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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. How many China Men make up the Chinese population in Alaska?

2. What does Ch'u Yuan decide to do once he accepts that he cannot return home?

3. To what does Kingston refer with the metaphor "the living night"?

4. The author of "The Li Sao" is

5. When the fish-and-game wardens and sheriff deputies use dogs to search for the Wild Man, why is their search so short?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the relationship between Father and the owner of the Gambling House.

3. Explain why members of the freighter's crew try to send their shipmate to China and describe the Wild Man's response at the airport.

4. 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.

5. Explain why the Hundred-Year-Old Man's answer about how to stop the war in Vietnam is so simple.

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

7. Retell the Filipino scholar's story about the Chinese first coming to the Philippines in search of gold. Be sure to include only the information that the scholar provides. Don't be distracted by the party-goers' interruptions.

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

9. What does Lo Bun Sun's constant work and preparation suggest about his character?

10. 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)!"

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Revisit the chapter "The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains." Explain the concept of citizenship papers that many Chinese immigrants purchased to ensure their ability to stay in America. Explain the reasons for paper sons. Then tell how the San Francisco fire of 1906 allowed every China man to be reborn a citizen.

Essay Topic 2

Re-read the first two pages of Chapter 5, "The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains." Summarize what happens when Kingston sends a distant cousin money for a bike. Kingston shows uncertainty regarding her decision not to send more money. Describe her reasons for the precaution she takes not to place her family in China any troubles.

Use this summary as a springboard to a longer essay regarding why Sojourners were expected to send money home to their Chinese wives and families. Why was this practice necessary? Does it stop at anytime during the time covered in Kingston's novel?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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