Russell Charles Leong is an academic editor, a professor, a writer, and Chen Taichiquan instructor. He is currently an adjunct professor English and Asian-American studies at the University of California at Los Angeles. Leong is the also the editor and project coordinator for the U.S.-China media brief.

Origin, Education, Influences

Leong was born Chinatown, San Francisco in 1950. Leong attended local Chinese and American schools where his English teachers and family encouraged him to write. In 1972, He got his B.A. from SFSU where he took one of the first Asian/American writing classes from Jeffrey Chan. linking art with social and political activism for Asian-Americans, Leong participated in the Kearny Street Workshop

Kearny Street Workshop

Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco, California, is the oldest multidisciplinary arts nonprofit addressing Asian Pacific American issues.The organization's mission is to produce and present art that enriches and empowers Asian Pacific American communities....

. From 1973 to 1974, Leong studied at the National Taiwan University

National Taiwan University

National Taiwan University is a national co-educational university located in Taipei, Republic of China . In Taiwan, it is colloquially known as "Táidà" . Its main campus is set upon 1,086,167 square meters in Taipei's Da'an District. In addition, the university has 6 other campuses in Taiwan,...

 before earning an MFA

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

 in 1990.

Ideology and Religious Views

Leong has a "life is war" ideology representing his dislike towards the academic community. He would like to see himself more as an activist than an academic. Leong's religious views relate most strongly to Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology.Some scholars assert that early Buddhist philosophy did not engage in ontological or metaphysical speculation, but was based instead on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs...

. Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 applies to many aspects of his life including relationships and writing. He agrees with the accepting nature of Buddhism and finds it a strong, but not oppressive set of values to incorporate in daily life.

Selected Works

Phoenix Eyes and Other Stories by Russell C. Leong

"Fung Yen" Phoenix Eyes in Chinese translation: Taipei, Taiwan,

The Country of Dreams and Dust

My Chinatown A to Z

Fiction, Memoir and Poetry

• "No Bruce Lee,"

• "Looking after Hands,"

• "Enter the Year of the Dragon"

• "Haishan"

• "The Story of Haishan"

• "Memories of Stone Places"

• "Fish don't wear no hats"

• "A Yin and Her Man"

• "Litany"

• "Geography One"

• "The Painted Branch,"

• "Aloes"

• "Clay"

• "Granite,"

• "Sail"

• "Unfolding Flowers, Matchless Flames,"

• "In the Country of Dreams and Dust,"

• "Beware of the M Word,"

• "Aerogrammes"

Video Documentaries on Writers

• NVM Gonzalez: A Story Yet to be Told, 1998, 30 minute video documentary on national writer of the Philippines, premier, David Henry Hwang Theatre, L.A. December 9, 1998

• Why is Preparing Fish a Political Act? Poetry of Janice Mirikitani, 1990, director and editor. Selected for the National Asian Pacific American Asian Cine Vision Video Festival, New York City aired on Manhattan Cable, 1991.

• Morning Begins Here, video documentary on San Francisco Chinatown, screened at the 1985 RIFE International Film and Video Festival, Czechoslovakia. Aired on Channel 18 on Chinese television, Los Angeles, 1986.

• Reviews of Literary Work

• "Chinese Characters in the Diaspora: Russell Charles Leong," by Stella Dong
  Stella Dong
  Stella Dong is the author of many historical books on China, most notably Shanghai 1842-1949: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City , Peking and Sun Yat-sen . Born in Seattle, she worked for several magazines before her first book...
  
  , in South China Morning Post, May 30, 2004 (Hong Kong)

• "Writing the Chinese and Southeast Asian Diasporas in Russell Leong's Phoenix Eyes," by Walter S.H. Lim, in Asian Diaspora: Cultures, Identities, Representations, edited by Robbie Goh and Shawn Wong (Hong Kong University Press, 2004)

• "Art, Spirituality, and the Ethic of Care: Alternative Masculinities in Chinese American Literature," by King-kok Cheung, in Masculinity Studies, Feminist Theory, New Directions, edtied by Judith Kegan Gardiner (Columbia University Press, New York, 2002)

• "Acts of Reclamation" by Sue Russell in the Kenyon Review ( winter 1995, volume XVII, no. 1)

• "L.A. and Other Fictions," by Nina J. Easton, Los Angeles Times Magazine (September 5, 1993.)

• "Walls and Bridges," by Steven A. Chin, San Francisco Examiner Image Magazine (November 14, 1993). Author profile and poem.

• "Fresh Harvest: Multicultural Poetry from a Nation of Immigrants," by Sesshu Foster, in Northwest Review, 1994.

• Biography and writers statement in Contemporary Authors.

• Author Interview in Words Matter: Conversations with 20 Asian American Writers, edited by King-kok Cheung (University of Hawaii Press, Spring 2000).

• Review of Phoenix Eyes in Los Angeles Times
  Los Angeles Times
  The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
  
  , by Jonathan Kirsch
  Jonathan Kirsch
  Jonathan Kirsch is a Biblical scholar, an attorney, and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He is a bestselling author of books on religion, the Bible, and Judaism. He earned a B.A. degree in Russian and Jewish history from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a J.D. degree from Loyola...
  
   in West Words, Los Angeles Times
  Los Angeles Times
  The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
  
  , August 23, 2000.

• Interview and review in International Examiner
  International Examiner
  The International Examiner is a free biweekly Asian American newspaper based in Seattle, Washington's International District. It was founded in 1974 by Gerald Yuasa and Lawrence Imamura to serve what the founders thought were the business interests of the Asian American community in Seattle's...
  
  , Sept. 5, 2000, vo. 27:16.

• Interview and article in Pots Magazine, Taipei, Taiwan, December 7. 2001.