Anchee Min (; born January 14, 1957) is a Chinese-American author who lives in San Francisco and Shanghai. Min has published two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, and six historical novels. Her fiction emphasizes strong female characters, such as Jiang Qing, the wife of chairman Mao Zedong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, the last ruling empress of China.

Life

Min was born in Shanghai, China, on January 14, 1957. Her parents were both teachers. She was nine years old when the Cultural Revolution began. As a child, she was a member of the Little Red Guards and was made to report her favorite teacher, who was accused of being an anti-Maoist, to the authorities. near the East China Sea, where she endured horrific conditions and worked 18-hour days. She eventually won the lead role in a propaganda film inspired by Madame Mao.

After moving to the US, Min worked five jobs at the same time and learned English by, among others, watching Sesame Street.

Min is openly bisexual. Her first husband was a Chinese artist named Qigu Jiang. They had a daughter, Lauryann, who attended Stanford University. According to Min herself, she "lured [Qigu] into marriage, making herself pregnant by him although she knew he did not want a child" and subsequently their marriage fell apart. She filed for divorce in 2014, and it was finalized in 2015.

Min graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts.

Bibliography

Memoirs

  • Red Azalea (Pantheon Books, 1994, ; a New York Times Notable Book); Random House Digital, Inc., 2011,
  • The Cooked Seed: A Memoir. Bloomsbury USA, May 7, 2013,

Fiction

  • Katherine Hamish Hamilton, 1995,
  • Becoming Madame Mao (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. .). Based on the life of Jiang Qing, the last wife of Mao Zedong.
  • Empress Orchid Bloomsbury Publishing Incorporated, 2004,
  • The Last Empress (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2007, ). Based on the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, the late 19th and early 20th century Qing dynasty Empress Dowager.
  • Pearl of China: A Novel. Bloomsbury Publishing, April 9, 2010, . Inspired by the life of Pearl S. Buck as a girl and young woman in China.

References

Further reading

  • Official website