Dead Man’s Gold and Other Stories

These original stories blend folklore and legend with contemporary settings to create a realistic portrayal of the Chinese immigrant experience. From poor villagers seeking to better their lives in the 1850s to families escaping Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, these tales describe the resilience of a people in a strange new land.

But the tales are also ghost stories, a popular narrative form in China. Wherever the immigrants go, they are reminded of home -- the curse of a betrayed friend, the ghost of a faithful spouse, the spirit of a dead parent. In the title story, two friends seek gold in the New World, but the precious metal brings riches to one man and curses to the other. In "Digging Deep, " a pampered and fearful young man takes a job in a coal mine to prove his bravery, but at a dreadful price. Taken together, these tales create a New World mythology of 140 years of tumultuous immigrant experience.