Sui Sin Far (Chinese: 水仙花; pinyin: Shuǐ Xiān Huā, born Edith Maude Eaton; 15 March 1865 – 7 April 1914) was an author known for her writing about Chinese people in North America and the Chinese American experience. "Sui Sin Far", the pen name under which most of her work was published, is the Cantonese name of the narcissus flower, popular amongst Chinese people.
Eaton was the eldest daughter and second child of fourteen children born to the couple. In 1865, her family left England to live in Hudson, New York, United States, but stayed there only a short time before returning to England in 1868. The family returned to North America in 1872, relocating to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her father worked as a clerk for Grand Trunk Railway and perhaps for Hudon Mills. In 1882, he left his job and attempted to earn a living through his art. Nonetheless, the children were educated at home and raised in an intellectually stimulating environment that saw both Edith and her younger sister Winnifred, who wrote under the pen name Onoto Watanna, become successful writers.
Because of their poverty, at a young age, Edith Eaton left school to work in order to help support her family. By age 18, Eaton was setting type for the Montreal Star. She began writing as a young girl; her stories and poetry were accepted for publication in Montreal's Dominion Illustrated magazine, and, beginning in 1890, she published anonymous journalistic articles about the local Chinese community in Montreal's English-language newspapers, the Montreal Star and the Daily Witness. She also worked as a stenographer and legal secretary. She left Montreal first in 1891 to work as a stenographer and special correspondent in what is now Thunder Bay, Ontario. In 1896, she worked as a journalist for Gall's News Letter in Kingston, Jamaica, for about six months, and began to publish under her Chinese pen name.
Later, she moved to San Francisco, Los Angeles then in Seattle, before going to the east coast to work in Boston. While working as a legal secretary she continued to write. Although her appearance and manners would have allowed her to easily pass as an Englishwoman, she asserted her Chinese heritage after 1896 and wrote articles that told what life was like for a Chinese woman in white America. First published in 1896, her fictional stories about Chinese Americans were a reasoned appeal for her society's acceptance of working-class Chinese at a time when the United States Congress maintained the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration to the United States.
Over the ensuing years, Eaton wrote a number of short stories and newspaper articles while working on her first collection of fiction. Published in June 1912, Mrs. Spring Fragrance was a collection that included some linked short stories that was marketed as a novel.
Eaton never married. She died in Montreal and is interred in Mount Royal Cemetery.
A study of Eaton and her life, Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton: A Literary Biography by Annette White-Parks, was published in 1995. Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton by Mary Chapman updates this earlier study.
Themes
As a child, Eaton witnessed hatred of and prejudice against Chinese people.[2] This inclined her to write on the Chinese experience, with some of her works focusing on her own experiences as a Chinese person. In In the Land of the Free, Eaton writes about what it meant to be a Chinese woman in a white man's world.[3] Many of Sui Sin Far/Edith Eaton's unsigned works are about the daily lives of Chinese people in Canada and the United States. The topics of these pieces range from the food Chinese people eat to the things they do for fun.
Contemporary interests
Many academics cite Sui Sin Far/Edith Eaton as one of the first North American writers of Chinese ancestry.[4][5] For this reason, there has been recent interest in Sui Sin Far's works and their revival.
Mary Chapman, a professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, has published Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism, and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton, a collection of 70 of Eaton's early writings. Most of these pieces had not been republished since their first appearance in newspapers. She is also the director of the Winnifred Eaton Archive
Ying Xu, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of New Mexico, has also been conducting scholarly work on Sui Sin Far. She contributed to the article "Edith Maude Eaton (Sui Sin Far)".[6] In 2017, she published "Sui Sin Far’s “The Land of the Free” in the era of Trump",[7] which makes connections between Far's writings and the current socio-political climate of the Trump era.
Mary Chapman's Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism, and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton includes a working bibliography of Eaton's unsigned works:
"The Land of the Free." Montreal Daily Witness, 15 March 1890: 8.
"The Ching Song Episode." Montreal Daily Witness, 17 April 1890: 6.
"A Chinese Party." Montreal Daily Witness, 7 November 1890: 7.
"Girl Slave in Montreal. Our Chinese Colony Cleverly Described. Only Two Women from the Flowery Land in Town." Montreal Daily Witness, 4 May 1894:10.
"Seventeen Arrests." Montreal Daily Witness, 10 July 1894: 1.
[Our Local Chinatown. Little Mystery of a St. Denis Street Laundry." Montreal Daily Witness, 19 July 1894: 10.
"No Tickee, No Washee." Montreal Daily Witness, 25 July 1894: 10.
"In the Chinese Colony." Montreal Daily Witness, 6 February 1895: 10.
"Dined by Hom Chong Long." Montreal Daily Witness, 12 February 1895: 1.
"The Lady and the Tiger." Montreal Daily Star, 23 March 1895: 1.
