The Concubine's Children

Denise Chong's The Concubine's Children is an epic biography of a Chinese family working in 'Gold Mountain' in the early 1900s in an effort to uplift their family's standard of living back home in the small village of Chang Gar Bin, situated in China's south. Chan Sam, the family's patriarch, and his concubine, May-ying, are Denise Chong's maternal grandparents.

This was my second time reading The Concubine's Children in less than two years. The Concubine's Children is one of four books named in a plagiarism suit against author Ling Zhang for her much acclaimed novel Gold Mountain Blues. I read The Concubine's Children again, because it is one of those books you can read again and again, each time taking something new away, but also because I want to judge for myself the veracity of the plagiarism claim.

The story opens in 1924, when 17-year-old May-ying is told that she will become the concubine of a man sojourning in Gold Mountain, and that she is to join him there. May-ying goes onto become, at Chan Sam's behest, a lowly kay-toi-neu "stand-at-table girl" in order to pay down the debt Chan Sam inquired bringing her to Gold Mountain and in order to send money home to his Chinese wife, Huangbo.

At first obedient, May-ying quickly asserts her fiery temperament and she and Chan Sam quickly develop an acrimonious relationship. Chan Sam is frugal and rigid in his Confucius beliefs. May-ying has many vices that Chan Sam disapproves of, among them drinking, smoking and gambling. In Chan Sam's words:

"May-ying is not like a lady," he said complaining that she did not know her place. He told Huangbo of May-ying's fondness for gambling. "She is a woman who is more like a man," Chan Sam said. p.85

After the birth of two daughters, Ping and Nan, Chan Sam decides to take the family back to China so that his entire family -first wife, concubine and the children- can live together under one roof. When May-ying becomes pregnant with her third child, she consults a soothsayer who predicts she is carrying a son. May-ying convinces Chan Sam that their son should be born in Canada so that sojourning in Gold Mountain will be easier for him when he comes of age. Three days after their return to Vancouver, Denise Chong's mother, Hing is born in a rooming house.

The year is now 1930 and the great depression has taken hold of North America. Chan Sam can't find work so May-ying must support the entire family (Canadian and Chinese side) on her waitressing income. When Hing turns five, traditions says she should return to China for her schooling but the family can't afford to leave Gold Mountain, they haven't saved enough money. May-ying encourages Chan Sam to go back to China on his own to build a house that the whole family can eventually occupy. For the next two years, May-ying sends Chan Sam money to build the house in China.

When Chan Sam returns, May-ying is more stubborn than ever, having got use to living on her own. She and Chan Sam eventually separate although she continues to give her a portion of her wages for years to come.

The story draws to an end when Hing and her second daughter, Denise, visit the village of Chang Gar Bin in 1987.

The Concubine's Children won the City of Vancouver Book Award in 1994, The Edna Staebler Award, and The VanCity Book Prize, and made the shortlist for the Governor-General's Literary Non-Fiction Award.

4/5