author
Yan Phou Lee
b. 1861
A pioneering Chinese-born writer and Yale graduate, he helped open a path for Asian American literature in English while writing vividly about life in China and the challenges Chinese immigrants faced in the United States.
1 Audiobook
When I was a boy in China
by Yan Phou Lee
About the author
Born in Guangdong around 1861, he came to the United States as a boy with the Chinese Educational Mission, a program that sent Chinese students to study in America. He later graduated from Yale, an experience that placed him between two worlds and shaped much of his writing.
He is best remembered for When I Was a Boy in China (1887), widely noted as the first book in English published by an Asian American author. The book introduced many American readers to everyday life, customs, and childhood in China through a warm, personal voice.
He also wrote and spoke against anti-Chinese prejudice during the era of exclusion, including in his essay The Chinese Must Stay. Sources agree on his importance as an early Chinese American author, though some basic biographical details, including the exact year of his death, are given with uncertainty.