Chinese Cinderella Chapter Questions

Author’s Note and Preface

1. According to the author, what is the reason “a person can learn to read and
write Chinese without knowing how to speak one word”?

2. What are the two things Mrs. Adeline Yen Mah would like the reader to gain
from Chinese Cinderella?

3. According to Adeline Yen Mah, what are the essential behaviors of a Chinese
child? (preface, xii,) there are five items.

4. Explain the many names each Chinese person has. (preface, xii-xiii)

5. Adeline Yen Mah states “Mother Teresa once said that ‘loneliness and feeling
of being unwanted are the greatest poverty’. To this I will add: ‘Please believe that
one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities.’
Think about this and EXPLAIN what she means.

Chapter 1:

1. What did the narrator receive from kindergarten? Why?

2. What affectionate term does Aunt Baba call the narrator?

3. What is Aunt Baba like?

4. What does Aunt Baba keep in her safe deposit box? Why?

5. How did Adeline’s mom die?

6. Why is Adeline bad luck?

Chapter 2:

1. How long after the children’s mother’s death was it before Father remarried?
How old was Niang at the time? How old was Father?

2. Describe Niang:

3. What does “Niang” mean in Chinese?

4. How did Adeline and Aunt Baba become closer?

 5. Explain at least three ways in which China was affected by losing the Opium
War.

Chapter 3:

1. How did the Chinese tradition of binding feet affect Nai Nai in her old age?

2. How is Adeline treated by:

Nai Nai?

Big Brother?

Big Sister?

Third Brother?

3. What two events made Adeline happy at the dinner table?

4. How did Big Sister and the siblings get back at Adeline for getting attention
from father at the dinner table?

5. How do you perceive Niang’s birth children in this story? What is the difference
between them and Adeline’s blood siblings?

Chapter 4:

1. Why is Adeline’s life at St. Joseph’s different than at home?

2. How does Big Sister treat Adeline on the way home from school?

3. What did the family do to recognise Adeline’s special award?

4. How do the people native to Tianjin feel about Japan? Why?

5. What happens to father and Niang in this chapter?

6. What was Adeline’s life like after this?

7. Describe at least 3 elements of Nai Nai’s Buddhist funeral.

8. The oldest woman is the “head of household”. Predict how Nai Nai’s death is
going to impact the family.

Chapter 5:
 1. On page 23, it says, “”There, in a first-class compartment, we came face to face
with Father, sitting by himself. He was dressed in a black suit and black tie. His eyes
were red and he had been crying.” Why do you think father was crying?

2. What are two reasons (one is specifically stated in the book) Father relocated
to Shanghai?

3. Who stayed in Tianjin, and why?

4. Who is Jackie?

5. Identify four of the rules at their new home

6. On page 25, Big Brother states, “To her, we are not separate people. Here we
have become one single unit known as all of you. Seems like this is how it’s going to
be from now on.” Explain what he means by this. How do you think their life will be
different?

Chapter 6:

1. How did Adeline get to school the first day?

2. When no-one picked her up from school, where did Adeline go?

3. How would you feel if you were in a situation like Adeline where everyone had
forgotten about you?

4. How did Adeline know her phone number?

5. What “gift” did Adeline receive when father picked her up, and why?

6. Explain how you felt when you finished reading this chapter. Identify what
affected you most while you were reading.

Chapter 7:

1. How long has Little Sister been away from her mother?

2. Who did Little Sister give all of her attention to? Why?

3. What was the “last straw” as far as Niang was concerned when dealing with
Little Sister?

4. Why didn’t anyone interfere between Niang and Little Sister?

5. How did Niang react to Adeline’s plea for her to stop?

6. How do you think Niang will have Adeline “pay for her ignorance”?
Chapter 8:

1. Why do Adeline’s parents not give her tram fare?

2. What is austerity and how do Adeline and her siblings have to subscribe to it?

3. What makes Adeline sad for her Ye Ye in this chapter?

4. How do her parents respond to their wishes for tram fare?

5. How does Adeline deal with the tram fare issue? How about her siblings?

Chapter 9:

1. What did the children receive to signify new year? What was the difference
between the stepchildren and Niang’s children?

2. How else are the two sets of children treated differently?

3. What is Miss Chien’s connection to Niang? How do you know?

4. How do Adeline and her siblings choose to take a stand against their parents?

5. How does Niang respond to their stand?

6. How does Big Sister’s relationship with Miss Chien change? Why?

7. Why is Adeline’s nickname Genius?

8. What was Adeline’s “Best Friend” composition about?

9. What is Adeline’s special talent? Why do you think she’s good at this?

10. Why does she compare herself to Mulan?

11. What is Adeline’s emotional state like at the end of this chapter? What does
she yearn for most?

Chapter 10:

1. What is Wu Chen-mei like?

2. How do Adeline and Wu Chen-mei help each other?

 3. What happened in August 1945 that changed Adeline’s life?

4. What book changed Adeline’s life? Why?

5. Why doesn’t Adeline tell her friend about her family life?

6. What does third brother mean when he says that he is a “cold fish”?

7. What special award does Adeline win in this chapter?

8. How do Adeline’s brothers award her for her accomplishment?

Chapter 11:

1. Who is PLT?

2. How does PLT protect Adeline?

3. What happens between Jackie and Adeline?

4. How does Adeline feel about eating duck? Why?

5. What happens to PLT at the end of the chapter? Explain.

6. Explain Adeline and Third Brother’s relationship.

Chapter 12:

