Pao (36 page)

Gloria come out on the veranda and stand next to me and we listen to the gentle lap of the Caribbean on the shore. She got a smile of contentment on her face. And then she reach out and take my hand and look off into the distance where she tell me, on a clear day, she can see Cuba. I think well, out of the many Sunita is the one so maybe I make a contribution after all. I can hear a commotion inside and Michael’s voice greeting everybody.

And then I think ’bout Mui coming home after this long time. And I think if I drop down dead right now that is the only thing it would grieve me to miss. And then I think no, I would miss that I never find a way to have nothing with Karl even though him and me exchange a few lines from time to time. And I would miss the possibility that me and Fay ever cross paths again.

That is when I realise that I not dead yet, so maybe it not all lost. And I remember how Zhang rest his palm flat on my chest one time and say to me, ‘Everything is in your own heart.’

Author’s Note

Han Suyin once wrote that we Chinese are history-minded. And as the world knows, we Jamaicans are politics-minded. Perhaps it is no surprise, therefore, that this book, my first work of fiction, should turn out to be a political history. Not only because every story has a context, but also because context creates the possibilities of what might be, fashioning the circumstances of people’s lives so that they decide to do one thing rather than another, making their story unfold in this way rather than that.

So whilst Pao’s story is completely fictional, I have tried my best to get the context right. This has involved a huge amount of research including books, films, the internet, as well as several trips to Jamaica and endless questions and queries to my mother and other members of my family. The key documentary sources are listed on page 275.

In the end though, in true Taoist style,
Pao
is a book about Jamaica’s history, and it is not a book about Jamaica’s history. It is a book about Jamaican people and it is not a book about Jamaican people. What it is, is a book about the world, and the universe and the ten thousand things.

Kerry Young, June 2010

Acknowledgements

When this book was submitted to Bloomsbury, Helen Garnons-Williams remarked that it had the potential to be truly wonderful. If it has achieved that potential, it is because of her. Thanks also to Sarah-Jane Forder for her meticulous and sensitive work. I had no idea copy-editing would be so much fun. Erica Jarnes for taking charge of the things I found scary and for keeping me on track through the process. My agent, Susan Yearwood, without whom Pao would not have found his way to Helen. And to Amanda and Charlie, and all those who helped to make the impossible possible, and who cheered me on over the years, thank you.

Key Sources

Black, Stephanie,
Life and Debt in Jamaica
, Tuff Gong Pictures, 2001

Chen, Ray,
The Shopkeepers: Commemorating 150 years of the Chinese in Jamaica 1854–2004
, Periwinkle Publishers (Jamaica) Ltd, 2005

Han, Suyin,
The Crippled Tree
, Panther Books Ltd, 1972

Jian Bozan, Shao Xunzheng and Hu Hua,
A Concise History of China
, Foreign Languages Press, 1986

Manley, Beverley,
The Manley Memoirs
, Ian Randle Publishers, 2008

Manley, Michael,
Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery
, Third World Media Ltd in association with Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative Society Ltd, 1982

Nhat Hanh, Thich,
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
, Broadway Books, 1999

Nhat Hanh, Thich,
The Art of Power
, HarperOne, 2008

Pan, Lynn,
Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora
, Kodansha America, Inc., 1994

Powell, Patricia,
The Pagoda
, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999

Rogozinski, Jan,
A Brief History of the Caribbean
, Meridian, 1994

Salaria, Fatima,
Blood and Fire
, screened Sunday 4 August 2002 on BBC 2

Sherlock, Philip and Bennett, Hazel,
The Story of the Jamaican People
, Ian Randle Publishers, 1998

Sun Tzu,
The Art of War
, translated by Samuel B. Griffith, Oxford University Press, 1971

The Gleaner,
Geography & History of Jamaica
(23rd edition), The Gleaner Company, 1995

Van De Wetering, Janwillem,
The Empty Mirror
, Arkana, 1987

Williams, C.A.S.,
Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Forms
(3rd revised edition), Dover Publications, Inc., 1976

Reading Group

Pao

by Kerry Young

These discussion questions are designed to enhance your group’s conversation about
Pao
, a sweeping historical saga about a young Chinese man in Jamaica who rises to become the “godfather” of Kingston’s Chinatown.

About this book

Pao is about to marry the wrong woman. Seven years after he immigrates to Jamaica from China, he meets Gloria, a beautiful Jamaican prostitute who steals his heart. But Pao’s beloved mentor, Zhang, from whom he inherited the Chinatown “family business,” does not approve of Gloria. So Pao decides to marry Fay Wong, the elegant daughter of one of Kingston’s richest Chinese men. Suddenly Pao is running not only the Chinatown underworld, but also many legitimate businesses too, thanks to his profitable marriage.

But Fay is miserable in Chinatown; she plots an escape to England, taking her two children with her. Although Pao is devastated to lose his family, he realizes that his children are safer far away from Kingston—after Jamaica gains independence from England, all hopes of unity and brotherhood soon dissolve into violence. As chaos overtakes the streets of Kingston, Pao must face his part in Jamaica’s struggle to overcome its great divides: between Chinese and African, capitalist and communist, wealthy and poor.

