Chinese Cinderella

Adeline travels to Hong Kong by ship with Aunt Reine, Uncle Jean, and their two children, Victor and Claudine. On the cruise ship, Adeline is treated as an equal among the children; the family draws names from a bag to determine who will sleep on a lowly cot when Adeline assumes that she will have to sleep there by default. She becomes very friendly with Victor and Claudine and wishes that the Schillings would adopt her. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Adeline is afraid that Niang will throw her out, but to her relief, she is largely ignored by her stepmother.

Ye Ye hurries to put Adeline’s things in his room while Niang is in an amenable mood, and he and Adeline reconnect. Every day, while the family goes on outings with the Schillings (going out of their way to exclude Adeline), Ye Ye makes excuses to stay home and spend time with her. In one of their most meaningful conversations, Ye Ye encourages Adeline not to lose sight of the beauty of the Chinese language after so many years of studying in Eurocentric Catholic schools. At the end of the week, after witnessing Adeline’s exclusion, Victor protests that she should come on a family trip to the beach.