Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer, whose short stories illustrate the theme that finding the balance between heritage and culture is not always easy. This is seen through Amy Tan's own life experience and through some of the many short stories she has written, for example "Two Kinds", "Rice Husband" and "A Pair of Tickets". In the following short stories, the daughter becomes everything the mother wished for, but in the meantime, the daughter becomes more American and loses her Chinese values. As a result, mother and daughter have difficulty communicating (Rozakis 13). Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California in 1951. Amy Tan's name in Chinese is An-mei, meaning "blessing of America" ​​(Huntley 1). Amy was the middle child of John and Daisy, who arrived in America in 1944 and spoke Mandarin (Ho 40). They were also first-generation Chinese Americans and married in the United States. Tan has two older brothers, Peter and John, named after his father. His father, John was an electrical engineer, trained in Beijing (Ho 40). When he arrived in America, he was offered a place to study at Stanford, but declined in order to become a minister. Amy's mother, Daisy, had previously been married, but she decided to leave the marriage because it had become abusive. The price of leaving her first marriage was also having to leave behind three children (Ho 40). As Huntley says, the unusual background of Tan's parents would later provide material for his novels (1). Tan describes his childhood as lonely and isolated. His early childhood also involved many moves, from house to house (Ho 40). She had the classic minority experience (Huntley 2). At school, she was usually the only Chinese student in her...... middle of paper...... impacted millions of women around the world. Tan's works not only attracted the attention of Chinese women, but also women of all kinds of cultural backgrounds, and also helped them reconnect with their heritage. Works CitedBloom, Harold and Stephen Mouse. Amy Tan. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Print. Pages: 1, 2, 66, 70Ho, Wendy. In Her Mother's House: The Politics of Asian American Mother-Daughter Writing. Walnut Creek: AltaMira, 1999. Print. Pages: 22,23,40,49Huntley, ED Amy Tan: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print. Pages: 1, 2, 41, 42Rozakis, Laurie Neu., Garey Carey and James L. Roberts. The Joy Luck Club: Notes...Lincoln, Neb. : Cliffs Notes, 1994. 1999. Web. March 21, 2014. Pages: 12, 13, 45Yuan, Yuan. Ideas of Home: Literature on Asian Migration. Ed. Geoffrey Kain. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1997. Print. Pages: 158,162