Hua Shi Hua [drawings and Poems from China] (Paperback)

Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. Jen Hyde spent an academic year in Shanghai investigating her diasporic Chinese identity and her relationship to the language of one of her two cultures. The result is this book, the sections of which are based on four characters pronounced differently in Mandarin but, to the foreign ear, sounding alike: hua. The themes of the poems (or "drawings") are organized around the literal translation of these words: conversation, China, transformation, and flowers. Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. Jen Hyde spent an academic year in Shanghai investigating her diasporic Chinese identity and her relationship to the language of one of her two cultures. The result is this book, the sections of which are based on four characters pronounced differently in Mandarin but, to the foreign ear, sounding alike: hua. The themes of the poems (or drawings) are organized around the literal translation of these words: conversation, China, transformation, and flowers.