Falling Leaves

Each chapter title of Falling Leaves references a Chinese proverb, including the title in Chinese script, a phonetic Chinese translation, and an English translation. Why do you think the author chose to title each chapter this way? How do these chapter titles (and multiple translations) shape your understanding of the book’s themes?

At many intervals throughout Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah details the greater historical events backgrounding her family’s day-to-day lives. Her wide-spanning historical coverage includes the Second Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Flood of Tianjin, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square protests, among many other major developments in China’s social, cultural, and economic climate. How do Adeline Yen Mah’s descriptions of these historical events correspond with the more personal stories of her family (and her own development from childhood to adulthood)?

At a pivotal moment in Falling Leaves, Ye Ye advises Aunt Baba to study the word ren (endure), explaining that “the top component, dao, means knife, but it has a sheath in the center of the rapier. The bottom component, xin means heart. Combined together, the word is telling a story. Though my son is wounding my heart, I shall ensheath the pain and live through it” (86). He then remarks that the word ren “represents the epitome of Chinese culture and civilization” (86). How does the theme of endurance evolve over the course of Adeline Yen Mah’s autobiography? How does the word “endure” reflect the changes Adeline, Ye Ye, and Aunt Baba experience living through both Niang’s cruelty and the sociocultural changes in China?

Many of the women in Falling Leaves overcome significant cultural barriers to attain independence, including Gong Gong, Aunt Baba, and Adeline Yen Mah herself. What are some of the specific cultural struggles these women overcome? How does the book interpret these struggles?

Even after escaping the cruel, manipulative familial rule of Niang, Adeline enters an emotionally complicated relationship with Karl and subsequently marries the physically and emotionally abusive Byron. What role do these romantic relationships play in Adeline’s development? Why do you think she finds herself entangled in similar power struggles as an adult?

Between Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong, England, and America, Adeline encounters different shades of systemic racism and sexism. How does she characterize racism and sexism among these different spaces? What does her experience suggest about the particular challenges of Chinese women?

In Chapter 23, Aunt Baba reflects that “‘the nineteenth century was a British century. The twentieth century is an American century. I predict that the twenty-first century will be a Chinese century’” (226). What does this reflection mean in the context of historical events detailed in Falling Leaves? What is the significance of Aunt Baba’s prediction?

In your opinion, does Adeline attain resolution by discovering her father’s original will? Why or why not?