Author: Gordon Chin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996418607
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
Gordon Chin, nationally recognized community leader and activist, tells the compelling story of the rise of civic and political power in San Francisco's Chinatown from the 1960s through the election of a Chinese American mayor in 2011. This grass roots community leadership has made San Francisco Chinatown a model for community development across the country. The narrative covers the birth of Asian American activism and how, despite natural disasters, civic neglect, and racism, it spearheaded affordable housing, open space, accessible transportation, and effective community and youth leadership. The Chinatown Community Development Center, which Chin founded and led for three decades, fought evictions from the International Hotel, organized the Ping Yuen rent strike, and convinced the city to extend the Central Subway to Chinatown, among other accomplishments that have significantly shaped life in San Francisco. This is a firsthand view on how to produce meaningful and positive social change. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gordon Chin is the former Executive Director of San Francisco's Chinatown Community Development Center, which he co-founded and ran for thirty-four years before retiring in October 2011. Recognized nationally as a leader in community development and affordable housing, and as a pioneering Asian American activist, he led Chinatown CDC in developing thousands of units of affordable housing for low-income seniors, working families, and formerly homeless residents. From the beginning of the Asian American Movement in the turbulent 1960s, he has devoted himself to building community, organizing tenants and immigrant families, and developing youth leaders. Mr. Chin lives in San Francisco, where he continues to be involved in community issues and is an avid Giants fan. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK "Community activist, housing developer, policy and land-use guru, commissioner and collaborative leader-this is what Gordon Chin has meant to our City and the Chinese Asian communities he has served and advocated for. He has a lot to say about our City's history for the past fifty-five-plus years, and I am grateful he has put it into words for all of us to appreciate." -Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco "Gordon Chin is one those movers and shakers who has made San Francisco worth living in. His fight to keep the city's legendary Chinatown a vibrant and affordable community is a model for righteous activism. Now we need a new generation of bravehearts, young men and women willing to fight to save wonderfully multi-dimensional cities like San Francisco so they don't become a jeweled preserve of the one percent. Building Community, Chinatown Style is full of crucial lessons for the next generation of urban warriors and dreamers- and for those of us old ones who still haven't given up. Read and learn-and get inspired." -David Talbot, author of Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love
Building Community, Chinatown Style
Author: Gordon Chin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996418607
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
Gordon Chin, nationally recognized community leader and activist, tells the compelling story of the rise of civic and political power in San Francisco's Chinatown from the 1960s through the election of a Chinese American mayor in 2011. This grass roots community leadership has made San Francisco Chinatown a model for community development across the country. The narrative covers the birth of Asian American activism and how, despite natural disasters, civic neglect, and racism, it spearheaded affordable housing, open space, accessible transportation, and effective community and youth leadership. The Chinatown Community Development Center, which Chin founded and led for three decades, fought evictions from the International Hotel, organized the Ping Yuen rent strike, and convinced the city to extend the Central Subway to Chinatown, among other accomplishments that have significantly shaped life in San Francisco. This is a firsthand view on how to produce meaningful and positive social change. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gordon Chin is the former Executive Director of San Francisco's Chinatown Community Development Center, which he co-founded and ran for thirty-four years before retiring in October 2011. Recognized nationally as a leader in community development and affordable housing, and as a pioneering Asian American activist, he led Chinatown CDC in developing thousands of units of affordable housing for low-income seniors, working families, and formerly homeless residents. From the beginning of the Asian American Movement in the turbulent 1960s, he has devoted himself to building community, organizing tenants and immigrant families, and developing youth leaders. Mr. Chin lives in San Francisco, where he continues to be involved in community issues and is an avid Giants fan. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK "Community activist, housing developer, policy and land-use guru, commissioner and collaborative leader-this is what Gordon Chin has meant to our City and the Chinese Asian communities he has served and advocated for. He has a lot to say about our City's history for the past fifty-five-plus years, and I am grateful he has put it into words for all of us to appreciate." -Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco "Gordon Chin is one those movers and shakers who has made San Francisco worth living in. His fight to keep the city's legendary Chinatown a vibrant and affordable community is a model for righteous activism. Now we need a new generation of bravehearts, young men and women willing to fight to save wonderfully multi-dimensional cities like San Francisco so they don't become a jeweled preserve of the one percent. Building Community, Chinatown Style is full of crucial lessons for the next generation of urban warriors and dreamers- and for those of us old ones who still haven't given up. Read and learn-and get inspired." -David Talbot, author of Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996418607
