the Tiananmen Massacre, however, Xiao-Di can-
not find work despite his education. In his frustra-
tion and anger with restrictive, traditional Chinese
culture, he turns to the democratic student move-
ment against the Chinese ruler, Deng Xiaoping.
At the heart of the novel, we learn the story of
Xiao-Di and his brother Lu, who hold conflicting
ideas about politics, protest, and loyalty to China.
Lu, a Chinese soldier, is sent on a military mission
to find Xiao-Di and put an end to his political
protests. However, Xiao-Di’s protests escalate and
culminate in his final heroic action as he stands
alone before the tanks in Tiananmen Square. De-
spite this central political conflict, Terrence Cheng
has described his novel’s themes with words that
have little to do with politics: “family,” “courage,”
“faith,” and “love.”
Bibliography
Cheng, Terrence. “Author Essay.” Meet the Writers.
Barnes & Noble: Discover Great New Writers.
Available online. URL: http://www.barnesandno-
ble.com/writers/writer.asp?2-y&cid-969340 essay.
Downloaded on September 21, 2006.
Amy Lillian Manning
Chickencoop Chinaman, The
Frank Chin (1981)
Like The YEAR OF THE DRAGON by the same author,
The Chickencoop Chinaman illustrates the search
for father figures and role models. The Chinese-
American protagonist, Tam Lum, is a filmmaker
who flies to Pittsburgh to find Charley Popcorn,
the alleged African-American father of a former
boxing champion, Ovaltine Jack the Dancer, for
a documentary film. However, Charley Popcorn,
who turns out to have been no more than the
boxer’s trainer, now runs a porno movie house
and shows nothing but racist contempt toward
“yellow people.” Disappointed at being unable to
find an exemplary father figure, Tam reflects on
his own failed fatherhood: His children are taken
away by his ex-wife, and he says of them, “I don’t
want them to be anything like me or know me, or
remember me.” Recalling his father as “a crazy old
dishwasher,” Tam concludes that “Chinamans do
make lousy fathers.” FRANK CHIN blames America’s
racism for Asian-American men’s loss of manhood.
Tam’s process of making a documentary about the
life of the former light-heavyweight champion
symbolizes his difficult search for an identity and
a sense of manhood.
The Chickencoop Chinaman is the first work by
an Asian-American playwright to be produced on
a mainstream stage in New York. Despite recog-
nitions from the New Yorker and Newsweek after
the play’s opening, Chin wrote in Backtalk: “That
this play is the first play by an Asian American...
that people should be surprised at our existence,
is proof of the great success white racism has had
with us. America might love us. But America’s love
is not good. It’s racist love. I don’t want it.”Bibliography
Chin, Frank. “Backtalk.” News of the American Place
Theatre 4, 4 (May 1972): 1–2.
Fu-jen ChenChild of the Owl
Laurence Michael Yep (1977)
In this story of Casey Young, a 12-year-old Chinese
American who lives with her gambler father, BAR-
NEY, LAURENCE YEP explores the issues of isolation,
alienation, and identity formation among Chi-
nese-American children. Set in San Francisco in
1965, the story begins when Barney, beaten up by
a bookie, ends up in a hospital, thus giving up the
custody of his daughter, Casey, to her American-
ized maternal uncle, “Phil the pill.” Unable to cope
with his restless niece, Phil sends Casey to live with
her grandmother Paw-Paw in Chinatown, where a
new, unknown world unfolds in front of the girl’s
eyes. Casey had always thought of herself as an
American without any ethnic background; there-
fore, at first, life in Chinatown is rather difficult to
endure, especially in her Chinese school, where she
has to struggle with the Chinese language and the
mockery of her fellow students and teachers.
Casey’s relationship with her grandmother
grows stronger when the old lady, understanding40 Chickencoop Chinaman, The