A Journey from Mao’s China to San Francisco’s Chinatown in Vanessa Hua’s ‘Forbidden City’

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Novelist and journalist Vanessa Hua’s new book “Forbidden City” is a historical fiction set in 1960s China. It’s the story of a 16-year-old girl who was plucked from a rural village to join a troupe of dancers formed to satisfy an aging Chairman Mao’s – historically accurate – love of ballroom dance and teenage girls. Hua writes in the author’s notes, “I believe that fiction flourishes where the official record ends”; the novel leaves the impression that even if the woman at the center of the book were real, she would have been erased from history. We’ll talk about the dynamics of gender, power and manipulation that resonate across time and geography. “The past,” Hua writes, “is never as distant as it seems.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.3	You can fly back in time and visit SFO's Aviation Museum and Library to learn about the history of commercial aviation.
0:12.2	No boarding pass needed. Learn more at flysafo.com slash museum.
0:17.0	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:24.8	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:31.2	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:36.9	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an
0:39.7	unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting and gloriously hopeful
0:47.1	parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th. Tickets
0:53.6	on sale now at Broadwaysf.com.
0:59.0	From KQED.
1:03.4	Welcome back to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:07.0	Vanessa Waugh's novel, Forbidden City, opens in San Francisco's Chinatown, with a character
1:11.6	preparing herself for work. She may just be another person to the tourists and even residents of the
1:16.8	city's most famous neighborhood, but May bears a secret about her life in China, one she keeps close.
1:22.6	She's not alone in that, as Wa writes, far from home in the city we call Gold Mountain. Every peasant has a chance
1:29.0	to transform into nobility, to have served as brave soldiers or the right hand of the highest commanders.
1:34.8	Our imaginations give us what life never could. And Vanessa Waugh's imagination has given us an unusual
1:40.9	special book as it unspooled on the page over the last 15 years. She joins us here
1:46.4	to talk about Forbidden City and to share at least some of May's secrets with us. Welcome to the show,
1:50.9	Vanessa. It's great to have you back. Thanks for having me on, Alexis. So this book opens with
1:56.5	May living in San Francisco's Chinatown on the day of Mao's death. Can you just introduce us to your
	...

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