On Gold Mountain

Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world. 82 photos.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jromack

rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world. 82 photos.

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LibraryThing member skylightbooks

I spent a precious day off reading this fascinating family saga straight through because I couldn't bear to put it down. It reads like an epic novel, but in fact it's the true story of generations of a Chinese immigrant family in the U.S. ("Gold Mountain"), and specifically in Los Angeles, revealed

through See's personal quest to learn more about the Chinese side of her family and its secrets. An essential volume for anyone who cares about putting a face on L.A. history. In the summer of 2000, L.A.'s Autry Museum had a major exhibit (also called "On Gold Mountain") based on this book, exploring the history of Chinese in America from the 1790s to the present. -Kerry

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LibraryThing member Pandababy

I read On Gold Mountain slowly, with days between chapters to think about new ideas. On Gold Mountain was many things to me.

It was an eye-opening revelation to me of how racist our laws and immigration policies were towards the Chinese, up until our recently.

It was an amazing journey into Chinese

society both in America and in China.

It was an uplifting and hopeful account of how, in spite of everything, Chinese immigrants were able to come to America, work, and prosper.

It was a heart-breaking indictment of the treatment of the Chinese by our government and big business, particularly the railroads. The suffering and death of so many people has gone too long unnoticed in our history books.

It was an amusing commentary on the foibles of human nature, and how love truly can triumph over it all, down through the generations.

It was an incredibly well-researched, well-documented and remarkably frank story of one Chinese immigrant and his numerous descendants.

In the developing field of social history, and using social history to illuminate a genealogy, On Gold Mountain is a seminal work, published five years prior to the ground-breaking "Bringing Your Family History to Life through social history" by Katherine Scott Sturdevant. As such, it is a remarkable example of the professional standards to which the social historian/genealogist may aspire.

Although the family history is rife with bi-racial marriage, multiple wives and concubines, infidelity and divorce, Lisa See presents the story in a sympathetic and factual manner, and avoids sensationalizing her family history. It is as much about the family business of importing Asian art, furniture and folk items, and other businesses the younger generations developed, as it is about the personal history of the family.

I would recommend Lisa See's book to anyone planning to write a social history; to all high school and college students in classes on U. S. Government, sociology, immigration, and capitalism. I would also recommend it to anyone who likes a good work of non-fiction about real people.

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LibraryThing member angela.vaughn

See has been one of my favorite authors for some time, and this book is what put her there. I read this book several years ago, but still remember it like it was yesterday.
Having a blended family myself, it was wonderful to know that See's family blended or not held on to the history of the family

with pictures and stories.
You get a great history lesson with out knowing it. There is racism, secret love and marriage, family affairs and scandle, big business and failure.
I have told everyone that if they find this book, get it- it has to be the best read.

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LibraryThing member Kimaoverstreet

I usually buy nonfiction books with good intentions, but often struggle to finish when there's a good fictional story waiting to be read, but I found On Gold Mountain to be easily readable and full of good stories. I have read most of Lisa See's fiction and was interested to see that many elements

of her fictional stories came from her own family history.

I did not read this book quickly, the print was small in my version and many of the people's names are similiar. I frequently referenced the family tree and maps in the opening section. Lisa See has done a fantastic job of compiling a tremendous amount of information about her colorful family in a highly readable format. I recommend this book to all Lisa See fans, history buffs, and people that enjoy a good story!

