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A review by daumari
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
5.0
This is the first time I've revisited Dragonwings since I was in sixth grade, "inspired" by the Blount County parents in Tennesee who got this pulled from sixth grade curriculum there, declaring this Newberry honor novel as inappropriate and "not for Americans" which shows they either didn't read past the first page or they simply don't care, especially considering how Laurence Yep's afterword mentions part of why he wrote this was to get past the stereotypes of Chinese in America: Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, nameless houseboys and cooks as comedic fodder. Dragonwings is a step at humanizing us and placing the Chinese American experience at an approachable level for middle grade.
Laurence Yep's books were a crucial part of my childhood reads, more important than other historical fiction like the Little House books because as a 4th generation Chinese American these were my stories, of the people who came before me. Despite retroactively being the 5th in the Golden Mountain Chronicles, Dragonwings was the first one published (in 1975, so likely in the school libraries of those angry parents when THEY were kids) and it covers a lot of material that I don't recall being taught well in my public education. The Chinese Exclusion Act gets maybe a sentence at most for the late 1800s period in curriculum, but its impact is massive: the first immigration law barring a nationality in the United States (though the lead up to it included the Page Act which prohibited the immigration of Chinese women). As Moon Shadow's father notes, he's a partner in the laundry Company on paper so he can bring his son over because the only exception to the exclusion act (which was aimed at laborers "stealing American jobs"- sound familiar?) was the merchant class. They send money back to the family in China, which is similar to what my great-great-grandfather did, allowing my great-grandmother to grow up privileged enough with a tutor.
Between the TN parental complaints and 1 star reviews on here, people in the white caste take issue with being called demons, and perhaps that's because this is one of the few times where they identify more with the antagonists. However, the very first page of the novel also mentions that Moon Shadow's grandfather was lynched by the white demons over in the land of America so he and his family have good reason to not trust white Americans. The bullying, the violence that the T'ang people faced were all very real threats (and given the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes over the last two years, a cyclical fear) so when people say this violence is inappropriate for their children, I wonder if they think it ok for an immigrant boy to face similar when they arrive on a strange shore. Does that make my family history inappropriate, or any less American? This country was and is built on immigrants though it has a curious habit of wanting the labor but not the people. The purpose of having books like Dragonwings in curriculum is so that history IS taught, so students don't continue the willful ignorance of their parents in not recognizing their fellow citizens. (I think the most misguided comment I saw alluded to the CCP which 1) didn't exist in Moon Shadow's time and 2) is irrelevant to a book about the Chinese American experience, especially for a pre-1940s immigration tale.)
Dragonwings is also inspired by a real life Chinese American aviator, another example of a figure in American history largely unknown. I'd completely forgot that the Wright brothers figure into this plot, where Moon Shadow and his father correspond with them about how to build a better flying machine.
My favorite Golden Mountain Chronicles book is actually [b:The Traitor|25261|The Traitor (Golden Mountain Chronicles, #4)|Laurence Yep|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348823964l/25261._SY75_.jpg|2675977] which is about the Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming. Even though I checked it out for my own reading, I remember my parents also reading it because it took the subject seriously and reflects the extinguishing of other Chinatowns across the west, but that's another review for another day.
Laurence Yep's books were a crucial part of my childhood reads, more important than other historical fiction like the Little House books because as a 4th generation Chinese American these were my stories, of the people who came before me. Despite retroactively being the 5th in the Golden Mountain Chronicles, Dragonwings was the first one published (in 1975, so likely in the school libraries of those angry parents when THEY were kids) and it covers a lot of material that I don't recall being taught well in my public education. The Chinese Exclusion Act gets maybe a sentence at most for the late 1800s period in curriculum, but its impact is massive: the first immigration law barring a nationality in the United States (though the lead up to it included the Page Act which prohibited the immigration of Chinese women). As Moon Shadow's father notes, he's a partner in the laundry Company on paper so he can bring his son over because the only exception to the exclusion act (which was aimed at laborers "stealing American jobs"- sound familiar?) was the merchant class. They send money back to the family in China, which is similar to what my great-great-grandfather did, allowing my great-grandmother to grow up privileged enough with a tutor.
Between the TN parental complaints and 1 star reviews on here, people in the white caste take issue with being called demons, and perhaps that's because this is one of the few times where they identify more with the antagonists. However, the very first page of the novel also mentions that Moon Shadow's grandfather was lynched by the white demons over in the land of America so he and his family have good reason to not trust white Americans. The bullying, the violence that the T'ang people faced were all very real threats (and given the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes over the last two years, a cyclical fear) so when people say this violence is inappropriate for their children, I wonder if they think it ok for an immigrant boy to face similar when they arrive on a strange shore. Does that make my family history inappropriate, or any less American? This country was and is built on immigrants though it has a curious habit of wanting the labor but not the people. The purpose of having books like Dragonwings in curriculum is so that history IS taught, so students don't continue the willful ignorance of their parents in not recognizing their fellow citizens. (I think the most misguided comment I saw alluded to the CCP which 1) didn't exist in Moon Shadow's time and 2) is irrelevant to a book about the Chinese American experience, especially for a pre-1940s immigration tale.)
Dragonwings is also inspired by a real life Chinese American aviator, another example of a figure in American history largely unknown. I'd completely forgot that the Wright brothers figure into this plot, where Moon Shadow and his father correspond with them about how to build a better flying machine.
My favorite Golden Mountain Chronicles book is actually [b:The Traitor|25261|The Traitor (Golden Mountain Chronicles, #4)|Laurence Yep|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348823964l/25261._SY75_.jpg|2675977] which is about the Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming. Even though I checked it out for my own reading, I remember my parents also reading it because it took the subject seriously and reflects the extinguishing of other Chinatowns across the west, but that's another review for another day.