Novel 'Four Treasures of the Sky' focuses on the horrors of the Chinese Exclusion Act

NPR's Book of the Day

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Author Jenny Tinghui Zhang is out with a new historical fiction novel, Four Treasures of The Sky. Set in the 1800s during the height of anti-Chinese sentiment, a young girl named Daiyu is kidnapped and brought to the U.S. Zhang told NPR's Ayesha Rascoe that she has seen a lot of reviews that refer to this book as 'timely' – and that she does not think that is a good thing when a book is about racism.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung.
0:05.9	Jenny Tinghe Zhang's debut novel, Four Treasures of the Sky, takes place in the 1800s,
0:11.2	and centers on a Chinese girl in America during a time when racism against Asians in America
0:17.6	was rampant. It's been praised for being timely in reviews, which, if you think about
0:23.4	it, is not really a great thing for a book about violence and racism. Zhang talked about this in
0:29.8	this interview with NPR's Aisha Roscoe about writing historical fiction when the history doesn't seem
0:35.7	that long ago. And Zhang says, it doesn't feel all like fiction either.
0:40.9	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:45.6	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
0:52.2	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
0:56.0	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
0:59.6	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:05.7	Dai Yu is a Chinese girl who's kidnapped from her homeland and taken to late 1800s America when
1:12.4	anti-Asian sentiment is surging throughout the Western frontier. We learn about her and the
1:18.1	ghost she carries with her in Four Treasures of the Sky, a surreal and sprawling story spanning
1:24.2	two continents. It's historical fiction that lays bare the human tragedy behind the infamous Chinese
1:31.3	Exclusion Act of 1882.
1:33.6	It's also Jenny Tienhui Jong's debut novel.
1:37.3	She joins us now.
1:38.5	Welcome.
1:39.3	Hi, Ayesha.
1:40.2	Thank you for having me.
	...

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