From struggling war refugees to Buddhist monks, intellectuals to sex workers, Russell Charles Leong's characters are both linked and separated by their experiences as modern Asians and Asian Americans. A young teen-ager, sold into prostitution to finance her brothers' education, saves her hair trimmings -- the one part of her body that is under her own control -- to burn once a year in a temple ritual. A documentary film producer, raised in a noisy Hong Kong family, marvels at the popular image of Asian Americans as a silenced minority. Traditional Chinese families struggle to come to terms with gay children and AIDS.

Leaving
1) Bodhi Leaves
2) Geography One
3) Runaways
4) Daughers
5) Sons
Samsara
6) A Yin and Her Man
7) Hemispheres
8) Camouflage
9) Eclipse
10) Samsara
Pardise
11) The Western Paradise of Eddie Bin
12) Phoenix Eyes
13) No Bruce Lee
14) Where do People Live Who Never Die?
Acknowledgments

Russell Charles Leong , longtime editor of Amerasia Journal and managing editor of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Publications, is also an award-winning poet and documentary filmmaker.