s

Bill Lee's work is important to the history and culture of San Francisco's Chinatown in the 60's and 70's. It tells tales of events which might otherwise go untold. The media presents its stories as a slice of life. The book however presents an in-depth look at the life of a Chinatown youth. As such, we are given an understanding of the situations that surround our daily lives. Professors and Intellectual scholars such as Sanders and Nee in all their wisdom would never be able to attain such a solid grasp of the subject matter. This is an important read, and no doubt should be used as curricula in urban studies and ethnic college level course. Asian American Urban kids are at risk. They must not be allowed to fall through the cracks to society's underbelly. Parents should read this to better understand the problems which their kids face. Bill Lee, thanks for giving these kids a voice.

...and that's the problem I had with this book. Throughout this memoir there were so many misspellings and grammatical errors it felt like I was reading the first draft to a high school paper. I hear that CHINESE PLAYGROUND may go through a second edition. I hope it corrects all the mistakes. Nonetheless, I do give the book at least three stars because it kept me interested enough to read it all the way through. But, the author wasn't willing to reveal enough about himself (that's understandable...after all, it's his story), and it makes his "post-traumatic" nightmares come off rather melodramatic and cheesy. Besides, he hasn't really broken the law except that he sold illegal firecrackers and carried a concealed weapon.

I was born in San Francisco. It isn't like that anymore as you can see, I didn't live in Chinatown but regularly go to my Grandma or grandpa after school in chinatown. I lived in Japantown til I was six years old. I moved to Oakland ever since.

When I brought this book, I didn't know what to expect, but when I read about his life, I could really relate to his childhood. Not as extreme as his was, but I can really relate, and how I would turn out if I was still in San Francisco. Would probably be the same as him with those family issues like that. Can turn a kid to look at their enviroment for support. I too am Toishanese, does that mean most toishanese parents are stubborn and ignorant? I don't know.

And the Enviroment in Oakland is no different. Kids want to be goo wak jais and hard ghetto punks.