6 AAS322 – Lecture Notes Part 1 March 1
MK Hom
I
Early Chinese American Short Stories
During the first decade of 1900s, Chinatown in San Francisco, despite the devastating
aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire that totally destroyed The City, was bustling
with Cantonese rhymes publications with three anthologies of rhymes. Since these
rhymes were written in vernacular Cantonese Chinese, it was basically for the internal
audience of Cantonese immigrants and the genre was unknown beyond the confine of
the Chinatown enclave. During that time, there was hardly any literary works in the
English language from Chinese America writers, except for one Euro-Asian woman
writer in the West Coast.
Let’s examine the fictional narratives in the English language by this early Chinese
American writer in that same (Gold Mountain Rhymes) time period. It was a rarity in the
American literary scene during the Chinese Exclusion period (1882-1943) when social
and cultural segregations were the institutionalized norms.
In the 1890s, this rather unique frontier woman writer emerged in America’s West
Coast literary circle that was dominated by men with mostly anti-Chinese narratives.
She wrote short stories focusing on the Chinese American community and family lives
in Seattle and San Francisco. This short story writer was a biracial Chinese American
woman named Edith Eaton who published under a pseudonym of Sui Sin Far 水仙花
(“Water Lily”), a popular floral symbol of, elegance, refinement and sophistication of
Chinese culture during that time period.
Eaton’s father, an Englishman, married a Chinese woman and relocated themselves
from England across the Atlantic to New York area because the Eaton family
disapproved of this interracial marriage. Edith Eaton and her siblings grew up in
upstate New York. She relocated to the west coast as a young adult for health reasons.
While in Seattle and San Francisco, she interacted with the Chinese there wrote and
published short stories about the Chinese Americans in these two cities, and gained
recognition among the well-known West Coast frontier writers of her generation such
as Brett Hart, Frank Norris, Mark Twain, Jack London, etc.
Sui Sin Far had published an autobiographical essay in the magazine Independent (1909)
about her biracial family background. In it, she mentioned her early baptism in racial
prejudices against the Chinese people while growing up in upstate New York: she got
herself and her young brother into trouble over a white boy’s racist tease. Sui Sin Far
learned from that incident at her young age that she must stand up to defend herself
and her Chinese racial identity. She would state in that autobiographical essay that her
50% white blood, the socially empowered race in her, will defend her 50% Chinese
blood, the powerless and oppressed half of her biracial identity.
Sui Sin Far published seventeen short stories, plus similar number of children’s stories;
all collected and published in the book entitled Mrs. Spring Fragrance (Chicago: A.C.
McClurg, 1912).
Sui Sin Far died in 1914 from her prolonged illness of tuberculosis.
Sui Sin Far and her short story collection
II
How to Read and Critique Fiction, A Basic Approach
Here, let’s use two stories by Sui Sin Far stories on interracial marriage as example on
short story analysis; both stories were actually one full story included in Sui’s 1912 short
story collection. (Actually her short stories “Wisdom of The New” and
“Americanizing Pao Tsu” as well as “Lin John” are just as interesting for critical
analysis.)
“The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese”
“Her Chinese Husband”
A Intrinsic/internal elements:
1. Narrative style (significance of first person narrative)
2. Plot (story line)
3. Characterization (how characters interact)
4. Conflict & resolution
B Extrinsic/external variables
1. Social climate (Suffrage — equal rights for women — movement)
2. Societal attitude on race relations (institutional racial segregation)
A1: Sui Sin Far employed the narrative technique of first-person to tell the story from
Minnie, a Caucasian woman who once married James Carson, an abusive white
man, and then she married Liu Kanghi, a Chinese man who saved her from
committing suicide and encouraged her to rebuild her life without Carson.
First Person narrative conveys a subjective angle in presenting the story as the
narrator’s own experience, autobiographical and at times judgmental, with personal
observations and opinions.
A2: The story development is linear, sequential, and episodic.
1) Minnie failed her first marriage with James Carson, and was about to commit
suicide;
2) Liu Kanghi convinced her to live on and support her to gain back her sense of
self-worth and started a new life with Liu;
3) Minnie met James Carson on the street and he demanded that she should return
to him; she refused because she now considered Liu a better husband;
4) Liu died from a Chinese community dispute.
