Ying Chang Compestine | |||||||||
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Born | 張瀛 March 8, 1963 Wuhan, Hubei, China | ||||||||
Occupation | Author | ||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||
Genre | Fiction, children's books, cookbooks, historical fiction, cultural studies | ||||||||
Notable works | Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party (2007) | ||||||||
Spouse | Greg M. Compestine | ||||||||
Children | 1 | ||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 張 瀛 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 张 瀛 | ||||||||
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Website | |||||||||
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Ying Chang Compestine (born March 8, 1963 [1] ) is a Chinese American author, speaker, television host and chef. She has written over twenty-five books including Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party (novel) , based on her life growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution., [2] and a middle grade novel, Morning Sun in Wuhan, [3] set in Wuhan, China.
Ying Chang Compestine was born and raised in Wuhan, China. [1] Her family was considered "bourgeois," so the Red Guard took her family's belongings and her father was put in jail twice. [4] Because of the family's difficulties, Compestine was sent to live with her grandparents. [4]
Compestine earned a degree in English and American literature and taught English in China. [1] She also worked as an interpreter for China's Bureau of Seismology. [1]
Compestine graduated with a master's degree in Sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1990. [5] [6] She met her husband just before she finished graduate school. [7]
After immigrating to the United States, Compestine taught sociology and writing at universities in both the U.S. and China. [8] [1] Compestine has received various education awards including the Master Teacher Award from both Front Range Community College (1991-1992) and the International School of Beijing (2000). [1]
Compestine has hosted several cooking shows on Chinese Language News Broadcaster for Phoenix North America Chinese Channel, as well as appearing as a guest on the Food Network, Discovery Channel, [9] and HGTV. [1] She also worked a food editor for Martha Stewart’s Body + Soul magazine [7] and is a contributor for Cooking Light, EatingWell, Self, and Men's Health. [10] [11] [12] Compestine is also a spokesperson for Nestle and Celestial Seasonings . [13]
Compestine began writing after her son was born, creating the cookbook, Secrets of Fat-Free Chinese Cooking (1997). [7] She began writing children's books after her parents died, because she missed China and her family. [7] Since then she has written numerous children's books, and is actively writing today.
Her book Revolution is Not a Dinner Party (2007) is based on her life growing up in China. [7] The book has been featured on several lists, such as the 2008 American Library Association's (ALA) Best Books for Young Readers, and Publishers Weekly's best children's books for 2007. [14]
Compestine co-authored Secrets of The Terra Cotta Soldier , with her son Vinson in 2014. [15] [16]
Her most recent picture book, Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu (2024) illustrated by Crystal Kung, has received praise from Kirkus Reviews [17] , Publisher's Weekly [18] , and the School Library Journal . [19] It has also been featured on California’s notable stations, KQED [20] and ABC7@7 , and chosen as a Common Sense Selection by Common Sense Media. [21]
Her most recent middle-grade novel, Morning Sun in Wuhan (2022) has received praise from The San Francisco Chronicle [22] and The Mercury News . [23] It was selected as A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, [24] an NCSS 2023 Notable Social Studies Trade Book, [25] and was chosen as a Gold Standard Selection by the Junior Library Guild. [26]
Her young adult novel, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts, is currently being adapted into an animated TV series by 108 Media. [27]
She has three upcoming books: Growing Up Under a Red Flag, a picture book based on her life growing up in Wuhan, The Chinese New Year Helper, story of a young girl helping to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and an untitled Chinese comic cookbook.
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: CS1 maint: others (link)Book | Award |
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Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party | California Book Award for Young Adult Literature 2008 ALA Best Books For Young Adults 2008 ALA Notable Children's Books 2007 Publishers Weekly Best Children's Fiction Book List 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Best Children's Fiction Book List 2008 Chinese American Librarian Association Best Book 2007 New York Public Library 100 Best Titles for Reading and Sharing 2007 Fall Book Sense Children's Picks 2007 Parent's Choice Silver Honor 2007 Cybils Award Nomination for Young Adult Fiction 2008 Tayshas Reading List (Texas) 2007 Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2007 Cleveland Public Library Celebrate With Books 2007 Cuyahoga County Public Library Great Books for Kids 2008 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People — CBC and the National Council for Social Studies 2008 IRA Notable Books for a Global Society 2008 NCTE Award 2008 Capitol Choices — Best Books of the Year, Washington, D.C. 2008 New York Public Library's Teen Age List 2008 Cooperative Children's Book Center — Best of the Year 2008 Bank Street College of Education — Best Children's Book 2008 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts 2008 Book of the Year Award — Northern California Independent Booksellers Association 2008 Women's National Book Association's Judy Lopez Memorial Awards Honor 2008-09 Maine Student Book Award 2008 Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts 2009 ATPE Book of the Month 2009 Sakura Medal Book 2008-2009 Nominated for the Maine Student Book Award [28] |
A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales | Notable Book for 2010 by the Children's Literary Assembly AARP as a Grandparent's Book for Children [28] |
Secrets of The Terra Cotta Soldier | Top 3 Books by The Morning Call Best Multi-Cultural Books of 2014 Award NYPL's 100 Best Children's Books of 2014 Best Fiction on the Bank Street College 2015 List The Nerdy Book Club's Top 10 Historical Fiction List Shortlisted for the Hong Kong Golden Dragon Book Award CALA Best Book Award of 2014 [28] |
Crouching Tiger | Winner of the Panda Book Award in China Winner of The Morning Calm Award in South Korea The Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book of 2011 CCBC Choices for 2012 [28] |
The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale | Featured title at the Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore 2013 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA)Nominee 2012 Storytelling World Resource Award 2012 California Collections List, for school libraries Scholastic Book Club Choice 2011 Lasting Connections Top 30 Titles from Booklist [28] |
The Chinese Emperor's New Clothes | 2018 Parent's Choice Awards 2019 Great Texas Mosquito List 2019 Bank Street College of Education — Best Children's Book |
Morning Sun in Wuhan | 2022 Selected as one of the best books of 2022 by the New York Public Library [24] 2022 Honorable Mention of the Freeman Book Award by NCTAsia 2022 Recipient of the Common Sense Selection for Books designation 2023 Chosen as a Gold Standard Selection by the Junior Library Guild [26] 2023 Notable Social Studies Book by the NSST/CBC [25] |
Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu | 2024 Recipient of the Common Sense Selection for Books designation [21] |
Growing Up Under a Red Flag | 2024 Chosen as a Gold Standard Selection by the Junior Library Guild [29] |
Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.
Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuisines. In the tenth century, when the city of Canton (Guangzhou) began to experience an increase in commercial travel, many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called "yum cha" (brunch). "Yum cha" includes two related concepts. The first is "jat zung loeng gin", which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second is dim sum, which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea.
Momo originally named "mo:mo" are a type of steamed filled dumpling in Tibetan and Nepali cuisine that is also popular in neighbouring Bhutan and India. Momo are usually served with a sauce known as achar influenced by the spices and herbs used within many South Asian cuisines. It can also be cooked as soup versions known as jhol momo where the broth is made from achar using a mixture of tomatoes, sesame seeds, chillies, cumin and coriander or mokthuk from boiling pork/buffalo bones mixed with various herbs and vegetables.
Stinky tofu is a Chinese form of fermented tofu that has a strong odor. It is usually sold at night markets or roadside stands as a snack, or in lunch bars as a side dish, rather than in restaurants. Traditionally the dish is fermented in a brine with vegetables and meat, sometimes for months. Modern factory-produced stinky tofu is marinated in brine for one or two days to add odor.
Mandu, or mandoo, are dumplings in Korean cuisine. Mandu can be steamed, boiled, pan-fried, or deep-fried. The styles also vary across regions in the Korean Peninsula. Mandu were long part of Korean royal court cuisine, but are now found in supermarkets, restaurants, and snack places such as pojangmacha and bunsikjip throughout South Korea.
Wang Anyi is a Chinese writer, vice-chair of the China Writers Association since 2006, and professor in Chinese Literature at Fudan University since 2004.
The term Manchu–Han Imperial Feast refers to a style of cooking and a type of grand banquet that combines elements of Manchu and Han's Chinese cuisine developed in the Qing dynasty of China (1636–1912). The origins are disputed, but by the nineteenth century, the style became popular and was emulated in twentieth and twenty-first-century restaurants.
Tofu is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: silken, soft, firm, extra firm. Tofu is also known as bean curd in English. It is a traditional component of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines, and has been consumed in China for over 2,000 years. In modern Western cooking, it is most often treated as a meat substitute.
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party is a work of historical fiction written by Ying Chang Compestine and published in 2007. The story is set at the end of the Cultural Revolution in Wuhan, China. The novel is about a young girl from an upper-class family facing persecution and other challenges brought upon the upper class living in communist China.
Egg drop soup, also known as egg flower soup, is a Chinese soup of wispy beaten eggs in chicken broth. Condiments such as black or white pepper, and finely chopped scallions and tofu, are commonly added to the soup. The soup is made by adding a thin stream of beaten eggs to the boiling broth in the final moments of cooking, creating thin, silken strands or flakes of cooked egg that float in the soup.
Secrets of the Terra-Cotta Soldier is a 2014 children's historical novel with fantasy elements written by Ying Chang Compestine and her son, Vinson Compestine. It is set in 1970s China.
A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales is a young adult fiction book written by Ying Chang Compestine. Set in China, the book blends Chinese culture, cuisine, and modern customs into eight horror stories.[1][2]
The Runaway Wok is a children's picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Sebastia Serra. Published in 2011 by Dutton Children's Books, the story follows a boy named Ming and his adventures with a magical talking wok who grants wishes. The story portrays the rich family as evil and the poor family as heroic.
The Story ofseries is a collection of children's picture books that were written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Yongsheng Xuan. Each installation depicts the invention of various objects in Chinese culture, including chopsticks, noodles, kites, and paper. An author's note and recipe is included at the end of each book. The first publication of The Story of Chopsticks was printed in English in 2001 by Holiday House. In 2016, the bilingual edition was printed in English and Chinese by Immedium. The illustrations, done by Xuan use traditional Chinese-style cut paper.
Cooking with an Asian Accent is a cookbook written by author Ying Chang Compestine. Unlike traditional cookbooks, Compestine's recipes are inspired by the efficiency of Western culture and the spiritual nourishment of Asian lifestyle. Among the recipes, Compestine includes personal stories of her experience with the blending of Eastern and Western culture.
The Runaway Rice Cake is a picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Tungwai Chau. The book tells the story of the Chang family and the sense of community that can be born from a simple act of kindness.
The Real Story of Stone Soup is a picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch. The stone soup folk story is often associated with European folklore, but Compestine retells it set in China.
Crouching Tiger is a children's picture book written by award-winning author, Ying Chang Compestine, and illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. Published in 2011 by Candlewick Press, the book tells the story of a young, Chinese-American boy who comes to appreciate his Chinese heritage thanks to his grandfather's tai chi lessons.
D Is For Dragon Dance is a 2007 children's picture book written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Yongsheng Xuan. The book explores the Chinese New Years traditions through a rhyming acrostic format using the English alphabet. The book concludes with an author's note, an artist's note, and a recipe for "New Year's Dumpling Delight".
Wai Chim is a Chinese American author of books for children and young adults residing in Australia. She was a contestant on Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn, the sixth season of Australian Survivor.