Anchee Min
Anchee Min (born January 14, 1957) is a Chinese-American author who lives in San Francisco and Shanghai. Min has published two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, and six historical novels. Her fiction emphasizes strong female characters, such as Jiang Qing, the wife of chairman Mao Zedong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, the last ruling empress of China.
Anchee Min
- Name
- Anchee Min
- Born
- 14 January 1957
- Birthplace
- Shanghai, China
- Education
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Occupation
- Author
- Nationality
- United States
- Known for
- Red Azalea
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Anchee Min (born January 14, 1957) is a Chinese-American author who lives in San Francisco and Shanghai. Min has published two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, and six historical novels. Her fiction emphasizes strong female characters, such as Jiang Qing, the wife of chairman Mao Zedong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, the last ruling empress of China.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q259096 · wikipedia · Anchee Min
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Anchee Min • Born — 14 January 1957 • Birthplace — Shanghai, China • Citizenship — American • Education — School of the Art Institute of Chicago • Occupation — Author • Children — 1 • Website — ancheemin.com Min
Life
Life
Min was born in Shanghai, China, on January 14, 1957. Her parents were both teachers. She was nine years old when the Cultural Revolution began. As a child, she was a member of the Little Red Guards and was made to report her favorite teacher, who was accused of being an anti-Maoist, to the authorities. When Min was 17, she was sent to a collective farm near the East China Sea, where she endured horrific conditions and worked 18-hour days. Eventually, she suffered a spinal cord injury. She began an affair with the commander at her camp, a woman named Yan, although she attributes the affair largely to loneliness. At the collective farm, Min was discovered by a team of talent scouts from the Shanghai Film Studio and was selected to become an actress for her ideal "proletarian good looks." She eventually won the lead role in a propaganda film inspired by Madame Mao. However, the film was never completed. After Mao Zedong's death and the subsequent downfall of Jiang Qing, Min was ostracized and treated badly. She was depressed and considered suicide. With the assistance of her friend, actress Joan Chen, and the sponsorship of her aunt living in Singapore, Min obtained a passport and applied to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She then emigrated to the United States. As she was initially entering the country, she was nearly deported when it was discovered that, contrary to what she had put on her visa application, she did not speak English. However, she was able to convince the immigration officer to allow her to enter into the country. After moving to the US, Min worked five jobs at the same time and learned English by, among others, watching Sesame Street. Min is openly bisexual. Her first husband was a Chinese artist named Qigu Jiang. They had a daughter, Lauryann, who attended Stanford University. According to Min herself, she "lured [Qigu] into marriage, making herself pregnant by him although she knew he did not want a child" and subsequently their marriage fell apart. In 1999, Min married teacher and writer Lloyd Lofthouse. She filed for divorce in 2014, and it was finalized in 2015. Min graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts.
Memoirs
Memoirs
• Red Azalea (Pantheon Books, 1994; a New York Times Notable Book); Random House Digital, Inc., 2011, • The Cooked Seed: A Memoir. Bloomsbury USA, May 7, 2013,
Fiction
Fiction
• Katherine Hamish Hamilton, 1995, • Becoming Madame Mao (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin..). Based on the life of Jiang Qing, the last wife of Mao Zedong. * • Empress Orchid Bloomsbury Publishing Incorporated, 2004, • The Last Empress (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2007). Based on the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, the late 19th and early 20th century Qing dynasty Empress Dowager. • Pearl of China: A Novel. Bloomsbury Publishing, April 9, 2010,. Inspired by the life of Pearl S. Buck as a girl and young woman in China.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1957
Anchee Min born at Shanghai.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Red Azalea. By Anchee Min. [London: Victor Gollancz, 1993. 252 pp. £16.99. ISBN 0–575–05529–4.], The China Quarterly, 1994
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1994
- The Chinese American Miracle: An Interview with Anchee Min, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2015
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2015
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q259096: Anchee Min
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Anchee Min”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.McAlpin, Heller. 'The Cooked Seed' details Anchee Min's fraught immigrant saga. Los Angeles Times. 2013-05-09. 0458-3035.
- 2.Anchee Min: 'If I had stayed in China, I would be dead'. Telegraph.co.uk. July 4, 2013.
- 3.McAlpin, Heller. 'The Cooked Seed' details Anchee Min's fraught immigrant saga. Los Angeles Times. 2013-05-09. 0458-3035.
- 4.Scott, A. O. The Re-education of Anchee Min. The New York Times. 2000-06-18. 0362-4331.
- 5.Bertodano, Helena de. Anchee Min: 'If I had stayed in China, I would be dead'. The Daily Telegraph. 2013-07-04. 0307-1235.
- 6.An Evening with Anchee Min - National Writers Series. National Writers Series. January 24, 2014.
- 7.A 'Cooked Seed' Sprouts After All, In America. NPR. May 12, 2013.
- 8.Min, Anchee. Anchee Min on X: "June 2015-Gay marriage legalized in the U.S.! As a bisexual woman I am ecstatic :)". X. March 21, 2017.
- 9.Overcoming Odds, Author's Success & Daughter's Talents Forged 'Self Worth'. Asia Society.
- 10.Anchee Min. National Writers Series. January 24, 2014.
- 11.Lloyd Lofthouse (author) on AuthorsDen. AuthorsDen.com.
- 12.ANCHEE MIN VS. LLOYD LOFTHOUSE. UniCourt.
- 13.Failing at Dating the Third Time around at Seventy-Two. Lloyd Lofthouse. 2018-04-06.
- 14.University of Minnesota. Anchee Min. Voices from the Gaps.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Red Azalea. By Anchee Min. [London: Victor Gollancz, 1993. 252 pp. £16.99. ISBN 0–575–05529–4.], The China Quarterly, 1994Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
The Chinese American Miracle: An Interview with Anchee Min, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2015Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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