ABOUT

Empty Bamboo Girl features ah-Lin and a crazy cast of characters -- mainly, her family. Being brought up in a family entrenched in the Mother Land values and beliefs has been the challenge for ah-Lin, who was born and raised in Boston, MA.

The term 'empty bamboo' is the English translation of jook-sing (竹升) -- "a Cantonese term used to describe an Overseas Chinese person who has grown up in a Western environment, such that he or she cannot speak, read or write a Chinese dialect...The implication is that a person is Chinese outside, hollow inside." For a more in depth explanation, go here.

Here I am with my unamused sidekick, Punk

The comic was created in 2007 by Lillian Chan who felt that there was a particular point of view missing from the comic art genre. Drawing and writing the comic has been a labor of love.

Comic artists and graphic novel artists that inspire her include: Adrian Tomine, Aaron McGruber of The Boondocks, Darby Conley of Get Fuzzy, Marjane Satrapi of Persepolis, Bill Amend of Fox Trot, Phil Cho of Skinny Panda, Tak Toyashima of Secret Asian Man, Tony Carrillo of F Minus, and The Oatmeal Comics.

By day she's the design director at Mimoco, Inc. creating cool characters and other design awesomeness; and, during what free time she has left, she's a lion dancer for Gund Kwok. Oh yeah, she's also training for another half marathon!

Empty Bamboo Girl is published in the Sampan Newspaper, New England's Only Chinese-English Newspaper in Boston, MA and has been going on strong since 2007. Please support the comic by spreading the word -- thanks for stopping by!