On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family | 
 enlarge | Author: Lisa See
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 5938
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Vintage Books ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0679768521
Dewey Decimal Number: 929.20899510795
EAN: 9780679768524
ASIN: 0679768521
Publication Date: August 27, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: cover shows wear fast ship cheap
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Product Description
Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world. 82 photos.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Truly relocating you to a different time, a different place April 2, 2008
I cannot express what wonderful storytelling of 100 years odyssey this book was. It was filled with historic detail, from China to the United States, as they referred to it as Gold Mountain. The patriach, Fong See was a merchant, and you will learn plenty of the business side of the family. He rented furniture to Hollywood studios. The many descriptive characters stories are well-tracked, and clearly identified. There is no confusion.
Lisa is with interracial heritage, which makes the telling of the past more interesting as we learn that aspect of her family's life. Although a long read, it was insightful, informative, intriguing with mystery, concubines, romance, business, immigration, travel, etc. This book is an enthralling read with every chapter advancing to more.
 The diversity of living March 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read On Gold Mountain slowly, with days between chapters to think about new ideas. On Gold Mountain was many things to me. A true story, it captures the diversity of life: hopeful and heartbreaking; success and failure; riches and poverty; love, courage and pride. In the many lives of the See family and other Chinese immigrants, opportunity, danger, effort and chance all play a role in deciding who will be rich, who will live and who will die.
It was an eye-opening revelation to me of how racist our laws and immigration policies were towards the Chinese, up until our recently.
It was an amazing journey into Chinese society both in America and in China.
It was an uplifting and hopeful account of how, in spite of everything, Chinese immigrants were able to come to America, work, and prosper.
It was a heart-breaking indictment of the treatment of the Chinese by our government and big business, particularly the railroads. The suffering and death of so many people has gone too long unnoticed in our history books.
It was an amusing commentary on the foibles of human nature, and how love truly can triumph over it all, down through the generations.
It was an incredibly well-researched, well-documented and remarkably frank story of one Chinese immigrant and his numerous descendants.
In the developing field of social history, and using social history to illuminate a genealogy, On Gold Mountain is a seminal work, published five years prior to the ground-breaking "Bringing Your Family History to Life through social history" by Katherine Scott Sturdevant. As such, it is a remarkable example of the professional standards to which the social historian/genealogist may aspire.
Although the family history is rife with bi-racial marriage, multiple wives and concubines, infidelity and divorce, Lisa See presents the story in a sympathetic and factual manner, and avoids sensationalizing her family history. It is as much about the family business of importing Asian art, furniture and folk items, and other businesses the younger generations developed, as it is about the personal history of the family.
I would recommend Lisa See's book to anyone planning to write a social history; to all high school and college students in classes on U. S. Government, sociology, immigration, and capitalism. I would also recommend it to anyone who likes a good work of non-fiction about real people.
 A perfect example of how a family history should be written December 27, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Genealogy buffs would do well to read this "One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of [Lisa See's] Chinese-American History" as an excellent example of how to write their own family histories. See, one-eighth Chinese, interviewed "close to one hundred people" and with help, found historical information from the late 1880s about her great-great grandfather's generation on up to her own children by perusing documents such as immigration records, photographs, letters, diaries, etc., that is, in the usual way. The result, On Gold Mountain "the Chinese name for the United States," almost 400 pages in length, is an in-depth, well-written account of the happenings in the lives of her ancestors, cousins, aunts and uncles. But anyone who knows anything about genealogy will agree that while a person's own genealogical information is, or can be, quite thrilling, another's is usually significantly less so. The main "character" of the family history, Fong See, was a polygamist. His second marriage, to a white woman (his first, unconsummated, was to a young girl in China) created the line from which the author descended. He was a merchant by trade who sold undergarments to prostitutes (during which he met his Lisa See's great-grandmother). Later, he dealt in antiques and other merchandise, creating a name for himself both in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles and in Dimtao, his home village in China, to which he provided monetary assistance. While the information on the lives of Chinese immigrants in general (including the ever-changing, often discriminatory immigration policies) and Fong See in particular, were great reading, the book was exceedingly long and overly detailed. I, for one, am not really interested in the names and occupations of Ms. See's first cousins. And less annoying but worth mentioning is the fact that the book's standard format, consistent and chronological, changes dramatically at Chapter 11. Memories: Tyrus Tells His Story reads like a taped interview might sound. In Chapter 14, Anna May Speaks (from the Grave), a film star, unrelated to the Sees except as a family friend, complains about her mistreatment by the film industry, the Americans, and the Chinese. Chapter 15, which I like to call The Improperly Edited Chapter, contains nine paragraphs beginning with a single word or short phrase (Pp 247-250), "Wives," "Children," "Grandchildren," "Business," "More business," "Business and family," "The Japanese crisis," "Partners," and "Life story." Lastly, the inclusion of a reference to California's Prop 187 (p 355) "Through Proposition 187, illegal immigrants would be barred from receiving any state funds; this meant no education, no welfare, and no medical care, except in dire emergencies," seems a bit unfair. China's policies concerning illegal immigrants are certainly much stricter than the USA's. In summary, Lisa See is a very good storyteller, has produced a great example of a family history and a tribute to her ancestors, but the audience of interest for the overly long overly detailed On Gold Mountain is likely limited to Fong Dun Shung's descendants, fans of the historical aspects of Chinese immigration to America (or their life in America) during the late 1880s and early 1900s, and genealogy buffs. And if I weren't part of the last category, I'd have either quit the book or slogged through and given it only two stars. Better: The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, the Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.
Made a nice gift September 21, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The person I gave this to thought it was a very nice read and recommends it.
Incredible Book July 31, 2007
I am a new fan of Lisa See and I have to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a fascinating story. There were times I had to remind myself that this was a work of non-fiction. I only wish there were more photographs. A great read and hard to put down.
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