A new prospect about China

- Speech at Local Author’s Day at Princeton Library, NJ

Good afternoon everyone,

My name is Lily Wang Hill.  It’s a pleasure to introduce my novel “Laolao’s DragonGate” to you.

So what’s the book about?

It’s about the journey of a Chinese immigrant, Pearl, struggling to transform herself from a “fish” to a “dragon”.

Why a “dragon”?

In Chinese culture, a dragon is the symbol of power and success.

When Pearl was a little girl, her dear grandmother, Laolao, told her this “Carp fish jumping over the dragon’s gate” story”:

“…The Dragon’s Gate is at the top of a great waterfall in heaven. Many carp fish swim upstream against the Yellow River’s turbulent current every summer.  … 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…”

So encouraged by this story, Pearl struggled all her way from China up to United States.  She gets her master’s degree here, she marries her American husband here - She has been living her American dram.  It seems like she becomes a “dragon” until she get laid off.

 Now Pearl is struggling with both her job search and marriage.  A job opportunity in China occurs.  After a big fight with her American husband, Pearl jumps at this 3-day job interview in China.

So, after 10 years’ absence from her family, Pearl finally returns to her home country.  However, during the 3 days, intense emotional drama takes place.  Pearl finds herself overwhelmed in the world of feelings and emotions, toward her late grandmother, her father, her first love, her ex-boyfriend, her ex-husband, her American boss and her American husband…

Should she stay in China or back to America?  In a new changing China, she doesn’t feel she belongs to her mother land anymore; in America, she is a citizen, but she is always viewed as a Chinese.  She can’t find a job either.  Where she fits and belongs?  She is at the crossroads of her life.  Can she jump over the “Dragon’s Gate” this time?  It will be answered in the second book. 

Ok, this is the basic story in the book.  So what other people say about my book?

One editor said: “You have a fresh, distinctive voice.  You engaged me!”

Another editor said: “You might be the Amy Tan of our generation!”

Well, I am flattered to be compared with great author Amy Tan; however, I don’t feel my book is an Amy Tan type.  My book is set in the current China and America - in the American twilight and a booming China with a lot history flashback, like “Opium war”, “President Nixon’s China Visit”, “Cultural Revolution” and “Tiananmen Square Protest of 1989”, and more…

I encourage you to read my book and get the answer yourself.   You tell if my book is an Amy Tan type or not.

Thank you very much!