In a feudal Chinese village in the winter of 1918, Tieng-Bin returns from three years abroad. Waiting for him are his three wives (Siu-Yong, Luan, and Eling) and his favorite child, 10-year-old Ahn (the “Golden Child”). Tieng-Bin is drawn to the possibilities of the modern world--including Christianity--and invites an English missionary to his home. Faced with the prospect of losing their traditional and ancestral practices, the three wives try to negotiate how to be in the modern world with Tieng-Bin. Framing the story of Tieng-Bin is that of present-day Andrew Kwong and his mother, now 80-year-old Ahn. Inspired by David Henry Hwang’s own family, Golden Child is an exploration of how modernity meets tradition, west meets east, and family finds hope from tragedy.
Golden Child guide sections
