Editing Amy Tan (section)

==Early life and education==
Amy was born in [[Oakland, California]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amy Tan |url=https://www.neh.gov/award/amy-tan |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The National Endowment for the Humanities |language=en}}</ref> She is the second of three children born to [[Chinese immigrants]] John and Daisy Tan. Her father was an [[electrical engineer]] and [[Baptist]] minister who traveled to the [[United States]], in order to escape the chaos of the [[Chinese Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news | url = http://articles.nydailynews.com/2001-02-27/entertainment/18179778_1_amy-tan-daisy-tan-joy-luck-club | title = Mother As Tormented Muse Amy Tan Drew On A Dark Past For 'Daughter' | author = Sherryl Connelly | date = February 27, 2001 | website = nydailynews.com | publisher = [[New York Daily News]] | access-date = 15 December 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110314065627/http://articles.nydailynews.com/2001-02-27/entertainment/18179778_1_amy-tan-daisy-tan-joy-luck-club | archive-date = 2011-03-14}}</ref><ref name=achieve/> John Tan was pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of Fresno, California when Amy was born.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.fcbcfresno.org/about/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=FCBC Fresno |language=en-US}}</ref> She recounts that her father and she would read the thesaurus together, since “he was very interested in what a word contains.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amy Tan |url=https://www.neh.gov/award/amy-tan |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The National Endowment for the Humanities |language=en}}</ref> This was the beginning of her path to becoming a writer, as she wanted to use words to create stories to make herself feel understood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amy Tan |url=https://www.neh.gov/award/amy-tan |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The National Endowment for the Humanities |language=en}}</ref> Amy attended [[Marian A. Peterson High School]] in [[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]], for a year. When she was fifteen, her father and older brother, Peter, both died of [[brain tumor]]s within six months of each other.<ref name="Huntley1998">{{Cite book|title = Amy Tan: A Critical Companion|last = Huntley|first = E.D.|publisher = Greenwood Press|year = 1998|isbn = 0313302073|location = Westport, Conn.|pages = [https://archive.org/details/amytancriticalco00hunt/page/n22 5]–7|url = https://archive.org/details/amytancriticalco00hunt|url-access = registration}}</ref>
	
Her mother Daisy subsequently moved Amy and her younger brother, John Jr, to Switzerland, where Amy finished high school at the [[Institut Monte Rosa]], [[Montreux]].<ref>"The Archives of my Personality", address to the American Association of Museums General Session (Los Angeles), May 26, 2010</ref> During this period, Amy learned about her mother's previous marriage to another man in [[China]], of their four children (a son who died as a toddler and three daughters). She also learned how her mother left those children in [[Shanghai]]. This incident was a key part of the basis for Amy's first novel, ''[[The Joy Luck Club (novel)|The Joy Luck Club]]''.<ref name=achieve>{{cite web|title= Amy Tan Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/#interview}}</ref> In 1987, Amy traveled with Daisy to China, where she met her three half-sisters.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/joy_luck_club.html | title = Penguin Reading Guides - The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan | access-date = August 7, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100724064451/http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/joy_luck_club.html | archive-date = July 24, 2010 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Amy had a difficult relationship with her mother. At one point, Daisy held a knife to Amy's throat and threatened to kill her while the two were arguing over Amy's new boyfriend. Her mother wanted Amy to be independent, stressing that Amy needed to make sure she was self-sufficient. Amy later found out that her mother had three abortions, while in China. Daisy often threatened to kill herself, saying that she wanted to join her mother (Amy's grandmother, who died by suicide).<ref name="NPR.org">{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/10/17/558295524/-i-am-full-of-contradictions-novelist-amy-tan-on-fate-and-family|title='I Am Full Of Contradictions': Novelist Amy Tan On Fate And Family|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-04-23|language=en}}</ref> She attempted suicide but never succeeded.<ref name="NPR.org"/> Daisy died in 1999<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krug |first=Nora |date=2017-10-11 |title=Amy Tan talks about her new memoir, politics and why she's not always 'joy lucky' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/amy-tan-still-joy-lucky-after-all-these-years/2017/10/10/a2bbb788-a573-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html |access-date=2018-04-23 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> at the age of 83; she had [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=2024-01-10 |title=Daisy Tan Dies at 83 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/11/26/daisy-tan-dies-at-83/f9e7457f-f94c-47db-88b8-d3711451ca33/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Amy and her mother did not speak for six months, after Amy dropped out of the Baptist college her mother had selected for her, [[Linfield College]] in Oregon, to follow her boyfriend to [[San Jose City College]] in California.<ref name=achieve/><ref name=kinsella/><ref name=tauber/> Amy met him on a [[blind date]], and she married him in 1974.<ref name=Huntley1998 /><ref name=kinsella>{{cite news |last= Kinsella |first= Bridget |date= August 9, 2013 |title= 'Fifty Shades of Tan': Amy Tan |url= http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/58667-fifty-shades-of-tan-amy-tan.html |newspaper= Publishers Weekly |access-date= October 11, 2014}}</ref><ref name=tauber>{{cite news |last= Tauber |first= Michelle |date= November 3, 2003 |title= A New Ending |url= http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20148516,00.html |newspaper= People Magazine |access-date= 11 October 2014}}</ref> Amy, later, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English and linguistics from [[San Jose State University|San José State University]]. She took doctoral courses in linguistics at [[University of California, Santa Cruz]] and [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1 |title=Amy Tan Biography |access-date=July 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702234118/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1 |archive-date=July 2, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>