For discussion

1. The novel begins in 1945, when Pao first meets Gloria, then flashes back to his immigration to Jamaica seven years earlier. Why does the novel open with the love triangle of Pao, Gloria, and Fay, instead of at the beginning of Pao’s life in Kingston?

2.
Pao
is written in dialect, with words spelled as Pao pronounces them. What is the effect of reading the novel in Pao’s voice? What would the novel be like without Pao’s distinctive voice as narrator?

3. Consider Pao’s first impressions of Jamaica as he arrives from China by boat. How does the city of Kingston look to Pao? How does he quickly make Kingston his home?

4. When Pao falls in love with Gloria, Judge Finley tells him, “Marriage is not for celebrating. It is something you do to give your children a name” (6). Why does Pao choose to marry Fay Wong, and what price does he pay for his choice? How does he eventually reconnect with Gloria’s daughter, Esther, even though he has not given her his name?

5. Compare the two Yang brothers, Pao and Xiuquan. How are the brothers similar and how are they different? Xiuquan declares, “I want something better. Something better than being a Chinaman in Chinatown” (45). Does Pao, too, want something better? Explain.

6. Consider Pao’s inheritance from Zhang. What does Pao learn from the older man? Pao hopes that “maybe one day I become like him, a man that believe in something. A man that is loyal to a cause. A man that people can count on” (51). How does Pao grow up to become like Zhang, and how does he remain different from his mentor?

7. Discuss the impact of Sun Tzu’s
The Art of War
on Pao’s decision making. How does he put Sun Tzu’s strategies to action? At the end of the novel, Pao realizes, “And then I think to myself sure enough Sun Tzu right ’bout all these things, but maybe life not just a matter of strategy . . . Something that got more to do with what Zhang say ’bout benevolence and sincerity, humanity and courage” (262). How does Pao strike a balance between Sun Tzu’s teachings and Zhang’s principles?

8. According to Zhang, “the Jamaicans same as the Chinese, poor and exploited and oppressed” (30). If the Jamaicans and Chinese are “brothers in arms,” as Zhang believes, why are there tensions between these two groups? How does Pao strive to overcome the ethnic tensions of Kingston, and when does he fail?

9. Discuss the ongoing conflict between Fay and her mother, Miss Cicely. How does Miss Cicely treat her daughter? Why does Fay rebel against her mother, even as an adult? What are the origins of their dispute, and why are they unable to resolve it?

10. Pao narrates, “When Michael Manley win the general election in 1972 I celebrate more than I done for Independence ten years earlier, because this time it really seem to mean something” (200). Why is Pao skeptical of the 1962 celebrations of independence from England? Why is he more interested in politics in the 1970s? Does Pao do his part to improve the living conditions of all Jamaicans? Why or why not?

11. Discuss Father Michael’s involvement in Pao’s life. What is the basis of the friendship between these very different men? What attracts Father Michael to Fay, and what price does Father Michael pay for his temptation?

12. Consider Fay’s escape to England. How does Pao react to his family’s disappearance? What steps does he take to get his children back, and how does he realize that they are better off in England than in Jamaica?

13. When Pao arrives from China as a boy, he becomes Philip Young; when his son Xiuquan settles in England, Pao agrees to call him Karl. What is the significance of these name changes?

14. Consider the long rivalry between Pao and Louis DeFreitas, the gangster who controls West Kingston. How do these two powerful men conduct business differently? How do Samuels and Kenneth Wong fall victim to the gang war? How do Pao and DeFreitas finally resolve their rivalry?

15. Kerry Young, the author of
Pao
,
moved from Jamaica to England in 1965, much like Pao’s daughter Mui. How does Young portray Mui in the novel? Why does Mui remain attached to her father and to Jamaica, even as a barrister in England? The novel ends just before Mui’s homecoming to Jamaica. How does this ending feel?

Suggested reading

Cristina García,
Monkey Hunting
; Ha Jin,
Waiting
; Anchee Min,
Pearl of China
;
Jean Kwok,
Girl in Translation
;
Edwidge Danticat,
The Dew Breaker
; Junot Díaz,
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
; Jamaica Kincaid,
Annie John
; Julia Alvarez,
In the Time of Butterflies
; Lisa See,
Shanghai Girls
; Henry Chang,
Chinatown Beat
; Beverley Manley,
The Manley Memoirs
;
Sun Tzu,
The Art of War

Kerry Young
was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese-African mother and a Chinese father, a businessman in Kingston’s shadow economy who provided inspiration for Pao. Young moved to England in 1965 at the age of ten. She earned her MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. This is her first novel.

By the Same Author

The Art of Youth Work

Copyright © 2011 by Kerry Young

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York

Every reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them and to make good in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Young, Kerry, 1955–

Pao : a novel / Kerry Young. —1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60819-507-7 (pbk.)

1. Chinese—Jamaica—Fiction. 2. Organized crime—Jamaica—Fiction. 3. Social classes—Jamaica—Fiction. 4. Jamaica—Fiction. 5. Jamaica—Race relations—Fiction. 6. Jamaica—History—20th century—Fiction.

I. Title.