Amy Tan is following me!

After launching my novel Laolao’s DragonGate on Amazon a few days ago, I started to broadcast it on Twitter.   I didn’t have a twitter account; nobody was following me either before that.  However, just on Jan, 25^th, TWITTER sent me an email, telling me Amy Tan was following me! 

Amy Tan? That famous Amy Tan of the joy &luck club? I am a big fan of her!  I was flattered that she is my first follower on Twitter.  Some websites post tips of ‘getting celebrities to you,’ but I never thought about any celebrities would follow me.  I am nobody! 

Why is Amy Tan following me?  Friends give credit to a general’s review of “you might be the next Amy Tan of our generation.”  

  Oh, well, I am honored to be following by Amy Tan, but, be honest; my novel is not an Amy Tan type.  My novel is set in a booming and changing China, other than Amy Tan’s old China in her books.  It is set in the American twilight and a booming China.  My protagonist Pearl senses that she herself is in the middle of this swirling cycle of history, including Opium War, President Nixon’s China visit, and the tragedy of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989…

  Am I the next Amy Tan?  My dear readers, please let me know after reading my novel Laolao’s DragonGate:

         http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A7GP2IC  

     https://www.createspace.com/4061044

From: Twitter <n-jnatkvnyvyl=lnubb.pbz-c7414@postmaster.twitter.com>
To: Lily Wang Hill <wangxialily@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2013 6:43 AM
Subject: Amy Tan (@AmyTanWriter) is now following you on Twitter!

Lily Wang Hill, You have a new follower on Twitter.         Amy Tan @AmyTanWriter Author (Joy Luck Club, etc). Kindle Single now available: Rules for Virginshttp://t.co/NeiqMla3 New novel: Valley of Amazement coming November 2013.

Q&A about Laolao's DragonGate ( 2 )

Q: Xiangdong and June 4th, 1989

A:  I am not in politics, but my conscious reminds me not to forget the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.  It’s been over 20 years; however, it’s still a forbidden topic in China.

In my novel, Xiangdong was a local student leader in the protests of 1989.  After releasing from the prison, his life was ruined.  Rejected the protagonist Pearl's love, he decided to become a buddhist monk...

It's a sad story.  I want to reminds people not to forget the bloodshed in Tiananmen Square, 1989.  It’s time to face the truth, and to tell truth.

Q: Pearl and her father






A: Pearl is afraid of her father all of the time.  She started to hate him when he smashed her Laolao’s spinning wheel.  Pearl grew up with this father-daughter issue.

        Pearl finally reconciles with her father by discovering all the family secretes.   Her father is one of the victims who unfortunately lived in his entire life in Chairman Mao’s era.

Q: Dyson and Chinese history


A: Dyson is among those westerners who came to China first after President Nixon’s historical China visit.  He speaks perfect Chinese and loves Chinese culture.  However, Pearl finds out that Dyson is the descendant of the General of the Ever Victorious Army.  The Army helped Qing Dynasty kill the Taiping Rebellion.

      Dyson reminds Pearl of the painful Chinese history from the “Opium war” to the “Open door” policy.

Q: Joe and a booming China

A: Joe is one of the beneficiaries of the booming economy in China.  He is struggling between money and his conscious.

Q: Where does Pearl fit in?
A: When Pearl is in America, she is viewed as a Chinese; however, when she goes back to her home country, she doesn’t feel she belongs to that land any more.  China or America?  She is at the crossroad in life...

Q&A about Laolao's DragonGate

My first novel Laolao's DragonGate is available in Amazon!  

Some readers asked me questions about it.  

The following is the Q&A:

 Q: What inspired you to write this novel?

A: My Laolao (grandma).  I can’t make peace with her life.  I never forget her even though she passed away several years ago.  I always wanted to write a story based on her life, but I didn’t find time to do it until I was laid off in 2011.
 

 

Q: What’s the novel about?

A: Basically it’s about Pearl, a Chinese immigrant to America, who so badly wants to transform herself from a fish to a dragon.

            This is a story of a woman trying to navigate the world of collapse and change, of illusion and reality—and where she fits in, and all the love relationships from childhood to adulthood. 

            It is a story of a woman carrying the memories of three generations of Chinese women who have each had their own struggles to overcome, and sometimes not overcome.

Q: Pearl and her American husband Simon

A: Pearl has been living her American dream with her American husband Simon, until she was laid off.  She is now struggling with both her job search and marriage.  An American girl Rebacca is involved and causes fighting between Pearl and Simon.  A job opportunity in China occurs.  Ignoring Simon’s warning not to go, Pearl jumps at this three-day job interview. 
 

Q: DragonGate

A: Dragon’s Gate is the door to heaven.  Only the fish that are brave and strong enough can leap over the Dragon’s Gate.  The successful fish will be transformed into a powerful dragon living in heaven ever after…

            Ironically, Pearl’s hometown has an identical name from the legend story, but her hometown DragonGate is a dirty and poor small city.  

Q: Pearl and Laolao

A: Laolao is the center of Pearl’s heart and soul. Laolao told Pearl the “fish jumping over Dragon’s Gate’ story first.  It encouraged Pearl to transform herself to a dragon.  Pearl is very close to her Laolao.  In some degree, Pearl is afraid she will have the same unlucky love life as her Laolao had.  Pearl started to hate her father when she was six years old, because her father smashed Laolao’s cotton spinning wheel.  Laolao is the symbol of her hometown DragonGate, suffering, dirty and poor.  Time stops in DragonGate.  A booming economy only changed people’s physical life, not their life style.