The Money Dragon

by Pam Chun

Book Overview

In this stunning work, Pam Chun brings a new and powerful voice to the traditions of Chinese-American fiction. The Money Dragon brings to life the saga of L. Ah Leong, the Money Dragon, one of the legends of Hawai'i and the founder of Honolulu's Chinatown. At the turn of the twentieth century, Ah Leong rules over his Hawai'ian home, a legendary man so proficient in the martial arts he has brought himself back to life; a man who beguiles many wives,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570718679
• ISBN13: 9781570718670
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A pleasure to read and informative

Ms. Chun's book the Money Dragon is a well written and informative book. I feel the story is the subject that many families can relate to, no matter what cultural background. For those readers who are not of Chinese decent have the pleasure of a glossary that describes some of the Chinese terms used in the book. Thank you to Ms. Chun, for sharing her family's history with us and for the photos that have captured our interest in your story of pride and honor.

Money Dragon

Love this book. I love books that take me into cultures I am unfamiliar with. I read The Good Earth and loved it. This is fascinating to see how the same culture changes when arriving in Hawaii. Excellent discussion on early Hawaiian/American relationships, too. Characters are wonderful and real. Highly recommend this book.

good historical fiction

i really enjoyed the book, and finished it in record time. for some odd reason though, i enjoyed the parts about tat-tung and the phoenix a lot more than the parts about the actual money dragon. i guess it's because they were the good people in the book. good historical details about China. I had a little hard time translating the chinese terms into chinese though, because they were in cantonese, and i only speak mandarin. i always like novels based on real stories, and this is a great one.

A rare and precious picture.

Pam Chun writes an engrossing book about a prominent Chinese family in 19th-20th century Honolulu and provides readers with a rare glimpse into a lost past. If you've ever stared at stark, black and white photos of old Chinese families and wondered what they were really like, Pam Chun brings them to life as if they were your own family and leaves you with a quiet, settled, intimacy that only honest, careful writing can bring.Set in pre-war Hawaii, the tale pulls together historic fact and fiction in a seamless, involving way, resisting the postcard or magazine style of popular history. She focuses on the intimate and personal details of her characters and families and renders them breathing, sweating, and lifelike. My only disappointment was that the book ended so quickly.Hawaii and history enthusiasts will find fine detail in her tale that fill in the gaps of Western accounts. Asian Americans will feel and smell the painful and yet matter of fact pressures on the lives of their parents and grandparents. You will marvel at the strength of character of the early Chinese women and the entrenched families that were the rule of the day. And because her writing resists the sterotype, the polemic, and the popular, it transcends the usual place and era pieces.This is not Michener. This is Hawaii. I hope she keeps writing.

A fascinating and compelling story

I could not put this book down until I had finished it. Pam Chun is a master storyteller and captivates the reader from the first page. L. Ah Leong is a poor Chinese immigrant who comes to Hawaii seeking a better life. Through hard work and diligence he amasses a fortune to declare to himself and those around him that he is a great man. The money, however, brings with it greed, a lust for power and destruction of the family. Set in territorial Hawaii one also gain insight into the injustice brought against the Hawaiian and Chinese population by the United States government and those who claimed to represent it.