Shanghai Girls

May is three years younger than her sister and considered even more beautiful. She has always had a charming personality and knows how to wheedle her parents into giving her whatever she wants. May is Pearl’s foil: She is impulsive and venturesome, while Pearl is cautious and hesitant. Although Pearl considers herself wiser, May is more resourceful. She finds a way to save Pearl’s life after their disastrous encounter with Japanese soldiers.

Once in America, May contrives to build a life for herself in the movie business. She always wears fine clothes and runs a successful operation that benefits the white producers who run Hollywood. May is impatient with Pearl’s caution and tries to draw her sister out on many occasions. Ultimately, May takes a rash approach to the family’s unauthorized immigration status that ends with her brother-in-law dying by suicide.

While May and Pearl have frequent spats of sibling rivalry, they come together in times of crisis. When Pearl must travel to Hong Kong to find her daughter, May gives her money for the trip and pledges to run the family’s business in her absence. May demonstrates that she is not the spoiled, selfish child Pearl believes her to be.

Louie is the patriarch of his family. When the story opens, he is already in his seventies and appears as a grim, cold businessman intent on finding wives for his sons. In Shanghai, Louie is considered important. He is called a Gold Mountain Man because he became successful in America, but, in reality, he is barely getting by.

Louie and his family live in a cramped apartment in Chinatown, and everyone toils long hours in the family business. Initially, Louie is harsh to both of his daughters-in-law. He is a traditionalist who doesn’t want them to mingle with white people. Over time, his resistance is worn down. He comes to appreciate Pearl’s cooking and even values the extra money that May earns by working as a Hollywood extra. At the end of his life, Louie grows nostalgic and dreams of returning to his homeland. However, he dies of lung cancer before this hope can be realized. Having recognized the value of his family’s hard work, Louie leaves the business to Sam.

When the story begins, Sam appears as Louie’s handsome eldest son. He becomes Pearl’s husband through an arranged marriage but returns to Los Angeles shortly before the Japanese attack on Shanghai. Sam is obedient and dutiful toward his father. He is also a good husband to Pearl and dotes on his daughter Joy.

It isn’t until later in the story that the reader learns of Sam’s family background. He is Louie’s paper son, meaning he purchased false documentation that the reader learns was related to Louie immigrating to America. Sam comes from an impoverished family of rickshaw pullers, and he takes the opportunity to come to America and work for Louie until his debt is paid off. Recognizing Sam’s dedication and hard work, Louie allows him to inherit the family business. Sam’s conscientious and self-sacrificing nature becomes his undoing. When his immigration status is questioned, he dies by suicide before the FBI can deport his family. Without a case to prove against Sam, Pearl is allowed to remain a naturalized citizen.

Vernon, or Vern, first appears as Sam’s younger brother and May’s new husband. He is only 14 at the time. In reality, he is Louie’s biological son, but his intellectual disabilities make it impossible for him to run Louie’s business. Vern is good-natured and generous. He uses his saved money to treat Sam, May, and Pearl to a day at the beach.

For the most part, Vern spends his time building model ships and airplanes because he is unable to attend school. In later years, he develops tuberculosis of the bone, which eventually makes his spine collapse and causes him to need to remain at home. After his parents die, Vern is tended by Pearl. At the end of the novel, he once again demonstrates his generosity by giving all his savings to Pearl so she can fly to Hong Kong to find Joy. The novel implies that he doesn’t have much longer to live.

Joy is May’s biological daughter. Her father is an artist named Z.G., who used to paint the Chin sisters for calendar ads. Joy is kept ignorant of this fact, as are all the other members of her family. While still on Angel Island, May gave birth and passed Joy off as Pearl’s daughter. Joy grows up believing this lie and thinks Sam is her biological father.

Joy is like her venturesome “Auntie May” in many ways, but doesn’t realize that she is expressing her birth mother’s temperament. She is bold and daring but still manages to charm everyone in the family, especially Sam. Her parents ensure that Joy gets a good education. However, when she goes away to college, she becomes critical of her parents’ insular existence in Chinatown.

Joy romanticizes the Communist takeover of China and wants to help the revolution. In the book’s final chapters, she learns about her real biological parentage. The shock and anger of this revelation fuel Joy’s determination to fly to China to find Z.G. Her story is unresolved at the novel’s end. After Joy disappears, Pearl goes in search of her. Presumably, her story finds closure in the second novel in the series, Dreams of Joy.

Yen-yen is Louie’s wife. She has an effusive temperament, and her plain manners are indicative of her peasant upbringing. She tells Pearl that she was abducted when she was seven and forced to work as a sex worker until Louie bought her to be his wife. Despite these early traumas, Yen-yen is good-natured and generally happy, and she works hard in all the family’s enterprises. Unlike the stereotypical harsh mother-in-law, she is kind to Pearl and May and is particularly fond of Joy. In the novel’s later chapters, Yen-yen dies unexpectedly, leaving the entire family devastated. Louie’s surprising grief at the loss of his wife indicates the bond he developed with her over the years.

Z.G. is the handsome, charismatic painter who helps make Pearl and May famous in the beautiful-girls calendar series. Pearl develops a crush on the painter, which he accepts with good humor but doesn’t reciprocate. In reality, he is carrying on a love affair with May, and he fathers Joy. Z.G. is unaware of this situation since he is separated from the Chin sisters when Shanghai is attacked. Because he is a Communist, he supports the revolution and remains in the city.

Years later, some of his work surfaces on the covers of Chinese Communist magazines that find their way into Louie’s hands. The cover girls look remarkably similar to May and Pearl. Clearly, they were Z.G.’s muses though his goddess-like depiction of May is a good indication of his feelings for her. At the end of the novel, Z.G. is unaware that his daughter has gone in search of him.

Mama Chin is the mother of Pearl and May. When the story begins, she leads the life of a wealthy matron who spends much of her time socializing and playing mah-jongg with her lady friends. Mama Chin is a traditional upper-class woman. Her feet have been bound, meaning it is almost impossible for her to walk any distance. She is conveyed around town in rickshaws or sits at home giving orders to the servants.

Her life of ease changes when the Japanese attack Shanghai, and Mr. Chin disappears. At this point, Mrs. Chin proves her resourcefulness and devotion to her children. She uses all her money to find a way to get them safely out of the city. She sacrifices her own life to save her daughters when she is gruesomely attacked by a group of soldiers. Shortly before she dies of her injuries, she expresses her love for Pearl and makes her promise to take care of May.