Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature

the girl’s uneasiness with her Chinese side, de-
cides to tell her the story of the jade charm that
had been given to the family by the “Owl Spirit.”
Looking like an owl and worn by the grandmother
at all times, the charm originally belonged to an
owl named Jasmine, who had been induced to live
in a human’s body for the sake of her family, but
who, thanks to her husband’s love, was allowed
to go back to her own community of owls. With
this story, Casey begins to understand herself, her
feelings of being often “trapped inside the wrong
body and among the wrong people.” As she starts
to investigate her past, she learns about her mother
from Paw-Paw and about the meaning of her Chi-
nese name, Cheun Meih, “Taste of Spring.” This
name signifies a rebirth for Casey as she begins a
new life as a Chinese American.
The story continues with Paw-Paw being hos-
pitalized after trying to prevent her owl charm
from being stolen by a burglar, who turns out to
be Casey’s father, Barney, who wanted to sell it in
order to raise money for his gambling habit. The
novel has a happy ending, since Paw-Paw fully re-
covers and mortified Barney decides to join Gam-
blers Anonymous.

Elisabetta Marino

Chin, Frank (1940– )
A novelist, essayist, playwright, editor, and short
story writer, Frank Chew Chin, Jr., was born in
Berkeley, California, in 1940. Describing himself
as a “fifth-generation Chinaman,” Frank Chin is
the son of Frank Chew, an immigrant, and Lilac
Bowe Yoke, a fourth-generation resident of Oak-
land Chinatown. After growing up in the China-
towns of Oakland and San Francisco, he attended
the University of California, Berkeley, and par-
ticipated in the Program in Creative Writing at
the University of Iowa. Before he received his B.A.
from the University of California in Santa Barbara
in 1965, he worked for the Southern Pacific Rail-
road for three years. Leaving the railroad company,
he moved to Seattle and became a writer-producer
for the television station KING-TV. Chin left Se-
attle to become a freelance consultant and lecturer

on Chinese America and racism at San Francisco

State University, the University of California Davis,

and Berkeley until 1970.

After that, he began his dramatic career. He

staged his first play, The CHICKENCOOP CHINA-

MAN in 1972, and his second play, The YEAR OF THE

DRAGON, two years later. Both were staged at The

American Place Theatre. He soon founded the

Asian American Theater Workshop in San Fran-

cisco and remained its director until 1977. After

the success of his stage plays, Chin went on to es-

tablish his reputation as a story writer with the

1998 publication of The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco

R. R. Co. His first novel, DONALD DUK, was pub-

lished in 1991 and his second novel, GUNGA DIN

HIGHWAY, in 1994. His collection of essays, Bullet-

proof Buddhists and Other Essays, was released in

1998. His most recent work, Born in the USA: A
      Story of Japanese America, 1889–1947, published
      in 2002, details Japanese-American history.
      Frank Chin is regarded by some as the “God-
      father” of Asian-American writing. He is the first
      Chinese American to rise to literary stardom; in
      1970 he helped organize the first Asian-Ameri-
      can literature curriculum at San Francisco State
      University; he was also the founder of the Asian-
      American Theater Company; most of all, he is the
      first Asian-American playwright to have his plays
      produced both by a major New York theater and
      on national television. Chin himself claimed that
      he was also “the first Chinese-American brakeman
      on the Southern Pacific Railroad, [and] the first
      Chinaman to ride the engines.”
      Chin is noted not only for his literary efforts but
      also for his role as the first editor of the ground-
      breaking anthology of Asian-American writings
      entitled Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Asian American
      Writers (1974) and its sequel The Big Aiiieeeee!: An
      Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese Amer-
      ican Literature (1991). Edited by Chin and three
      other Californians, (JEFFERY PAU L CHAN, LAWSON
      FUSAO INADA, and SHAWN WONG), Aiiieeeee! acted
      as a catalyst for the study of Asian-American lit-
      erature as a formal literary field and caused acri-
      monious, as well as fruitful, debates. In the context
      of the increasing awareness of racial and cultural
      identity since the era of the Vietnam War and the

Chin, Frank 41