In a bitter twist of history, China—once infamous for punishing families who had more than one child—is now offering the equivalent of $500 a year to coax young adults into having babies. It’s a staggering policy reversal, but one that’s too little, too late for many of the very people the government is now trying Read More
Author: admin
Revisiting The X-Files: “Hell Money” and the Haunted Histories of Chinatown
Like many nerdy couples of a certain age, my husband and I recently decided to rewatch The X-Files—a series I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. I remembered the aliens and conspiracies, the monsters and the moody lighting. But I didn’t remember this episode. Season 3, Episode 19 — “Hell Money” — took me Read More
What China’s Declining Birth Rate Means for the Future of Families
In the last few months, headlines have been quietly warning us: China’s birth rate is in freefall. For the second year in a row, the population has shrunk. And while policy changes have encouraged families to have more children, many are not responding. As someone who lived in China for over a decade—and as an Read More
Coming Home: Life After China, One Step at a Time
It’s been a while since I last posted here. The last time I blogged, we were still living in China—navigating COVID restrictions, using Meituan and Didi like locals, and living a life that, for over a decade, felt like home. Since then, everything has changed. In 2022, we made the difficult decision to return to Read More
The Forgotten Neighbors: Chinese Americans in the Deep South
What Sinners Got So Right As someone who has studied Chinese immigration and written about the untold corners of history, I wasn’t surprised to see a Chinese family in Ryan Coogler’s stunning new film Sinners. I was thrilled. Set in 1930s Mississippi, the film is a hypnotic blend of Southern Gothic, supernatural horror, and cultural Read More
The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama
Book Review: The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama continues the quiet, powerful journey of Pei, first introduced in Women of the Silk. Now an adult, Pei leaves war-torn China and arrives in Hong Kong, where she must rebuild her life from the fragments of the past — Read More
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama
Book Review: Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama offers a beautifully rendered portrait of a hidden world — the community of women who worked in China’s silk factories during the early 20th century. With lyrical prose and quiet emotional power, Tsukiyama explores the lives of women bound Read More
The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
Book Review: The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama is a quiet, meditative novel that explores healing, identity, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Set against the backdrop of World War II-era Japan and China, the story unfolds not through battle or politics, but through the introspective journey Read More
The Brightest Star by Gail Tsukiyama
Book Review: The Brightest Star by Gail Tsukiyama In The Brightest Star, Gail Tsukiyama shines a long-overdue spotlight on the life of Anna May Wong — the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood — in a novel that is both a lyrical character study and a poignant exploration of identity, ambition, and resilience. Born Read More
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
Book Review: What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama is a quiet, heartwarming celebration of books, human connection, and the small, serendipitous moments that can change a life. Told through a series of interconnected stories, this novel gently Read More