Judy Fong Bates

Judy Fong Bates's fresh and engaging first novel is the story of Su-Jen Chou, a Chinese girl growing up the only daughter of an unhappy and isolated immigrant family in a small Ontario town in the 1950s. Through Su-Jen's eyes we see the hard life behind the scenes at the Dragon Cafe, the local diner her family runs. Her half-brother Lee-Kung smolders under the responsibilities he must carry as the dutiful Chinese son. Her mother, beautiful but bitter, lays her hopes and dreams on Su-Jen's shoulders, until she turns to find solace in the most forbidden of places, while Su-Jen's elderly father strives to hek fuh, swallow bitterness, and save face at all costs.

Midnight at the Dragon Café

Su-Jen and her parents settle uneasily into their new life in a town where they are the only Chinese family. She feels the weight of her mother's unhappiness as her life takes her outside of the diner and the traditional customs. Then when a tragedy occurs at school, Su-Jen's life changes again. 2004.

Midnight at the Dragon Cafe

By the bestselling author of Midnight at the Dragon Café A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection Focusing on the Chinese community in Canada, these vivid and poignant stories tell us something about the place of home and memory in our lives. Whether her characters find themselves caught between the life they left behind and the lonely realities of their new life in Canada, or torn between the traditions of the past and a desire to shape their own futures, Bates captures their struggles and triumphs with compassion and insight. Among the eight stories: The arrival of a beautiful mail-order bride incites a treacherous mix of jealousy and suspicion between two brothers. After years of sacrifice, an elderly woman seizes a last chance for happiness when she moves into a home of her own. For the sake of her family, a young woman must navigate her way through the unfamiliar demands of Chinese tradition after she elopes with her Canadian boyfriend. Richly textured, China Dog reminds us of the universal yearning for understanding and acceptance.

And Other Stories

China Dog

China Dog and Other Stories

Set in the 1960s, Judy Fong Bates’s much-talked-about debut novel is the story of a young girl, the daughter of a small Ontario town’s solitary Chinese family, whose life is changed over the course of one summer when she learns the burden of secrets. Through Su-Jen’s eyes, the hard life behind the scenes at the Dragon Café unfolds. As Su-Jen’s father works continually for a better future, her mother, a beautiful but embittered woman, settles uneasily into their new life. Su-Jen feels the weight of her mother’s unhappiness as Su-Jen’s life takes her outside the restaurant and far from the customs of the traditional past. When Su-Jen’s half-brother arrives, smouldering under the responsibilities he must bear as the dutiful Chinese son, he forms an alliance with Su-Jen’s mother, one that will have devastating consequences. Written in spare, intimate prose, Midnight at the Dragon Café is a vivid portrait of a childhood divided by two cultures and touched by unfulfilled longings and unspoken secrets.

Midnight At the Dragon Cafe

The arrival of a pretty mail-order bride from China creates tensions between two brothers....An elderly woman surprises her children by making a new life for herself....A young Chinese-Canadian woman wonders how to tell her family that she has secretly married her white boyfriend....Surprising, poignant and often hilarious, the stories of China Dog and Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry delve into the layers of submerged desire and fear that lie beneath the surface of ordinary lives. They bring vividly to life a host of Chinese immigrants, from the turn of the century to the present day. Some are trying to adjust to life in a strange and hostile new land. Others are trying to live Western lives while accomodating the wishes of their more traditional families. All learn that some of the truths they've built their lives around are illusions that can shatter as easily as a china dog.

Judy Fong Bates

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