognized some of the writers names, but had never read anything by them. I rather read a novel than a short story, but as a Canadian woman I felt I need to read these world acclaimed writers. Many of the writers were new to me. Again, I wanted to read what they had to say.

This is a collection of stories about covers a vast area, from childbirth to death and everything in between.

Of course, I enjoyed reading some stories more than others. With that said I will say that I was happy that I had the chance to read something from these Canadian writers.

At the beginning of the book, I had just finished reading a story by Alice Munro. I am ashamed to say this is the first time reading anything by her. I finished reading the story before heading to bed. In the morning, in the news, I hear that she has won the Nobel Prize, being the 13th women in the world to achieve this.

I was happy that I had read something from her, before she won.½

A satisfying and often gripping account of the life of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, whom you would recognize in Nick Ut's famous AP photo as the naked Vietnamese girl running down the road screaming after a misplaced napalm attack on her village. What is most striking about her life story is the set of coincidences, random conjunctions, and slight shifts in policy or practice that took her from the obscurity of the unknown victim of war to a UNESCO spokesperson. In many ways, the book is a testament to the power of photojournalism. Chong successfully conveys the tension, urgency, and careful emotional balancing required to navigate war and totalitarianism.

It seems appropriate that the copy I read was a pirated Southeast Asian version, purchased for $6 though I could have had it for $3 if I'd haggled. A signature is missing, so two sets of 12 pages each are not reproduced. As a sign of the changing times in Vietnam, it is easily purchased and openly displayed.

This is a family biography, the story of a family split by an ocean and by different ways of life. It’s a sad tale of prejudice, war, and brutality, as well as of love.

Chan Sam had a wife and land in southern China in the 1920s, but word was that one could make enough money at ‘Gold Mountain’- Canada or the USA- for a person to set themselves up for life. So Chan Sam went to Canada to make his fortune. He didn’t like being alone- there were very, very few women in the Chinatowns at the time. He acquired a concubine from China: a 17 year old May-ying, who was basically sold. Chan didn’t have the money to pay for her, so he made a deal with a tea house owner: the girl would be Chan’s concubine, but during the days and evenings she would work at the tea house to pay off her own purchase price. That’s not an auspicious start for a relationship.

As time went on, May-ying had two baby girls. Chan wanted them educated in China, and between the two of them they had made enough money to go home for a while. When Chan Sam and May-ying returned to Canada, her daughters remained in China with Chan’s wife. They returned just in time for May-ying’s third child to be born on Canadian soil. It wasn’t the hoped for son that would have given her some prestige in the family, but another daughter- worthless in her eyes. In time, Chan Sam returned to China without May-ying to try and sire a son on his wife. This left the young May-ying in the unenviable position of financially supporting not just herself and her daughter, but Chan Sam, his wife in China, and her two daughters over there. Not to mention the costs of the mansion (by rural Chinese village standards) that Chan Sam was building in his village. That’s a lot to expect of a young woman. Even after Chan Sam returned to Canada, but had separated from May-ying, he showed up every week to collect the money she had earned. Not that he was lazy; he did back breaking work in the shingle mills and at any other job he could find. Employment was severely limited for the Chinese in North America.

May-ying was a badly damaged person. She sought solace in alcohol and gambling, and abused her daughter both physically and emotionally. I was horrified by the way she treated her, but the circumstances of May-ying’s life might have broken anyone. Thankfully, the daughter, who took the English name Winnie, had the inner reserves to survive, concentrating on school and getting away from home. She succeeded in doing so, through hard work and marriage, and brought up a great family. The author is Winnie’s second daughter.

After 50 years, the Canadian sister and the Chinese sister finally managed to meet in a 4 day visit that brought tears to my eyes. But what really hit an emotional chord was the way the Chinese family viewed May-ying: basically ignoring the money she’d sent for years, they saw her only as a very bad wife who brought only misery to Chan Sam. They were only given half the story.

It’s a very sad story of the miserable lives the Chinese in North America lived during the first half of the 20th century thanks to prejudice, and an even sadder one that as bad as those lives were, they were considered worth while because monetarily it was even worse in China. I’ve read a number of books about the Chinese in North America, and this one is the grimmest. But it’s a story I couldn’t put down and stayed up half the night reading.

i could not connect with all the different people at this time. I might have to give it some rest and try it again at some other time.½

Het verhaal gaat over een Chinese familie die deels in een Zuid-Chinees dorpje, deels in een rommelige Chinatown in Canada woont. Uitgangspunt is het levensverhaal van de schrijfster.

The Concubine's Children is a wonderfully crafted non-fiction book written by the granddaughter of the main characters. Chan Sam, a peasant, leaves his wife behind in China in order to go to the fabled "Golden Mountain" as Western Canada was refered to at the time (1913). He brings with him his Concubine, a beautiful but no-nonsense girl, to British Columbia, living in Vancouver's Chinatown. Expectations are high that Canada was a land of riches. All spare money was sent back to Chan Sam's wife in China, and the Concubine and her children did without. The wife, Huangbo, raised their son & two daughters by the concubine in China; May-ying, the concubine worked hard as a tea-room waitress to earn money to support both the family in China and her husband and their own two children. Life was harsh, there were moves from Vancouver to Victoria's Chinatown. Gambling became a problem particularly with May-ying. This is a historical account of a time in the Lower Mainland of B.C. that every Canadian and American should read, there is so much history both of early B.C. and China, with China occupied by Japan, then the rule of Mao Tse Tung. A few years ago, the narrator Denise and her mother made the trip to China to visit what relatives they had there, and so the two families finally came together. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it when it first came out (about 1989; it has now been reprinted) and still keep my precious first copy paperback; I've loaned it or bought one for some friends through, that is how much I care about it. I have now read it a few times. Highly Recommended. A quote from Denise Chong: "I didn't realize the extent of it, until I did my history, that my grandparents lived in Canada at a time when they could not participate in White society."

This book was a real page-turner. I was fascinated by the historical account of Southern China and Vancouver in the early part of the 20th century. The fact that this is a biography of the author's grandparents made it all the more poignant and unbelievable.