The Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

The Chinese Cinderella 

                           -  Adeline Yen Mah

Adeline Yen Mah's The Chinese Cinderella is an autobiography. It narrates the life of Adeline Yen Mah. She was born in Hongkong. She grew up in a wealthy family. She suffered rejection and abuse from her family. At the age of 14, she left Hongkong for England. 

The extract begins with Adeline playing Monopoly at the boarding school. Her father's chauffer arrives to take her home. This makes Yen feel dread. She feels fearful for going home to her family. She had a complex relationship with her family. 

Adeline was taken to her parents new home for the first time. She arrived to her new home and discovered the absence of her step-mother and her children were gone out. Adeline saw her father who was sitting at his desk reading newspaper. 

Yen mah calls his fathers room "the Holy of Holies". She is wary of her father. She sits before her father. He hands her the days newspaper. In the corner of the newspaper she is able to see her name in capital letters. It reveals that she has won first prize in an international play writing competition. She is the first Chinese student from Hongkong to win this prize. Besides a medal, she was given a cash award of fifty English pounds.

Yen Mah's father is proud of her because she has " Given him face" infront of his wealthy businessman friend. Yen Mah asks her father if she might go to England to study at University. She desires to do literature, but her father suggests her to attend medical school. He asks her to specialise in obstetrics. She could learn to deliver the woman patients babies, he tells her. She is ready to choose the subject which her father tells to pursue. She agrees to attend the medical school in England and become a doctor. She thanked him very much. 

Thus Chinese Cinderella portrays a story of resilience and unyielding spirit in the face of hardships.