jong chapters

• Chinese don't consider 14 carats real gold
• Matchmaker's role


  1. Goes to Lindo's family

  2. Sells Lindo by saying an earth horse and earth sheep were the perfect combo

  3. Says Lindo wouldn't have much of a temper and would be a hard worker that served Huang Taitai well in her old age
• Tyan-yu


  Lindo's betrothed, 1 year younger than her, named when his father was dying but after his father didn't die he was spoiled to make sure the ghosts didn't take him instead
• Huang Taitai


  Lindo's mother-in-law
• Lindo's family's house


  • 2 story house + smaller house same compound for workers, on hill ("Three Steps to Heaven")
• Lindo's family's land surrounded the Fen River and it flooded after the summer rains, destroying wheat crops and the house was muddy, all trees and chickens died
• Lindo's dowry


  Furniture and bedding, but no trucks would go to pick them up in the muddy plains with giant potholes
• Huang family's house


  • Next to the river but higher in the valley so it didn't flood, higher class than Lindo's family, 4 stories (great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children), 1st level- river rocks and straw filled mud, 2nd and 3rd- smooth bricks, 4th- gray slab and red tile roof (imperial dragon on corners), 2 red pillars and veranda
• Lindo tried to act on her best behavior for her family's sake
• Lindo's view of Tyan-yu and Huang Taitai

  Tyan-yu as a god (his opinion more important than her life), Huang Taitai as her real mother
• Lindo's wedding


  Small wedding, invited the whole village + friends and family from other cities, mud and water marks removed from dowry furniture to display, red banners with luck messages, red palanquin rented to carry Lindo, lucky day: 15th day of 8th moon fullest moon, matchmaker lit a candle on both ends with their names, Tyan-yu didn't look at her during the ceremony, red eggs hidden, they made them kiss in front of everyone
• Bad luck on Lindo's wedding day

  Japanese invaded Shanshi Province the week before, raining/thunder/lightning on that day, people thought it was Japanese bombs and wouldn't leave their houses
• Lindo promised to herself that she would honor her parents wishes but never forget herself
• Lindo and Tyan-yu's married life


  First months he slept on the bed, her on the sofa, she gave him fresh chicken broth every morning, made tounau every night for long life (pleased Huang Taitai), Huang Taitai forced Lindo to sleep with Tyan-yu, Lindo became like his big sister
• Huang Taitai's actions


  Forced Lindo to stay in bed and have medicine 4 times a day, no sewing, think about having babies, removed all sharp objects from the room (they were "cutting off" the next generation)
• Matchmaker said Lindo had too much metal and was too balanced to have children
• Huang Taitai's plan to end Lindo's marriage

  Picked an auspicious day (3rd day of 3rd month) festival of pure brightness, said the wind blew out Tyan-yu's end of the candle and that the ancestors were mad, said Tyan-yu would die in this marriage, said ancestors would begin the cycle of destruction, said Tyan-yu's back mole would eat at him, said Lindo's teeth would fall out
• Huang Taitai got Lindo's clothes, a ticket to Peking, and money to go to America, only condition was to not tell people of importance about the doomed marriage
• Waverly Jong


  Lindo's daughter
• Waverly's home


  • Lived in Chinatown on Waverly Place, 2 bedroom flat above a Chinese bakery (steamed pastries and dimsum), playground at the end of two-block alley, dark alley; chinese herb shop, printer with embossed wedding invites and red banners, Ping Yuen Fish Market, Hong Sing's 4 table cafe
• Waverly's chess set


  Got from a Christmas Party of First Chinese Baptist Church, donated toys from another church, Waverly chose a heavy and compact one wrapped in silver foil and a red satin ribbon
• Waverly learning chess


  Studied chess with library books and deciphered why they could only move so far, learned opening moves and to control the center early, learned she shouldn't reveal "why" to others for her advantage, went up to a man observing chess in the park (Lau Po) who taught her strategies
• Chess strategies Lau Po taught Waverly

  • The double attack from the east and west shores, throwing stones on the drowning man, the sudden meeting of the clan, the surprise from the sleeping guard, the humble servant while kills the king, sand in the eyes of advancing forces, a double killing without blood
• Waverly's chess tournaments


  Local man watching her play in the park suggested, she won a regional tournament and the neighborhood got her a plastic chess set, she won all her games, was national chess champion by 9 years old, 429 points from grand master
• Waverly's mother Lindo gave all her chores to her brothers so she could focus on chess
• Don't announce "check" with vanity
• Don't throw pieces in anger
• Taught her all he knew over the summer
• Her mother was humble and said it was luck
• Local man watching her play in the park suggested
• Her mother gave her the chang
• First played a 15 yr old boy from oakland & she won
• The neighborhood got her a plastic chess set
• Lindo told her to win more and lose less
• Her second game she lost only 8, lost 11 first
• Waverly won all her games
• She won a regional tournament and the flower shop, headstone engraver, and funeral parlor offered to sponsor her in nationals
• Her mother gave all her chores to her brothers
• Was national chess champion by 9 years old
• 429 points from grand master