Chinese Cinderella By Adeline Yen Mah
Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah. The secret story of an unwanted daughter.
The story, set in 1941, during the time of the civil war between colonists and nationalists has all the constituents needed to make a good Cinderella story; a girl suffering with inequality within her family, a dead mother, horrid stepmother, careless father & hateful siblings. By now you would have had enough of all the different alterations of the classic Cinderella story, from the jealous siblings to the lost shoe and a happy ending. However what makes this book so matchless and one of my favourite reads is the fact that this isn’t just a made up fairy tale. Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah (Yen Jun-ling) is a memorable even emotional autobiography of …show more content…
how she, from merely two weeks after her birth, was emotionally abused and alienated by her father, siblings and worst of all by her step mother after her mother dies due to birth complications in addition to a fever. Adeline grows learning that she was the cause of her mother’s death, an extremely large burden for such a little girl to carry on her own.
“It all stems from our mama dying when you were born. Big Sister and out two older brothers knew her better than I did, I only remember her a little. Things were much nicer when she was alive. You made her go away.” – Third Brother.
With her father remarrying at Adeline’s age of 1 to a 17 year old ‘Eurasian Beauty’ Niang, is a whole other component to her already unlucky life.
Adeline (5th sister) and her four older siblings wore out-dated clothes, sported traditional hairstyles and ate cheap food. All the while Niang’s two new additions to the family (Fourth Brother and Little Sister) were always wearing the latest western outfits and treated with endless luxuries. The original five were treated so unfairly according to Niang’s wishes, they were not even permitted any tram fares whatsoever, as they endured their long walks to school even on the rainiest of days. No one ever said anything about inequality, no one dared to challenge Niang’s …show more content…
authority.
Regardless of the daily ridicule she received, Adeline continues to maintain her high academic results hoping desperately to one day please her father. School was something she eagerly anticipated, a safe haven where she was praised and loved by all her peers; This was one thing she most desperately tried to keep separate from home, two completely different worlds.
“I couldn’t possibly tell anyone the truth: how I was held responsible for any misfortune and was resented for simply being around, how my mind was racked with anxiety and constantly burdened by an impending sense of doom.”
Her schooling successes were only ever acknowledged by her Aunt Baba whom was also unwelcome in the Yen family.
Her tender heart and daily encouragement provided Adeline her only refuge.
Adeline has cleverly managed to intertwine the culture of China and brief snapshots of history into her story. It is quite easy to pick out that Chinese Cinderella has been aimed at an 11 year old audience when noting the history has been slightly simplified, nevertheless I think this very much supports the story’s background and little Adeline’s knowledge and perspective.
Her carefully chosen language brings you to feel the abandonment she felt and cry the tears she cried the night she lost her Precious Little Treasure.
Adeline has in fact told this story before in her best-selling story Falling Leaves which is a more in depth story of her childhood and
inheritance.
Chinese Cinderella is dedicated to the rejected and unloved children of the world, that within every one lies something so precious, so unique, in spite of what your abusers had you believe. Adeline encourages each and every one of us to ‘Transcend your traumas & transform them into a source of courage, creativity and passion.’ My hat goes off to Adeline whom was able to unsnarl her deepest most fragile memories of her past and share them to the rest of the world.
“ One single positive dream is more important than a thousand realities. ”
The story, set in 1941, during the time of the civil war between colonists and nationalists has all the constituents needed to make a good Cinderella story; a girl suffering with inequality within her family, a dead mother, horrid stepmother, careless father & hateful siblings. By now you would have had enough of all the different alterations of the classic Cinderella story, from the jealous siblings to the lost shoe and a happy ending. However what makes this book so matchless and one of my favourite reads is the fact that this isn’t just a made up fairy tale. Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah (Yen Jun-ling) is a memorable even emotional autobiography of …show more content…
how she, from merely two weeks after her birth, was emotionally abused and alienated by her father, siblings and worst of all by her step mother after her mother dies due to birth complications in addition to a fever. Adeline grows learning that she was the cause of her mother’s death, an extremely large burden for such a little girl to carry on her own.
“It all stems from our mama dying when you were born. Big Sister and out two older brothers knew her better than I did, I only remember her a little. Things were much nicer when she was alive. You made her go away.” – Third Brother.
With her father remarrying at Adeline’s age of 1 to a 17 year old ‘Eurasian Beauty’ Niang, is a whole other component to her already unlucky life.
Adeline (5th sister) and her four older siblings wore out-dated clothes, sported traditional hairstyles and ate cheap food. All the while Niang’s two new additions to the family (Fourth Brother and Little Sister) were always wearing the latest western outfits and treated with endless luxuries. The original five were treated so unfairly according to Niang’s wishes, they were not even permitted any tram fares whatsoever, as they endured their long walks to school even on the rainiest of days. No one ever said anything about inequality, no one dared to challenge Niang’s …show more content…
authority.
Regardless of the daily ridicule she received, Adeline continues to maintain her high academic results hoping desperately to one day please her father. School was something she eagerly anticipated, a safe haven where she was praised and loved by all her peers; This was one thing she most desperately tried to keep separate from home, two completely different worlds.
“I couldn’t possibly tell anyone the truth: how I was held responsible for any misfortune and was resented for simply being around, how my mind was racked with anxiety and constantly burdened by an impending sense of doom.”
Her schooling successes were only ever acknowledged by her Aunt Baba whom was also unwelcome in the Yen family.
Her tender heart and daily encouragement provided Adeline her only refuge.
Adeline has cleverly managed to intertwine the culture of China and brief snapshots of history into her story. It is quite easy to pick out that Chinese Cinderella has been aimed at an 11 year old audience when noting the history has been slightly simplified, nevertheless I think this very much supports the story’s background and little Adeline’s knowledge and perspective.
Her carefully chosen language brings you to feel the abandonment she felt and cry the tears she cried the night she lost her Precious Little Treasure.
Adeline has in fact told this story before in her best-selling story Falling Leaves which is a more in depth story of her childhood and
inheritance.
Chinese Cinderella is dedicated to the rejected and unloved children of the world, that within every one lies something so precious, so unique, in spite of what your abusers had you believe. Adeline encourages each and every one of us to ‘Transcend your traumas & transform them into a source of courage, creativity and passion.’ My hat goes off to Adeline whom was able to unsnarl her deepest most fragile memories of her past and share them to the rest of the world.
“ One single positive dream is more important than a thousand realities. ”