A Cowherd in Paradise: From China to Canada

by May Q. Wong

Overview

A Cowherd in Paradise chronicles the remarkable lives of Wong Guey Dang (1902–1983) and Jiang Tew Thloo (1911–2002). Ah Dang was born into an impoverished family and sold as a child. In 1921, his adoptive father paid a five-hundred-dollar head tax to send Ah Dang to Canada. Eight years later, driven to create a family of his own, Ah Dang returned to China, where he chose Ah Thloo as his bride from a matchmaker’s photo.

As a child, Ah Thloo worked as a cowherd and from the age of six was responsible for her family’s fortune—their water buffalo. Ah Thloo not only became a wife and mother, but also grew to be a courageous defender against invaders and a champion of the weak.

Married for over half a century, the couple was forced to live apart for twenty-five years because of Canada’s exclusionary immigration laws. In Canada, Ah Dang became a successful Montreal restaurateur; while in China, Ah Thloo struggled to survive through natural disasters, wars, and revolutions. A Cowherd in Paradise is the moving tale of one couple’s search for love, family, and forgiveness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926972411
Publisher:	TouchWood Editions
Publication date:	04/03/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

May Q. Wong was born of Chinese immigrants and raised in the diversity of Montreal’s “Main.” She was educated at McGill University and the University of Victoria, and spent her career in the British Columbia Public Service working toward improving the lives of those in need. Since retiring in 2004, May has devoted her time to travelling with her husband and writing about the people they have met and the places they have been. A Cowherd in Paradise: From Canada to China is May’s first book. She is currently working on her second.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

prologue 1

1 Father Reclaimed 3

2 Hai Ngao Nui-Cowherd Girl 13

3 Father Reborn 25

4 Grandmother's Golden Lilies 39

5 Maange Foon-Blind Marriage 49

6 Four Years, Four Months, Four Days 67

7 Abandoned Heroine 89

8 Father Rejoices 103

9 Father Regroups 111

10 First Christmas 121

11 Father Rejuvenated, Mother Baptized 139

12 Dining with Premier Zhou Enlai 161

13 Successes and Setbacks 189

14 A Cowherd in Paradise 207

Epilogue: Canadian-At Last 231

Glossary 236

Bibliography 240

Index 243

Acknowledgments 244

About the Author 246

Editorial Reviews

May Q. Wong is featured in the winter issue of Senior Living Magazine.

This is not the work simply of a family archivist but of an author, for it is rooted in empathetic imagination that immerses the reader in emotional experiences . . . [May Q.] Wong's book reminds us of the struggles of others and the need to remain vigilant about government decisions that impact us all—even here in paradise. —Focus

A Cowherd in Paradise manages the writerly task of evoking the perilous, impoverished life of peasants in pre-revolutionary China while delving deep into the psyche of an immigrant to Canada during the period of discriminatory head taxes. May Q. Wong has written one of the best descriptions of foot-binding (her grandmother's) that I have ever read. With honesty, Wong also sympathetically recounts the disastrous conjugal encounter between two strangers—her parents—meeting for the first time on their wedding night. Wong's description of the enforced polarization of one nuclear family, set asunder by a Canadian law excluding ethnic Chinese immigrants—no matter if they are wife, daughter, or son—should be required reading for anyone who cares about citizenship and human rights. —Jan Wong, author of Red China Blues

May Q. Wong's A Cowherd in Paradise: From China to Canada was reviewed along side Vincent Lam's The Headmaster's Wager (Random House). Canadian Literature said that they both "offer nothing less than a Canadian ethnic and multicultural history, in which the changing social image of Chineseness is embodied in the existential shifting of individual and family identity." —Canadian Literature

From the Publisher