Author of her autobiography and memoir Karen Zhang had her book signing event on 12^th of January, 2020 from 1 to 3 PM at Barnes & Noble, Westgate Plaza Store, Manassas Virginia. It was shared on her own website.

Golden Orchid: The True Story of an Only Child in Contemporary China is the story of the author’s life in contemporary China of the 1980s’ when China had imposed its famous yet controversial one-child policy in order to tackle the burgeoning problem of its rapidly growing population at the time. The traditional Han Chinese who represented the majority in the country were allowed to only have one child per couple.

The author presents some serious reflection from her past and asks the readers to implore questions like: growing up alone without the love and support of a sibling, how does the only child bear the filial responsibility so deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture? How does one deal with the dilemma of keeping secret from her mother the terminal nature of her cancer? How does her mother’s deathbed account of her life change the daughter’s understanding of her parents’ generation?     

Her true life story is unique both in its depiction of ordinary life in today’s China and in its universal picture of an ordinary family dealing with its past and facing its grim future.

Karen Zhang was born in Guangzhou province of China. She is a freelance writer, a columnist, translator, and a blogger. Her work has appeared in many publications such as Crazy English Speaker, Crazy English Teens magazines, The Coal Hill Review, The Loyalhanna Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and others. She did a Masters in Fine Arts in non-fiction from the Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She now lives in northern Virginia, USA.