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LibraryThing member shieldwolf

I can't begin to tell you what an Impact this book had on me, Growing up in Las Vegas with most of my relatives in Southern California, and Actually living through some of the times described in this book was a reminiscence beyond description, My Uncle Used to work "The Chinatown Beat" in the

1950's and 60's for the Los Angeles Police Dept. I got goose bumps when I read these story vignettes of Just one family's lifetime of generations, and the Immigration rigmarole that they had to endure. It frightens me to this day because of the "new Politics" and how it affects so many people struggling to learn and earn in a new country. The story's real life struggles indicates the perseverance and deceptions that many go through to hold the family together. Bound by antiquated (In the American mind) traditions and Christian ethics, the culture of China just doesn't make sense. Whether you agree with Ms. See's portrayal of these events or not, believe me they are real. Mr Fong in spite of what some readers might think of his business and familial tactics proceeded to create a business and family under very dire circumstances. and it his he who we have to thank for what ultimately produced the Splendid and learned author of the book. Mr. Fong may have been the grit in the oyster but Ms. See certainly is a fine Specimen of a pearl. Hee hee sorry no Gold just "pearls of great price" Interesting too is one of Lisa later books is about a girl named Pearl. There are no coincidences.

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LibraryThing member KarenHerndon

This is a wonderful nonfiction story of the authors Chinese side of her family. Starting with immigration during the time of building the railroad in California to current times. It is wonderfully written and flows like a nonfiction read. I didn't want it to end, but then I love everything Lisa See

has written. I would highly recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member creighley

The story of Lisa See's Chinese family's immigration to the United States and the condition of the Chinese people in the United States. A little long.....a lot of names.....For the most part it was an intriguing tale of the hardships the Chinese had to endure and the remarkable success of this

famiy.

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LibraryThing member cransell

Lisa See researches and writes an interesting history of her Chinese-American blended family. Having read a fiction book by See, it was interesting to see where she was coming from in real life.

LibraryThing member mirrani

If you intend to keep track of every single person involved in this family history, you really have to have the ability to keep a virtual family-tree in your head, but you can just as easily sit back and enjoy the telling of what it was like to be a Chinese American family as California (and the

United States) grew and changed from gold rush times to the modern era. Readers will have a general idea of many of the situations described , but the depth that this book reaches helps to open the eyes even more to what was and expose the struggles people faced as time and culture changed. The balance between historical fact and personal drama is so amazingly perfect that there were points in this book where I actually found myself doing some research of my own, just to get an even better idea of what was within the story, whether it was a location, an item, or an idea. I can say that I honestly felt as if I experienced life alongside the family as they grew and changed. History is important to keep alive, but family history is even more important and I felt oddly touched to have been told the story of this family, as if the author had reached out in the crowd, pulled me aside and said "I want to share my family with you."

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LibraryThing member Grandy

Excellent book, so interesting about the early lives of the people that came to CA to help build the RR, I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read about the early days of our beloved country. Some part are heartbreaking but it all goes to show that laws need to be followed.

LibraryThing member JanaRose1

Lisa details the history of Fong See, his travels to America, the business he created, and his ever growing family. In a time where Chinese were used as immigrant laborers, Fong See built a business in oriental art and married a white woman and spread his influence beyond the Chinatown of Los

Angeles.

Although this book was slow at times, I thought it was interesting to read about the Chinese immigrant experience and the prejudice these families endured. The mixed-race children encountered their own difficulties, as they straddled the old and new Chinese/American cultures. I do wish the author had stuck with one name for everyone, instead of using the American name, Chinese name and then nick names. As the family grew this became more and more difficult to keep up with. Overall, a good book, one worth picking up.

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LibraryThing member yvonne.sevignykaiser

Very interesting history of author, Lisa See's family.

LibraryThing member flippinpages

I don't generally write a review on a book I didn't finish although this time I feel compelled to do so. Although I have not left a rating as that didn't seem fair. I was in the mood for a nonfiction book and when I found this one I was really excited. Looked to be along the lines of David Laskin's

"The Family" which I loved. On Gold Mountain is historical fiction, biographical fiction, whatever you want to call it but nonfiction it isn't. When an author can tell me what side off a street someone was walking on while he looked at a blue sky through whatever color green leaves and what he was thinking while doing so, or give detailed thoughts running a page or two of what was running through someone's mind while they are dying(both examples of which took place in the 1870s),that is not nonfiction. Same with the conversations that took place.
Just because you have researched a book for years and can take a pretty good guess at what you think someone might have thought, felt, or said, it's still a guess. It would have went over better with me if the author had even let the reader know she had taken some liberties in telling the story. I probably would have finished the book and left a 5 star rating because the writing is really very good. But in the end I felt mislead and irritated.