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
Gordon Chin, nationally recognized community leader and activist, tells the compelling story of the rise of civic and political power in San Francisco's Chinatown from the 1960s through the election of a Chinese American mayor in 2011. This grass roots community leadership has made San Francisco Chinatown a model for community development across the country. The narrative covers the birth of Asian American activism and how, despite natural disasters, civic neglect, and racism, it spearheaded affordable housing, open space, accessible transportation, and effective community and youth leadership. The Chinatown Community Development Center, which Chin founded and led for three decades, fought evictions from the International Hotel, organized the Ping Yuen rent strike, and convinced the city to extend the Central Subway to Chinatown, among other accomplishments that have significantly shaped life in San Francisco. This is a firsthand view on how to produce meaningful and positive social change. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gordon Chin is the former Executive Director of San Francisco's Chinatown Community Development Center, which he co-founded and ran for thirty-four years before retiring in October 2011. Recognized nationally as a leader in community development and affordable housing, and as a pioneering Asian American activist, he led Chinatown CDC in developing thousands of units of affordable housing for low-income seniors, working families, and formerly homeless residents. From the beginning of the Asian American Movement in the turbulent 1960s, he has devoted himself to building community, organizing tenants and immigrant families, and developing youth leaders. Mr. Chin lives in San Francisco, where he continues to be involved in community issues and is an avid Giants fan. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK "Community activist, housing developer, policy and land-use guru, commissioner and collaborative leader-this is what Gordon Chin has meant to our City and the Chinese Asian communities he has served and advocated for. He has a lot to say about our City's history for the past fifty-five-plus years, and I am grateful he has put it into words for all of us to appreciate." -Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco "Gordon Chin is one those movers and shakers who has made San Francisco worth living in. His fight to keep the city's legendary Chinatown a vibrant and affordable community is a model for righteous activism. Now we need a new generation of bravehearts, young men and women willing to fight to save wonderfully multi-dimensional cities like San Francisco so they don't become a jeweled preserve of the one percent. Building Community, Chinatown Style is full of crucial lessons for the next generation of urban warriors and dreamers- and for those of us old ones who still haven't given up. Read and learn-and get inspired." -David Talbot, author of Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love
Chinatown Pretty
Author: Valerie Luu
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452175837
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Chinatown Pretty features beautiful portraits and heartwarming stories of trend-setting seniors across six Chinatowns. Andria Lo and Valerie Luu have been interviewing and photographing Chinatown's most fashionable elders on their blog and Instagram, Chinatown Pretty, since 2014. Chinatown Pretty is a signature style worn by pòh pohs (grandmas) and gùng gungs (grandpas) everywhere—but it's also a life philosophy, mixing resourcefulness, creativity, and a knack for finding joy even in difficult circumstances. • Photos span Chinatowns in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Vancouver. • The style is a mix of modern and vintage, high and low, handmade and store bought clothing. • This is a celebration of Chinese American culture, active old-age, and creative style. Chinatown Pretty shares nuggets of philosophical wisdom and personal stories about immigration and Chinese-American culture. This book is great for anyone looking for advice on how to live to a ripe old age with grace and good humor—and, of course, on how to stay stylish. • This book will resonate with photography buffs, fashionistas, and Asian Americans of all ages. • Chinatown Pretty has been featured by Vogue.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Design Sponge, Rookie, Refinery29, and others. • With a textured cover and glossy bellyband, this beautiful volume makes a deluxe gift. • Add it to the shelf with books like Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen, and Fruits by Shoichi Aoki.