A3: Minnie’s story centers around her life experience with two husbands: James Carson,
first husband, is a hypocrite in support woman liberation and an abusive man in
treating and belittling Minnie. Liu Kanghi, Minnie’s second husband, was a Chinese
who were kind and considerate towards Minnie; he was supportive for Minnie to
become self-independent.
A4: The two husbands, one Caucasian and one Chinese, allowed Minnie to compare
and judge, from a wife’s viewpoint, which one was a better husband: Carson’s
macho masculinity v. Liu’s spiritual grandness.
B1: Sui Sin Far’s creative intent: these two stories on an interracial marriage
relationship were written during the height of the suffrage movement, where
American women were fighting for their equal rights and emancipation from male
dominance. Minnie’s marital dependency on James Carson leads to her destruction,
while her self-reliance with Liu Kanghi rebuilds her confidence and happiness in
life.
B2: Sui Sin Far lived in a time period in which racial segregation was a socially
accepted norm. Interracial marriage was not acceptable. This first-person narrative
was Sui Sin Far’s attempt as a story writer to challenge the racist status quo in
America, especially in portraying white man James Carson as an abuser of woman
and Liu Kanghi as a supporter of woman.
Con’t on Part 2
AAS322 – #7 Lecture Notes Part 2 March 1, 2021
M Hom
I
Reading Sui Sin Far Stories, Con’t
On “Wisdom of the New” and “Americanizing Pao Tsu”:
These two stories share the same thematic treatment about the arrival of a young
woman as the wife of a successful young Chinese merchant. The husband’s
“Americanization” is superficial on the surface, still maintaining a dominating male
chauvinist mindset toward his wife, despite wanting the wife behave differently:
Sankwei wants Pao Lin to be subservient and obedient, not allowing her to live her
own life; Lin Fou wants Pao Tsu to obey him to be a surrogate of Adah Raymond, his
white woman friend. Both dismiss and disrespected their wives opinions, while seeking
advices and showing respect to the white women friend.
Pao Tsu and Pao Lin yield to their husband’s dictates reluctantly; but both would fight
back fearlessly when they realize that their love for and devotion to their husband were
not reciprocated and their lives were threatened with what they considered the white
woman (Adah Charlton, Adah Raymond) intrusion and interference.
1. Pao Lin’s newborn son died and she blames it on Adah Charlton’s evil spells; she
was horrified that old son Little Yan might become a young version of his father,
being Americanized and betraying her.
2. Pao Tsu felt devastated that husband Lin Fou sacrificed her Chinese woman’s
modesty when she became ill, she felt she was crucified by husband’s
Americanization.
Outcome for both stories is the loss of hope for the Chinse wives. Pao Lin poisoned her
son so the latter would not grow up like his father, betraying her. Pao Tzu asked for a
divorce so that she could be free from a loveless marriage with Lin Fou.
The two white women, the Adahs, were portrayed as “superior women” with wisdom
and compassion in comparison to the “suffering” Chinese women who live the life of
defensive territorial isolation.
The conclusion that both San Kwei and Lin Fou, after being chastised by the two Adah
for mistreating their good wives, contemplated leaving America to return to China,
reveals Sui Sin Far’s pessimistic view: Chinese culture and American cultural are
mutually exclusive. You can’t be American, and behave like a Chinese as in the roles of
the husbands, and you can’t be a Chinese to live in America, as in role of the wives.
Points to ponder: Is Pao Tsu’s letter asking for a divorce a credible story plot treatment?
Consider the following:
1) She resists her husband’s urge for her to acquire an American way of life.
2) Divorce was never an option for Chinese woman before the 1910s; it means humiliation of
her womanhood, and she would have committed suicide instead of walking out of a marriage.
3) Is this “asking for a divorce” plot treatment a writer’s “artistic flaw”—imposing the
American Suffrage value of Sui Sin Far’s time period on the isolated Chinese character who is
not exposed to that contemporary social movement in America?
On “The White Woman Who Married Chinese” and “Her Chinese Husband”
(I have provided extensive pointers to read the stories, so I will be brief here.)
