Chapters 1 through 4 Summary and Analysis

The story opened with the author, Denise Chong, and her mother, Hing, arriving at the home of Hing's older sister, Ping, and her half-brother, Yuen. The house was obviously very elaborate in its day but was in dire need of repair. Ping told her younger sister she has something to give her and gives her a coat, obviously old, that Hing recognized. In chapter two, the story then dropped back in time to May-ying who is seventeen in 1924 when she's told by her "aunt" that she was being sold as a concubine to a man in Canada, Chan Sam. The woman was not really her "aunt," because May-ying had been sold to this woman when she was only four. May-ying didn't want to go but really has no choice. She traveled alone to Canada. When her ship landed in...