Writers from China's diaspora
His ambitions to be an artist and writer were unpopular in the schoolyard, says Deng Ming-dao. 'I became an outcast. All the other kids wanted far more conventional futures, and they couldn't understand making art as any sort of life's work.'
Deng's mother, Jade Snow Wong, wasn't encouraging, either. She looked at him sadly and said: 'You'll never be rich.'
She knew he was following her path. Deng, who still polishes bowls his mother makes, was raised in her San Francisco studio surrounded by clay, copper, glazes, kilns, and heavy machinery.
'I grew up in an atmosphere where I had to make things, solve problems, and understand the creative process.' Since anything could go wrong during that process, it was good creative training, he says.
He chose to explore Taoism because traditional Chinese poets and painters often mentioned it in a mysterious way, as did the Beat writers. Another reason was that famous Taoists such as Zhang Daoling, who is credited with making an elixir of immortality, were such colourful non-conformists.