Julia Lin

Literary Nonfiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. Biography. Eight- year-old Akihisa Takayama escapes from Japanese-ruled Manchuria, after the Russian invasion of 1945, to Chinese Taiwan. But life in Taiwan is as repressive under the brutal dictatorship of the Kuomintang as it was in Japanese Manchuria. In the 1960s, now a physician, and named Charles Yang, he ultimately escapes the White Terror of Taiwan for the United States, and from there goes on to Canada to become one of the first Taiwanese Canadians in Vancouver. His experiences illuminate the repression in Taiwan, and the ongoing dispute between Communist China and Taiwan over the meaning of "One China." This is a rare personal account of the little known histories of Manchukuo and Taiwanese immigration to North America.

One Man's Life in Manchuria, Taiwan, and North America

Shadows of the Crimson Sun

Allan Cho

Jim Wong-Chu

A wide-ranging anthology of Asian Canadian literature to celebrate 20 years of Ricepaper. 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Ricepaper magazine, a pioneering periodical devoted to Asian-Canadian writing. Over the years, Ricepaper's focus has shifted from predominantly arts and culture reporting to the publication of original literature; as such, it has both witnessed and cultivated the maturation of an Asian-Canadian literary tradition; indeed, many of today's most acclaimed Asian-Canadian writers were first published in the pages of Ricepaper. This celebratory anthology features exclusive interviews first published in Ricepaper with David Suzuki, Tobias Wong, Ruth Ozeki, Evelyn Lau, Denise Chong, and Madeleine Thien. In addition, exciting voices in Canadian literature are represented by Kim Fu, Doretta Lau, Corinna Chong, Terry Watada, Derwin Mak, Eric Choi, and C.E. Gatchalian. Established and emerging poets such as Fred Wah, Evelyn Lau, Rita Wong, Souvankham Thammavongsa, and Michael Prior also grace the anthology with their work. Finally, three award-winning authors have given permission for excerpts of their works-in-progress to be included: Joy Kogawa (Gently to Nagasaki, a new memoir), Yasuko Thanh ("Lucky in Saigon," a novel soon to be published as Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains), and SKY Lee (Progress in Process). AlliterAsian is an intriguing and multi-faceted record of Asian-Canadian writing that pays homage to the legacy of Ricepaper and its contribution to the evolving and increasingly diverse landscape of Canadian literature.

Twenty Years of Ricepaper Magazine

AlliterAsian

Sheng-Shih Lin

"Lin's engrossing historical novel, set in 1940s China, vividly intertwines the tumultuous childhood of a young girl with the social and political events leading up to the Chinese Revolution. As the daughter of a wealthy landowning family, Little Jade spends her early life in a large, luxurious compound in the Chinese countryside. Though she has everything she could ever want materially and a staff of servants waiting on her every need, Little Jade is unfulfilled. She has no memories of her mother and rarely sees her father. Her paternal grandmother has lovingly raised her since her parents left to study at university shortly after she was born. When Little Jade's father returns home to marry a much younger woman -- his first wife, Little Jade's mother, disappeared after the Japanese invasion-- the story then follows the turbulent path of the richly drawn characters as they navigate their own personal turmoil through the instability of living in China in the years before revolution. Lin effortlessly weaves together the painful histories of Little Jade's mother, grandmother, stepmother and father into the child's own ordeals, which include being shipped off to live in a convent on the eve of civil war and a plague that decimates an entire village. Though at times their actions are appalling -- particularly Little Jade's father's -- Lin paints the characters in such a way to elicit sympathy as they confront changing family traditions and the immense unrest sweeping the country; their reactions are convincingly authentic. Lin's deft, graceful prose builds ominous tension for the novel... Lin succeeds in creating both an absorbing historical chronicle and the moving story of a family's unbreakable bond." Kirkus Reviews

Julia Lin

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