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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of James' wife?

2. What is the date at the beginning of the book?

3. How old was Samuel when he and Lydia married?

4. What color bedspread was Lydia given when she moved down to the first floor?

5. When Adeline attended medical school, what percentage of students were female?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Lydia and Samuel do when Father ordered them to move out of his house in Tianjin?

2. In the late 1920s, how was Shanghai different from the rest of China?

3. Why did Adeline fear Edgar the most?

4. How did Gregory solve his cash-flow problems?

5. What business did Grand Aunt's eldest brother establish?

6. Why did Hwa Chong Hong leave Tianjin in 1926?

7. Where did Adeline, her siblings, and her stepmother gather for the reading of Joseph's will?

8. Why didn't Aunt Baba tell Grand Aunt the real reason why she wanted her old job back?

9. What was Hong Kong like in 1949?

10. How did Adeline describe her father in the prologue?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Falling Leaves" deals with Adeline's very unhappy family life. Discuss the overall mood of the book.

Essay Topic 2

The title of the book is "Falling Leaves." Discuss the title of the book and why Adeline was a falling leaf that returned to her roots.

Essay Topic 3

Grand Aunt was an unusual woman for her time. Discuss the role of women in Chinese society in the late 1800s and the first two decades of the 1900s and how women in the book did or did not follow the dictates of society.

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