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Mah, Adeline Yen (1937– )
Born Jun-ling Yen, the fifth child in an affluent
family in Tianjin, China, Mah lived in Shang-
hai as a child and moved to Hong Kong at the
age of 11. Because her mother died shortly after
her birth, Mah was considered a source of bad
luck to her family. Her father soon remarried a
French-Chinese woman, whose tyrannical pres-
ence brought endless miseries to Mah and con-
flicts to the family. Although Mah found solace
and love in her grandfather and aunt, she was also
kept away from them. By winning the first prize
at the age of 14 in a playwriting competition open
to all English-speaking children, Mah convinced
her father to allow her to pursue her studies in
England. She graduated from University College
London with a specialty in anesthesiology and
moved to the United States to become a successful
anesthesiologist. She now writes full time, living
in California and London with her husband and
two children.
Mah recounts her life experiences in her best-
selling autobiography, Falling Leaves: The True
Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter (1997).
The success of this book led to the publication of
a children’s version of her autobiography, Chinese
Cinderella (1999). Mah also wrote another book
for young children, Chinese Cinderella and the Se-
cret Dragon (2004). Unlike the other two, this book
is a fictional story about an unwanted daughter, Ye
Xian, whose training in martial arts enables her to

accomplish a remarkable mission with three boys

during World War II.

Mah’s skill in employing Chinese idioms and

proverbs and explaining Chinese culture in Fall-

ing Leaves is further seen in her two other books.

In A Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Memoir of China’s

Past through Its Proverbs (2002), Mah renders a

version of Chinese history in her explanation of

Chinese proverbs. She also draws parallels be-

tween Chinese history and her personal history.

In Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects

on Happiness, Tradition, and Spiritual Wisdom

(2001), Mah explains aspects of Chinese culture,

such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Chinese food

and the Chinese language, frequently illustrating

them with her own experiences and reflections.

Yan Ying

Maki, John McGilvrey (1909–2006)

John Maki was born Hiroo Sugiyama in Tacoma,

Washington. Since his issei parents were unable to

support him, he was raised by Mr. and Mrs. Al-

exander McGilvrey, a white couple who legally

adopted him in 1918 as John McGilvrey. With

help from part-time jobs, McGilvrey (univer-

sally known as “Jack”) put himself through the

University of Washington (UW), graduating in

1932. Despite his unfamiliarity with Japanese-
      American culture, Jack joined the staff of a Seattle

M