China Joe is the white man's scapegoat, but he is also Kingston's collective hero [in China Men]. The great-grandfather indentured to clear the Hawaiian jungle is a proud, determined man, a leader among the other Chinese there. His work in the canefields and the lashings he receives are rendered in sharp detail. But in Kingston's account his individuality seems to fall away, and we are left with a story more like a folk tale or an epic legend than an account of one man's life. It is also the story of "every great grandfather on every island."

Historical events, too, seem transmuted here, robbed of factual precision but somehow brightened and clarified. (pp. 10-11)

In between the longer stories about her family, Kingston tells a number of ancient Chinese tales: parables about mortality and exile and persisting in the face of difficulty. Her uncles look for natural omens...