ON GOLD MOUNTAIN: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of...
ON GOLD MOUNTAIN: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family by Lisa See (Vintage: $14, 394 pp., illustrated). In 1867, See’s impoverished great-great-grandfather came to California, where he compounded herbal medicines for Chinese laborers working on the railroads. His son, Fong See, founded a merchant dynasty and married a Caucasian woman, despite laws against miscegenation. Lisa See juxtaposes the growth of her family’s fortunes with the changes the Southern California Chinese American community underwent over the decades. As racist laws governing immigration, marriage and property ownership were rescinded, the focus of the Chinese community shifted from the site of Union Station to North Broadway and Monterey Park. See presents an intriguing tale of intrafamily rivalries and honest, unsparing portraits of her often fractious relatives.
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