Welcome to an in-depth look at Lisa See’s On Gold Mountain. Here you’ll find photos, interviews, maps, and more, reflecting the history of the See family.
“Readers sometimes tell me that Fong See was an extraordinary man. Maybe he was for his time and place, but he wasn’t a Rockefeller or a Kennedy, a Gates or a Jobs. He didn’t change the world or wield power outside of his own family or Los Angeles Chinatown. Uncle and Fong See’s descendants, and I include myself in this, are not extraordinary. We are quite ordinary, but I believe there’s a lot to be learned from the ordinary and it’s that very ordinariness that links my family to all American families. We all had someone in our families who was crazy enough, brave enough, or dumb enough to leave his or her home country to come here. (Even Native Americans came from somewhere else.) We all share in that immigrant experience. Maybe my family had a teapot and your family had a coffeepot, but we all–somewhere along the line–had a mother and a father. We all had people in our families who struggled and sacrificed so that we can be here today. All of us want our families to be proud of us, and they show that to us sometimes in unexpected ways” (OGM, pages 384-385).
Native Americans did not immigrate from somewhere else!! The Northern & Southern continents have always been our homes, despite what Anglos & other foreigners claim!!
Dear Lisa See. I have just finished this wonderful book. I will refer to it often. I’m am overwhelmed with the effort you put into recording this history beginning with your great grandfather. I feel so connected to the various people in this book. I’ve had this book on mt shelf for some time and seeing that it was your favorite I decided to read it. Thank you so much. I’ve loved other of your books but this oen was incredible.