Chinese Cinderella

Birth

Aug 6, 1937

Adeline Yen Mah was born with the name Yen Jun-Ling.

Adeline's mother dies

Aug 6, 1937

Adeline's mother dies when giving birth to her.

Father remarries

Oct 18, 1938

Adeline's father gets remarried to Niang, a seventeen-year-old from France.

Brother born

Aug 25, 1939

Niang has a baby boy, and names him Franklin.

Sister born

Jun 17, 1940

Niang has a baby girl names Susan.

School

Sep 3, 1941

Adeline is put into a school in Tianjin, the city in China in which they live.

Move to Shanghai

Dec 5, 1943

Adeline's whole family moves from Tianjin to Shanghai.

School in Shanghai

Sep 4, 1944

Adeline and her 4 older siblings are all starting at a new school in Shanghai.

Pet

Jun 16, 1945

Adeline and her siblings recieve pet ducklings as a reward for finishing school. But Adeline's duckling gets attacked by the dog and dies.

Birthday Party

Nov 16, 1945

Adeline goes to her best friends birthday party. Niang doesn't like this and Adeline is grounded.

Tianjn

Jan 5, 1946

Adeline gets into a lot of trouble for going to her friends birthday party without permission. Niang and her father make her move to Tianjin to go to a boarding school there.

Hong Kong

May 27, 1946

After a few months in Tianjin, her aunt comes to get her and take her to Hong Kong where the rest of her family is.

School in Hong Kong

Aug 29, 1946

Niang sends Adeline to a boarding school in Hong Kong. After just a few months, Adeline had skipped two grades and was at the top of her class.

Accepted

Apr 14, 1951

When Adeline got the news that her writing had been accepted as the winner, she ran and told her entire family. They finally accepted her into the family.

Graduation

May 17, 1951

After just a couple years at the boarding school, Adeline graduates at age 14.

World-Wide writing competition

Jan 3, 1952

Adeline entered in one of her best writings and she won the world-wide writing competition.