Bestselling author Amy Tan feels more Chinese than American in the PHL

Writer and “The Joy Luck Club” author Amy Tan said in an interview hosted by Jessica Zafra at the first Philippine Literary Festival on Oct. 24 that she feels more Chinese in the Philippines than she does in America.

“I'm Chinese in race. I'm Chinese in my mother's upbringing even though she pounded into my head that I'm American because of my assumptions of civil rights and things like that,” said Tan. “In the Philippines, I do feel more Chinese I would have to say—but in a weird way, as if though it's the same kind of Chinese you are. I know many of you are mixed Chinese, half-Chinese, but you also have this American thread running through your culture, so it's kind of closer to what I am than in mainland China.”

At the question and answer portion of the Author Spotlight, Tan was asked if she identified more as an Asian writer or as an American writer.

The author, whose work explores the Chinese-American experience and mother-daughter relationships, said that the answer is dependent on the context.,

"I realized over the years that I don't have to choose one or the other,” she said. “When I first went to China, I thought I would suddenly become so Chinese that no one could tell I was American—I had never felt more American in my life than when I was in China because I was so different.”

(Filipino) Representation in literature

“I feel that anyone who writes outside of what used to be called the mainstream should be considered part of the American literature canon. And they used to put us in categories you know, Asian-American, Black literature... as though we didn't quite belong,” Tan shared.

She explained that she benefited by her work being taught in such subjects as Ethnic Studies and Asian-American classes.,

She added, “I wasn't complaining, but I said, 'For the sake of other writers just putting out work, they cannot be placed in the Chinese-American category with me crowding them out. You have to put us all in the same American literature category. So that's why I do say I'm an American writer.”

And when asked if she could write an American character, her reply was, “Yes, but only to prove that I could do it... I do feel that so many writers, especially in other countries, are invisible.”

She gave an example: the Philippines is a part of Asia, but when people think of Asia, they think of China.,

“I see this lack of representation happen in many ways in literature and I'm frankly quite surprised about it in the Philippines... I had to ask myself, 'Which Filipino writers do I know about in the States?' But there aren't a lot of writers being published there. I mean, you write in English, you have so much history that relates to the States. I don't know why.”

Yolanda donations, marine biology

In March of 2014, Tan's friend and fellow author Mitch Albom came to the Philippines to witness for himself the devastation wrought by Typhoon Yolanda. He mentioned he was going to ask his group of writer friends--which included such high profile authors as Tan and Stephen King--to donate books. 10 for every public library to be rebuilt in the Visayas, in fact. What has become of this request?

"I had posts on Facebook where I recruited writers," Tan answered. "I sent emails out to everyone. We had a huge outpouring of goods that we donated... I donated not just my books, but a lot of new books I had in my library that had been given to me.

"But it was such a worthwhile project for everybody to get together and do," she continued. "And not only that, but the readers of those Facebook pages [too]--there were probably thousands of them... and they wanted to give their books off their libraries. We came up with a bit of a problem as to how to get those books here to the Philippines. It would have been better to send money.

"But that was the kind of outpouring we had and we were all tweeting, all doing Facebook posts. It was such a wonderful project that Mitch had started," Tan added. "And it is one of the reasons why I'm here. Mitch said, 'You have to go to the Philippines.' I was asked and I came after about a year of being on the road... I'm really, really glad I came and I certainly will be coming back."

And if Amy Tan weren't a writer, what would she be? The answer is threefold: a painter, a music composer, or a marine biologist.

"There are so many things to discover," she said. "The Philippines has a lot of water here where you can find a lot of interesting things--and that's one of the reasons I want to come back." — DVM, GMA News