Chinese Cinderella

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Chinese Cinderella is an novel written by Asian author Adeline Yen Mah which describes her experiences growing up in China during the Second World War. It was published in 1999.

[edit] Plot

Although Adeline's family is lucky and rich, she is considered to be bad luck because her mother died two weeks after giving birth to her. As a result, she is neglected by her father, Joseph Yen, a successful businessman. When her father remarries, her Eurasian stepmother, Jeanne Prosperi (whom the children called her "Niang", a Chinese term for mother), treats her and her siblings coldly while spoiling her children from her first marriage. (Adeline's step brother and sister)

Prosperi was described as a stunningly beautiful woman, who had a Chinese mother and a French father. To show this, she wore beautiful and expensive jewelry and clothing made in France. She is depicted as a cruel and manipulative woman. She married Joseph Yen, Adeline's father, when she was 17 years old. In marrying him, she also gained five Chinese stepchildren. She gave each of them (including Adeline) their English names. Later in the marriage, she had two children of her own: Franklin and Susan. Franklin was to later die in young adulthood and Susan was later disowned.

Adeline struggles to get her father's attention and affection. She comes top of her class every week, bringing home a badge or a certificate. It works but it also makes her siblings turn on her as she starts getting most of the very little attention that her father gave to the children from his first marriage. She is sent to many boarding schools around China, but she is never visited by her parent. Her only solace is her Aunt Baba and her grandfather Ye Ye, but unfortunately they are taken away from her.

Eventually sent to live at a boarding school in Hong Kong, she gained her father's acknowledgement when she won a prestigious writing competition. Her father agreed to send to her to England with her brother James to study at university. Adeline obtained her medical degree there and later returned to Hong Kong to practice medicine.