Lisa See-Shanghai Girls-Bookbits author interview

In "Shanghai Girls" novelist Lisa See mines the rich vein of the Chinese side of her heritage for a story of sisters who emigrate to America as war comes to their country.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• China
• Shanghai
• 1930's
• invasion
• immigration
• Chinatown
• calendar
• girls
• Bookbits
• fiction

[strtthshw]

@h5t6ca Lol. No.

[seanspace22]

i check the wiki page of lisa and found that she is 55 years old! she looks too young for that age. anyone can confirm this?

[tiffanyann5152]

Oh wow! I have that same figurine that was shown at 3:30. And I can't wait for the second book. I loved the first one and was so sad when it ended. i wanted more!

[c27sailr]

Recent advances and the commercialization of DNA analysis is showing us how little we understand about race. Not so long ago, 60 Minutes ran a segment on two individuals whose DNA was essentially identical (shared ancestry was beyond question). One was white (and presumably still is), the other was black. I've nearly finished this book, and I can't imagine how someone could write with such nuance about Chinese customs and attitudes without having been immersed in them.

[futurerapstar101]

just finished reading it!

[h5t6ca]

She is chines enough, becasue her ancestrors were chines, regarless of how she looks.What is hte problem with branding people with races?

People are whtat hey are, in terms of cukltural asimilation and what we all learn as children.

[turbobenx]

Look, her great great father is "fong see" not that u kno who the fuck he is. So even if she is 1/20th chinese, she is still part chinese. My friend is 1/2 chinese and the other part, caucasian....he look notin chinese. But that's y i make fun of him calling him a white boy. U dont HAVE to look chinese to be chiense. If they kno they r of chiense heritage, then they R chinese.

[janeOwaneO]

This is from her website:

"Im part Chinese. My great-great-grandfather came here to work on the building of the transcontinental railroad. My great-grandfather was the godfather/patriarch of Los Angeles Chinatown. I dont look at all Chinese, but I grew up in a very large Chinese-American family. I have hundreds of relatives in Los Angeles, of which there are only about a dozen that look like me."

[stevecolens]

how many percent of chinese she has in her blood? she looks NOTHING like chinese, shes like 1/8 chinese i assume? since her GREAT grand father is chinese... but i read her on wiki and she is consider as "Chinese American" but she is probably less than 1/4? so why would she consider as chinese american and not her other heritage(s)?

[catshelley]

I just finished reading this book yesterday. I have learned a lot from it even though I am a native Chinese.