Jade Snow Wong () (January 21, 1922 – March 16, 2006) was a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

ceramic artist and author of two memoirs. She was given the English name of Constance, also being known as Connie Wong Ong.

Early life

Wong was born on January 21,1922 and raised in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

; she was the fifth daughter of an immigrant family which grew to have nine children. She was raised with the traditional beliefs and customs of Chinese culture which her family and her elders imposed upon her. Wong first attended

San Francisco Junior College City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...

, and later

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, where she majored in economics and sociology in the hopes of becoming a social worker in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

. Wong graduated from Mills College in 1942 with a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

key. While at Mills, she discovered a talent for

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

s in a summer course and joined a Ceramics Guild associated with the college. Wong also worked as a secretary during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Artistic work

Wong's career in pottery took off after she convinced a merchant on Grant Avenue in

Chinatown, San Francisco The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street (San Francisco), Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, () is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Han Chinese, Chinese ethnic enclave, enclaves outside As ...

, to allow her to put her workshop in his store window. Artist

Win Ng Win "Winfred" Ng (April 13, 1936 – September 6, 1991) was a Chinese American artist, entrepreneur, and decorative designer. Ng was known for working as a ceramist, sculptor, metal worker, industrial designer, painter and illustrator, but best k ...

(1936–1991) had studied under Wong when he was a teenager. Her ceramics were later displayed in art museums across the United States, including a 2002 exhibition at the

Chinese Historical Society of America The Chinese Historical Society of America (; abbreviated CHSA) is the oldest and largest archive and history center documenting the Chinese American experience in the United States. It is based in the Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco, Cali ...

. They were also displayed at the

M. H. de Young Memorial Museum ( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of resp ...

in San Francisco, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

(a one-woman show), the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York City, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

in Washington, D.C., and the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

, as well as shows in Omaha, Nebraska, and Portland, Oregon. In addition to these shows across the United States, Wong's ceramics have also been placed in the permanent collections of New York’s

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the list of largest art museums, largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation a ...

, the

Oakland Museum of California The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cali ...

, the

Joslyn Art Museum The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only m ...

, and the International Ceramic Museum in Italy.

Literary Work

In 1950, Wong published the first of her two autobiographical volumes, Fifth Chinese Daughter. The book described her troubles balancing her identity as an Asian American woman and her Chinese Traditions. The book was translated into several Asian languages by the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

, which sent her on a four-month speaking tour of Asia in 1953. "I was sent," Wong wrote, "because those Asian audiences who had read translations of ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' did not believe a female born to poor Chinese immigrants could gain a toehold among prejudiced Americans." Her second volume, ''No Chinese Stranger,'' was published in 1975.The book described her trip across Asia during her speaking tour and her visits to the People’s Republic of China.

Personal life

Wong married the artist Woodrow Ong in 1950; they worked together on their art and later managed a travel agency together. Throughout her lifetime, Wong worked with many organizations including the

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Library Journals L ...

, the

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco – Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture"About"
Asian Art Museum website. ...

, the Chinese Cultural Center, the

, and Mills College. Wong was recognized and awarded by Mills College with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Arts in 1976. Wong died on March 16, 2006, at the age of 84 of cancer; she was survived by her two daughters, two sons, and four grandchildren.

In popular culture

In 1976,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

made a half-hour special for public television based on Wong’s first volume ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'', called ''Jade Snow'', in which she was played by actress

Freda Foh Shen Freda Foh Shen (born April 25, 1948) is an American actress. She is best known for the voice of Fa Li in the 1998 Disney animated film ''Mulan'' and its 2004 direct-to-video sequel ''Mulan II'', and for playing Anne Lee on '' 9-1-1'' (2019-prese ...

References

Critical studies

#The Oriental/Occidental Dynamic in Chinese American Life Writing: Pardee Lowe and Jade Snow Wong By: Madsen, Deborah L.; ''Amerikastudien/American Studies'', 2006; 51 (3): 343-53. (journal article) #Chinese American Writers of the Real and the Fake: Authenticity and the Twin Traditions of Life Writing By: Madsen, Deborah L.; ''Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue Canadienne d'Etudes Americaines'', 2006; 36 (3): 257-71. (journal article) #Reading Ethnography: The Cold War Social Science of Jade Snow Wong's ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' and

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregat ...

By: Douglas, Christopher. pp. 101–24 IN: Zhou, Xiaojing (ed. and introd.); Najmi, Samina (ed.); ''Form and Transformation in Asian American Literature''. Seattle, WA: U of Washington P; 2005. 296 pp. (book article) #''A Genealogy of Literary Multiculturalism.'' Chapter 3. By Christopher Douglas. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009. #Labored Realisms: Geopolitical Rhetoric and Asian American and Asian (Im)Migrant Women's (Auto)biography By: Hesford, Wendy S.; ''JAC'', 2003; 23 (1): 77-107. (journal article) #Chinese Medicine and Asian-American Literature: A Case Study of ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' By: Zheng, Da; ''JASAT (Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas)'', 2002 Oct; 33: 11-30. (journal article) #'Nothing Solid': Racial Identity and Identification in ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' and ''Wilshire Bus'' By: Motooka, Wendy. pp. 207–32 IN: Goldner, Ellen J. (ed.); Henderson-Holmes, Safiya (ed.); ''Racing and (E)Racing Language: Living with the Color of Our Words''. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP; 2001. xvi, 300 pp. (book article) #Jade Snow Wong (1922- ) By: Kapai, Leela. pp. 387–90 IN: Nelson, Emmanuel S. (ed. and preface); ''Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook''. Westport, CT: Greenwood; 2000. xi, 422 pp. (book article) #''Representing the 'Other': Images of China and the Chinese in the Works of Jade Snow Wong,