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452175837
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Chinatown Pretty features beautiful portraits and heartwarming stories of trend-setting seniors across six Chinatowns. Andria Lo and Valerie Luu have been interviewing and photographing Chinatown's most fashionable elders on their blog and Instagram, Chinatown Pretty, since 2014. Chinatown Pretty is a signature style worn by pòh pohs (grandmas) and gùng gungs (grandpas) everywhere—but it's also a life philosophy, mixing resourcefulness, creativity, and a knack for finding joy even in difficult circumstances. • Photos span Chinatowns in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Vancouver. • The style is a mix of modern and vintage, high and low, handmade and store bought clothing. • This is a celebration of Chinese American culture, active old-age, and creative style. Chinatown Pretty shares nuggets of philosophical wisdom and personal stories about immigration and Chinese-American culture. This book is great for anyone looking for advice on how to live to a ripe old age with grace and good humor—and, of course, on how to stay stylish. • This book will resonate with photography buffs, fashionistas, and Asian Americans of all ages. • Chinatown Pretty has been featured by Vogue.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Design Sponge, Rookie, Refinery29, and others. • With a textured cover and glossy bellyband, this beautiful volume makes a deluxe gift. • Add it to the shelf with books like Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen, and Fruits by Shoichi Aoki.
Organizing for Power and Empowerment
Author: Jacqueline B. Mondros
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231548338
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 584
Book Description
Through entirely new interviews, Organizing for Power and Empowerment: The Fight for Democracy features the voices and experiences of more than forty organizers, telling the stories of twenty geographically and racially diverse progressive organizations. The authors highlight how organizations use innovative new strategies, like targeting corporate expansion, operating at statewide levels, building new structures for electoral action, and establishing community-labor coalitions to win on such critical issues as worker protections, bail reform, immigration, climate change, and affordable housing. The book describes organizations working across a range of issues. The organizers discuss campaigns that activate people around issues that matter in their daily lives—work schedules, bail reform, schools, voting, and affordable housing—and connect them to broader topics such as racial justice, immigration, climate change, criminal justice, and workers’ rights. They share their thoughts on building community organizations and empowering ordinary citizens to become leaders. The book underscores the leadership of Black Americans, other people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people as they lead campaigns to address the disparate effects of inequality faced by their communities. It provides detailed analysis of the new and effective organizational structures and change strategies, and sheds important new light on foundational organizing practices, innovations, and the challenges and opportunities for progressive social action today.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231548338
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 584
Book Description
Through entirely new interviews, Organizing for Power and Empowerment: The Fight for Democracy features the voices and experiences of more than forty organizers, telling the stories of twenty geographically and racially diverse progressive organizations. The authors highlight how organizations use innovative new strategies, like targeting corporate expansion, operating at statewide levels, building new structures for electoral action, and establishing community-labor coalitions to win on such critical issues as worker protections, bail reform, immigration, climate change, and affordable housing. The book describes organizations working across a range of issues. The organizers discuss campaigns that activate people around issues that matter in their daily lives—work schedules, bail reform, schools, voting, and affordable housing—and connect them to broader topics such as racial justice, immigration, climate change, criminal justice, and workers’ rights. They share their thoughts on building community organizations and empowering ordinary citizens to become leaders. The book underscores the leadership of Black Americans, other people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people as they lead campaigns to address the disparate effects of inequality faced by their communities. It provides detailed analysis of the new and effective organizational structures and change strategies, and sheds important new light on foundational organizing practices, innovations, and the challenges and opportunities for progressive social action today.
When Friends Come From Afar
Author: Susan Blumberg-Kason
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252047303
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 148
Book Description
Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she cofounded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants. Susan Blumberg-Kason draws on extensive interviews to profile the community and social justice organization. Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education. Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. At once intimate and broad in scope, When Friends Come from Afar uses one woman’s life to illuminate a bedrock Chicago institution.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252047303
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 148
Book Description
Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she cofounded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants. Susan Blumberg-Kason draws on extensive interviews to profile the community and social justice organization. Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education. Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. At once intimate and broad in scope, When Friends Come from Afar uses one woman’s life to illuminate a bedrock Chicago institution.
