Tang Ao

The main character of "On Discovery" is Tang Ao, a Chinese explorer in search of riches in the Gold Mountain (America). Instead of finding the Gold Mountain, however, he finds the Land of Women, where he is captured and made into a woman. His feet are bound, his ears pierced, his facial hair plucked, and his face painted. Through his transformation, Tang Ao learns that one can "discover" new lands and ideas without conquering. The source of "On Discovery" is an early nineteenth-century Chinese novel written by Li Ruzhen called Flowers in the Mirror In the original version, Tang Ao is a scholar who travels the world in order to find and save twelve flower fairies who have been banished from the Heavenly Court.

Narrator

The narrator of "On Discovery" is, like many of Kingston's narrators, a trickster who plays jokes on the reader by being elusive...