Imperial Woman, The Story of the Last Empress of China, by Pearl S. Buck

Imperial Woman, by Pearl S. Buck

I have read some of Pearl Buck's work previously. I was delighted to come across this one. It is the story of Cixi, the Dowager Empress of China, based on true events. She, in a way similar to Esther, was plucked form her home and paraded in front of the Emperor, and chosen to be a concubine. Not #1 but just a concubine. She was intelligent and clever, however, and she learned that in order to get in good with the Emperor she needed to befriend his mother. From there, she got his attention and soon became pregnant and gave birth to the firstborn boy. This gave her a place as Empress Mother and changed her life. She asked for education on history and current events, and soon learned how to advise the Emperor in matters of state, something that was mostly unheard of back then in the 1800s. She gained more power and eventually ruled after the death of the Emperor. 

I did enjoy this read. The one part I didn't like was the chapters are so long, sometimes over 100 pages.

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Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah

Falling Leaves, by Adeline Yen Mah

This is the biography of Adeline Yen Mah, a Chinese girl who was abused by her parents, how she overcame the abuse, and found closure. She started out life in 1930s China, and her mother died when she was very young. Her father remarried a very abusive and manipulative woman, and she was terrible to all her step children, but poured out most of her abuse on Adeline. Her father went right along with her. She was treated like vermin scurrying across the floor. 

She talks about the harsh conditions she had to live under, being the unwanted child, how her siblings turned against her, largely from parental example.

She eventually went on to become a successful anesthesiologist in the United States, and bent over backwards to honor and support her father and stepmother, and other family members, and was treated horribly for it.

It breaks my heart that someone could treat their child the way she was treated. I just don't understand it. I am just glad that even though you might have a rough beginning, it doesn't have to stay that way. You may not ever get a Cinderella fairy godmother to step in and fix everything. You may have to make that better life yourself, but it can be done.

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