A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area
Author: Rachel Brahinsky
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520963326
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
An alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation. A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area looks beyond the mythologized image of San Francisco to the places where collective struggle has built the region. Countering romanticized commercial narratives about the Bay Area, geographers Rachel Brahinsky and Alexander Tarr highlight the cultural and economic landscape of indigenous resistance to colonial rule, radical interracial and cross-class organizing against housing discrimination and police violence, young people demanding economically and ecologically sustainable futures, and the often-unrecognized labor of farmworkers and everyday people. The book asks who had—and who has—the power to shape the geography of one of the most watched regions in the world. As Silicon Valley's wealth dramatically transforms the look and feel of every corner of the region, like bankers' wealth did in the past, what do we need to remember about the people and places that have made the Bay Area, with its rich political legacies? With over 100 sites that you can visit and learn from, this book demonstrates critical ways of reading the landscape itself for clues to these histories. A useful companion for travelers, educators, or longtime residents, this guide links multicultural streets and lush hills to suburban cul-de-sacs and wetlands, stretching from the North Bay to the South Bay, from the East Bay to San Francisco. Original maps help guide readers, and thematic tours offer starting points for creating your own routes through the region.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520963326
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
An alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation. A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area looks beyond the mythologized image of San Francisco to the places where collective struggle has built the region. Countering romanticized commercial narratives about the Bay Area, geographers Rachel Brahinsky and Alexander Tarr highlight the cultural and economic landscape of indigenous resistance to colonial rule, radical interracial and cross-class organizing against housing discrimination and police violence, young people demanding economically and ecologically sustainable futures, and the often-unrecognized labor of farmworkers and everyday people. The book asks who had—and who has—the power to shape the geography of one of the most watched regions in the world. As Silicon Valley's wealth dramatically transforms the look and feel of every corner of the region, like bankers' wealth did in the past, what do we need to remember about the people and places that have made the Bay Area, with its rich political legacies? With over 100 sites that you can visit and learn from, this book demonstrates critical ways of reading the landscape itself for clues to these histories. A useful companion for travelers, educators, or longtime residents, this guide links multicultural streets and lush hills to suburban cul-de-sacs and wetlands, stretching from the North Bay to the South Bay, from the East Bay to San Francisco. Original maps help guide readers, and thematic tours offer starting points for creating your own routes through the region.
Beyond Chinatown
Author: Steven P. Erie
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804751407
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
Examines the history of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, from its obscure 1920s-era origins, through the Colorado River Aqueduct and State Water Projects, to today's daunting mission of drought management, water quality, environmental stewardship, and post-9/11 supply security. Simultaneous.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804751407
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
Examines the history of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, from its obscure 1920s-era origins, through the Colorado River Aqueduct and State Water Projects, to today's daunting mission of drought management, water quality, environmental stewardship, and post-9/11 supply security. Simultaneous.
Interior Chinatown
Author: Charles Yu
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0307907198
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood” (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it? After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0307907198
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood” (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it? After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.
Mister Jiu's in Chinatown
Author: Brandon Jew
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 1984856510
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed chef behind the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant shares the past, present, and future of Chinese cooking in America through 90 mouthwatering recipes. ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Glamour • “Brandon Jew’s affection for San Francisco’s Chinatown and his own Chinese heritage is palpable in this cookbook, which is both a recipe collection and a portrait of a district rich in history.”—Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning author of The Food of Sichuan Brandon Jew trained in the kitchens of California cuisine pioneers and Michelin-starred Italian institutions before finding his way back to Chinatown and the food of his childhood. Through deeply personal recipes and stories about the neighborhood that often inspires them, this groundbreaking cookbook is an intimate account of how Chinese food became American food and the making of a Chinese American chef. Jew takes inspiration from classic Chinatown recipes to create innovative spins like Sizzling Rice Soup, Squid Ink Wontons, Orange Chicken Wings, Liberty Roast Duck, Mushroom Mu Shu, and Banana Black Sesame Pie. From the fundamentals of Chinese cooking to master class recipes, he interweaves recipes and techniques with stories about their origins in Chinatown and in his own family history. And he connects his classical training and American roots to Chinese traditions in chapters celebrating dim sum, dumplings, and banquet-style parties. With more than a hundred photographs of finished dishes as well as moving and evocative atmospheric shots of Chinatown, this book is also an intimate portrait—a look down the alleyways, above the tourist shops, and into the kitchens—of the neighborhood that changed the flavor of America.
