Next door to the Spring Fragrances lived the Chin Yuens…The daughter was a pretty girl whose Chinese name was Mai Gwi Far (a rose) and whose American name was Laura. Nearly everybody called her Laura, even her parents and Chinese friends. Laura had a sweetheart, a youth named Kai Tzu. Kai Tzu, who was American-born, and as ruddy and stalwart as any young Westerner, was noted amongst baseball players as one of the finest pitchers on the Coast.
Although this may seem to be a rather ordinary description of characters in a story, it is, in fact, quite revolutionary. “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” was originally published in 1910 and then republished in this collection two years later. At the time many—if not most—white American readers would likely have been taken aback by a story about Chinese characters with “American” names, living in a houses with a yard instead of stuffed into a city’s “Chinatown” and—perhaps most of all—excelling at the National Pastime.
There is nothing on a Chinaman’s table to remind one of living animals and birds—no legs, heads, limbs, wings or loins—everything is cut up small. The Chinaman comes to the table to eat—not to work.
The collection is comprised of not just short fiction, but short essays published in various newspapers. This one, for example, was published in the October 2, 1903 edition of the Los Angeles Express. This section of the book offers fascinating insights into Chinese culture on a more direct scale, unadorned by aesthetic gloss of fiction. The language is stripped down and terse, but still allows for the author’s particular talents to shine through such as the humor expressed here.
“Poor Pat! He Chinese no more; he Chinese no more!"
In addition to short stories and journalistic essays, the collection also features short morality tales written for children. Even in this section the thematic strain of divided loyalties inherent in being Chinese-American or Eurasian is considered. In this story, the metaphor becomes literal as a Chinese family adopts an orphaned Caucasian and raise him to become fully assimilated into their Chinese culture. While still a young child, however, the boy is removed from his foster family and adopted by a white couple. Before long he becomes fully assimilated into his “native” culture with the inevitable result that his relationship with his Chinese “sister” with whom he had been inseparable has learned to reject her for being Chinese.
The sun was conquering the morning fog, dappling with gold the gray waters of San Francisco's bay, and throwing an emerald radiance over the islands around.
Close to the long line of wharves lay motionless brigs and schooners, while farther off in the harbor were ships of many nations riding at anchor.
A fishing fleet was steering in from the open sea, scudding before the wind like a flock of seabirds. All night long had the fishers toiled in the deep. Now they were returning with the results of their labor.
While most analysis of this collection focuses on the aspects related to the Chinese immigrant experience in America—as it should—too often overlooked is another worthwhile element worth study. Although her output was not robust enough to earn recognition as a “regional writer” the stories collected here indicate that with greater commercial success she might have become just that. Her stories offer a portrait of San Francisco filled with vivid imagery from a perspective that not to be found in the works of writers like Mark Twain or Frank Norris.
