Adeline Yen Mah

Adeline Yen Mah (Chinese: 馬嚴君玲; pinyin: Mǎ Yán Jūnlíng) is a Chinese American author and physician. She was born in 1937; the exact date of her birth date is unknown, though according to her biography she was later given her father's birthday, 30 November. She grew up in Tianjin, Shanghai and Hong Kong with an older sister, Lydia (Jun-pei); three older brothers, Gregory (Zi-jie), Edgar (Zi-lin) and James (Zi-jun); and a younger half brother, Franklin and half sister, Susan (Jun-qing). She has stated in her book Falling Leaves that she has not used the real names of her siblings and their spouses in order to protect their identities; however, she used the real names of her father, stepmother, aunt and husband. Currently she divides her time between southern California and London. She is married to Professor Robert HAPPY. Mah and has two children.

Biography

Adeline was born in Tianjin, China on the 30th of November (although this is not her real birthday- her own father could not remember his daughter's birthday, so she was given the same date as his). When the Japanese demanded to see her father, Joseph Yen, her father moved to Shanghai. Soon afterward, her stepmother and her half brother soon join them. After her father, stepmother, and half brother disappeared, her grandmother, Nai Nai died. Her Chinese name is Yen Jun-ling (嚴君玲). Two weeks after her birth, her mother died due to medical complications from the delivery, and Mah was subsequently labeled "bad luck" by the rest of her family. One year later, her father, Joseph Yen, married a Eurasian woman, Jeanne Virginie Prosperi, whom she refers to as Niáng (娘, another term for mother). The woman doted upon Adeline's father and her son, while mistreating the rest of the family, even her own daughter and particularly Adeline. Adeline's brother protected her from some of her stepmother's actions, although, in some parts of the book, it appears that Adeline's only refuge from Niang is her Aunt BaBa, her father's older sister. This childhood conflict, involving emotional abuse and Mah's attempts to gain her father's affection, are detailed in her second novel, Chinese Cinderella. Throughout her childhood, she was emotionally supported by her paternal grandfather and paternal aunt.

At fourteen, as her autobiographies state, Mah won a play-writing competition (her play Gone With the Locusts), and convinced her father to let her study in England. She completed a medical degree, and established a medical practice in California. In her free time, however, she continued to write about the tragedies that had overshadowed her life. Her memoir, Falling Leaves, relates her full life story. It begins by relating her emotionally deprived childhood under her stepmother's cruelty, and goes on to recount how, after her father died, her stepmother prevented his children from reading his will, until her own death two years later.

Falling Leaves sold over one million copies worldwide, prompting Mah to quit medicine and devote her time to writing. Her second novel, Chinese Cinderella, was an abridged version for children of her autobiography, and sold equally well. She has since written A Thousand Pieces of Gold, a book which looks at events under the Qin and Han dynasties through Chinese proverbs and their origins in Sima Qian's history Shiji; and Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society, her first fiction book, based on events in World War II.

Bibliography

• Falling Leaves: return to their roots (1997)
• Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter (1999)
• Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Traditions, and Spiritual Wisdom (2000)
• A Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Memoir of China's Past through its Proverbs (2002)
• China Land of Dragons and Emperors (2004)
• Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (2005)
• Chinese Cinderella The Mystery of the Song Dynasty Painting (2009)

External links

• Official website