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Frank Chin

フランク・チン

Frank Chin

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1940-02-25 （Berkeley, California, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Placerville, California (early childhood) → Oakland Chinatown (grew up) → San Francisco Bay Area → San Francisco (adult life / base of activity)

Career

Occupations
playwright, novelist, writer, scriptwriter, reporter, musician
Active Years
1960-
Affiliations
Asian American Theater Company (co‑founder)
Influenced
Shawn Wong, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, Melvyn Escueta

Education

University of California, Berkeley
Country: United States
Contributed to the California Pelican while attending
University of California, Santa Barbara
English
Degree: BA
Period: 〜1965
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: United States
Bachelor's degree in English

Awards

American Book Award
1982
Work: The Chickencoop Chinaman; The Year of the Dragon
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation (American Book Awards)
Result: 受賞
American Book Award
1989
Work: The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R.R. Co.
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation (American Book Awards)
Result: 受賞
American Book Award (lifetime achievement)
2000
Work: lifetime achievement
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation (American Book Awards)
Result: 受賞
Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
1992
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Chickencoop Chinaman

1971 play

A play addressing Asian American identity and racial stereotypes; one of the early Asian American works produced on a mainstream New York stage.

identityracismcritique of stereotypes

The Year of the Dragon

1974 play / television adaptation

A play about a protagonist in conflict with immigrant community dynamics. Adapted for television in 1975 as part of PBS's Great Performances.

immigrant experienceintra-community conflicttradition vs. modernity
Adaptations
  • [television film] The Year of the Dragon (televised) (1975)

The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R.R. Co.

1988 short story collection

A collection of short stories focusing on railroad labor and immigrant memory, centered on Chinese American history and experiences.

railroadmemory of immigrationethnicity and labor

Donald Duk

1991 young adult novel / novel

A coming‑of‑age novel about a Chinese American boy who searches for identity and pride, depicting his growth through humor and cultural conflict.

coming-of-agecultural identityfamily and community

Gunga Din Highway

1994 novel

A multi‑generational narrative intertwining Chinese American history with personal histories.

intergenerational memoryimmigrant historytradition and storytelling

The Confessions of a Number One Son: The Great Chinese American Novel

2015 novel

A novel written in the early 1970s but unpublished until 2015; serves as a sequel to The Chickencoop Chinaman and continues the protagonist's adventures.

self-confessionconfronting historyChinese American experience

Bibliography

  • Yardbird Reader Volume 3 (co-editor, contributor, 1974)
  • Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers (co-editor, contributor, 1974)
  • The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R.R. Co. (short stories, 1988)
  • Donald Duk (novel, 1991)
  • The Big Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature (co-editor, contributor, 1991)
  • Gunga Din Highway (novel, 1994)
  • Bulletproof Buddhists and Other Essays (essays, 1998)
  • Born in the USA: A Story of Japanese America, 1889-1947 (nonfiction, 2002)
  • The Confessions of a Number One Son: The Great Chinese American Novel (novel, 2015)

Adaptations

  • Televised adaptation of The Year of the Dragon (PBS Great Performances, 1975)
  • Appearance as extra in Farewell to Manzanar (TV film)
  • Appearances in documentaries such as The Slanted Screen

Style & Themes

Literary Style
direct, often polemical stylerealism mixed with humor and ironyargumentative treatment of stereotypes
Recurring Motifs
Chinese folklore and traditionsrailroad and labor memoryChinatown and immigrant experiencesearch for identity

Health

  • stroke (1990)
    1990〜
    After a 1990 stroke he temporarily lost the ability to play guitar and, for a time, to laugh; he later recovered but effects remained.

Legacy

Frank Chin is regarded as a pioneer of Asian‑American theater, producing some of the first Asian‑American plays on mainstream stages. He is known for his critical writings on representation and stereotypes of Chinese Americans and has influenced generations of writers and activists.

Archives

  • Frank Chin Papers (California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, UC Santa Barbara Library)

In Popular Culture

  • Documentary What's Wrong with Frank Chin (2005)
  • Appeared in the documentary The Slanted Screen (2006)
  • Archival footage featured in ESPN's Be Water (2020)
  • Interviewed in the documentary It Takes a Lunatic (2019)
  • Archival footage in PBS's Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp (2022)

Quotes

  • "I want a decision by Friday," he said, intimidating a dean: "I'm a working stiff like you — you have a decision by Friday and I don't care what it is. Either I've graduated or I haven't graduated because I have to get back to work."
    Source: South China Morning Post (interview, 2004) (2004)

Trivia

  • The Chickencoop Chinaman was one of the first Asian‑American plays produced on a mainstream New York stage.
  • In the mid‑1960s he taught Robbie Krieger of The Doors how to play flamenco guitar.
  • He helped republish John Okada's No-No Boy in the 1970s and contributed the afterword found in reprints.
  • Co‑founded the Asian American Theater Company with Melvyn Escueta in 1973.
  • Suffered a stroke in 1990 that temporarily affected his ability to play guitar.