Daughters of Shandong

Hai finds Hong Kong “enormous, gleaming, almost alien” (207), a blend of East and West. Once again they live in the streets. Mom sends a letter to Father in Taiwan, though she does not know the address. Hai gets the idea that she could set up a calligraphy stand and make money writing letters. Her mother tries to discourage her from doing so, but Hai thinks, “We’d made it to Hong Kong not by being demure, but by being resourceful” (209). The family are in a minority, speaking Shangdonese instead of Cantonese, and Hai hears insults for being poor and dirty.

At the docks one day, they are approached by a police officer. Hai screams at Di to run. The officer catches Hai. He is from Weihaiwei, also in the north, and tells her girls on the street are being kidnapped and sold. He wants to send her family to Mount Davis.

Mount Davis is a refugee camp funded by the British government, which does not wish to speak out against China’s Communist government directly. All Hai knows of Britain is that “it was a wealthy country that was powerful enough to steal our land” (218).

They go to the immigration office to get ID cards and meet Mr.