CLEAR AND BRIGHT

A Chinese American family celebrates Ching Ming, a festival dedicated to honoring deceased ancestors.

It’s spring, and an unnamed child helps ready the house for visitors. As members of the extended family arrive, the young narrator explains that everyone is returning to “the city where Great-great-grandpa Fong arrived long, long ago when people like us were not welcomed.” Traditional Chinese characters are deftly interspersed throughout the gently paced narrative as the family gathers, prepares food, plays games, and finally piles into their cars. Low’s realistic portrayals of the characters feature blurred borders of color that exude warmth. Eventually they reach the cemetery. As rain falls, they sweep the graves of Great-great-grandpa and Great-great-grandma Fong, while the protagonist’s grandparents tell stories of the ancestors. An offering of food is placed on the grave, and family members bow to the headstones and share things that bring them joy—as Robeson notes in the backmatter, Ching Ming isn’t “a mournful time, but one of reverence combined with happiness.” As everyone feasts, the narrative cleverly notes that now the sky is “clear and bright”—a reference to the literal translation of Ching Ming. Backmatter offers further information on the festival and the U.S.’s Chinese Exclusion Act (subtly referenced in the story itself).

A solemn yet loving tribute to an important tradition.