Interior Chinatown (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

Places Map

References To Other Books

Direct References

How to Make $1,000,000 in Real Estate

Your mother studies from a textbook. How to Make $1,000,000 in Real Estate. No experience or capital needed, just a few basic principles (location, location, location) and a willingness to work hard.

Hamilton’s Mythology

The sole book now in Dorothy’s possession is a copy of Hamilton’s Mythology. A book she has loved since childhood, when she spied the tattered paperback in a bin in her local library, passed over by all the other kids for its ruined state. It says on the back, published in the U.S.A.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

in addition to The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman, a book I will keep rereading until I can’t read anymore

American Chinatown

American Chinatown Bonnie Tsui

San Francisco Chinatown

San Francisco Chinatown Philip Choy

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

Charles Yu’s first novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, was a New York Times Notable Book and a Time magazine best book of the year.

Referenced By

No books reference this book

Places Referenced

8 Blackstock Mews, London

"8 Blackstock Mews London N4 2BT"

China, Asia

"…Older Brother’s reach and influence was not limited to the Middle Kingdom and its ethnic diaspora, but extended into other neighboring domains: he could sing karaoke with the Japanese salarymen, could polish off two plates of ddukbokki slathered in a tangy, blood‐red gochujang, wash it down with a bottle of milky soju, all while beating the pants off the K-town regulars…"

Jackson and Eleventh, Los Angeles

"“Man you don’t even know. Last week I saw him at Jackson and Eleventh.” … “Chin-ups on the cross bar of the traffic signal.”"

Chinatown SRO, Chinatown

"INT. CHINATOWN SRO—HALLWAY—LATER"

Taiwan, East Asia

"If you didn’t know it already, now you do: old dudes from rural Taiwan are comfortable with their karaoke and when they do karaoke for some reason they love no one like they love John Denver."

Taiwan Strait, East Asia

"by the time he’s done, you might understand why a seventy-seven-year-old guy from a tiny island in the Taiwan Strait who’s been in a foreign country for two‐thirds of his life can nail a song, note perfect, about wanting to go home."

West Virginia, United States

"and when he steps up and starts slaying “Country Roads,” try not to laugh, or wink knowingly or clap a little too hard, because by the time he gets to “West Virginia, mountain mama,” you’re going to be singing along."

Paramount lot, Hollywood, California

"built with an architect, a set designer, and a construction superintendent from the Paramount lot."

Hong Kong, China

"TURNER Fong’s probably halfway to Hong Kong by now."

Taipei, Taiwan

"One of the few American stories that had made its way to the silver screen of Taipei in the ’50s, an afternoon at the cinema with her father and nine sisters and brothers, sharing one Coke."

Alabama, United States

"She as a nurse’s assistant, a yellow girl living in Alabama in 1969."

Ohio, United States

"Dorothy rides the bus through miles of highways, perhaps nondescript to some, but to her, this is grandeur. The countryside she pictured, in the country she long imagined. She is going north, to Ohio, and she can work with that, too."

Akron, Ohio, United States

"How Angela packed her suitcase for her, bought a one‐way bus ticket to Akron."

Mississippi, United States

"At the end of four days, he will arrive in Mississippi, where he will step off of the bus, in the dead of night, into a swarm of mosquitoes."

Central Taiwan, Taiwan

"Young Wu, as a young student in Central Taiwan, gazing at a map of the world in his classroom. On the map, it is a jeweled blue, sandwiched between Canada (salmon pink) and Mexico (lime green)."

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

"He gets his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Geneva, Switzerland

"She goes on to be a lead researcher at CERN, but like her father, suffers headaches for the rest of her life."

Interstate 5, California, United States

"Two weeks after graduation, Christine is filling her car with gas at a rest stop off of the I-5. Someone yells out the window of a car moving at close to forty miles per hour that she should go back to where she came from."

Taichung, Taiwan

"“Lee, as in my paternal grandfather was from Taichung. He moved to the States and lived with us after my grandmother died.”"

Osaka, Japan

"“You did a semester abroad in Osaka, yeah? Or Kyoto maybe. Solid grades. You have an accounting degree to fall back on if your dreams don’t work out.”"

