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Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
 
 
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Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter [Mass Market Paperback]

Adeline Yen Mah (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)

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Chinese Cinderella is the perfect title for Adeline Yen Mah's compelling autobiography in which, like the fairy-tale maiden, her childhood was ruled by a cruel stepmother. "Fifth Younger Sister" or "Wu Mei," as Yen Mah was called, is only an infant when her father remarries after her mother's death. As the youngest of her five siblings, Wu Mei suffers the worst at the hands of her stepmother Niang. She is denied carfare, frequently forgotten at school at the end of the day, and whipped for daring to attend a classmate's birthday party against Niang's wishes. Her father even forgets the spelling of her name when filling out her school enrollment record. In her loneliness, Wu Mei turns to books for company: "I was alone with my beloved books. What bliss! To be left in peace with Cordelia, Regan, Gonoril, and Lear himself--characters more real than my family... What happiness! What comfort!" Even though Wu Mei is repeatedly moved up to grades above those of her peers, it is only when she wins an international play-writing contest in high school that her father finally takes notice and grants her wish to attend college in England. Despite her parent's heartbreaking neglect, she eventually becomes a doctor and realizes her dream of being a writer.

Teens, with their passionate convictions and strong sense of fair play, will be immediately enveloped in the gross injustice of Adeline Yen Mah's story. A complete glossary, historical notes on the state of Chinese society and politics during Yen Mah's childhood, and the legend of the original Chinese Cinderella round out this stirring testimony to the strength of human character and the power of education. (Ages 10 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Mah revisits the territory she covered in her adult bestseller, Falling Leaves, for this painful and poignant memoir aimed at younger readers. Blamed for the loss of her mother, who died shortly after giving birth to her, Mah is an outcast in her own family. When her father remarries and moves the family to Shanghai to evade the Japanese during WWII, Mah and her siblings are relegated to second-class status by their stepmother. They are given attic rooms in their big Shanghai home, they have nothing to wear but school uniforms, and they subsist on a bare-bones diet while their stepmother's children dine sumptuously. Mah finds escape from this emotionally barren landscape at school, but the academic awards she wins only enrage her jealous siblings and stepmother, and she is eventually torn from her auntAher one championAand shipped off to boarding school. That Mah eventually soars above her circumstances is proof of her strength of character. 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. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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As soon as I got home from school, Aunt Baba noticed the silver medal dangling from the left breast pocket of my uniform. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

129 Reviews
5 star:
 (89)
4 star:
 (33)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (129 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars You must read this book !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Oct 25 2004
This review is from: Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)
If you are a kind of person how likes to read books that are depressing or you love to read on rainy days well this book is for you Yen Mah is a good author .If you love this book just as much as I have you should read other books made by Yen Mah.. Like Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society, Falling Leaves, A Thousand Piece of Gold, Watching the Tree.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A biography that everyone should read- Chinese Cinderela, Feb 16 2004
By 
Angela Liaw (Taipei, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)
Chinese Cinderella is a book that everyone should read because itï¿s very touching and once you start reading, it grabs your full attention and youï¿ll just go on and on reading and donï¿t want to stop. While reading this novel, it makes you feel like you are right there at the setting, youï¿re part of the story and you can see what is going on, the whole story just grabs you into the story. Chinese Cinderella is a biography that will make you cry, it is so good that I recommend it to you all.
Chinese Cinderella is a non-fiction, true story of an unwanted daughter by Adeline Yen Mah, a biography of Adeline Yen Mah. Itï¿s about her life as a child to an adult and all the heart-breaking and awful things she has been through.
Adeline Yen Mahï¿s mother died after giving birth to her and so Adelineï¿s family then considered her as bad luck. After the death of Adelineï¿s mother, Adelineï¿s father then got remarried and life got worse for Adeline. Adeline has six siblings, a big sister and three younger brothers whom Adelineï¿s mother gave birth to and after Adelineï¿s father got remarried, her stepmother gave birth to one boy and one girl. Adelineï¿s stepmother treated Adeline and her true siblings really cruelly where as Adelineï¿s half brother and half sister which the stepmother gave birth to, were thoroughly spoiled.
In this biography, Adeline has a pet duck, which is the only thing that Adeline really cares about in the whole entire world. However, he beloved duckling gets killed just because her father wanted to test the obedience of the dog.
Adeline is a smart girl, she earns prizes from school and tops a her classmates and wins class awards. However these things arenï¿t what she really wants, what she really wants is the understanding of her family.
Once again I recommend this biography to you, it is the best biography that Iï¿ve read so far. Also, when you start reading this biography, remember to have a handkerchief or a box of tissue with you, because it is very touching and sad that it makes you cry.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The coolest book, Oct 26 2004
This review is from: Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)
This book moved me I cried and laughed it's the kind of book you should read on a rainy day it made me look at my life and not to take for grant of what I have and not to be selfish and to be polite.
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