At the close of the Second World War, racist immigration laws trapped
enclaves of old men in Chinatowns across the United States, preventing
their wives or families from joining them. They took refuge from
loneliness in the repartee and rivalries exchanged over games of mahjong
in the backrooms of barbershops or at the local tong. These bachelors
found hope in the nascent marriages and future children who would
someday grow roots in American soil, made possible at last by the repeal
of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943.
Louis Chu tells the story of a newlywed couple that inherits the burden
of this tightly bonded community's expectations. Returning soldier Ben
Loy travels to China to marry Mei Oi, a beautiful, intelligent woman who
then emigrates to New York. After their honeymoon, Ben Loy becomes
impotent, and his inability to father a child frustrates both Mei Oi and
the Chinatown bachelors. This discontent boils over when Mei Oi has an
affair and the community learns of Ben Loy's humiliation.
Eat a Bowl of Tea remains a groundbreaking and influential work. The
first novel to capture the tone and sensibility of everyday life in an
American Chinatown, it is an incisive portrayal of Chinese America on
the brink of change. A new foreword by Fae Myenne Ng explores the depth
and meaning of Mei Oi's lust and elucidates the power of Chu's
uncompromising writing.
