A Willow Tree Becomes a Forest

“A Willow Tree Becomes a Willow Forest” is a work of narrative nonfiction set in the Pacific Northwest from 1877 through 1925. It is a story of the American West with a twist and provides a new narrative for those interested in historical works.

Set in Oregon in the 1800s, the protagonist is a teenage Chinese boy who came to America in 1877 armed with a brush, a blank journal, a fortune teller’s scroll that foretold his life’s journey, and a burning desire to become American. Nineteen-year-old Low Sun Fook, aka Hop Lee, arrives in Oregon in 1877 to begin a journey that covers five decades in his adopted country. Along the way, he acquired and cultivated good friendships with Salem publishers, bank presidents, politicians, and hop farmers.

Using source documents, including a 150-year-old fortune teller scroll, Hop Lee’s hand-written journal, and a box of 100-year-old photographs, the story of this Chinese American pioneer turned businessman comes to life on the book’s pages.

We watch him grow from arrival in Albany, Oregon’s Chinatown, through a disastrous stint as a cook for a railroad gang run out of camp for burning the rice, through his days learning his ticket to the American dream as a Chinese laundryman. Along the way, the ever-ambitious and enterprising Hop Lee runs headlong into Anti-Chinse racism with the Chinese Exclusion Act and the massacre of Chinese miners at Deep Creek in Eastern Oregon. Hop befriends a young Nez Perce warrior in the last adventure by disguising him as a Cantonese. Yellow Fox and Hop have a friendship that transcends cultures and spans decades.

Discovering the 1903 Hong family photograph among the belongings of 100-year-old great Uncle Kim sparked a decades-long search for the stories behind the photograph. These are the stories presented in Three Coins. In his searches, Russell came across a 130-year-old newspaper notice titled “Villainous-looking Chinese after a Chinese Girl.” In the article, he recognized his great-grandparents’ names, but the romantic drama it uncovered shook the core of his family’s belief in who they are and how they came to be Americans. Russell frequently lectures on Chinese-American history, and his family’s story has been featured on the History Channel, National Public Radio, the Voice of America, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Hop’s laundry business in Salem, Oregon, is squarely in the crosshairs of the White laundry owners who started a campaign called Bust the Trust to drive the Chinese out of the dirty clothes business.

Realizing the need to diversify their portfolios, Hop Lee and fellow immigrant merchant George Sun learn the art of hop farming in the fertile Willamette Valley. They participate in the Northwest’s Rise of the Chinese Hop Men, a nearly forgotten chapter in our history. In their haste, they run into the Women’s Temperance Union and Prohibition, depressing the price of hops.

After almost three decades as a bachelor in America, Hop decides to try to find an American-born Chinese wife, a tall order in a country where there are 20 Chinese men for every woman. So, Hop takes the train to San Francisco and uses a matchmaker to find the rare jewel – the American-born Chinese girl. What happens next is the journey and the tale of how this single Willow Tree became a Willow Forrest.

While seeking his elusive dream of citizenship, Hop Lee was, in his heart, a true American who believed in the spirit and possibilities of his adopted country. His story embodies the tale of the bold, bright, determined immigrants who proudly built America with their sweat, imagination, and ingenuity. Those who stayed created the ripples that gave us life as individuals and as a nation of nations.

Russell Low is a physician with a passion for discovery and storytelling. His discoveries in the medical field have changed the way that his colleagues worldwide practice medicine and image disease. Discovery of his own roots began 30 years ago through the stories of his parents and their siblings. Growing up in Central California, more American than Chinese, his connection to Chinese culture and history was limited and incomplete.

Russell Low's most recent novel "The All-American Crew" explores how Ah Ying's "Three Coins" created ripples that led to her grandsons' heroic exploits as part of the "Greatest Generation" during World War II. Celebrating American diversity and ideals of honor, bravery, and freedom, The All-American Crew is a magnificent true story of men at war.

Discovering the 1903 Hong family photograph among the belongings of 100-year-old great Uncle Kim sparked a decades-long search for the stories behind the photograph. These are the stories presented in Three Coins. In his searches, Russell came across a 130-year-old newspaper notice titled “Villainous-looking Chinese after a Chinese Girl.” In the article, he recognized his great-grandparents’ names, but the romantic drama it uncovered shook the core of his family’s belief in who they are and how they came to be Americans. Russell frequently lectures on Chinese-American history, and his family’s story has been featured on the History Channel, National Public Radio, the Voice of America, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Russell lives with his wife Carolyn Hesse-Low, an avid and well-known plein air artist, in La Jolla, California where they raised their two sons Ryan and Robert.