"Half-Chinese Children." Montreal Daily Star, 20 April 1895: 3.
"A Chinaman and His Bride." Montreal Daily Witness, 17 May 1895: 1.
"The Gambling Chinee." Montreal Daily Witness, 20 May 1895: 3.
"Abusing the Chinee: How Some White Christians Treat Them, Rotten Eggs and Stones." Montreal Daily Star, 5 July 1895: 8.
"Smuggled Chinese: The Last Batch Was Concealed in a Lumber Barge." Montreal Daily Star, 5 July 1895: 8.
"Chinese Visitors." Montreal Daily Star, 6 July 1895: 4.
"Thrilling Experience of a Band of Smugglers in the Lachine Rapids." Montreal Daily Star, 9 July 1895: 1.
"Smuggled Chinamen: Arrested and Sentenced to Terms of Imprisonment." Montreal Daily Star, 10 July 1895: 8.
"Beaten to Death." Montreal Daily Witness, 22 July 1895: 6.
"The Dead Chinaman." Montreal Daily Witness, 24 July 1895: 8.
"A Chino-Irish Family: The Father a Chinaman and the Mother an Irishwoman." Montreal Daily Star, 8 August 1895.
"They Are Going Back To China: Hundreds of Chinese at the CPR Station." Montreal Daily Star, 21 August 1895: 2.
"The Smuggling of Chinamen." Montreal Daily Star, 22 August 1895: 6.
"A Chinese Baby Accompanies a Party Now on Their Way to Boston." Montreal Daily Star, 11 September 1895: 6.
"Chinese Religion Information Given a Lady by Montreal Chinamen." Montreal Daily Star, 21 September 1895: 5.
"A Chinese Child Born At the Hotel on Lagauchetiere Street." Montreal Daily Star, 30 September 1895: 1.
"Chinese Entertainment." Montreal Daily Star, 11 October 1895: 4.
"Another Chinese Baby. The Juvenile Mongolian Colony in Montreal Receives Another Addition — It Is a Girl and There Are Schemes for Her Marriage." Montreal Daily Star, 12 October 1895: 6.
"Trouble Over an Opium Deal." Montreal Daily Star, 12 October 1895: 9.
"Completion of the Moon." Montreal Daily Star, 23 October 1895: 6.
"Chinese Changes." Montreal Daily Star, 9 November 1895: 9.
"Chinese Food." Montreal Daily Star, 25 November 1895: 4.
"The Baby Photographed." Montreal Daily Star, 28 November 1895: 8.
"The Ancestral Tablet: A Curious Feature of a Chinese Home." Montreal Daily Star, 3 December 1895: 5.
"Chinamen with German Wives." Montreal Daily Star, 13 December 1895: 5.
"Will Montreal Have a Chinatown?." Montreal Daily Star, 14 December 1895: 7.
"Chinese Gambling." Montreal Daily Star, 17 December 1895: 6.
"One Chinaman Arrested." Montreal Daily Star, 18 December 1895: 6.
"The Chinese and Christmas." Montreal Daily Star, 21 December 1895: 2.
"Chinese Entertainment, at which the Chinamen Did Their Share of the Entertaining." Montreal Daily Star, 31 December 1895: 2.
"The Chinese New Year." Montreal Daily Star, 11 February 1896: 7.
"John Chinaman Entertains." Montreal Daily Witness, 18 February 1896: 6.
"Bubble and Squeak Lotus 2" (October 1896): 216-17.
"Born a Britisher But Fifty Dollars Is the Tax on Him as a Chinaman" Montreal Daily Witness, 27 October 1896.
"A Visit to Chinatown." New York Recorder, 19 April 1896.
Seiwoong Oh: Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature. Series: Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Literature. Facts on File, 2007
Land of Sunshine. v.13 (1900) has a picture of her on page 336.
