Chinese Cinderella
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chinese Cinderella | |
 1999 Puffin edition |
|
| Author | Adeline Yeh Mah |
|---|---|
| Country | China |
| Language | English and Chinese |
| Series | Falling Leaves |
| Genre(s) | autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Delacourte Press |
| Published in English |
1999 |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 233 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0385227072 |
| Followed by | Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society |
Chinese Cinderella is a novel written by author Adeline Yen Mah which describes her experiences growing up in China during the Second World War. It was published in 1999 and is a revised version of part of her autobiography, Falling Leaves.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The story takes place in China during the Second World War. Adeline Yeh Mah, Yen Jun-ling in Chinese, is born into a rich and powerful family of Tianjin. The death of her mother after two weeks from giving birth to her leads her family to think that she is a source of bad luck. For this reason, she is treated badly and is neglected by her father and her four siblings, big sister Lydia (Jun-Pei) and three brothers, Gregory, Edgar and James. Her father later remarries a 17 year old Eurasian beauty, Jeanne Prosperi, 14 years his junior, who has a French father and Chinese mother. The five children by the first wife are asked to call her ’Niang’ (meaning 'mother'). One year after marriage, Niang gives birth to a son, Franklin, followed by a daughter, Susan. This divides the Yen family into two different classes. Adeline's father, aunt and grandparents, and of course, Niang and her two children, are the first class; Adeline and her four siblings, the children of the first wife, eventually become the second class. Things become worse when Adeline’s grandmother dies, because Niang becomes the mistress of the family. Life turns terrible for the five children, although their grandfather and aunt try to help them.
Adeline always struggles for her father’s attention, and the only way that Adeline knows is to study hard and get good grades. She manages to be the top of her class and this works: her father does praise her for her hard work. But this also causes her siblings to be jealous (because she is the only one who gets the very little attention her father gives) and pick on her even more often. Due to the war, the Yen family go to Shanghai. For some incident, Adeline provokes Niang and as a payback for her ‘arrogance’, she sends Adeline to boarding schools all over China to separate her from her beloved aunt and grandfather. One of the schools is in Tianjin, Adeline’s hometown, where the war has begun and everybody is trying to run away. Fortunately, she is soon ‘rescued’ by her aunt to Hong Kong, where her family is. Niang is very scornful towards Adeline, making her feel isolated all the time. The children from Joseph's first marriage are known as the 'others' or 'all of you'. One time Adeline and her siblings try to complain to their father about Niang's cruelty by writing a letter in Chinese characters. Their attempt fails when Niang eavesdrops on their plot and bribes Lydia to join the upper class. (Lydia, her big sister, has the neatest, "adult" character strokes, hence their plan fails without her.)
In the boarding school of Hong Kong, Adeline, at the age of 14, becomes a first prize winner in an international writing competition. Adeline’s father learns of it when his business partner asks if he is related to Adeline, the winner, for the reason that both of them have the surname ’yeh’(yen), which is not very common. Adeline’s father is proud of her, acknowledges her talents and believes that she has the potential to study just as her three brothers. He eventually allows Adeline’s request to study in England and plans to enroll her in medical school. Even though it is not literature as Adeline wanted, she is still delighted. She never thought that her father would send her overseas to continue her studies instead of forcing her into an arranged marriage, just like her big sister. Adeline was grateful and for this moment, she is just like the Cinderella in the stories who has hardships earlier but eventually has a ‘good ending’.
[edit] Critical Reception
Chinese Cinderella has been reviewed by Publishers Weekly thus: "...The author recreates moments of cruelty and victory so convincingly that readers will feel almost as if they're in the room with her. She never veers from a child's sensibility; the child in these pages rarely judges the actions of those around her, she's simply bent on surviving. Mah easily weaves details of her family's life alongside the traditions of China (e.g., her grandmother's bound feet) and the changes throughout the war years and subsequent Communist takeover. This memoir is hard to put down..."
[edit] Radio adaptation
In 2006 the book was adapted for BBC Radio 7. It was produced in ten episodes. The adaptation was done by Ivan Jones and broadcast on the The Big Toe Radio Show.
