In the American Society

A common theme in Chinese American literature, including in “In the American Society,” is the different experiences of Chinese immigrants and their American-born children. This dynamic played out in Gish Jen’s own life. Her parents were both born in China, her mother in Shanghai and her father in Yixing, and they immigrated separately to the United States in the 1940s. Jen was born in 1955 and was raised in different parts of New York State. Jen received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. She attended Stanford Business School for a short time to pursue an MBA, but she quit to move to China and teach English. She then enrolled in the University of Iowa, participating in the famed Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earning her MFA in fiction.

Much of Chang’s literature revolves around the Chinese American experience, and multiple works focus on the fictional Chang family in particular. In her book, Typical American (1991), Jen writes about Ralph Chang coming to America. There, he meets his future wife, Helen, and the two set about achieving the American dream. Mona Chang’s story is told in Mona in the Promised Land (1996). This is a coming-of-age novel in which Mona converts to Judaism.