''Shanghai Girls'' is a 2009 novel by

Lisa See Lisa See (born 18th February 1955) is an American writer and novelist. Her books include ''On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' (1995), a detailed account of See's family history, and the novels '' Flower N ...

. It centers on the complex relationship between two sisters, Pearl and May, as they go through great pain and suffering in leaving war-torn Shanghai, and try to adjust to the difficult roles of wives in arranged marriages and of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. This work marks a return to many of the themes the author addressed in her first major work, ''

On Gold Mountain ''On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' describes 100 years of author Lisa See's family history, providing a complex portrait of her family’s hard work, suffering, failures and successes as they moved fro ...

'', a memoir of her family's history. The novel is set between 1937–57 and matches Parts IV and V of the memoir. The novel received an Honorable Mention from the

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature The Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (APAAL) are a set of literary awards presented annually by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). The APALA was formed in 1980 "to create an organization that would address the n ...

. The sequel, '' Dreams of Joy'', was released May 31, 2011.

Plot summary

''Shanghai Girls'' is divided into three parts: Fate, Fortune, and Destiny. Here See treats Chinese immigration from a personal view through Pearl's narration. In ''

'' she objectively placed 100 years of her Chinese family history in the context of the daunting challenges Chinese immigrants faced in coming to America in search of Gold Mountain. America's mistreatment of Chinese immigrants is stressed in both memoir and novel. The sisters' story is interrelated with critical historical events, famous people, and important places—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 ...

, the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

, internment at

Angel Island Angel Island may refer to: *Angel Island (California), historic site of the United States Immigration Station, Angel Island, and part of Angel Island State Park, in San Francisco Bay, California * Angel Island, Papua New Guinea * ''Angel Island'' (n ...

Los Angeles Chinatown Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a reside ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

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 ...

, the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

, etc. Historically significant people appearing in the novel include Madame Chiang Kai-shek, actress

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

, film personalit
Tom Gubbins
and Christine Sterling, the "Mother of Olvera Street." ''

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a 2005 novel by Lisa See set in nineteenth-century China. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born on June 5, 1824—"the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year ...

'' explores the complex relationship between two intimate friends. In ''Shanghai Girls'' See treats the loving yet conflicted relationship between two best friends who also happen to be sisters, especially in the context of their relationship to Pearl's daughter Joy. In speaking of ''Shanghai Girls'', See has commented: "Your sister is the one person who should stick by you and love you no matter what, but she’s also the one person who knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most." That being said, in ''Shanghai Girls'' it is the love of Pearl and May for each other that survives.

Characters

*Pearl Chin The protagonist in the story. Her Zodiac sign is the Dragon. The elder of two sisters, she always thought that she was less loved by their parents because of her looks. She is in love with Z.G. Li, a painter/photographer who takes pictures of and paints Pearl and May. Although belonging to a wealthy family, she earns a small amount modelling with her sister, however, this is easily squandered off in her nightlife. She later marries Sam Louie to help pay off her father's debt to the Louies. She and Sam raise Joy, May's child as their own daughter. Later on she becomes pregnant with Sam's baby. She carries the baby to term, but the child is a stillborn boy. *May Chin Younger sister of Pearl. Her Zodiac sign is the Sheep. Flirtatious and haughty, she is jealous of her sister who went to college and who she thought was favored by their parents. She has a secret romantic relationship with Z.G. Li. Later it is discovered that she became pregnant by him, resulting in a daughter, Joy. May gives Joy to Pearl to raise as her own daughter because on the night of her wedding to Vern, Sam's brother, she could not bring herself to sleep with him. Father Louie (Vern and Sam's father) might suspect she is pregnant by someone else, so both she and Pearl pretend that Pearl was the one pregnant all along.

Notes

References

*Dong, Stella. ''Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City''. New York: Perennial, 2001. *Estrada, William D. "Los Angeles' Old Plaza and Olvera Street: Imagined and Contested Space", ''Western Folklore'', Vol. 58, No. 2 (Winter 1999), 107–129. *Ngai, Mae M. ''Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America''. Princeton University Press, 2004. *See, Lisa. ''Shanghai Girls''. Random House, 2009. *See, Lisa. ''

'': ''The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of a Chinese-American Family''. St. Martin's Press, 1995. *See, Lisa. "Anna May Speaks (From the Grave)", ''

'', 225–230.

External links

Official website for Lisa See
* {{Lisa See 2009 American novels Novels by Lisa See Novels set in Shanghai Novels set in Los Angeles Novels set in the 20th century