I imagine that WaiВ SueвЂ™s experiences of war provided her with a reservoir of strength and courage that could have inspired a novelist like Sheridan to create Lily Wu. Plus, reading about WaiВ SueвЂ™s early married life in China during the Sino-JapaneseВ War reminds me a little of Inn of the Sixth Happinesswith Wai Sue taking the place of Ingmar Bergman, leading children to safety during the Japanese invasion of the country.ДЄ group of refugees on the move (courtesy of Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library) So what about WaiВ Sue Chun? Could she have been one of the inspirations for Lily Wu? Although her daughter Juana and her sister WaiВ CheeВ donвЂ™t think so (they had never heard of either Juanita Sheridan or Lily Wu), I still think the circumstantial evidence is strongly in WaiВ SueвЂ™s favor. ItвЂ™s just that they havenвЂ™t been talked about enough, written about enough, or had enough movies made about them for people like me to be aware of them. Now I realize that there were Chinese heroines aplenty back then. Although my documentary is focussed on one woman in particular - Li Ling-Ai, the ground-breaking exploits of other courageous Chinese women from the period have slowly begun to populate my consciousness. That there were sophisticated, modern, gutsy Chinese American women out there in the 1930вЂ™s and 40вЂ™s that were worthy of lead-character status in mystery novels was a revelation provided to me by reading Juanita SheridanвЂ™s Lily Wu series. As my mind gets muddled with soundbites and competing shots and scenes, itвЂ™s helpful to remind myself what drew me into the story to begin with - the search for a missing Chinese American heroine. I am currently struggling to edit a fundraising trailer for my new documentary FINDING KUKAN.

Maui revealed hoopla