Novelist John Jung will discuss Southern Chinese immigration today in The University of Memphis' Johnson Hall Auditorium from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Learning how to cope with cultural barriers and Chinese heritage are among the topics Jung will address.
Jung's daylong visit also features a meeting with an on campus fifth grade class, a tour of The U of M and a presentation to the Helen Hardin Honors Program Students.
Jung's speeches are about the history of Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s in the Mississippi Delta and Georgia regions.
"(Students) will be able to understand the story of immigrants in the South, and understand the difficult cultural barriers some faced," Jung said. "It will be worthwhile for people to get a better understanding of what life was like."
Jung's parents moved to Macon, GA, from China in the 1920s and were the only Chinese people in his hometown. He helped work at his parents' laundry, which was a common form of work for Chinese immigrants during that time.
After 40 years teaching psychology at California State University at Long Beach, Jung retired and began writing novels. Jung said he focused primarily on family psychology, which he incorporates into his speeches.
Jung wrote four novels including "Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants" and "Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers." His novels focus on different aspects of Chinese immigrants learning how to live in America.
Retired Delta State professor Frieda Quon, who was also born in a Chinese family new to America, said she related to Jung's books because of their focus on Chinese immigration in the South.
Jung is one of few authors to write about the subject, Quon said.
"Because our families were from similar Chinese villages, I had an immediate connection," Quon said. "We both had to adapt to a new country."
Riki Jackson, assistant director of The U of M's Confucius Institute, said Jung's speeches don't primarily focus on the prejudices his and other families faced but of the struggles of living in a new country.
"(Jung) holds a lot of history, and talks about the challenges he faced and what we can learn from it," Jackson said.
The Confucius Institute is sponsoring Jung's visit. His speech is free and open to the public.
