My father was born in China but emigrated to Canada as a
boy.
My mother was born in Canada but is also of Chinese ancestry.
I was brought up in Canada caught between these two cultures, a conflict which was not
really resolved until after my first trip to Asia in 1960 when I fell profoundly in love
with the place.
My aim is to help other people understand, enjoy and learn
from Asia; and to help Asians understand, enjoy, and learn from others.
I was born in Brockville, Ontario into a Chinese restaurant family. Whenever we traveled,
our mother wanted to try out new restaurants for ideas to improve ours. So I started
reviewing restaurants while very young.
At college, I found that the people who had traveled usually won the arguments so after I
graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A. in psychology and a degree in social
work, I wanted to see the world, to continue learning, and to help make life easier for
others. I consider myself very fortunate for having been able to do so.
I took part in voluntary work camps organized by religious groups in Japan, Mexico,
Brazil, and the Canadian Arctic. From an office in Delhi, India, I helped to
organize seminars aimed at mutual understanding among youth leaders and diplomats. I
did promotion for a relief agency in Taiwan, and was a social worker and human rights
researcher in Toronto, Ontario. I tried professionally to aid dependant children in
Sudbury, Ontario, and organized vacation Bible schools in Saskatchewan, Canada.
As a writer, I have freelanced for the Globe and Mail, Asian Wall Street Journal, and
Copley News Service from the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. I had a travel column in the
Asia Mail and started a newsletter on travel in China. I have published a novel on China,
guides books on Hong Kong, and ghost-written a book on Hijras in Mumbai. I also helped to
write a guide book in Almaty, Kazakstan.
I first visited China in 1965, just before the Cultural Revolution. During a visit in
1972, the year of President Nixon's historic visit, I found myself giving travel advice to
everybody in my hotel. There were no guide books on China then. So I wrote one.
Fortunately William Morrow wanted to publish it, and for a while, my updates were under
its famous Fielding name. They are now published by Open Road Publishing in New York
and if you count all the various editions, 1999's is the 13th.
My life centres around my family as well as China. My husband was a journalist in New
Delhi when we met.
He is now retired and studying archaeology, spending recent summers digging on a Nabataean
site in Jordan and this summer in China.
Our daughter Linda helps with my books. I have also been active with the American
Friends Service Committee and the Society of American Travel Writers. I enjoy taking
people to China, seeing their reactions, and just having fun. I have escorted China tours
for travel organizers like Concepts East, Distant Horizons, and IST. I have also collected
Chinese textiles for two Toronto museums.
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