Yan Phou Lee

Yan Phou Lee ( – ) was a Chinese-born author who was the first Asian American to publish a book in English. He graduated from Yale and published When I Was a Boy in China in 1887.

Biography Yan Phou Lee was born in 1861, in Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills), Guangdong Province. His father, who died when he was twelve, worked for a business that rented chairs for weddings. After learning about the Chinese Education Mission from his cousin, Lee's family sent him to Shanghai in order to learn English. Under government sponsorship, he sailed to San Francisco in 1873. Lee was able to return to the United States in 1885 with the aid of Christian missionaries, and resumed his studies at Yale.

After graduating from Yale in 1887, Lee published When I Was a Boy in China, and married Elizabeth Maude Jerome. He worked various careers for a couple decades following his graduation, but he eventually received a position as the editor of the American Banker from 1918 to 1927. He wrote a letter to his family and Yale class in 1938, describing the Japanese siege on Guangdong as a "inhuman, brutal, savage war."

"Why I am not a Heathen" (1887) Influenced by the Christian teachings of preacher D.L. Moody and other Christian thinkers, Yan Phou Lee wrote "Why I am not a Heathen" in response to Wong Chin Foo's article "Why am I a Heathen?". Lee addresses Wong Chin Foo's criticisms of Christianity, primarily the issues of denominations and the abuse of Christian principles.

When I was a Boy in China (1887) Lee became the first Asian American to publish a book in English after publishing When I was a Boy in China in 1887. The events of the book describe his childhood to an audience mostly unfamiliar with daily life and customs in China.

"The Chinese Must Stay" (1889)

Following the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act, Lee penned the essay "The Chinese Must Stay". Echoing the message of his graduation speech at Yale, Lee appeals to the American ideals of equality in order to address anti-Chinese discrimination within law and society. "How far this Republic has departed from its high ideal and reversed its traditionary policy may be seen in the laws passed against the Chinese," Lee wrote.