Chinese Cinderella

Situated between the memoir’s first major crisis and its climactic one, this group of chapters marks a lull in action, serving as an essential opportunity for Adeline to self-reflect before the story’s resolution. Her years at the boarding school in Hong Kong are a time of immense character development, and she becomes increasingly reclusive and self-critical. Indirect characterization also occurs in the form of dialogue from one of Adeline’s classmates who says, “In spite of how she dresses, I think Adeline will be okay eventually. She has a sort of special spirit” (170). In her insecure state, Adeline views this conversation as humiliating, but for readers, it serves as evidence that people within the world of the book see Adeline’s resilient personality with compassion and clarity.

Aunt Reine is an unexpected hero of Chinese Cinderella. Despite being her sister, Reine is Niang’s opposite in nearly all regards but especially in her nurturing approach to motherhood. In this sense, Reine serves as Niang’s foil. Where Big Sister and PLT offered Adeline insight into abysmal futures, the Schilling family offers her a glimpse into what a supportive family life could look like. Like Adeline’s other privileged allies throughout the memoir, Reine is oblivious to the true nature of Adeline’s struggles and therefore cannot fully grasp her own positive impact. For example, it never occurs to Reine that Adeline is fearful of Niang; her refrain “They’ll be so thrilled!” is a biting piece of irony that underscores the invisibility of Adeline’s abusive home life (144).

The family’s relocation to Hong Kong is yet another byproduct of history since the peninsula city remained a British colony even after the communist revolution and could thus provide refuge for civilians fleeing the mainland. Father’s wealth makes this emigration process a relatively easy one; luxurious imagery is plentiful in Chapter 17, as the family makes the trip to drop Adeline off at her new school. At the upscale Peninsula Hotel where they have lunch, “Niang [] impatiently check[s] the time on her gold Rolex watch” (160). Her discontentment and indignation, even amidst extreme opulence, is juxtaposed with the episode directly prior, in which Adeline witnessed a young girl being trafficked outside the hotel.

One of this section’s most extensive passages is the conversation that Adeline has with Ye Ye about the importance of learning the Chinese language. After years of Eurocentric instruction by Catholic nuns, Ye Ye’s firmly asserts that “when people meet [Adeline], they’ll see a Chinese girl no matter how well [she] speak[s] English” (151). This is a healing solution to The Impact of External Culture Wars on Internal Conflict. This conversation also doubles as educational content, providing a rudimentary linguistics lesson for readers who are unfamiliar with Chinese characters. Ye Ye’s overarching argument, that the pictorial nature of Chinese script has a poetic quality not offered by Western writing systems, is evidence of cultural pride among the older generation of which younger people in the book have lost sight.