Editing Min Tzo (section)

===<u>Background:</u>===

Min Tzo was born into a Chinese, immigrant family in New Venice.  She grew up with her older brother, [[Jun Tzo]] by the waterside, in the Chinese District.  Jun Tzo was in many ways perceived by their parents to be a failure, "clinging to their Chinese past" while her parents only seemed to want to "be American".  They were "poor in China" and New Venice offered them "new lives".  As a result of Jun's perceived delinquency, Min was kept on a short leash.  She earned good marks in all her classes under the watchful eyes of her parents, and excelled as an artist.  She showed profound talent in playing mandolin and painting with watercolor, both of which she viewed as "small escapes".  

Min had one childhood friend who was especially dear, Benson Reed, who she met in a library, check-out line.  Her parents allowed them to spend time together, never perceiving Benson as a threat.  Often they would spend hours alone saying nothing; just reading, gardening, or painting in each others' company.  Eventually they would study Tai Chi together at Jun's, Dynasty Dojo. 

On her eighteenth birthday, Min was married, under the strong advances of her ambitious father, to [[Oliver Walden]], a promising young bureaucrat, for whom she suspected she had been groomed for years.  She now lives a life of privilege in Uptown, New Venice, with a caring, successful husband.  She stopped playing mandolin the day she left the Chinese District.  Her paintings, much sought after, are sometimes criticized as being sad and nostalgic.   

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