“What has emerged is a story of melting–how people and cultures melt in all directions. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that when my grandmother included herself among the Chinese who had to wear buttons during the war, she might be tucking loose strands of red hair into her bun. My grandmother–like my great-grandmother–was white, but she was Chinese in her heart. She had melted into that side. Over the years, she had packed away her eyelet dresses with their cinched waists, and had adopted black trousers and loose fitting jackets, which she always wore with a beautiful piece of Chinese jewelry. She learned how to make lettuce soup, how to give those brides their lai see, how to be a proper Chinese daughter-in-law. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother were as white and “American” as they could be, yet they all chose to marry men whose culture was completely different from their own” (OGM, page xx).”What has emerged is a story of melting–how people and cultures melt in all directions. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that when my grandmother included herself among the Chinese who had to wear buttons during the war, she might be tucking loose strands of red hair into her bun. My grandmother–like my great-grandmother–was white, but she was Chinese in her heart. She had melted into that side. Over the years, she had packed away her eyelet dresses with their cinched waists, and had adopted black trousers and loose fitting jackets, which she always wore with a beautiful piece of Chinese jewelry. She learned how to make lettuce soup, how to give those brides their lai see, how to be a proper Chinese daughter-in-law. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother were as white and “American” as they could be, yet they all chose to marry men whose culture was completely different from their own” (OGM, page xx).