Amy Tan
(b. 1952)

Amy Tan did not begin to write fiction until she was in her thirties. Her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, was an immediate bestseller, praised by critics and translated into 17 languages. Tan's next two novels, The Kitchen God's Wife and The Hundred Secret Senses were also bestsellers.

Tan combines stories of Chinese American family life with tales of life in China, focusing on mother-daughter relationships. The theme of Americanized daughters estranged from their immigrant mothers, their traditions and heritage, is central to her books. Like her characters, Tan did not appreciate her Chinese heritage. In an interview in MacLean's magazine, she said, "Somehow I'd been born into the wrong family, that I went down the wrong chute and ended up in a Chinese family."

Tan's parents were born in China. Her father, John, was an electrical engineer and a Baptist minister. Her mother, Daisy, was born in Shanghai to a wealthy family. They met in China in the dangerous decade of the 1940s. Battles were fought on all fronts: World War II in the first half of the decade, and in the second half of the decade, the fight for control of China between the Japanese, the Chinese Nationalist government, and Communist rebels.

John Tan worked for the United States Information Service during World War II, which made it relatively easy for him to leave China for the United States when the war ended. Daisy was not so fortunate; she was imprisoned. She escaped in 1949 on the last boat to leave Shanghai before the Communist takeover. Daisy and John Tan were married shortly after Daisy's arrival in the United States. The Tan marriage produced three children: Peter, born in 1950; Amy, in 1952; and John, Jr., in 1954. The family moved several times, settling down in Santa Clara, California.

Tragedy struck in 1967, when Tan's father and brother Peter both died of brain tumors within a year of each other. Daisy Tan then moved to Switzerland, where they settled in Montreaux. It was after the death of her husband and son that Daisy revealed to Amy her heartbreaking secret. She had three daughters from her first marriage in China. Daisy Tan long before had given up hope of ever seeing her daughters again, since there was little communication between China and the United States. Amy Tan was stunned at the news that she had three half-sisters in China. She feared that her mother might have loved these three "perfect Chinese" sisters better than herself.

After Tan graduated from high school in Montreaux, she returned to the U.S. and attended Linfield College in Oregon. At first, she studied pre-med to please her mother. However, science held little interest for Tan, and she transferred to San Jose State University in California, where she changed her major to English and linguistics. Tan graduated in 1973. A year later, she earned a master's degree and married Louis DeMattei.

Tan's first job was as a language development consultant for disabled children. Later she directed a project for children who were developmentally disabled. Eventually, Tan left that work and inched closer to a writing career. With a partner she formed a company specializing in writing speeches for businessmen. Not liking the management side of the business, Tan struck out on her own and prospered as a freelance business writer. Dissatisfaction set in again though, and to stem her boredom, Tan began writing fiction. Her first short story, "Endgame," was published in 1986.

Daisy Tan's bout with a serious illness that same year may have provided the catalyst for Tan's evolution as a novelist. "If I die, what will you remember?" Daisy implored. Tan decided that if her mother recovered she would take her to China to see her long, lost daughters. The trip allowed Tan a new perspective on her mother, and she found inspiration to finish a book of stories she had given her agent before she left.
The book, TheJoy Luck Club, was published in 1989, and Tan dedicated it to her mother. The inscription reads, "You once asked me what I would remember. This, and much more."

Tan's next book, The Kitchen God's Wife, was published in 1991. Two children's books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat, followed it. In 1995, she published The Hundred Secret Senses.

In China during World War II, battles raged all around. The Chinese Nationalist government fought not only the Japanese, who had taken over much of the country, but also Chinese Communists. The Communists won support among the rural Chinese by seizing land from wealthy landlords and dividing it among the poor farmers. In the struggle, many thousands of landlords and educated Chinese were executed.

When World War II ended, full-scale civil war erupted in China. The Communists forced the Nationalists out of China and in 1949 established a new government, The People's Republic of China. Chinese immigrants who came to the United States had very little contact with relatives or friends who remained in China. Formal relations between the U.S. and China did not resume until President Richard Nixon's visit in 1972. After that Americans could visit China legally.

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