Works by Sui Sin Far at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
March 03, 2023
chinese, 水仙花, pinyin, shuǐ, xiān, huā, born, edith, maude, eaton, march, 1865, april, 1914, author, known, writing, about, chinese, people, north, america, chinese, american, experience, name, under, which, most, work, published, cantonese, name, narcissus, fl. Sui Sin Far Chinese 水仙花 pinyin Shuǐ Xian Hua born Edith Maude Eaton 15 March 1865 7 April 1914 was an author known for her writing about Chinese people in North America and the Chinese American experience Sui Sin Far the pen name under which most of her work was published is the Cantonese name of the narcissus flower popular amongst Chinese people Sui Sin FarBornEdith Maude Eaton 1865 03 15 March 15 1865Macclesfield Cheshire EnglandDiedApril 7 1914 1914 04 07 aged 49 Montreal Quebec CanadaResting placeMount Royal CemeteryPen nameSui Sin Far E E Fire FlyOccupationJournalistNationalityBritish AmericanGenreJournalism short stories travel literatureSubjectChinese American lifeNotable worksMrs Spring Fragrance Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian RelativesOnoto Watanna Contents 1 Life account 2 Themes 3 Contemporary interests 4 Published works 5 Unnamed works 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksLife account EditBorn in Macclesfield Cheshire England Eaton was the daughter of Englishman Edward Eaton a merchant who met her Chinese mother Achuen Grace Amoy in Shanghai China 1 Eaton was the eldest daughter and second child of fourteen children born to the couple In 1865 her family left England to live in Hudson New York United States but stayed there only a short time before returning to England in 1868 The family returned to North America in 1872 relocating to Montreal Quebec Canada Her father worked as a clerk for Grand Trunk Railway and perhaps for Hudon Mills In 1882 he left his job and attempted to earn a living through his art Nonetheless the children were educated at home and raised in an intellectually stimulating environment that saw both Edith and her younger sister Winnifred who wrote under the pen name Onoto Watanna become successful writers Because of their poverty at a young age Edith Eaton left school to work in order to help support her family By age 18 Eaton was setting type for the Montreal Star She began writing as a young girl her stories and poetry were accepted for publication in Montreal s Dominion Illustrated magazine and beginning in 1890 she published anonymous journalistic articles about the local Chinese community in Montreal s English language newspapers the Montreal Star and the Daily Witness She also worked as a stenographer and legal secretary She left Montreal first in 1891 to work as a stenographer and special correspondent in what is now Thunder Bay Ontario In 1896 she worked as a journalist for Gall s News Letter in Kingston Jamaica for about six months and began to publish under her Chinese pen name Later she moved to San Francisco Los Angeles then in Seattle before going to the east coast to work in Boston While working as a legal secretary she continued to write Although her appearance and manners would have allowed her to easily pass as an Englishwoman she asserted her Chinese heritage after 1896 and wrote articles that told what life was like for a Chinese woman in white America First published in 1896 her fictional stories about Chinese Americans were a reasoned appeal for her society s acceptance of working class Chinese at a time when the United States Congress maintained the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned Chinese immigration to the United States Over the ensuing years Eaton wrote a number of short stories and newspaper articles while working on her first collection of fiction Published in June 1912 Mrs Spring Fragrance was a collection that included some linked short stories that was marketed as a novel Eaton never married She died in Montreal and is interred in Mount Royal Cemetery A study of Eaton and her life Sui Sin Far Edith Maude Eaton A Literary Biography by Annette White Parks was published in 1995 Becoming Sui Sin Far Early Fiction Journalism and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton by Mary Chapman updates this earlier study Themes EditAs a child Eaton witnessed hatred of and prejudice against Chinese people 2 This inclined her to write on the Chinese experience with some of her works focusing on her own experiences as a Chinese person In In the Land of the Free Eaton writes about what it meant to be a Chinese woman in a white man s world 3 Many of Sui Sin Far Edith Eaton s unsigned works are about the daily lives of Chinese people in Canada and the United States The topics of these pieces range from the food Chinese people eat to the things they do for fun Contemporary interests EditMany academics cite Sui Sin Far Edith Eaton as one of the first North American writers of Chinese ancestry 4 5 For this reason there has been recent interest in Sui Sin Far s works and their revival Mary Chapman a professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia has published Becoming Sui Sin Far Early Fiction Journalism and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton a collection of 70 of Eaton s early writings Most of these pieces had not been republished since their first appearance in newspapers She is also the director of the Winnifred Eaton ArchiveYing Xu an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of New Mexico has also been conducting scholarly work on Sui Sin Far She contributed to the article Edith