A PhD student will spend time at the Huntington Library in California, digging through its archives to uncover the untold family histories behind Chinese-American author Lisa See’s novels. This research addresses a gap in how Chinese-American literature is understood. Many novels about Chinatown focus on familiar themes of tradition versus ambition, but the real family histories that inspired those stories—especially the lesser-known records of early Chinese immigrants, their businesses, and their community networks in Los Angeles—remain buried in library collections. The student will link these original documents, such as family letters and photographs, directly to See’s work, particularly her 1995 memoir *On Gold Mountain*. If successful, this project will produce a richer, more accurate account of Chinese diaspora history in America, grounded in primary sources rather than literary tropes. It will also provide new material for scholars studying Lisa See and for anyone interested in how migration and identity shape cultural heritage. This is fundamentally a humanities project—it will not change a manufacturing process or a medical treatment. But by connecting archival evidence to published fiction, it could shift how future historians and literary critics write about the Chinese-American experience, making those narratives more concrete and less abstract.
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I am excited to submit my application for the international placement scheme in the Huntington Library. As a PhD student whose research focuses on the China-themed historical fiction by Chinese-American novelist Lisa See, I am particularly drawn to Huntington’s significant original resources on early Chinese-American history, family memories, and LA Chinatown. During my placement, I would like to undertake a project titled “Beyond Literary Chinatown: A Hybrid Narrative of Chinese Diaspora in America through the Case of the Leong and See Families.” Chinatown has been a recurrent theme in contemporary Chinese-American literature. Works such as Jade Snow Wong’s memoir Fifth Chinese Daughter and C. Y. Lee’s novel The Flower Drum Song dramatises the complexities that Chinese immigrants have negotiated between their familial traditions and American ambitions. The Chinatown experience, defined by symbols of a nostalgic, imagined homeland and fraught, racist history, plays a critical role in shaping the immigrant narratives by these diasporic authors. Lisa See’s childhood in LA Chinatown profoundly influenced her literary career. Her 1995 family memoir On Gold Mountain explores her family’s deep historical ties to the area. The Huntington’s rich collection on Chinese-American history positions it as a unique resource for uncovering the untold and lesser-known stories of Chinese diaspora in America, while linking them to the works by Chinese-American authors. I believe this project will contribute meaningfully to the understanding of historical and cultural heritage within Chinese American community, shed light on Lisa See studies, and encourage reflections on migration, diaspora, and identity.
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