Summary of Lisa See's On Gold Mountain

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Fong Dun Shung was a herbalist who traveled from village to village teaching people about the importance of balancing their qi. He was given a free trip to the Gold Mountain, and his sons were promised jobs.

#2 Fong Dun Shung was a Chinese doctor who helped the Chinese workers on the railroad when they got sick. He was ministering to a woman with boils when the scout asked if he would like to go to the Gold Mountain to help the Chinese laborers when they got sick.

#3 Fong Dun Shung, traveling to Canton, China, in 1862, was one of the first Chinese merchants to go there and sell products to the Europeans. He was a successful Gold Mountain man, and he hoped to become the headman of his village.

#4 When Fong Dun Shung and his two sons arrived in San Francisco, they were confused and lost. There were no immigration procedures or customs officials. They were told they would be met by someone, but they didn’t know who.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669396697

IRB Media

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Insights on Lisa See's On Gold Mountain

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Fong Dun Shung was a herbalist who traveled from village to village teaching people about the importance of balancing their qi. He was given a free trip to the Gold Mountain, and his sons were promised jobs.

#2

Fong Dun Shung was a Chinese doctor who helped the Chinese workers on the railroad when they got sick. He was ministering to a woman with boils when the scout asked if he would like to go to the Gold Mountain to help the Chinese laborers when they got sick.

#3

Fong Dun Shung, traveling to Canton, China, in 1862, was one of the first Chinese merchants to go there and sell products to the Europeans. He was a successful Gold Mountain man, and he hoped to become the headman of his village.

#4

When Fong Dun Shung and his two sons arrived in San Francisco, they were confused and lost. There were no immigration procedures or customs officials. They were told they would be met by someone, but they didn’t know who.

#5

Fong Dun Shung and his family arrived in San Francisco in 1850, two years after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill. In 1862, the first anti-coolie club was formed. That same year, Leland Stanford became governor. He said, To my mind it is clear that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged by every legitimate means.

#6

The Big Four, Stanford, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, and C. P. Huntington, embraced the idea of a transcontinental railroad and its profits. They hired Chinese workers to build the railroad, as they were cheaper than Caucasian workers.

#7

The laborers would gather around the campfire to play fantan, a game similar to craps. The storyteller would place a small handful of buttons on the ground under a cup. The men would bet on how many buttons would be left after the count. The winner would be determined by how many buttons they had placed their bets on.

#8

Fong Dun Shung was a herbalist who spent his days in the camp. He attended to men who were sick, and prepared tonics to stave off chills, fever, phlegm, coughs, nausea, and heatstroke. He did not dwell on his hardships, and he did not feel any emotions.

#9

The Chinese in Fong’s camp worked twenty-six days out of a American month, from before dawn to dusk. They earned twenty-eight or thirty American dollars a month. The white men treated them differently, and Fong learned that they drank a lot and passed out in their own vomit.

#10

Fong Dun Shung dreamed of selling herbs to the villagers of China, who asked for something to cool them off, or to help them purge their inner fire. He missed his wife and children.

#11

Fong Dun Shung, a Chinese immigrant, would pass by older houses with bell-shaped roofs that he remembered from his childhood. He would dream of the rain that beat down on his roof during summer months.

#12

Shue-ying, the mother of Fong See, was a poor peasant woman who was sold as a child. She was strong enough to carry people on her back from village to village. She had no oiled hair or silks, but she was a heroine of the snow because she was used-up and had no other options.

#13

After the railroad was completed, Fong Dun Shung took the little money he had saved and came to Sacramento. He opened the Kwong Tsui Chang, which means Success Peacefully. He was able to continue his occupation as he had since his father died.

#14

Fong Dun Shung, after years of being on the railroad, began working as a doctor in San Francisco. He was lonely for a woman’s companionship, and tried to forget about his family in China.

#15

The Great Railroad was completed in 1872, and Fong See’s mother heard from his father for the first time in years. She was excited to send her son