Getting Started

My father is a writer. Unfortunately for me and, in my opinion, other American readers, he writes in Chinese. All of his books are published in China and Taiwan. His greatest piece of work is the book he wrote about his mother, who I call Nai Nai. That book is the inspiration for this blog.

I remember when he started writing this book. I had just started high school and was too busy trying to be American to really care. I grew up hearing my dad's stories about our family's history, so I usually just feigned interest, rolled my eyes and sighed loudly.

It wasn't until recently that I began to think about Nai Nai's life. This woman, who died when my father was a teenager during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, was such a mystery to me. Sure I've heard my dad say she led a remarkable life. She was incredibly strong during a very difficult time in Chinese history. With everything going against her, she was able to rise above and continue to live her life with class and dignity. But that's all so general! Who was she really? I can see the black and white photo my dad hangs in his office perfectly in my head. What an embarrassment. Not only am I a granddaughter who doesn't know a thing about her grandmother, I am a daughter who has never even read her own father's book.

So, a couple of months ago, I decided to start this journey. I asked my dad to read his book and record it for me. Right now, I'm translating the chapters into English. The goal is to someday write a book about Nai Nai's story myself. I know my father never wanted his book translated into English so it could be published in the United States. He probably felt it was too personal and the emotional attachment would get lost in translation. More importantly, he probably waited because he wanted me to write it. Well, scratch that "probably" because I know he's always wanted me to write it. And that's most likely the reason I've avoided the subject for as long as I did.

It's incredibly intimidating. From just the writing standpoint, this will be challenging enough. I spent the last 7 years of my life writing at a 4th grade level for TV news viewers. But, personally...I just don't know what to expect. My mother once told me, while my father wrote this book, there were nights he would cry himself to sleep. While telling his mother's story was one of the most important things he had to do in life, it was also one of the hardest. He essentially had to relive all of her pain and suffering. She grew up during the Japanese invasion of China and died during the Communist takeover. What will all of this mean to me?

This blog is a journal of my experience as I explore Nai Nai's life. I'm still working on a title and how I want to chronicle this. After all, if the book ever gets published (fingers crossed!) I don't want to give away too many details about the book itself.