When you take something extremely broad, then it is not a work of expansion or work of compression. It's hard because you have to decide what to throw out.

It was clear that the special interest groups in California really wanted the Chinese to be shut out of the country, because that was where the racial tension was the greatest.

The whole story of the comfort women, the system of forced sexual slavery, the medical experiments of Unit 731, is not something that is in the US psyche. That is changing because many books are coming out.

The worst... was what the Pakistani soldiers did to the Bengali women after their failed rebellion.

There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston, probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country?

Often, what you see in the media is driven by economic forces.

After working as a journalist I went to a writing program at Johns Hopkins. It was interesting because it was neither journalistic nor historical, but it emphasized writing style, and afterwards I was asked to write my first book.

Now, most of the new immigrants coming to this country are from Asia as opposed to Europe.

When the Chinese first came to San Francisco, they were actually welcomed by the mayor and they had special ceremonies for them-again this is when their colony was very small, only a few Chinese.

I don't mind solitude. I love talking to other people, but I do need my space.

Your first duty as a writer is to write to please yourself. And you have no duty towards anyone else.

Racism is always there underneath, but usually it is exploited in these times of economic crisis, and it's hard to find out when one slides into another.

It's much more difficult to work on a broad subject than on a specific one, because even if it's hard to find the information, if you look hard enough for something specific you will find it, and you will discover things that you wouldn't have thought of before.

I received an honorary doctorate for my work. Maybe one of these works is considered the equivalent of a Ph.D.

Almost all people have this potential for evil, which would be unleashed only under certain dangerous social circumstances.

It's a wonderful thing to see a segment of our population that is open and eager to learn more about Chinese culture. It has filtered into the mainstream. You see credit-card ads on TV with white couples and Chinese babies.

It is very difficult to hang onto the relics of history.

If the conditions were right there could be great acceptance. Often it is only when they pose an economic or political threat that it turns really ugly.

I have to finish this book tour of almost 30 cities.

Of course, in the United States, which at the time was a very young country, there were also class distinctions. They weren't as pronounced, but they quickly evolved as well.

There is also an epidemic of infertility in this country. There are more women who have put off child-bearing in favor of their professional lives. For them, the only way they are going to have a family is to adopt from China.

We have to keep in mind that it's not just about the numbers of people who died; it's also the manner which many of these victims met their deaths.

Whatever is not commonly seen is condemned as alien.

There isn't much in the way of pure communist spirit, because the whole nation seems to be engaged in capitalistic enterprises. Much of the country still operates under government control.

Somebody who was born in this country who visited China would later face difficulty getting back in to the USA. We have to keep in mind that the struggles of the Chinese against these exclusion laws really laid down the foundations of civil rights law.

I have certainly amassed many historical research gathering skills.

I may attempt a novel. I think that no matter what you write, it requires being honest with oneself, and you have to pull yourself out of the whirlwind of daily life.

When you take something extremely broad, then it is not a work of expansion or work of compression. It's hard because you have to decide what to throw out.

There are now hundreds of thousands of new engineers that are being trained in China. If people start finding themselves losing their jobs, not to the Chinese here but because China has become such a dominant force - then there could very well be a backlash.

They probably do have an Asian Barbie.

For some reason, I seem to be bothered whenever I see acts of injustice and assaults on people's civil liberties. I imagine what I write in the future will follow in that vein. Whether it's fiction or non-fiction.

The spoken word vanished with the wind. Likewise, the unrecorded life disappears as if it never existed.

I did work out every day. I needed it to have the endurance to do what needed to be done and not get hurt. I have such a new respect for action stars now.

Work is the meat of life, pleasure the dessert.

This is God's work. Therefore it must be triumphant. There is no place for misgiving or despondency.

Yeah, that's what kind of, we get the idea a little bit yeah, because other people from different countries also try as hard as they can to get a medal or a gold medal in the Olympic Games. And you know, if they can work hard, we can work hard as well.

The work which is manipulated looks a little boring to me. I think life is pretty strange anyway. It is wooo, wooo, wooo!

I am not stopped by low funds, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, or temptations to stop and work on some other production that would be more financially rewarding.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

Corporate partners help UNICEF fund our programmes for children, advocate with us on their behalf, or facilitate our work through logistical, technical, research or supply support.

The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.

The kinds of shows that seem to work now, the comedy shows, are those which require very little attention. They're superficial and I like articulate comedy.

The work that we do during the winter is very important; we have a new bike and it's important to develop it during this time, and we start with this test.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

I work to stay alive.

When it is time to get to work, I go away completely and don't do anything except the work. And that can be 16 hours a day.

Some people don't like competition because it makes them work harder, better.

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

Always, your work is the same: You have to tell a story, you have to make a character. It doesn't matter if there are thousands of dollars, millions behind it, or if there is nothing.