You Know You’re Chinese When… offers a happy, humorous celebration of Chinese-American culture. With the help of his family, author Stephen Choy assembled a compendium of the customs, traditions, foods and quirky habits of everyday life, illustrated by his wife, Canossa. For those who grew up as he did, this lighthearted collection will recall the familiar tastes, sounds and objects of a lifetime.

“Time was when I disliked being so immersed in the practices that singled our family out—annual visits to the cemetery, eating with chopsticks, shopping in Chinatown. I just wanted to be ‘American!’” Choy recalls. “I suppose that was more in my self-conscious teen years. Well, here I am now in my 70s with a wife from Macau, many years a member of the Kung Sheong Doo Society, and very happily identifying as Chinese American.”

A clinical psychologist by trade—and still practicing full-time today—Choy is a trained observer of human behavior. “Sharing what is uniquely different about us with one another enriches our melting pot as a whole,” he says. “Attending college in Milwaukee and living in New York for ten years broadened my view of what being Chinese in America is all about. I’m not trying to define the whole Chinese-American experience. My book is meant to educate and entertain through the lens of my personal experience.”

This type of book is a customized project based on the Photo Legacy Package. Illustrations by his wife were provided by the author, as was a design concept for the book interior, created by his daughter. Our Legacy Isle team used this template and refined it for a commercial audience. In addition, our team advised the author on structuring the book and adding elements to give it more reader appeal.

You Know You’re Chinese When… is available via our online store, local bookstores and via online booksellers.

Cover and sample pages from the interior: