Chinese Cinderella

    Before I began reading this book, I had been recommended to read it by others and I actually gave it a try before; but, I gave up reading it soon because it didn’t catch my full attention. Recently, my library teacher has recommended this book and I just decided to read it again doubtfully. I would regret someday for sure if I didn’t try to read the story again to finish it. Here is the story that made me almost cry and thank my mother for being alive. There was a Chinese girl named Jun-Ling Yen; two words are enough to describe her and her life at the same time: “Unwanted Child.” Because her mother died when she gave birth to her, she was treated as a “bad luck” at home. There was no one who stood by her side or looked after her except Aunt Baba and her grandpa, Ye-Ye. As time passed, her stepmother, Niang discriminated between her biological children and stepchildren in public and there was no one who could stop her, even her father. Of course, the worst victim was Jun-Ling; she was mistreated both physically and mentally by Niang and her siblings day after day. Under her family’s cold treatment, she mistreated herself as “unworthy person” and it was getting worse. Whenever she had hard time, her aunt Baba and grandfather Ye-Ye encouraged her to have hope for her future as treating her special. With their support, she devoted herself to studying harder and harder; she devoted her time to reading books as much as she could in order to escape from the real world at the same time. As she grew up, her desire to continue her education and become an independent person grew up as well. However, it was really difficult to achieve her dream just because she was a girl. In China, people value a boy more than a girl and it was much worse back then, around 1950s. Like a miracle, an opportunity to show her father her possibility was given one day. Could she prove her ability to her father who didn’t have any interest in her? Could she get an opportunity to have a better life other than just remain as “unwanted child” or “unworthy person”? I strongly recommend people who think that the world is so tough for them and want to give up without a try and people who don’t realize how lucky they are. I hope you learn something from her story like I did.