Allison Hong Merrill was working on a young adult edition of Heather B. Moore’s The Paper Daughters of Chinatown when she came across the incredible story of Wu Tien-fu.
Though Wu is a minor character in the original book, which is based on real events, Merrill was captivated by her story. In the late 1800s, the Chinese girl was sold into slavery and sent to the US city of San Francisco.
She was one of many Chinese girls at the time who were taken to America using fake identity papers. Known as “paper daughters”, many ended up in prostitution and slavery.
But Wu’s story did not end there. In 1894, she was rescued by Donaldina Cameron and other women who worked at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls. This group was committed to helping paper daughters escape prostitution and slavery.
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Eventually, Wu devoted her life to helping other girls who were still enslaved, working as an interpreter for Cameron.
As Merrill listened to old interviews with Wu, the 50-year-old decided the book’s young adult version would focus on this inspiring woman. “She sounded really intelligent and feisty … I imagine it took great courage to tell her story, to be so vulnerable. But her vulnerability lifts others,” said the author, who grew up in Taiwan and now lives in the US state of Utah.
During a research trip to San Francisco, Merrill was surprised that many locals did not know the story behind the mission home, now called Cameron House.
“I hope people feel that [story’s] power … people helping people, strangers helping strangers,” Merrill said of the young reader’s edition of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, published in April.
The Paper Daughters of Chinatown adaptation for young readers was published in April. Photo: Handout
Writing journey
Having been diagnosed with a reading disorder in primary school, Merrill didn’t start her journey as an author until she was already a mother.
Born in Taiwan, she followed her first husband to the US when she was 22, though he left her soon after. Later, she married another American and had children.
“They did not have very much connection with Chinese culture because we lived in a predominantly white community. And they noticed that I am different because I have an accent when I speak English,” the mother shared.
When she volunteered at schools, she recalled her children saying: “When you come and volunteer in my class, can you ask a teacher to let you do the quiet job?”
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“That’s when I realised my kids were very embarrassed because I am different … I thought: what kind of life am I giving my children that they’re so embarrassed by their Chinese [roots]?” the immigrant said. “I have this parental obligation to help them understand and to assert themselves so they can love themselves.”
She said: “And that’s when I decided even though I have a reading disorder [and] I can’t read and write well, I am going to attempt to write my story to help them know who I am.”
Thus, most of the author’s work is creative nonfiction, including personal essays and memoirs, which are based on her experiences as an immigrant.
Currently, she is working on a middle-grade fantasy book on Shennong, the patron deity of Chinese farmers.
Meaningful connections
When Merrill was doing research for the book, Wu caught her eye not just because of her impact but also because the immigrant writer felt a special bond with her.
Reading about how Wu’s father was the one who sold the girl into slavery, Merrill related to the feeling of betrayal, as her father disowned her when she deviated from her family’s Buddhist faith by becoming a Mormon and following her first husband to America.
Like Wu who was exploited by those around her, Merrill also experienced emotional abuse from her first husband, who took her money and left her.
“[Wu and I] connected on so many levels because of our sad past. But I enjoyed reading about her as I knew that in the end, she triumphed,” the author said.
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The book received positive feedback, and readers said they learned something new about US history.
“There was a 14-year-old high school boy sobbing after reading the book and wanted to let us know that he not only learned about history but also [about] being resilient,” the author added.
Merrill hopes her book can inspire teens to help others as the people in the book do. “You don’t have to do amazingly great things to be a helper. You can just do simple things … do what you can to help.”
“If she [Wu] first came to America [and] people could treat her like that, her story would become very different. And unfortunately, that wasn’t her story. But we can learn from history.”
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