Hollow Bamboo is the fictionalized story of William Ping’s grandfather, William Seto Ping, who immigrated to Newfoundland in the 1930s. The Chinese community in St. John’s faced discrimination, animosity, and even violence from the white people of Newfoundland—and the government. Despite this, they managed to build lives and community. The book is funny, heartbreaking, and filled with historical detail. I lived my childhood in a Newfoundland outport, and had no idea of the Chinese immigrant experience in Newfoundland. There’s an NFB film, called The Last Chinese Laundry, which is a documentary about Ping’s grandfather and some of the other Chinese people who settled in Newfoundland, which thankfully is available online to watch—I really enjoyed both this novel and the film.