Chin Yang Lee (; December 23, 1915 – November 8, 2018) was a Chinese American author best known for his 1957

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

The Flower Drum Song ''The Flower Drum Song'' is a novel by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, first published in 1957. The novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, and was a bestseller in its time. It is the basis of 1958 musical ''Flower Drum ...

'', which inspired the

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

musical ''

Flower Drum Song ''Flower Drum Song'' was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, ''The Flower Drum Song'', by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the ...

'' and the eponymous 1961 film which was nominated for five

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Early life

Chin Yang Lee (Li Jinyang) was born in 1915 into a scholarly family in

Xiangtan Xiangtan () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal Peng Dehuai, ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

, China, the youngest of the

eight Li brothers The eight Li brothers, also referred to as the Eight Stallions of the Li Family (), are eight brothers from the Li family of Xiangtan, Hunan, China who lived during the 20th century. They included the linguist Li Jinxi, the musician Li Jinhui, and ...

who all achieved national or international fame. His eldest brother,

Li Jinxi Li Jinxi (; February 2, 1890 – March 27, 1978) was a Chinese linguist and educator. In 1911, he graduated from the Hunan Teachers College. He participated in the China Alliance Committee in his early years and launched the Jiusan Society in 194 ...

, was the "father of the Chinese phonetic alphabet" and teacher of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

. The second oldest,

Li Jinhui Li Jinhui (; 5 September 1891 – 15 February 1967 although some sources suggest he died 1968) was a Chinese composer and songwriter born in Xiangtan, Hunan, Qing China. He is often dubbed as the "Father of Chinese popular music".Aigomusic.Ai ...

, was a pioneering musician considered the "father of Chinese popular music". He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

in 1942. After working as a secretary for chiefdom of Mangshi at the China–Burma border, Lee emigrated to the United States in 1943, during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. After briefly attending

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, Lee earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in playwriting from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1947. Lee was a journalist living in and working for two San Francisco Chinatown newspapers, ''Chinese World'' and ''Young China'' at the time, in the early 1950s, when he was writing ''Flower Drum Song'', expanding it from a short story to a novel.

''The Flower Drum Song''

By the 1950s, Lee was barely making a living writing short stories and working as a Chinese teacher, translator and journalist for

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 ...

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 ...

newspapers.Shin, Andrew
"'Forty Percent Is Luck': An Interview with C. Y. (Chin Yang) Lee"
MELUS, vol. 29, no. 2, ''Elusive Illusions: Art and Reality'' (Summer, 2004), pp. 77–104, The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. Retrieved December 3, 2010 He had hoped to break into playwriting, but instead wrote a novel about Chinatown, ''

'' (originally titled ''Grant Avenue''). Lee initially had no success selling his novel, but his agent submitted it to the publishing house of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. The firm sent the manuscript to an elderly reader for evaluation. The reader was found dead in bed, the manuscript beside him with the words "Read this" scrawled on it. The publishing house did so, and bought Lee's novel, which became a bestseller in 1957.Lewis, p. 28 The novel, about generational conflict within an

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

family over an arranged marriage in

San Francisco's Chinatown The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, () is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Ch ...

, was adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''

'', opening in 1958. The original production was the first

Broadway show Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

to feature Asian American players. The 1961 film jump-started the careers of the first generation of Asian American actors, including

Nancy Kwan Nancy Kwan Ka-shen (; born May 19, 1939) is a Chinese-American actress, philanthropist, and former dancer. In addition to her personality and looks, her career was benefited by Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in ...

James Shigeta James Saburo Shigeta ( ja, 繁田三郎) (June 17, 1929 – July 28, 2014) was an American actor of Japanese descent. He was noted for his roles in ''The Crimson Kimono'' (1959), '' Walk Like a Dragon'' (1960), ''Flower Drum Song'' (1961), ...

, and

Jack Soo Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki, October 28, 1917 – January 11, 1979) was an American singer and actor. He was best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom ''Barney Miller''. Early life Soo was born Goro Suzuki on a s ...

. Lee was interviewed on the 2006 DVD release of the movie. On October 2, 2001, the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

premiered

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

's adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Flower Drum Song'' to glowing reviews, in the first major theatrical production that had an all-Asian cast of actors and voices. Its initial run was extended, and after several months, the production moved to Broadway, where the reviews were less than stellar. Lee had worked with Hwang on the rewriting of the musical.

Personal life

Lee married Joyce Lackey, an American writer, in 1963. They had two children, Angela and Jay. Joyce died in 1997. In his later life Lee lived in

Alhambra, California Alhambra (, , ; from " Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains t ...

. On November 8, 2018, he died of kidney failure in Los Angeles, at the age of 102.

Works

* ''10,000 Apologies'' (2006)

Novels

* ''

'' (1957) * ''Lover's Point'' (1958) * ''The Sawbwa and His Secretary'' (1959) * ''Madame Goldenflower'' (1960), Farrar Straus & Cudahy * ''Cripple Mah and the New Order'' (1961) * ''The Virgin Market'' (1964) * ''The Land of the Golden Mountain'' (1967) * ''The Days of the Tong Wars'' (1974) * ''China Saga'' (1987),

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

, * ''The Second Son of Heaven'' (1990), William Morrow, * ''Gate of Rage: A Novel of One Family Trapped by the Events at Tiananmen Square'' (1991), William Morrow,

Short stories

Many of Lee's short stories were published by the New Yorker magazine after the success of his first novel: * "A Man of Habit" *"Sawbwa Fang And The Communist" *"Sawbwa's Domestic Quarrel" *"Sawbwa Fang's Sense of Justice" *"Sawbwa Fang, Dr. Streppone, And The Leeches"

Plays

*''Mama From China'' (2004)Mama From China
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Sources

* ''The Chronology of American Literature'' (2004), edited by Daniel S. Burt. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Chin Yang 1915 births 2018 deaths American centenarians American dramatists and playwrights of Chinese descent American journalists of Chinese descent American people of Chinese descent American writers of Chinese descent Chinese centenarians Journalists from California Men centenarians National Southwestern Associated University alumni People from Xiangtan People with acquired American citizenship Republic of China (1912–1949) emigrants to the United States Writers from Hunan Yale School of Drama alumni