This story took place in 1937 Shanghai, my birth place. Some of you may have heard the expression, “Shanghai is the Paris of Asia” with its European architecturals, rich culture, and glamorous citizens. However, during that era, it’s also the homes of millionairs and beggars, gansters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warloards.

In that time of political uncertainty and foreign occupancy, the story follows two sisters, Pearl and May, born to an affluent merchant family and lived a carefree life until their father gambled away the family business and sold them to an American man who were looking for brides for his sons. Their journey from Shanghai to the U.S via Hong Kong was nothing short of hardship. . .Once in Los Angeles, they try to adapt to a new life, and find love with their new husbands while facing strict rules and customs in 1940 Chinatown.

In the heart of the story, Shanghai Girls is a story about sisters, love, and family. It’s also about daughters and mothers, and how different and similar we are at the same time. As daughters, we like to rebel against our mothers; as mothers, we became our mothers, whether we like it or not. It’s a great book.

So I was elated when my bookclub decided to read Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as this month’s book selection. The title, as well as the namesake for the none profit organization is based on an ancient Chinese proverb that says “Women hold up half the sky”. With that in mind, Kristof and WuDunn chronicled their meetings of an extraordinary array of women struggling under profoundly dire circumstances—and an equally extraordinary group that have triumphed. Through their stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to progress in our world lies in unleashing women’s potential—and they make clear how each of us can help make that happen.

According to Carolyn See of the Washington Post, Half the Sky is a call to arms, a call for help, a call for contributions, but also a call for volunteers. It asks us to open our eyes to this enormous humanitarian issue.

Sherly was the recipient of the distinguished alumna from Cornell’s Asian Alumni Association 5 years ago. During her acceptance speech, she talked about the foundation and what we can all do to help save the lives of women and children in those developing nations. I hope you enjoy this book and help find hope for those in need. Please help us spread the word about this wonderful organization and the works Sheryl and her husband have started.

To further our goal to provide high quality educational material that are also relavent to our customer, we’ve added some new items to our website. The biggest change is that we now have a Simplified Chinese section, for those of you who wish to teach your children simplified version of the written language. We realize this is a continued debate within the Chinese community, and proponents of both have made convincing arguments. I think adding this catagory really helps us to round up the needs of our customers. We are also fortunate enough to find high quality paperbacks in both Simplifed Chinese and English, such as Harold and the Purple Crayon, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Little Pip and the Rainbow Wish. So be sure to check out these and many other titles, your children will love to read or hear these stories!

In addition, we’ve added some great note cards, for Chinese New Year or anytime you want to send a note to that special someone. These beautiful greeting cards are created by artists who mostly reside in Tianjin, China, about 60 miles east of Beijing on the Bohai Bay.  Most of the artists never received formal art training.  Their paintings reflect their daily lives, everyday events, festival, and traditional Chinese culture.

We hope you enjoy these new additions to our product offerings, and please continue to email us with your feedback. We know we can do even better with your input. Happy New Year!

In this book, Jin writes about the large immigrant community of Flushing, NY: a waitress who has to send her hard earned money back home to her spoiled little sister so she can buy an import car, a lonely composer who grew dependent on his girlfriend’s parakeet; young children decide to change their names so that they might sound more “American,” unaware of how deeply this will hurt their grandparents.

Vick Boughton from People Magazine sums it well. . .” (Jin) writes with warmth and humor about what it means to be a bewidered stranger in a strange land, no matter where one was born.”

It’s a story about Christmas at the Bear family household, where Father Bear and Mother Bear don’t have any money for Christmas presents this year. However, Mother Bear and Father Bear create holiday spirit by adorning their home with decorations sewn from outgrown clothes and a tree assembled from gathered branches dusted with flour. Little Bear worries whether Santa will come and ultimately proves to be the most resourceful to ensure that gifts are under the tree. On Christmas day everyone has a present — a mended kite for Brother; a once-missing umbrella for Sister; a favorite old hat for Father; and, for Mother, a long-lost button that has been conspicuously missing from her red dress. This charming tale demonstrates that even the smallest person can give big gifts, requiring only love and ingenuity.

So this year, I’m going to challenge my husband to do the same. Instead of buying new games and toys for our boys, I’m going to try to “shop” at home. I’m pretty sure I can find un-opened toys and wii games from the past, and maybe just one of two books they “really” need from the book fair.

The New York Times gave it a great review this week.  It praised the author for the amount of research, and telling a beautiful story at the same time.

I always admire her for her beauty, for her help to bring modernization to China, for her fasinating life, and for her power to influence thousands of people, even to this day.  From reading the many reviews so far, it seems that this book also provides a glimpse of Madame Chiang’s dark side.  I am eager to find out more about this elegant lady, so that I can continue to be awed by her.

One reason is because these books are beautifully illustrated, in a vivid and humorous fashion. It immediately draws your eyes to those books. The other reason is there are a lot of non Chinese speaking families, including those of us with Chinese school drop out husbands! A bilingual book, offers both parents the flexibility to read to their child, in Chinese, in English, or in both. In addition, if neither parents are fluent in Chinese, then the CD, played in Chinese, is a convenient way to continue the language taught in school.

Some of the favorites are The Day I Got Up Early, mentioned in one of our previous blog post; The Featherless Chicken, my son’s favorite as he’s my little chicken (born in the year of the rooster); The Fire Breathing Dragon. For a complete list of Bilingual Books with CD, check out our website. Happy reading!

For this Grandparents Day, why not get some great Chinese bilingual books for a private Chinese tutoring session and bonding time with the Grandparents?  Check out some of my favorites here, I guarantee that both generations will love them.

I found this book, Busy Airport, and it was just perfect.  Not only did I get to introduce him with concepts of airport and taking a plane, it also provide lots of activities for them with all those pulls and tabs.  This book was originally published in English, then translated in Chinese.  I especially love the translation as it really captured the essence in English.  To check out more details, please click here for our website.

When we first arrived at her house, the fragrance from the different meat mixtures, ranging from pork w/ shrimp (traditional), to turkey, beef, and vegetarian were so inviting, we decided we HAD to eat before actually working at the wrappers’ table. Since this group consisted mostly 20 and 30 something writers and their friends, the shapes of the dumplings were very unique and creative. After we sampled some that were already pan fried or steamed, we decided it was time for us to contribute.

Born into a Shanghainess family, I didn’t eat a lot of dumplings (but definitely a lot of won tons) as dumplings are traditionally a northern Chinese staple. So my dumpling making skills were fairly limited. Given the square wrapper that was available on the table, I couldn’t get it right! So finally, I had to improvise! I decided it was better to do it like a tortellini than a true dumpling, because I couldn’t close all corners without the meat falling out of the wrapper. I have to say, despite the Italian look, it tasted fantastic, especially with some coriander chutney and spicy sauce!
Our host, my new idol was also most gracious. She steamed, she pan fried, she served, and most of all, she gave me a copy of her book The Fortune Cookie Chronicle from her own collection and autographed it w/ nothing but a fortune that reads “Take advantage of your great imagination, it will serve you will.” How appropriate is that for our new business?

one of the many batches of dumplings we made

Debbie and Allie making dumplings

w/ Jennifer 8. Lee (center) and other AAWW members