[Fifth Chinese Daughter] is a study of the conflict in the lives of Chinatown's younger generation—a conflict between the weight of Chinese tradition and the freedom of American ways. In deference to Chinese literary usages, the story is told in the third person which, in English, unfortunately makes it seem self-conscious. Jade Snow must be a fine and serious young woman, but the imagination which must be present in her pottery is not discernible in her writing. Nor does humor seem to be part of her Cantonese heritage.

E. V. R. Wyatt, "Books: 'Fifth Chinese Daughter'," in Commonweal (copyright © 1950 Commonweal Publishing Co., Inc.; reprinted by permission of Commonweal Publishing Co., Inc.), Vol. LIII, No. 7, November 24, 1950, p. 182.