i. Title
Chinese Cinderella
ii. Author
Adeline Yen Mah – Yen Jun-ling
iii. Characters
Yen Jun-ling/Adeline/Wu Mei (Fifth Daughter) – the main character. She was an unwanted child because she was considered bad luck because she was told to be the cause of her mother’s death
Aunt Baba – Jun-ling’s loving aunt. She’s one of the few ones who takes Jun-ling’s side in the family, is also Jun-ling’s mother’s best friend.
Ye Ye – Jun-ling’s grandfather; her father’s father. He is always siding the first children.
Nai Nai – Jun-ling’s grandmother; her father’s mother. She is the authority in the house.
Niang (Mother) – Jun-ling’s stepmother, is a French woman; married Jun-ling’s father one year after his wife died. She takes over after Nai Nai died.
Father – Jun-ling’s father; married Niang one year after his wife died; Ye Ye and Nai Nai’s only son.
Big Sister/Lydia – the eldest daughter; takes Niang’s side as the story continues. Married at the age of 17.
Big Brother/Gregory – the eldest son, next to Big Sister. Goes to England with Second brother for college.
Second Brother/Edgar – born after Big Brother. Goes to England with Big Brother for college.
Third Brother/James – born after second brother and before Jun-ling. Is the only sibling Jun-ling is close to.
Fourth Younger Brother/Franklin – Jun-ling’s younger stepbrother and is Niang’s little darling. He is treated especially by their father and he loves to see Ye Ye really… really… pissed off and angry.
Little Sister/Susan – the youngest daughter
Aunt Reine – Niang’s sister; rescued Jun-ling from the St. Joseph’s
Uncle Jean – Aunt Reine’s husband
Claudine and Victor – Uncle Jean and Aunt Reine’s children, Jun-ling’s best friends
Lin Tao-tao and Wu Chun Mei – Jun-ling’s best friends at Shanghai
Mary, Elanor and Monica – Jun-ling’s schoolmates at Sacred Heart
Mother/Mama – Jun-ling’s real mother
iv. Setting
This story, Chinese Cinderella starts at Tianjin. Then, their family moves to Shanghai. After an ordinary life at Shanghai, their parents decided to return Jun-ling to Tianjin and left her there in a boarding house. Aunt Jeane decides to take Jun-ling to Hong Kong because her family, except Aunt Baba, Big Brother, Second Brother and Third Brother, had already moved there. She studies secondary school at Shanghai, and later on is given privilege, by her father, to study college at England.
v. Summary
A Chinese proverb says, “Falling leaves return to their roots.” In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to paints an authentic portrait of twentieth-century China as well as to tell the story of her courage and ultimate triumph over despair.
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