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

and

Amy Tan Amy Ruth Tan (born on February 19, 1952) is an American author known for the novel '' The Joy Luck Club,'' which was adapted into a film of the same name, as well as other novels, short story collections, and children's books. Tan has written ...

'' By: Liu, Hong; Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 1999 May; 59 (11): 4144. U of Toledo, 1998. (dissertation abstract) #''"Just Translating": The Politics of Translation and Ethnography in Chinese-American Women's Writing'' By: Su, Karen Kai-yuan; Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 1999 Feb; 59 (8): 2989. U of California, Berkeley, 1998. (dissertation abstract) #The Meaning of Ethnic Literature to the Historian By: Daniels, Roger. pp. 31–38 IN: Grabher, Gudrun M. (ed.); Bahn-Coblans, Sonja (ed.); ''The Self at Risk in English Literatures and Other Landscapes/Das Risiko Selbst in der englischsprachigen Literatur und in anderen Bereichen''. Innsbruck, Austria: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Innsbruck; 1999. xvi, 381 pp. (book article) #''Lands of Her Own: The Chinese-American Woman in Two Pioneering Texts'' By: Wong, Patricia May-Lynn; Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 1997 June; 57 (12): 5156. State U of New York, Binghamton, 1996. (dissertation abstract) #''Estranging the Natural Elements of Narrative'' By: Shitabata, Russell Hiromu; Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 1997 Mar; 57 (9): 3952. U of Oregon, 1996. (dissertation abstract) #Jade Snow Wong's Badge of Distinction in the 1990s By: Su, Karen; ''Hitting Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism'', 1994 Winter; 2 (1): 3-52. (journal article) #The Illusion of the Middle Way: Liberal Feminism and Biculturalism in Jade Snow Wong's ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' By: Bow, Leslie. pp. 161–75 IN: Revilla, Linda A. (ed. and introd.); Nomura, Gail M. (ed. and introd.); Wong, Shawn (ed. and introd.); Hune, Shirley (ed. and introd.); ''Bearing Dream, Shaping Visions: Asian Pacific American Perspectives''. Pullman, WA: Washington State UP; 1993. xv, 282 pp. (book article) #The Tradition of Chinese American Women's Life Stories: Thematics of Race and Gender in Jade Snow Wong's ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' and

's ''The Woman Warrior'' By: Lim, Shirley Geok-lin. pp. 252–67 IN: Culley, Margo (ed.); ''American Women's Autobiography: Fea(s)ts of Memory''. Madison: U of Wisconsin P; 1992. xiii, 329 pp. (book article) #Food as an Expression of Cultural Identity in Jade Snow Wong and ''Songs for Jadina'' By: Cobb, Nora; ''Hawaii Review'', 1988 Spring; 12 (1 3: 12-16. (journal article) #''The Female Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Immigrant Women's Autobiography'' By: Demirturk, Emine Lale; Dissertation Abstracts International, 1987 Jan.; 47 (7): 2584A. (dissertation abstract) #Chinesisch-amerikanische Literatur: Eine Fallstudie anhand zweier Autobiographien By: Meissenburg, Karin. pp. 356–379 IN: Ostendorf, Berndt (ed.); ''Amerikanische Gettoliteratur: Zur Literatur ethnischer, marginaler und unterdrückter Gruppen in Amerika''. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchges.; 1984. 403 pp. (book article) #The Divided Voice of Chinese-American Narration: Jade Snow Wong's ''Fifth Chinese Daughter'' By: Yin, Kathleen Loh Swee; ''

MELUS Melus (also ''Milus'' or ''Meles'', ''Melo'' in Italian) (died 1020) was a Lombard nobleman from the Apulian town of Bari, whose ambition to carve for himself an autonomous territory from the Byzantine catapanate of Italy in the early eleventh ...

'', 1982 Spring; 9 (1): 53-59. (journal article) #The Icicle in the Desert: Perspective and Form in the Works of Two Chinese-American Women Writers By: Blinde, Patricia Lin; ''

'', 1979 Fall; 6 (3): 51-71. (journal article) #Chinese Medicine and Chinese American Literature: A Case Study of Fifth Chinese Daughter. By: Zheng, Da; ''JASAT'', 2002 33: 11-30. (Journal article) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Jade Snow 1922 births 2006 deaths American writers of Chinese descent American ceramists American autobiographers Mills College alumni Artists from San Francisco 20th-century ceramists Deaths from cancer in California City College of San Francisco alumni

Early life

Artistic work

Literary Work

Personal life

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

Critical studies