Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella

In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah described her painful childhood and her difficult journey to reach her ultimate triumph over despair. Her family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. When her father remarries to Niang, her half siblings are thoroughly spoiled while she and her siblings from their father's first wife are subjected to rejection. Although she excels in her schoolwork, Adeline yearns the love, support and understanding of her family. Her life journey describing the hardships she faced have been rendered in the form of a found poem. The poem connects to the events throughout her life by using significant phrases describing her hatred towards her injustices as a young girl. Adeline is from Tianjin, the third largest city in China trailing only Beijing and Shanghai in size and population. Tianjin is the major commercial port city in north China. Tianjin is located at the end of nine tributaries merging into the Haihe River which flows through the city. Tianjin is known as the "World Museum of Architecture" because of its combination of worldwide cultural influences. Adeline was taken from her hometown in Tianjin when she was five or six and moved to a new
She was the only student enrolled in the school because of the Opium War that was relocating around that area. Being the only student there for more than a year was the most lonely and depressing time of Adeline's life. She was finally rescued when Niang's sister and her two children came to the boarding school to pick her up on their way to Hong Kong where they would meet up again with Niang and the rest of the Yen family. Adeline grew to love Niang's sister and her children and for once in her life, Adeline felt like she finally had a family who loved her and understood her just as much as she loved and understood