Kyoto, Japan

"“You did a semester abroad in Osaka, yeah? Or Kyoto maybe. Solid grades. You have an accounting degree to fall back on if your dreams don’t work out.”"

Taipei, Taiwan

"“So far so good, except it was Taipei, not Osaka, history, not accounting, and I was dean’s list all four years, and to be honest, I’m not sure what my dream is yet—it might be grad school—so I don’t think I’ll be crushed if, as you put it, it doesn’t pan out for me.”"

Chinatown SRO, Chinatown

"… no fishy garbage fumes, or flumes of mildewing vegetation, no cacophony of five dialects being smashed together, a solid block of sensory overload rising up the dank central corridor of INT. CHINATOWN SRO. Instead, phoebe land."

Oregon, United States

"1859 Oregon’s constitution is revised: no “Chinaman” can own property in the state."

California, United States

"1879 California’s constitution is revised: ownership of land is limited to aliens of “the white race or of African descent.”"

Los Angeles, California

"When he graduates, he is accepted in a doctoral program at UCLA."

China, Asia

"…talking about how hard you have it. If you don’t like it here, go back to China."

Stanford, California

"Allen’s daughter, Christine Chen, graduates from Stanford."

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

"TURNER You know I was an East Asian Studies minor— GREEN At Yale. Yes I know, Miles. Look, it’s cool that you can order dim sum. But with all due respect, a semester of Cantonese isn’t going to cut it. This is a tight-knit community. They’ll close ranks, protect their own. (then) If we want the real story, we need someone on the inside."

Wall Street, Los Angeles, California

"HE’S a third-generation cop who left Wall Street to honor his father’s legacy."

Korea, East Asia

"…wash it down with a bottle of milky soju, all while beating the pants off the K-town regulars at their own drinking games, dropping some of his passable Korean (mostly curse words) in the process."

Washington Territory, United States

"1886 Washington Territory’s constitution bars aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning property."

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

"…there is a clear and plausible explanation for where I was—at Harvard Law School—then what is my client on trial for?"

Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco, California, United States

"INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT—NIGHT"

United States

"EXHIBIT B LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES, PART II 1943 The Chinese Exclusion Act is repealed by the Magnuson Act and Chinese in the United States are given the right to become naturalized citizens, although ethnic Chinese in America were still prohibited from owning property or businesses. The quota for Chinese immigration is set at 105 people per year. 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Celler Act) is passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law abolishes the quota-based National Origins Formula that had been the basis of U.S. immigration policy since 1921."

China, Asia

"Chinatown, like the phoenix, rose from the ashes with a new facade, dreamed up by an American-born Chinese man, built by white architects, looking like a stage-set China that does not exist."

Central Taiwan, Taiwan

"…the way he first learned how Americans did it, watching old film reels in central Taiwan, his home now a distant, watery memory from a Period Piece."

Santa Monica, California

"for generous financial support provided during the long, sometimes lean, years between books, I am grateful to: Santa Monica Artist Fellowship City of Santa Monica Nathan Birnbaum Cultural Affairs Director"

San Francisco, California

"1890 In the City of San Francisco, the Bingham Ordinance prohibits Chinese people (whether or not U.S. citizens) from either working or living in San Francisco, except in “a portion set apart for the location of all the Chinese,” thereby creating a literal, legally defined ghetto."

Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

"Miles Turner left the force to attend Harvard Medical School. He is now a surgeon."

China, Asia

"EXT. CHINATOWN."

China, Asia

"Chinatown, like the phoenix, rose from the ashes with a new facade, dreamed up by an American-born Chinese man, built by white architects, looking like a stage-set China that does not exist."

New York, New York

"recruited by the FBI, as well as several NYC billionaires to head private security"

United States

"…This place preserved as if in amber. Like a museum, a presentation of a time and place that always exist, and never did. It’s in the United States, but not quite America. Some trick of geography."

China, Asia

"…Even if Older Brother were not actually a real person, he would still be the most important character in some yet‐to‐be‐conceived‐story of Chinatown. Would still be real in everyone’s minds and hearts, the mythical Asian American man, the ideal mix of assimilated and authentic."