Customer Reviews

The Concubine's Children

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Story Description:

To me, China was what was left behind when the boat carrying my grandmother, pregnant with my mother, docked in Vancouver. China was the soil underfoot in the photograph of the two sisters who, as I thought then, would never meet the third, my mother. China was where you'd find yourself if you dug a hole deep enough to come out the other side of the Earth.

THE CONCUBINE'S CHILDREN is the story of a family cleaved in two for the sake of a father's dream. There's Chan Sam, who left an "at home" wife in China to earn a living in "Gold Mountain" North America. There's May-ying, the wilful, seventeen-year-old concubine he bought, sight unseen, who laboured in tea houses of west coast Chinatowns to support the family he would have in Canada, and the one he had in China. 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 for most of the last century."

My Review:

This was an exceptional work of family history that was well researched and well written. The story was utterly amazing, gripping and held my attention from the first page on. It took a great deal of courage for Denise Chong to pen this fictional memoir of her family and she made the story come alive against the backdrop of two widely different countries. It had a narrative flow that captured the essence of the truth.

This was an intriguing journey that crossed all cultural boundaries. I'll be keeping this book as part of my permanent collection. Excellent!

This book tells the true story of a Chinese immigrant named Chan Sam who lived in a small village in China, married and then eventually moved to America referred to as 'Gold Mountain'. He worked hard to make money so he could send it back to his wife and acquire more land in his village. He traditionally takes a concubine and marries another much younger Chinese girl who eventually bores him children. She moves to America too and works as a waitress in the Chinatowns in Vancouver and Nanaimo, B.C.
I really enjoyed this book...not only because the setting is local but you really get a sense of what life was like for many Chinese immigrants in the 1930's.

I may be a white, teenaged, american male, but I still can appreciate the value and hard work that went into this book.

This book was absolutely wonderful in that it covered the family history so well, leaving out very few details, even though it was all put together by word of mouth, letters and photographs!

This must have been an extremely difficult book to write for all parties involved, and for that the author and her relatives have my deepest respect.

This book is absolutely beautiful and represents Chinese culture very clearly and in an interesting manner. I would recommend this book to ANYBODY

but I did find that I had a bit of a difficult time getting myself through this book, maybe because this story with the exception of a concubine, hits close to home. My Grandfather had come to America without his wife and three children looking for a better life. This occured in the 1930's around the same time that Sam Chan sent for a concubine from China. May-Ying was a young girl sent alone on a long journey to Vancouver, B.C. to become a concubine to Sam Chan, who would father two daughters. As the girls got older it was decided that they would be schooled in China. The entire family returned home where May-Ying, although the mother to the girls, became the second wife next to Hungbo, who was to be known as the "big mother" to the girls. Hungbo had replaced Sam Chan's first wife who had passed away some years earlier.

May-Ying had started out as a young innocent girl who came to North America on falsified papers and was thrust into a life that she didn't desire. It was in Vancouver and the numerous Chinatowns that dotted the area that her wild side let loose, especially when Sam Chan returned for an extended stay in China to build a house. Now May-Ying was forced to work in a tea house to support not only herself, but also her infant daughter (the author's mother) as well as those in China. She was required to send back money to support the building of the house.

The rest of the book goes on to describe the hardships that she faced as well as the emotional and physical abuse suffered by the third daughter Hing. Sam Chan did indeed have very good intentions to try to provide well for the families on two continents, but it would all back fire during The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution that would take place. This is when Sam Chan would return to Vancouver and start living apart from May-Ying and Hing.

The last few chapters deal with the author trying to reunite the two families and helping her mother come to terms with the demons that were inside her. Her mother felt that the happiness that she should have had was sacrificed for the other family in China. After meeting her siblings for the first time, she was able to answer a lot of questions that for a long time she had suppressed.

An interesting look into what life was like for those looking for the pot of gold in another country and the sadness that was shared among the many who made the trip.

This book tell a tale of the harsh life of May Ying (concubine), and her daughter. It gives it's reader a glimp into the life a young immigrant sent overseas, against her will, to be a concubine of a man she doessn't even know. It tell of May Ying's relationship with men, addiction to alcohol, and her daughter's stuggle to support financially and emotionally. Her life is a sad one, but the author wrote the story so well. It touched me.

I read this book a few years ago in my 1st year English class. I am really glad that the prof chose this book. I recommended this book to friends and they told me they love it.

Denise Chong reveals a world of immigration that this very Anglo Texan had no idea existed. With each multicultural title I read I become more and more amazed by the sacrifices that immigrant people make by seeking their fortunes in a New World. Learning about the U. S. closure to Chinese immigration was news to me. And realizing that the only course for Chinese men was to immigrate through Canada opened up at least two new vistas. The one in Canada of Chong's grandmother, the child of the concubine, was so primitive and pain filled; I was intrigued to know that it could be survived. To learn of the custom of the Chinese man having family in China that was honored and in the New World that was less highly regarded surprised me even more. The child's struggle through rejection, poverty, parental alcoholism and addictive gambling, and sexual promiscuity seemed nearly impossible.

To enrich Chong's narrative, a biography no less, she includes family pictures. And the links back to the family in China show the culture that is stuck in another century, another time. It is a picture that reveals family that is revered though separated by distance and time. Reading this book enriched my understanding of a people about which I knew very little. I highly recommend this book. It is an extension past the very excellent fiction of Amy Tan and well worth the read.

Being a 1st generation Chinese Canadian I feel very close to this story. Although my circumstances are not as dark as that of the people in the story, I feel a certain kinship.

Denise Chong is honest and her story is remarkable. I read that book in one night and had to miss school the next day because I could not put the book down. The pictures in the book gives a dimension to the characters.

Denise Chong is a master storyteller. This must have been a hard story to tell, and she does not flinch from the task. You could easily visualize everything she describes. It was a wonderful read.

Denise Chong is a master storyteller. This must have been a hard story to tell, and she does not flinch from the task. You could easily visualize everything she describes. It was a wonderful read.

I couldn't put it down, and lent it to several friends who had the same experience. Brilliantly and honestly written, it will completely pull you in to a new "old" world.