晶文薈萃 十優文章

A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In "China Cinderella", Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair.

Can you image how an unwanted daughter goes through hard times and tries to stay strong?

"China Cinderella" is a true story about an abandoned girl called Yen who tells us the story of her bravery over the abuse she suffered. Yen was born into a wealthy and powerful family in China, but her life was a struggle starting from the moment she was born, as mother died after her birth due to complications with the delivery. In Chinese culture, this marks Yen as cursed and bad luck, causing her to grow up with guilt and blame for her mother's death. Yen's father decided to remarry which made things even worse as her stepmother favours only her own children. As most could imagine, Yen was constantly bullied by her siblings and abused by parents. Though she did her best in school, she did not gain the approval of her family. Therefore, Yen's childhood was filled with misery, pain and hatred.

Suffering all the hardships, Yen persevered, with support and encouragement from her grandfather and aunt. Despite adversity, the China Cinderella rose above the hatred and torture from her family and eventually became a medical doctor.

The writing style of "China Cinderella" was interesting. It's an autobiography written from Yen's early childhood through the age of fourteen. "China Cinderella" is both a thought-compelling and powerful story of many controversial issues. This is the brilliant job of Adeline whose works were proficient. With talent and skills, she produced stories with nicely organised plots, simple words and phrases and antithetic perspectives of different people. These elements, which make me magically fascinated, are important.

I enjoyed reading this book. It made me think of things I hadn't thought about before. I knew I was blessed with the family I had. Yes, I knew I had good living conditions and people caring for me. Comparing my life with hers made me see how blessed I am. Although Yen was given the basics - food, clothing and education, she didn't have anyone to love her and help her make her way in life. Her stepmother, father and siblings teased her or even abused her, not to mention not caring about her or not celebrating with her for her birthday. She felt lonely and left out of her own family.

I felt like crying while I was reading this book. I could no longer hold my tears when I read about how her siblings killed her pet duck, which was the only pet she ever had, how her father beat her and how she had to skimp to save just to survive. I don't understand how a parent could be so cruel.

I admired Yen. It's inspiring to see how she endured all the suffering, overcame the challenges and succeeded. It was great to see how this young girl could achieve great things with perseverance and bravery. It's an inspiring book, which inspire readers to look back on the life they are living and do what they can make it worthwhile. This story is really touching and I would highly recommend it to all, though I'm sure those who are facing problems will find reading this book more rewarding.