In this two-part short story, the first person narrative technique emphasized a personal
perspective of two conjugal relationships of a white woman, Minnie. Her marriage with
an abusive white man, and later another marriage with a considerate Chinese man,
brought forth a pertinent concern for womanhood in the discourse of the Suffrage
Movement: What does woman want and what’s best for a woman?
SSF’s depiction of Minnie emphasizes that woman may not be strong and independent
if her spouse is not supportive of her, as seen in the Minnie’s marriage with Jamese
Carson; but in Liu Kanghi, Minnie finds comfort, security and support despite Liu is not
perceived as a physically strong man. In this story, SSF attempts to redefine “manhood”
and “masculinity” from a woman’s point of view: “masculinity” is not abusive machoness, but the spiritual grandeur in a man.
Points to ponder: Liu’s sudden death at the end of the story is not good plotting since there isn’t
foretelling of such a thing may happen. It is quite an unexpected twist.
It can be read as a writer’s “artistic flaw” as in seen in the story of “Americanizing of Pao Tsu”;
but more likely it is also a Freudian slip: SSF accepted the institutionalized racial segregation of
her time, and can’t overcome the social norm of anti-miscegenation practice. By ending Liu’s life
and the story unnaturally, SSF offers no solution or challenge but conforming to the prevailing
racism in America in her days.
On “Lin John”
Lin John toiled in hardship to save enough money to help her sister, who was in a
bondage as a prostitute. Lin John would do his best so that their family honor would
not be in disgrace because of her ill-reputed profession.
The sister stole his money. Lin John would promise that he would continue to work
hard to save money and help her out of the bondage. The sister, wearing a new mink
bought with the stolen money, called her brother a “fool.”
Points to ponder: Why would Sui Sin Far write such a short stories during the time of the
Suffrage Movement that the unnamed woman, a prostitute, being obsessed with materialism and
dismissive of her brother’s tireless effort to “save” her? This portrayal of womanhood would be
seen as counter-productive to the Suffrage Movement – women’s emancipation.
Of course, Lin John wants to save his sister and return home to China without bring shame to
the family. 1) What would be the sister’s status back in China in the imperial and feudal days of
her time? In China Chinese woman lived a life of subjugation by men, a life no different from
being living in bondage. 2) Did Chinese woman have equal status in feudal Chinese family? 3)
If a woman lives in bondage, what would be her better choice: live in subjugation and poverty in
China, or live in bondage with materialist life in America? This was Sui Sin Far’s muse in this
story: Woman is smarter than her oppressor (man) to make a choice for herself.
On “The Land of the Free”
The immigrant merchant Hom Hing decided to send his pregnant wife Lae Choo back
home in China so that his son will be born a “real” Chinese. And he also wanted Lae to
take care of his aging parents left behind in China. The son was born and she stayed
home in China for several years until the parents-in-law died. Then she returned with
her little boy to America to join her husband.
Upon arrival, the American immigration official detained her son as an undocumented
new arrival, and would release him to his parents when Hom Hing provided proofs to
secure the little boy’s release.
Many months passed and the little boy was not returned to them, despite Hom Hing
and Lae did their best to seek his release. They were taken advantage for their
misfortune, until a friend finally offered assistance and help.
As they went to the orphanage to reclaim their young son, the little one no longer
remember them as parents, and hid behind the caretaker and told them: go away.
Points to ponder: Sui Sin Far writes too obviously as a social critic: 1) The American
immigration laws against the Chinese during the Chinese Exclusion Act era was harsh towards
the innocent, as seen in the case of the young boy being denied permission to enter. 2) Hom Hing
wanted to live like a filial Chinese son to his parents and his wish to have his son born in China
as a “real” Chinese is an impossible wish in a society where Chinese and American cultures are
mutually exclusive. It is impossible and futile in trying to live a Chinese way of life in America.
Write a critical/analytical essay on the following point:
Sui Sin Far’s stories focus on the portrayals of womanhood—both the Chinese
women and the Caucasian women—and relationship with men. What is Sui Sin
Far’s creative intent (What thematic message does Sui’s stories try to convey) ?
Due: March 8 (Tuesday) during class hours

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