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 1984856510
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed chef behind the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant shares the past, present, and future of Chinese cooking in America through 90 mouthwatering recipes. ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Glamour • “Brandon Jew’s affection for San Francisco’s Chinatown and his own Chinese heritage is palpable in this cookbook, which is both a recipe collection and a portrait of a district rich in history.”—Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning author of The Food of Sichuan Brandon Jew trained in the kitchens of California cuisine pioneers and Michelin-starred Italian institutions before finding his way back to Chinatown and the food of his childhood. Through deeply personal recipes and stories about the neighborhood that often inspires them, this groundbreaking cookbook is an intimate account of how Chinese food became American food and the making of a Chinese American chef. Jew takes inspiration from classic Chinatown recipes to create innovative spins like Sizzling Rice Soup, Squid Ink Wontons, Orange Chicken Wings, Liberty Roast Duck, Mushroom Mu Shu, and Banana Black Sesame Pie. From the fundamentals of Chinese cooking to master class recipes, he interweaves recipes and techniques with stories about their origins in Chinatown and in his own family history. And he connects his classical training and American roots to Chinese traditions in chapters celebrating dim sum, dumplings, and banquet-style parties. With more than a hundred photographs of finished dishes as well as moving and evocative atmospheric shots of Chinatown, this book is also an intimate portrait—a look down the alleyways, above the tourist shops, and into the kitchens—of the neighborhood that changed the flavor of America.
Chinatown
Author: William Low
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805042146
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
A boy and his grandmother wind their way through the streets of Chinatown, enjoying all the sights and smells of the Chinese New Year's Day.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805042146
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
A boy and his grandmother wind their way through the streets of Chinatown, enjoying all the sights and smells of the Chinese New Year's Day.
Chinese Playground
Author: Bill Lee
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781500128500
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
This stark and unsentimental recollection of childhood and coming of age in the back alleys and bustling streets of San Francisco Chinatown reveals the sinister and pervasive influences of organized crime. "Chinese Playground: A Memoir" traces author Bill Lee's maturation from innocent child in a troubled family to a street punk, gang member, and college graduate struggling to break free of his involvement in escalating violence. Lee's personal accounts of two high-profile murder incidents are engrossing. The 1977 Golden Dragon Massacre in San Francisco that left five dead and eleven wounded, was carried out by his blood-brothers who were engaged in the most violent Asian gang war in U.S. history. A decade later, a mad gunman killed seven and injured four at ESL, a high tech firm in Sunnyvale, California where Lee was employed. An unlikely hero emerges as he accepts his fate, employing his street instincts to save coworkers during the murderous rampage. Startling details on both crimes are revealed for the first time. This true story is a provocative read providing valuable insight into Chinese American culture, organized crime, distressed families, at-risk youths, personal recovery, Bay Area history, and Silicon Valley.
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781500128500
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
This stark and unsentimental recollection of childhood and coming of age in the back alleys and bustling streets of San Francisco Chinatown reveals the sinister and pervasive influences of organized crime. "Chinese Playground: A Memoir" traces author Bill Lee's maturation from innocent child in a troubled family to a street punk, gang member, and college graduate struggling to break free of his involvement in escalating violence. Lee's personal accounts of two high-profile murder incidents are engrossing. The 1977 Golden Dragon Massacre in San Francisco that left five dead and eleven wounded, was carried out by his blood-brothers who were engaged in the most violent Asian gang war in U.S. history. A decade later, a mad gunman killed seven and injured four at ESL, a high tech firm in Sunnyvale, California where Lee was employed. An unlikely hero emerges as he accepts his fate, employing his street instincts to save coworkers during the murderous rampage. Startling details on both crimes are revealed for the first time. This true story is a provocative read providing valuable insight into Chinese American culture, organized crime, distressed families, at-risk youths, personal recovery, Bay Area history, and Silicon Valley.