Chapters 5 through 7 Summary and Analysis

In chapter five, Chan Sam arrived in China and began work on the house. He planned a large, elaborate dwelling in order to keep up the appearance that he'd done well with his life in Canada. He was concerned for the health of the Chinese family and provided some basic medicines, including quinine for malaria. As people paid more attention to Chan Sam's obvious wealth, Huangbo became more "humble, yielding, diligent." No one talked about the fact that work sometimes halted while Chan Sam demanded more money from May-ying but it wouldn't have mattered because people expected that a woman's wages were the property of her husband and May-ying handing over money for Chan Sam's project was expected. Ping remembers little of her birth mother and knew only that Huangbo was the better of Chan Sam's wives.

May-ying found...