Chinese Playground: A Memoir

by Bill Lee

This stark and unsentimental recollection of childhood and coming of age in the back alleys and bustling streets of San Francisco Chinatown reveals the sinister and pervasive influences of organized crime. "Chinese A Memoir" traces author Bill Lee’s maturation from innocent child in a troubled family to a street punk, gang member, and college graduate struggling to break free of his involvement in escalating violence.Lee’s personal accounts of two high-profile murder incidents are engrossing. The 1977 Golden Dragon Massacre in San Francisco that left five dead and eleven wounded, was carried out by his blood-brothers who were engaged in the most violent Asian gang war in U.S. history. A decade later, a mad gunman killed seven and injured four at ESL, a high tech firm in Sunnyvale, California where Lee was employed. An unlikely hero emerges as he accepts his fate, employing his street instincts to save coworkers during the murderous rampage. Startling details on both crimes are revealed for the first time.This true story is a provocative read providing valuable insight into Chinese American culture, organized crime, distressed families, at-risk youths, personal recovery, Bay Area history, and Silicon Valley.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, China, Asian American

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 1999

About the author

Bill Lee is a second-generation Chinese American who grew up in the underworld of San Francisco Chinatown. He witnessed his first shooting at age eight, and became involved in numerous street gangs, including the gang responsible for the Golden Dragon Massacre. Bill graduated with honors in Psychology from San Francisco State University and spent most of his career as a consultant retained by top executives in Silicon Valley. He was employed at ESL, a TRW subsidiary, when a gunman massacred seven of his coworkers. Bill was a key member of the crisis response team, who worked with police and counselors to assist trapped employees, victims, and their respective families. His personal account of the Chinatown gang wars as well as the Golden Dragon and ESL massacres are detailed in "Chinese Playground," which is available in digital format, including Kindle.

Lee's latest book, "Born-Again Buddhist: My Path to Living Mindfully and Compassionately with Mood Disorders" (April 2014) has just been released on Amazon.com. In it, he shares with readers how, as a practicing Buddhist, he integrated mindfulness meditation and other Buddhist practices with psychotherapy to effectively treat his mood disorders, including manic depression, post-traumatic stress, rage, and addiction.

Lee is also the author of "Born to Lose: Memoirs of a Compulsive Gambler," which describes his 40-year gambling addiction and recovery. The book's publisher is Hazelden and it is available in both paperback and digital format.

Additional Information:

• Have written for the San Francisco Chronicle, AsianWeek, and professional journals. Have been featured on the History Channel, A&E Television, FOX network, Spike TV, PBS, Radio Television Hong Kong, and national public radio.
• 30+ years of experience in corporate employment, executive/technical search consulting, corporate intelligence; assisting with re-organizations as well as mergers/acquisitions. Have successfully supported top executives, including Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt.
• Operated Career Insights, assisting clients in composing effective résumés and developing successful job search strategies
• Have counseled serious offenders at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center (formerly the Youth Guidance Center)

Reviews

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me a greater understanding of the underground history of Chinatown. I strongly recommend for those bay area ABC's out there. I feel closer to my home and relatives' upbringings that led them to who they are now.

[James Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great account of the dark underbelly of Chinese gangs in SF. Something that is invisible to most transplants these days.

[Kristoffer Nocon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Provided a good picture of growing up around the asian gang scene. Bought this book 3x

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read into the gangs of all ages in Chinatown. Thanks

[Christopher Steffen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look into the gangs of Chinatown. Would have loved even more of those. Also, a crazy story about a work shooting.

[Canice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd been meaning to read Chinese Playground pretty much since it was published, in 1999. I've always been fascinated by the Tong wars in Chinatown in the early 20th century, and their evolution into street gangs in the 1960s and '70s is gripping enough, but the author's account of his life as a Joe Boy, the gang that launched the infamous Golden Dragon Restaurant massacre in 1977, promised to be a rare look inside both the gang and the home/street life of a recruit. I held off reading the book because of the author's decision to self-publish; I was concerned about the lack of fact-checking and the potential liability of the book being without an editor and copy editor, since not everyone with a fascinating story to tell holds the skills to tell the story well. Unfortunately, my instincts were right. While I can't speak to the fact-checking, I can say that Lee fails as a writer in at least three ways:
1. Sentence structure/grammar/punctuation (man does he like quotation marks!)
2. Character development/plot development. Remember when your junior high teachers admonished you to "show me, don't tell me"? He tells, doesn't show. Intriguing situations are left unexplained or put out without context. While active in the gang, the author is playing tennis in Golden Gate Park and getting a degree at San Francisco State University, but these are treated as three casually overlapping life cameos, not expressions of experience and ambition.
3. Continuity and the ability to overlay simultaneously occurring events or periods. I would imagine that is one of the most challenging aspects of writing non-fiction (particularly given my own propensity for saying, "Wait, I have to rewind the tape a sec so you understand the context" every time I try to retell overlapping events).

Chinese Playground is a quick and easy read (I was surprised to find it was in the Teen section, but then, I was surprised that The Color of Water was right nearby) but it could have been an extraordinary story except that, in the author's words, "I decided to self-publish in order to retain my voice in the narrative." Unfortunately, his writer's voice is not a well-developed, literary one. I hope someday to read the definitive story of that era and the dramatic events of that night.

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

True story, written by the author himself, without any editing and revisions by editorial. I met this author in San Francisco when I was at USF. He stressed how important it was that his work was not tampered with by editorial so he had to press to get it published in its virgin state (basically straight from his words to publishing).

When I'd met him in SF, he had been on the down low because he talked about the different Chinese gangs and mafias in his book. He recently was on the History Channel for Gangland - talking about the asian gangs, violence, guns and drug trafficking in SF.

VERY INTRIGUING knowing this was a TRUE STORY. It gives insight to the life of an immigrant, which I enjoyed reading about being that my mom was an immigrant to this country. Of course, she's not a Chinese gangster, immigrant. LOL

My original autographed copy was stolen from me. ;(

[Hayward Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a history geek obsessed with the history of American Chinese, I read this book as a narrative history from a special angle, rarely documented in any sources and hence academic historians would probably never be able to get. I never expected drama, just a first-person narrative from the insides of the Chinese underworld.

This book exceeds my expectation. His narrative is consistent with conventional historical analysis and yet interesting enough to follow, unlike dry history books throwing out gang names one after another.

I thought I would stop reading after the tong wars, but it happens the narrative in interesting enough to keep my attention throughout.

Good little story book to spend a weekend on.

[Wilson Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is startling and unsentimental collection of Bill Lee's childhood and coming of age in the back alleys and bustling streets of San Francisco's Chinatown."Chinese Playground: A Memoir" follows Bill Lee's maturation from innocent child in a troubled family to a street punk, gang member, and college graduate struggling to break free of his involvement in escalating violence.

[Marie Hew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughtful, reflective and healing book by a man who faced difficult home life and life on the streets of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Very enlightening about Chinatown gangs and their interconnections to the international Chinese underground.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, based on a true story. Must read book

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, seriously interesting.....

[Rhonda Hankins]

i was skeptical cuz it's self published, but then found this book quite a good read. gives the tourist a whole new perspective of sf chinatown!