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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What animal does Lo Bun Sun make his pet and what does he teach it to do?

2. What does Kingston hear from her schoolmates that makes her long to be normal?

3. How does Kingston refer to "The Adventures of Lo Bun Sun," based on her childhood perspective?

4. What response does Kingston's oldest brother get from the Filipino and other island natives when he says he is a Chinese American?

5. What does the Wild Man do when he ventures out of the Green Swamp?

Short Essay Questions

1. Create a dictionary using words from the chapter, "The Li Sao: An Elegy." Choose words that readers will need to have knowledge of in order to understand the story. Create a display using words that fit the theme of the folktale, such as phoenix, mourned, epic, elegy, lament, sorrow, estrangement, incorruptible, entwined, requiem, warmongers, etc.

2. Describe the relationship between Lo Bun Sun and Sing Kay Ng.

3. Analyze Kingston's narrative about Uncle Kau Goong and his elderly wife. Explain why Great Aunt goes to Hong Kong and then back to China. Describe Uncle Kau's response to Great Aunt's pleas to be together again. Students might suggest the importance of Kau's final words on the subject: "We belong here (America)!"

4. How does Kingston give the reader information about the Communist Revolution and the later wars? Include details about her brother's experience in the Navy as a pacifist.

5. What happens to Father after the Gambling House is closed permanently? How does Father recover?

6. Summarize Kingston's childhood account of seeing a "Wild Man" every day when she and her sister walked to school.

7. Compare the Alaskan Driving Out with the California Driving Out of China Men.

8. What evidence in "The Wild Man of the Green Swamp" is there that shows the Wild Man's ingenuity?

9. Compare and contrast Uncle Bun's beliefs about the benefits of communism and his dreams of a Communist World and Father's political beliefs.

10. How does the Wild Man end up in a Tampa Hospital for the insane? Tell what happens once he is there.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the traditions associated with Chinese arranged marriages. What is the purpose for the "wailing bride"? How are the customs different for the bride's family and the groom's family? What is the bride expected to do when she sees her groom for the first time? What do these actions imply about the bride's role in her marriage?

Essay Topic 2

How do Chinese immigrants in California and in New York perceive the American demons? Describe why the Chinese call all other ethnic groups outside of China demons. Find examples in China Men to support the immigrants' perception as correct. Then compare and contrast the work ethic of both Americans and Chinese immigrants as illustrated in the novel China Men.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, Kingston makes reference to the different cultures living within China, including the Cantonese, the Han, and later the Mandarin. Explain the references that the author makes to each ethnicity and provide the context in which she is describing it. Which one is Kingston? How do you know?

(see the answer keys)

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