Amy Tan on Her Mother, and Their Root in China

choi

Kenan Christiansen, AMY TAN Reflects on China and Uncovering Secrets of Her Origins. New York Times, Jan 26, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/trave ... sense-of-china.html
("My parents considered themselves lucky that they were able to leave before [and in] 1949. Other family members were not quite as lucky and wound up in Formosa — that’s what we called Taiwan in those days. They sent us letters that described hard work and lack of proper food, hygiene and clothing. In their photos, they looked shockingly weathered and shiny with sweat. We received no letters from China and prayed for those silent ones whose whereabouts were unknown. If America was heaven, Formosa would be limbo, and China would be hell")

Note:
(a) "As a child, she knew little more about China than an 'American pastiche of stereotypes'”

pastiche (n)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pastiche
(definition 1)
(b) limbo (n; Latin limbus border):
"In Roman Catholicism, a region between heaven and hell, the dwelling place of souls not condemned to punishment but deprived of the joy of existence with God in heaven. The concept probably developed in the Middle Ages."
Concise Encyclopedia, undated.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/limbo
(c) "The most tricked-out hair salon I’ve been to is in China."

trick out (vt): "to dress or adorn fancifully or ornately"
m-w.com