Bibliography
Park, Linda Sue. “Newbery Medal Acceptance.” Horn
Book (July/August 2002): 377–384.
———. Project Mulberry. Boston: Clarion, 2005.
Something about the Author. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale,
2002, 166–168.
Stevenson, Dinah. “Linda Sue Park,” Horn Book (July/
August 2002): 387–391.
Sarah Park
Park, No-Yong (1899–1976)
As a professor of Asian history, Park wrote several
nonfiction books and lectured in Asian studies
throughout North America. He was born in Man-
churia, but his parents had emigrated from Korea
during the Japanese invasion several years before
his birth. Despite growing up in a small farming
village, Park had the unusual luxury and privilege
of being the only family member to attend school.
His early schooling launched an intense search for
knowledge and a truly modern education, which
Park associated with the advancements and prom-
ise of the Western world.
Park’s scholarly drive led him to Europe and
then to America after World War I. His autobiog-
r aphy, Chinaman’s Chance (1940), narrates his set-
tlement in New York’s Chinatown, where he vowed
to speak English and study well so that he might
break free from the limited opportunities available
to Asian immigrants in America. Park writes of his
educational achievements, such as his 1932 Ph.D.
from Harvard, and his professional role as lecturer,
but his autobiography is essentially an astute and
critical look at American society in the early and
mid 20th century. The autobiography begins with
Park’s description of his “mammoth appetite...
without discrimination for Western culture and
civilization.” However, America soon teaches Park
to be wary of his idealistic views of Western free-
dom and culture.
Throughout the book, Park combines his ap-
preciation for American freedom and education
with a sharp critique of American consumerism
and waste. Despite being a “land of plenty,” Amer-
ica reveals itself to the immigrant as a place where
he cannot even have what others unquestion-
ingly accept or wastefully discard. In a Thoreau-
like manner, Park decides that he will not adopt
the American drive to “keep up with the Joneses,”
but instead live as simply as possible. He keeps a
small residence, few clothes, and spurns nonessen-
tial possessions. Even after his own professional
success, Park continues to maintain a simple life
without the need to mold himself into the typi-
cal American: “[After] trying the civilized ways
of Western life for nearly a quarter of a century,
I began to revolt against all my artificially ac-
quired habits and traits because they did not seem
to make me a better, freer, happier, or healthier
human being.”
In addition to his autobiography, Park pub-
lished several other nonfiction books that also
juxtapose and attempt to reconcile the misconcep-
tions and misunderstandings between Eastern and
Western cultures. His first book, Making a New
China (1929), was followed by An Oriental View
of American Civilization (1934) and Retreat of the
West: The White Man’s Adventure in Eastern Asia
(1937), a collection of many of his lectures. Fol-
lowing the publication of his 1940 autobiography,
Park published The White Man’s Peace: An Orien-
tal View of Our Attempts at Making World Peace
(1948). As the titles of his books make explicit,
Park was mainly interested in educating himself
and others about the immigrant experience, the
damaging divide between the West and the East,
and the clash of identities and cultures that results
from residence in a foreign country.
Critical reception of Park’s work has been
mixed. He has been criticized for historical inac-
curacy and “superficial” scope. However, many
critics have acknowledged Park as one of the first
American writers of Korean-Chinese heritage who
not only significantly contributed to the field of
Asian-American studies, but also to the broad field
of cultural studies.Bibliography
Han, John Jae-Nam. “No-Yong Park: An Oriental
Voice for World Peace.” Cantos: Literary and Arts
Magazine (2000): 74–79.240 Park, No-Yong