Tea That Burns: A Family Memoir of Chinatown

Rating:
Summary: More descendents of Chinese immigrants should share stories.
Review: I read Mr. Hall's narration and found it simultaneously interesting and dissapointing. Interesting because he cleverly portrayed the historical side of the story from an angle I could relate to, with credible detail that in and of itself made for the price of the book (Great Photos!). Disappointing because the individuals contained within were only briefly portrayed and therefore the personal aspect, that in my respectful opinion lends dimension to all historical fact, was somewhat disjointed. I look forward to Mr. Hall's next work to fill in the gaps and continue what he began.

Rating:
Summary: More descendents of Chinese immigrants should share stories.
Review: My mother grew up in the mining camps at the turn of the century, (1900) - it would be wonderful if more of the Chinese descendents would write their stories - it was surely a life of great hardship, and a history that needs to be shared. This is a wonderful story of family and life, societal views, prejudice and pain. Many expressions I heard throughout my childhood referred to the Chinese..."...didn't have a Chinaman's chance."..."...the rule was that the sun was not to set on any Chinese in town..." - what torment these people had to endure - yet we have very little literature on this subject. Mr. Hall has provided us with a wonderful, informative read and some true-life views that U.S.History certainly needs.

Rating:
Summary: Tea That Refreshes
Review: Tea That Burns was an unexpected pleasure to read. Not only is the writing fresh and engrossing, but the overall account of his family history back several generations is fascinating and rings of authencity. I have read numerous interesting Chinese-American memoirs, and what makes this one especially unique, is the ability of the author to connect the events occurring in U. S. History with concurrent events in China's history. This interweaving informs the reader in ways that are absent when the China context is not provided.
As a second generation Chinese whose father was a paper son, and whose parents had an arranged marriage, I already knew many of the factual aspects of the book. However, I never could entirely understand the 'process' underlying the facts until I read Tea That Burns. The author filled in many of these gaps with his eye for detail. The documentation at the back of the book reveals that the author knows his Chinese immigration history thoroughly, but fortunately he does not bog the reader down by inserting an abundance of citations within the body of the text.
I felt invigorated and refreshed after reading this excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Tea That Refreshes
Review: Tea That Burns was an unexpected pleasure to read. Not only is the writing fresh and engrossing, but the overall account of his family history back several generations is fascinating and rings of authencity. I have read numerous interesting Chinese-American memoirs, and what makes this one especially unique, is the ability of the author to connect the events occurring in U. S. History with concurrent events in China's history. This interweaving informs the reader in ways that are absent when the China context is not provided.
As a second generation Chinese whose father was a paper son, and whose parents had an arranged marriage, I already knew many of the factual aspects of the book. However, I never could entirely understand the 'process' underlying the facts until I read Tea That Burns. The author filled in many of these gaps with his eye for detail. The documentation at the back of the book reveals that the author knows his Chinese immigration history thoroughly, but fortunately he does not bog the reader down by inserting an abundance of citations within the body of the text.
I felt invigorated and refreshed after reading this excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Tea That Burns
Review: Yes, it is a great book! I finish in one afternoon. I couldn't down the book once I started reading.... Mr. Hall provides a very rich history of the Chinatown in New York City during the mid-1800s period. He is succeeded to "enable the reader to smell history." In the book, Mr. Hall describes his father "denied" his identity of Chinese which shows the typical dilemma of the new generation of Chinese immigrants in the United States. However, I was "confused" by the subtitle, "a family memoir of chinatwon". I expect that the book mainly describes the author's family history, rather than concerns on the hisotry of Chinatown history.