I want English professors to put my books on regular reading lists. An American writer. We have worked hard for fairness in the job market and housin… - Maxine Hong Kingston

a lot of Chinese Americans get mad, because they say my experience is nothing like theirs. Of course, they may come from a different class of people; they come from a different generation of migration; they're a different generation American. There aren't enough books out there. If there were lots of books, then you could see the variety of people in the books, reflecting the variety of people in life. But since there aren't a whole lot of books... (1989)

The way I've looked at it is that I want to write about myself and other people in the truest way possible. To write a true autobiography or biography, I have to know what the other person dreams and how her imagination works. I am less interested in dates and facts.

The lights of the city on hills make a vertical shimmer from sky straight into the water, like a backdrop, like a dream. (p37)