Maude Eaton Sui Sin Far 6 In 2017 she published Sui Sin Far s The Land of the Free in the era of Trump 7 which makes connections between Far s writings and the current socio political climate of the Trump era Eaton s funeral monument in Mount Royal Cemetery Published works EditFar Sui Sin A Chinese Ishmael and Other Stories Dodo Press 2009 Far Sui Sin Mrs Spring Fragrance A C McClurg 1912 Chan Hen Yen Chinese Student 1912 A Love Story from the Rice Fields of China 1911 The Bird of Love 1910 An Autumn Fan 1910 Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian 1909 Unnamed works EditMary Chapman s Becoming Sui Sin Far Early Fiction Journalism and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton includes a working bibliography of Eaton s unsigned works The Land of the Free Montreal Daily Witness 15 March 1890 8 The Ching Song Episode Montreal Daily Witness 17 April 1890 6 A Chinese Party Montreal Daily Witness 7 November 1890 7 Girl Slave in Montreal Our Chinese Colony Cleverly Described Only Two Women from the Flowery Land in Town Montreal Daily Witness 4 May 1894 10 Seventeen Arrests Montreal Daily Witness 10 July 1894 1 Our Local Chinatown Little Mystery of a St Denis Street Laundry Montreal Daily Witness 19 July 1894 10 No Tickee No Washee Montreal Daily Witness 25 July 1894 10 In the Chinese Colony Montreal Daily Witness 6 February 1895 10 Dined by Hom Chong Long Montreal Daily Witness 12 February 1895 1 The Lady and the Tiger Montreal Daily Star 23 March 1895 1 Half Chinese Children Montreal Daily Star 20 April 1895 3 A Chinaman and His Bride Montreal Daily Witness 17 May 1895 1 The Gambling Chinee Montreal Daily Witness 20 May 1895 3 Abusing the Chinee How Some White Christians Treat Them Rotten Eggs and Stones Montreal Daily Star 5 July 1895 8 Smuggled Chinese The Last Batch Was Concealed in a Lumber Barge Montreal Daily Star 5 July 1895 8 Chinese Visitors Montreal Daily Star 6 July 1895 4 Thrilling Experience of a Band of Smugglers in the Lachine Rapids Montreal Daily Star 9 July 1895 1 Smuggled Chinamen Arrested and Sentenced to Terms of Imprisonment Montreal Daily Star 10 July 1895 8 Beaten to Death Montreal Daily Witness 22 July 1895 6 The Dead Chinaman Montreal Daily Witness 24 July 1895 8 A Chino Irish Family The Father a Chinaman and the Mother an Irishwoman Montreal Daily Star 8 August 1895 They Are Going Back To China Hundreds of Chinese at the CPR Station Montreal Daily Star 21 August 1895 2 The Smuggling of Chinamen Montreal Daily Star 22 August 1895 6 A Chinese Baby Accompanies a Party Now on Their Way to Boston Montreal Daily Star 11 September 1895 6 Chinese Religion Information Given a Lady by Montreal Chinamen Montreal Daily Star 21 September 1895 5 A Chinese Child Born At the Hotel on Lagauchetiere Street Montreal Daily Star 30 September 1895 1 Chinese Entertainment Montreal Daily Star 11 October 1895 4 Another Chinese Baby The Juvenile Mongolian Colony in Montreal Receives Another Addition It Is a Girl and There Are Schemes for Her Marriage Montreal Daily Star 12 October 1895 6 Trouble Over an Opium Deal Montreal Daily Star 12 October 1895 9 Completion of the Moon Montreal Daily Star 23 October 1895 6 Chinese Changes Montreal Daily Star 9 November 1895 9 Chinese Food Montreal Daily Star 25 November 1895 4 The Baby Photographed Montreal Daily Star 28 November 1895 8 The Ancestral Tablet A Curious Feature of a Chinese Home Montreal Daily Star 3 December 1895 5 Chinamen with German Wives Montreal Daily Star 13 December 1895 5 Will Montreal Have a Chinatown Montreal Daily Star 14 December 1895 7 Chinese Gambling Montreal Daily Star 17 December 1895 6 One Chinaman Arrested Montreal Daily Star 18 December 1895 6 The Chinese and Christmas Montreal Daily Star 21 December 1895 2 Chinese Entertainment at which the Chinamen Did Their Share of the Entertaining Montreal Daily Star 31 December 1895 2 The Chinese New Year Montreal Daily Star 11 February 1896 7 John Chinaman Entertains Montreal Daily Witness 18 February 1896 6 Bubble and Squeak Lotus 2 October 1896 216 17 Born a Britisher But Fifty Dollars Is the Tax on Him as a Chinaman Montreal Daily Witness 27 October 1896 A Visit to Chinatown New York Recorder 19 April 1896 See also EditWinnifred Eaton List of women writers List of Asian American writers Chinese American literature History of Chinese AmericansReferences Edit EATON EDITH MAUD Dictionary of Canadian Biography Retrieved 17 July 2008 Edith Maud Eaton Sui Sin Far 1865 1914 Edith Maud Eaton Sui Sin Far 1865 1914 Edith Maude Eaton Sui Sin Far UI Press Annette White Parks Sui Sin Far Edith Maude Eaton A Literary Biography Edith Maude Eaton Sui Sin Far Sui Sin Far s The Land of the Free in the era of Trump External links Edit Wikisource has original works by or about Sui Sin Far Essays by Sui Sin Far at Quotidiana org Short radio script and audio Lae Choo s Heart at California Legacy Project Eaton at Digitized Collections Simon Fraser University Coll Canada s Early Women Writers with a photograph Eaton at Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol 14 by Lorraine McMullen Edith Maude Eaton The Canadian Encyclopedia Retrieved 8 October 2019 Seiwoong Oh Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature Series Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Literature Facts on File 2007 Land of Sunshine v 13 1900 has a picture of her on page 336 Works by Sui Sin Far at LibriVox public domain audiobooks Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sui Sin Far amp oldid 1126215736, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
