Falling Leaves

Six weeks after the death of their grandmother, Adeline, Lydia, Gregory, and Edgar are sent away on a train to Shanghai while their young stepsiblings, Ye Ye, and Aunt Baba remain in Tianjin to observe a period of Buddhist mourning. Their father meets them and escorts them to their grand new house in the French Concession on Avenue Joffre. Their household is divided into a caste system whereby the “Holy of Holies” (Joseph, Niang, Franklin, and Susan) occupy the statelier first floor while the “have-nots” (Ye Ye, Baba, Adeline, and her blood siblings) are relegated to the second floor (44).

Adeline discovers her parents’ dismissive attitude toward her when she gets lost on the way home from her new school one and a half miles from home. She is missing until late in the evening and manages to find her way home only when she asks to use a shopkeeper’s phone. Her father’s voice betrays a complete lack of concern, and when he picks her up, he simply tells her she should’ve memorized the school’s location on a map.

Aunt Baba and Ye Ye arrive in Tianjin with Franklin and Susan. Because Susan is only two years-old, Niang is a relative stranger, and she protests, “‘I don’t want you! Aunt Baba!’” (46) when Niang tries to pick her up. Enraged, Niang brutally beats the child. Terror-stricken and horrified, the family does not dare to intervene except for Adeline, who orders, “‘Don’t beat her any more! She’s only a baby!’” (46). Niang screams that she will “never forget or forgive [her] insolence!” (47). It is clear that the death of Joseph’s mother has given Niang complete freedom to unleash a darker side of her personality.

Niang begins a strange program of austerity whereby her birth children are afforded all manner of privileges—including sweets and pocket money—while her stepchildren are denied even tram fare to reach their schools miles away from home. Initially, Ye Ye gives them money in secret, but eventually his money runs out. Aunt Baba elects to return to work at Gong Gong’s bank so she will have some measure of financial independence. Joseph and Niang are dismayed because they prefer forcing their family members to grovel for money, asserting their position of power.

Adeline comforts herself on her long walks to and from school by telling stories in her head. In these stories, she is “a little princess in disguise” (53). These stories are so effective that she enjoys her walks and confides to Aunt Baba that she holds “a key in [her] head” (53) to enter magical lands.

A governess named Miss Chien comes to look after Susan and Franklin. She serves as a “spy and informer, reporting back the activities and conversations of those from the second floor” (56). She and Lydia become friends. Lydia also occupies a gray area between the first and second floor, obtaining access to the “Holy of Holies” through informing, obeying, and making subservient displays that disgust Adeline.

Adeline’s parents adopt a German shepherd named Jackie and hire a trainer. The trainer teaches Jackie to only obey Joseph, Niang, and Franklin. Around this time, one of Joseph’s colleagues gives a box of ducklings to the children, and Adeline is given the weakest duckling (which she names PLT for Precious Little Treasure). One evening, Adeline’s father orders Gregory to fetch a duckling with which to “test” Jackie’s obedience. Gregory puts PLT on the ground in front of Jackie, and Jackie lunges at PLT, biting her leg and killing her.

Spurred on by Aunt Baba’s praise of her high grades, Adeline finds solace in her academic success. She wins the class presidency, and a group of school friends secretly follows her home to throw a surprise party in her honor. When her school friends arrive at the house, however, Niang is furious, and she physically and verbally abuses Adeline in front of them.

Ye Ye finds himself without any money, and Joseph makes it clear that in order to obtain money, he must essentially beg his daughter-in-law for it. Rather than lower himself to this situation, Ye Ye goes with Aunt Baba to ask Gong Gong if she can have her old job at the bank. Gong Gong serves an elaborate dinner in their honor and gives Aunt Baba her old job. Ye Ye forbids Aunt Baba to reveal her true reasons behind the request, fearing that this would expose his son to public censure.

Ye Ye’s days are long and tense. He comforts himself with his practice of calligraphy, repeatedly writing the word ren (endure). Ye Ye claims this word “represents the epitome of Chinese culture and civilization” (77).

Lydia does not excel in school. Her father and Niang convince her that her only option is to enter into an arranged marriage. They set up a marriage between Lydia and a significantly older, unattractive, but moderately successful and respectable man named Samuel. Niang coldly reminds Lydia of her deformed arm, insinuating that it will be impossible for her to find a job and support herself.

After the Japanese occupation ends in 1945, civil war resumes between the Nationalists (Kuomintang) and the Communists led by Mao Zedong. Joseph announces that he’s moving the family to Hong Kong, with the exception of Adeline, whom he plans to enroll in a boarding school in Tianjin. When Aunt Baba protests, “‘The Communists! What about the Communists?’” (86), Ye Ye sadly acknowledges, “‘His child has done no wrong. But every day her presence is like a thorn in their side: she annoys him simply by being around’” (86).

Rather than move to Hong Kong, Aunt Baba elects to remain in Shanghai with Miss Chien, believing life under the Communists couldn’t be “any worse than a life under Niang” (84).

In September 1948, at the height of the Civil War, Joseph and Niang take Adeline to St. Joseph’s boarding school in Tianjin. Amid the chaos of war, droves of refugees enter Tianjin, and city services are strained. Many of the boarders leave the school, and Adeline’s class schedule dwindles. Adeline feels lonely and aimless in a school where the instructors speak only French or English (whereas her former schools taught in Chinese and used English only as a secondary language).

When Tianjin is liberated, Niang’s elder sister, Aunt Reine, goes to pick up Adeline without notifying Niang. Aunt Reine brings Adeline on a boat to Hong Kong with her family, unaware that she is an “unwanted” child. When she notices that Adeline appears unsure of how to approach them, she kindly tells her she will “extend the same treatment” (94) to Adeline as her own children.

When Adeline arrives in Hong Kong with Niang’s family, she is worried about how her parents will react. Niang is so excited that Aunt Reine has managed to smuggle her diamonds out of China that she doesn’t seem to care that Adeline has returned. Adeline is happy to be back with Ye Ye, who tells her stories from Chinese operas and Legends of the Three Kingdoms and teaches her about the “magic and mystery” (96) behind many Chinese characters.

Joseph’s business thrives in Hong Kong. Niang attends many society parties and entertains in their home. Adeline understands she is expected to “keep [herself] hidden” in her room during these parties and “not embarrass anyone by our presence, especially when there were westerners” (98). Just two days after Niang’s family members leave, Niang takes Adeline to live in the Sacred Heart Convent School and Orphanage on the edge of Hong Kong facing the sea.