《金山》GOLDMOUNTAINBLUES–SYNOPSISFORBBKSUMMER.docVIP

《金山》 GOLD MOUNTAIN BLUES – SYNOPSIS FOR BBK SUMMER SCHOOL 2013 AUTHOR: ZHANG LING The story begins in the mid-nineteenth century when the teenaged Ah-Fat sets sail from Spur-On Village, Hoi Ping County, Guangdong, for Canada (called, throughout the book “Gold Mountain”, the name by which it was then known by the Chinese emigrant community). He lives there for many years enduring hardships, and facing danger and near starvation, working amongst other things on building the Pacific Railroad which links the east of Canada to the west. Eventually, he has enough money to return to his home village in Guangdong where his mother has arranged his marriage to a local girl. In the event, Ah-Fat makes a love match with a feisty young woman called Six Fingers and breaks off the arranged engagement, to the mortification of his mother, Mrs. Mak. Ah-Fat makes a promise on his wedding night to his bride that he will take her to Gold Mountain but everything, over the years, conspires against this – her duty to care for his widowed mother is followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibits immigrants into Canada from bringing over their families. Instead Ah-Fat makes three journeys home. A child is born from each visit, two sons (Kam Shan and Kam Ho) and a daughter, Kam Sau. Both sons leave for Gold Mountain in their teens and only come home on rare visits. Kam Sau stays with her mother in Guangdong. Kam Shan lives with a woman, Cat Eyes, in Gold Mountain and they have a daughter, Yin Ling, who is a teenager in this excerpt. Kam Ho marries a village woman (see note on names), in a match arranged by his mother, and a son, Yiu Hoi is born. Kam Sau marries Ah–Yuen, the son of Six Fingers’ faithful steward, Mak Dau, and they have a son, Wai Kwok. Kam Sau and Ah–Yuen run a school in the nearby town, and their son and Kam Ho’s wife and son, Yiu Hoi, live with Six Fingers in the fortified home, the diulau, in Spur-On Village. The section which we will be working on comes from the