''Thousand Pieces of Gold'' is a 1981

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

Ruthanne Lum McCunn Ruthanne Lum McCunn () (née Drysdale; born February 21, 1946) is an American novelist and editor of Chinese and Scottish descent. Early life Ruthanne Lum McCunn was born as Roxey Drysdale on February 21, 1946, in Chinatown, San Francisco and rai ...

and based on the life of

Polly Bemis Polly Bemis (September 11, 1853 – November 6, 1933) was a Chinese American pioneer who lived in Idaho in the late 19th and early 20th century. Her story became a biographical novel, and was the subject of the 1991 film '' Thousand Pieces of Go ...

, a 19th-century

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

immigrant woman in the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. In 1991, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name.

Plot

Lalu is the daughter of a Chinese farmer. When her father loses everything, Lalu finds herself thrust into debt slavery. Her misfortunes eventually take her to the Pacific Northwest.

Background

McCunn first came across Lalu Nathoy's story when she was researching the lives of Chinese in Idaho for an earlier nonfiction book called ''An Illustrated History of the Chinese in America'':

I came across her story in a book called Idaho Chinese Lore by Sister Alfreda Elsensohn— it included just a few pages about her. But I immediately knew that I wanted to find out more about her and write an entire book about her because she brought out so many things about American history that we don't actually know about, generally, in this country. And also because, to me, she was such an extraordinary person in her own right. There are many people who survive incredible hardships, and she certainly did. But to survive with your capacity for compassion for other people intact and not to turn hard and bitter yourself is, to me, extraordinary. And that was what drew me to her and to want to find out more about her.

McCunn has said that Polly Bemis reminded her of her own great-grandmother who was also born in northern China and sold into slavery. After ''Thousand Pieces of Gold'' was published, she learned that her father, who had died when she was a girl, had met Bemis when he was a teenager working summer jobs as a fire watcher in Idaho.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.mccunn.com/TPOG.html Novels set in Idaho Chinese-American history American novels adapted into films Chinese-American novels 1981 American novels Literature by Asian-American women