Editing Gish Jen (section)

==Early life and education==

Gish Jen is a second-generation Chinese American. Her parents emigrated from China in the 1940s; her mother was from [[Shanghai]] and her father was from [[Yixing]]. Born in [[Long Island]], New York,<ref>{{cite web | work = The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fifth Edition | editor = Lauter, Paul | title = Gish Jen (b. 1955) | url = http://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/contemporary/jen_gi.html | access-date = March 6, 2012}}</ref> she grew up in [[Queens]], then [[Yonkers, New York|Yonkers]], then [[Scarsdale, New York|Scarsdale]]. Her birth name is Lillian, but during her high school years she acquired the nickname Gish, named for actress [[Lillian Gish]].<ref name="MELUS" />

She graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1977<ref name="thecrimson.harvard.edu">Ganguli, Ishani, [http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article/2002/6/4/novelist-gish-jen-finds-literary-voice/ "Novelist Gish Jen Finds Literary Voice Outside Harvard Identity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303202659/http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article/2002/6/4/novelist-gish-jen-finds-literary-voice/ |date=March 3, 2012 }}, ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'', Tuesday, June 4, 2002</ref> with a BA in [[English major|English]],<ref>[http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/fellowships/fellows_2002gjen.aspx "2001–2002 Radcliffe Institute Fellows: Gish Jen"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814002145/http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/fellowships/fellows_2002gjen.aspx |date=August 14, 2010 }}</ref> and later attended [[Stanford Business School]] (1979–1980), but dropped out in favor of the [[University of Iowa]] [[Iowa Writers' Workshop|Writers' Workshop]], where she earned her [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] in fiction in 1983.<ref name="thecrimson.harvard.edu"/>