"Eat a Bowl of Tea, originally published in 1961, is a landmark work in Chinese American literature. It is the first novel to capture the tone and sensibility of everyday life in an American Chinatown. Cited as a major influence by Frank Chin and Maxine Hong Kingston, among others, the novel is an incisive, energetic portrayal of Chinatown's bachelor society, an enclave of old men trapped by racist immigration laws to live out their days in America without their wives or families. It is a tale of adultery and retribution-a study of how a young couple reconcile their dreams of married life with the grim realities they encounter"--