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LibraryThing member pamelad

Lisa See is Eurasian: with a Chinese great-grandfather, she is one-eighth Chinese. Until 1948 in California, and 1967 in many other states, it would have been illegal for Lisa to marry a white man. In fact, Lisa was the first person in her extended family to marry legally in the United States. Her

book traces the history of the See family and, by extension, Chinese settlement in California, starting with her great-great grandfather, a herbalist who treated the Chinese labourers building the Central Pacific Railroad. It is a history of racial discrimination: Chinese were not allowed to own land, marry whites, or bring their families to America. After the railroads were built, Chinese labourers were unable to enter the country legally.

See's great-grandfather, Fong See, the herbalist's youngest son, arrived in California in the 1871. Although enterprising, clever, and ultimately a wealthy and successful antique dealer, he could not read. He came from peasant family that could afford to educate only one son, who did all the reading and writing for the family.

See traces not just her Chinese-American family. She spent five years doing the research for this book, and investigated the histories of the Caucasian women who married into generations of the See family, and travelled to China to meet the descendants of Fong See and his brothers, who had wives and children in China as well as in America.

I found this book fascinating.

An aside. Lisa See's mother is Carolyn See, who wrote the memoir Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America, which I read when it first came out in 1996. Carolyn comes from generations of hard-living alcoholics and, while she writes an entertaining memoir and comes across a brave, smart and funny, life cannot have been easy for little Lisa See. Lisa spent a lot of her time with the parents of her father, Richard See, listening to their stories of the old days.

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LibraryThing member BookConcierge

Subtitle: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of a Chinese-American Family.

This is See’s “biography” of her family, starting with her great-great-grandfather, Fong Dun Shung, who immigrated to America (“The Gold Mountain”) in 1861 as an herbalist / healer working for the railroad. He brought

with him two of his four sons, who both worked as laborers helping to build the transcontinental railroad. His fourth son, Fong See, arrived in 1871 at age fourteen, and soon became an entrepreneur shopkeeper, with wives on two continents. See-bok, as he became known, was illiterate, but a shrewd businessman, and he founded a family dynasty. The story of this family is a history of the immigrants from China (and other Asian nations).

See used extensive research that began with the oral history passed down in her family. She looked at national archives, immigration records, property records and news articles. Her narrative explores not just her family’s history, but shows the history of America’s policies on immigration, specifically those coming from Asia.

It’s a fascinating story and exceedingly well told. I was very glad that the book included maps and a family tree, because I frequently made use of both.

The last forty pages or so of the book are Lisa See’s own story, including her trip to China to get more information from the family members still there. This really brought her family’s story full circle for me.

I’ve had this book on my TBR for ages, but it was the prompt to read a memoir that had me finally picking up. Additionally, I have recently learned that an opera has been written based on this family story and that also piqued my interest. I’m so glad I finally read it.

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LibraryThing member Castlelass

Lisa See has written her family’s history over the course of over one hundred years. The narrative traces back to the author’s great-great-grandfather, who traveled from China to California to reap the riches of “gold mountain” (as America was called in China). He worked as a laborer on the

Transcontinental Railroad. In 1866, the author’s great-grandfather, settled in California. Lisa See examines the many family members’ hopes, motivations, struggles, business ventures through the generations. Themes include the Chinese immigrant experience, racial discrimination, and women’s issues. It is easy to spot the influences of her family’s history on her fiction. She sets her family story against a backdrop of historic events. It also provides a number of cultural insights. Recommended to those interested in immigration accounts, family sagas, or California history.

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