Sui Sin Far
Edith Maude Eaton
“I meet many Chinese persons, and when they get into trouble I am often called upon to fight their battles in the papers. This I enjoy”- Sui Sin Far, White-Parks
- Born in Cheshire, England in 1865 and migrated to Hudson City, New York
- Began her writing career in America writing short stories using her Chinese alias Sui Sin Far
- Writing career took off in Montreal, where she later settled, working for the newspaper, The Star
- Her stories told what it was like to be a Chinese women in a white man's world
- Eaton was only one-half Chinese but she wrote for her mother and her mother's people, defending their heritage even though the culture was not so evident on her face
Sui-Sin Far (Edith Maude Eaton) 1865-1914
Her Works
Mrs. Fragrance Springs- Sui Sin Far's first collection of short stories of tales of Chinese children discussing racism and alienation of Chinese Americans in North America
Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian- She writes about her upcoming in awareness of the oppression on Eurasians and her sensitivity to the subject which expanded her racial pride
In the Land of the Free- Far writes more about the discrimination of Chinese in North America in a short fiction
Family
- Sui Sin Far was one of fourteen children raised in England
- Far's father was English and her mother was Chinese
- Her father was a sculptor who made the family travel a lot where ever financial optimism occurred
- Sister, Winifred Eaton, followed her sisters footsteps by writing under a fake Japanese alias named Onoto Watanna
- Winifred published many Japanese romance novels and short stories in her lifetime
Life
- Sui Sin Far used different elaborated characters to show her audience the divisions and discrimination created by Americans towards the Chinese, specifically women and children
- Far addressed Chinese citizenship and their discrimination from working in the labor field
- She adopted her alias, which is the Cantonese name for narcissus flower, when she decided to write Chinese short stories
- Far never married and passed away in Montreal residing in Mount Royal Cemetery where the Chinese community inscribed a memorial to her with the character "Yi bu wong hua," which translates as "The righteous one does not forget her country."