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The distant land referenced in the title is Shanghai, told through the eyes of Anna Schoene, the only child of an American businessman who makes his millions in this bustling Chinese city in the 1930s. The city is coloured by Joseph Schoene's love for it, and the childhood adoration of young Anna. The Distant Land of My Father begins like a fairy tale: "My father was a millionaire in Shanghai in the 1930s.... Interview with Author
Have you ever visited Shanghai?
No, I haven't visited Shanghai or any of China.
Has the book been published in China, if so, was it well received?
It hasn't been published in China, and I doubt it will be because of the negative treatment of communism.
Do you have any plans for a second novel, if so where will it be set?
Yes, I'm working on a sort of prequel to Distant Land, a novel based on the lives of my missionary grandparents. It begins in 1906, and takes place in the interior of northern China, in the North China Plain. I'm very much enjoying the research, and being back in China.
What gave you the inspiration to write this dramatic tale?
The book is based on the life of my uncle. My mother was from a family of five, and this uncle was the oldest, she the youngest, with thirteen years between them. My grandparents were Nazarene missionaries in China, so my mother and her siblings grew up there. When he graduated from Vanderbilt in 1931, he decided to return to China, figuring that with the Depression, his chances for a job and a salary were better there than in the U.S. Once in China, he began working in Shanghai and quickly made money. The Shanghai and quickly made money. The Novel follows the surface details of his life: he was imprisoned by the Japanese, released, went back to Shanghai after the war, was imprisoned by the Communists, released,
returned to California with next to nothing, all of that by the time he was forty-five years old. When he returned to the U.S., he remarried (his first wife divorced him), and eventually settled in San Francisco. Chinese food has always been part of family dinners. My uncle and an aunt had a chiaotzû cook-off once, and I used to help my mom make them when I was little.) ~randomhouse review
Chinese dumplings are one of the most important foods in the Chinese New Year.
Traditionally, members of a family get together to make dumplings during New Year’s Eve.
January 22, 2004 will mark the beginning of the Year of the Monkey and Year 4701 of the Chinese Calendar.
Shanghai is a mix of Asian and European styles. If you walk along the harbour you get a feeling that you are in a British port city, Shanghai means “by the sea”. The English obtain by force a concession in Shanghai. This meant that they didn't have to follow Chinese laws. At this time there were more cars in shanghai than in the rest of China together. Even after the Japanese occupation of Shanghai the western powers continued to live like before in Shanghai. It all took an end when the Japanese attacked pearl harbour.