1. What did Father and Niang set up for Big Sister that she agreed to?

2. How does Adeline feel about this? Does she want this to happen to her?

3. What did Niang keep for herself?

4. What did Father order Adeline’s three older brothers to do? How did they feel
about this?

5. Compare how three older brothers were dressed and Adeline compared to
Little Brother and Little Sister.

6. What did Niang end up wearing to the wedding?

7. When was the first time Big Sister was kind to Adeline? Why?

8. What did Big Sister tell Niang? How did it end?

Chapter 13:

1. What does Wu Chun-mei want Adeline to do that she has never done before?
Why couldn’t Adeline do this?

2. What did Adeline decide to do on her day off from school?

3. Who does Adeline run into when she goes home for lunch? Explain the
situation.

4. What does Adeline tell Wu Chun-mei that hurts her when she gets home?

5. What was Adeline’s punishment?

Chapter 14

1. What did Adeline say to Wu Chun-mei about not coming back to her birthday
party?

2. When Adeline gave her speech before Election Day, what did she say?

3. What was Adeline shouting about to Aunt Baba?

4. What did YeYe say about her?

5. Why did Adeline think she won the election?

6. What did Adeline’s classmate do to surprise her? How did Adeline feel about
this?

7. How did Niang react to this surprise?

8. What did Adeline have to do with her presents?

9. Repetition is used on page 130, what is repeated and what is the EFFECT of
this repetition?

10. What do Niang and Father say they are going to do to Adeline?

11. Who do Niang and Father blame for Adeline’s behavior?

12. Where was Adeline being sent to? What does Aunt Baba say to her?

13. Describe the contrast between Adeline’s feeling of belonging and acceptance
at school and isolation and despair at home. (Provide quotes to support your
answer)

Chapter 15:
 1. Why did Father and Niang send Adeline to Tianjin?

2. How did Adeline know that she meant so little to her father?

3. Where was Adeline brought to stay after she landed in Tianjin?

4. What language did she have to speak there?

5. What class was Adeline so upset about when she was placed at her new
school?

6. What was Adeline’s one wish?

7. What happened in the middle of December at her school?

8. Who were coming to Tianjin?

9. Describe Adeline’s Christmas.

10. What did Niang instruct the nuns to do?

11. Describe Aunt Reine.

12. Where did Adeline ask to go instead of Hong Kong? Why did she ask this?

13. What does Aunt Reine not realize about Adeline’s relationship with Father
and Niang?

Chapter 16:

1. What did Victor do to Claudine that Adeline said that her brothers would
have

2. How do the Schilling family make Adeline feel?

3. When they first arrive and Niang and Father’s place, what happened to
Adeline?

4. Who does Adeline see when she walks into the apartment? How does she
feel about this?

5. What did Aunt Reine reveal from her coat buttons? Why do you think they
were there? Whose were they?

6. What does YeYe tell Adeline to do before Niang’s mood changes?

7. What did Adeline realize was different about YeYe’s voice?

8. What is the significance of YeYe’s talk about the Chinese language?

 9. What does Victor say when they are going for lunch? What does he decide
to do?

10. What does Adeline give Victor at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 17:

1. Once the Schilling left for Geneva, what happened to Adeline?

2. On the first page of Chapter 17, what is ironic about what Little Sister was
doing? Explain.

3. What did Adeline do that angered Little Brother?

4. Adeline saw a child outside the hotel. What did the child’s sign say?

5. Why did the waiter change his mind and see Niang so quickly?

6. Describe the difference of Niang’s feelings versus Adeline’s father’s feelings

in Adeline’s mind.

7. Where does Niang bring Adeline to?

8. At the end of the chapter, what is Adeline’s good lunch?

Chapter 18:

1. How many years have past since the last chapter?

2. Why was Sunday Adeline’s least favorite day?

3. What was Adeline shocked about? How does Adeline feel about this?

4. What does Adeline talk to Mother Mary about? What are the others reaction?

5. How did Monica view Adeline?

6. Describe Adeline’s clothes.

7. Where did Adeline feel safe?

8. What does Adeline do for pleasure? How do the other girls/parents view her?

9. While Adeline was in the bathroom, what does she find out?

Chapter 19:
1. What happened at the end of the school year?

2. What did Adeline yearn for “more than anything”?

Chapter 20:

1. What happened to Adeline at the beginning of this chapter?

2. Who came to visit Adeline?

3. Where did the chauffeur bring Adeline? How long was she staying there for?

4. What does Adeline wish she could do that her Older Brothers are doing? Why
does she know this cannot happen?

5. What did the girls at school nickname Adeline? What does she think about
this name?

6. What does YeYe tell Adeline?

Chapter 21:

1. What does Adeline decide to enter? Why was she hesitant at first?

2. What was the only mail Adeline has ever received while at Sacred Heart?

3. Who did Adeline dedicate her work to?

4. What did Adeline ask in her letters to Father and Niang?

5. What did Father and Niang not let Adeline know?

6. What were the girls at school astonished to hear?

7. What happened to YeYe?

8. What did Niang tell Adeline to do once school had ended for the summer?
What was Niang’s reasoning?

9. How does Adeline view herself? How do we know this in this chapter?

10. What did the other girls vote Adeline as?

11. What made Adeline depressed?

12. What did Adeline find out when she got home the second time?

13. How does the reader know that Adeline is humble?

14. What does Adeline say that she wants to study in England? How does her
father react to this?
Chapter 22:

1. What does Aunt Baba confess in her letter?

2. What was the Chinese folklore?

3. What does Aunt Baba say about Adeline winning the international award?

4. How does the memoir end?