After they moved into a new house in Shanghai, Niang instructed them that they could only enter and leave the house through the servants' door. After her own two children came along, things only got worse for Adeline and her four siblings. She immediately began establishing harsh rules for her stepchildren.
At seventeen, Niang was nineteen years younger than her new husband but there was nothing shy about the new stepmother. The children were all instructed to call her Niang, a Chinese term for mother. Adeline learned years later that her father had ordered all pictures of her mother destroyed.Ī short time following the death of Adeline's mother, her father married a beautiful Eurasian woman named Jean. Adeline always asked to see pictures of her mother but Aunt Baba had no pictures her. Aunt Baba had cared for Adeline since she was two weeks old, when her mother died. Aunt Baba was proud of her little niece and put the certificate that Adele received along with the medal into her lock box, the same place she kept her precious jewels and other valuables. Four-year-old Adeline proudly showed Aunt Baba the medal she received from the kindergarten teacher for being the best student of the week. Chinese Cinderella, The True Story of An Unwanted Daughter, is the autobiographical account of Adeline Yen Mah's childhood, covering her life during the ages from four through her early teen years.
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