Shanghai Girl is a contemporary tale set in Shanghai and New York in the 1980’s. The novel depicts the young protagonist Sha-fei Hong’s journey from China to the U.S., her emotional maturity in the process, and her indebtedness to the place she hails from – Shanghai. The other two main characters are Gordon Lou, a middle-aged China-born, Asian-American businessman with political ambitions and ties to the Chinatown underworld; and Edward Cook, a young, white American lawyer who has a strong preference for things Asian. The story unfolds from the threesome’s respective points of view, in alternating chapters. They first meet in the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, where Gordon takes Sha-fei to seek information on graduate studies in the U.S., and where Ed is a legal intern. The dramatic stage of ambition, sex, intrigue, and murder soon moves to Manhattan. After failing to receive a scholarship, Sha-fei resorts to working for Gordon for little pay (Gordon is her nominal legal immigration sponsor) as an Asian community researcher. She briefly dates Ed who is now an attorney at a law firm that happens to be Gordon’s corporate consul. The pre-existing bad blood between Gordon and Ed (due to Ed’s prior relationship with Gordon’s U.S.-born and bred daughter, now an unemployed dropout) intensifies once Sha-fei is in the picture. Ed wrongly attributes Sha-fei’s breakup with him to Gordon’s meddling and threatens to bring Gordon down by exposing his alleged tax fraud. With the help of the underworld, Gordon succeeds in having Ed “eliminated”. Unaware of the true nature of the men’s struggle against each other, Sha-fei breaks free from both of them, obtains a scholarship to Columbia University Law School. In 1992, upon graduation, Sha-fei becomes the first Coordinator of Asian-American Affairs, a newly created position in the Empire State.
The Table of Contents is as follows:
I Out Of The Misty Eastern Cave
1. SHA-FEI HONG: Exile From Avenue Joffre … 1
2. GORDON LOU: Gentleman Avenger … 19
3. SHA-FEI HONG: Great Red Fortune … 37
4. EDWARD COOK: Connections And Recollections … 61
5. SHA-FEI HONG: Bound To Meet On A Narrow Alley … 69
6. GORDON LOU: Ninja Strategist … 83
7. SHA-FEI HONG: The Revolutionary Help Exchange … 86
8. EDWARD COOK: The Long March White Powder … 98
II Over The Western Wave
9. SHA-FEI HONG: Sweet and Sour Big Apple … 103
10. SHA-FEI HONG: Maiden Voyage Running Aground … 115
11. EDWARD COOK: The Interlocution of An Interculturalist 128
12. SHA-FEI HONG: A Chinatown Prescription … 131
13. SHA-FEI HONG: No More Sewing Others’ Trousseau … 141
14. SHA-FEI HONG: “Big Curvaceous Field” … 149
15. EDWARD COOK: Dig and You Shall Find … 157
16. GORDON LOU: The Lofty Move … 166
17. SHA-FEI HONG: Holy Matrimony … 173
18. EDWARD COOK: Season’s Greetings … 181
19. GORDON LOU: He Laughs Best … 187
20. SHA-FEI HONG: Two Is A Pair … 193
Epilogue
The Shanghai In The Girl … 208
