Timeline Description: Adeline Yen Mah is a Chinese-American who is best known for her autobiography Falling Leaves. Abused as a child, and later as an adult, her stories offer hope to others who are suffering.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| November 30, 1937 | Adeline Yen is born Adeline was born in the Republic of China. She was the youngest of five children. |
| 1938 | Adeline gets a stepmother When Adeline was only a couple weeks old, her mother died. At a year old, her father remarried and had two more children. |
| 1948 | A new school The family eventually moved to Hong Kong. While there, Adeline attended the Sacred Heart School and Orphanage where she excelled at her studies. |
| 1949 | A scholarship While attending Sacred Heart, Adeline won a play-writing competition. She was given a scholarship to study in London, which her father allowed her to take. |
| 1952 | Leaving for England The time at last came for Adeline to go to England. She studied medicine at London Hospital Medical School while she was there. Eventually, she moved to California to open a medical practice. |
| 1964 | Marriage While working in her medical career, Adeline began writing about her abusive childhood in China. While living in a boarding house, she met and married a man named Byron Bai Lun-Soon. |
| 1966 | Children and divorce (1966-70) After suffering an abusive childhood, Adeline could not put up with her new husband who was also physically abusive. She had her first child in 1966, but had divorced her husband by 1970. |
| 1972 | Remarriage Adeline eventually married a man name Robert A. Mah, and they had a daughter together. Adeline officially took the name Adeline Yen Mah. |
| 1997 | Falling Leaves Adeline continued penning her life story. In 1997, her hard work paid off when Falling Leaves was published and immediately became a best seller. |
| 2000 | Awards and accolades Adeline received numerous awards for her work on Falling Leaves, and its follow-up, Chinese Cinderella. She won The Children's Literature Council of Southern California, as well as the Lamplighter's Award. |
| 2001 | Watching the Tree Inspired by her success, Adeline quit practicing medicine and devoted herself to writing. Her next book, Watching the Tree, was centered around Chinese Philosophy. |
| 2002 | More books A Thousand Pieces of Gold was published in 2002 about Chinese Proverbs. Other books included children's stories and books for teens. |
| 2004 | Best Seller Adeline's success continued across the globe. She was put on New Zealand's children's best seller list in 2004. |
| 2010 | Falling Leaves Foundation Adeline is the founder and president of the Falling Leaves Foundation. It is dedicated to spreading awareness between Eastern and Western cultures and traditions. |
| 2010 | Apps and websites Adeline continues spreading awareness and helping people understand Chinese customs. She runs a website where she teaches Mandarin Chinese for free, and she recently developed an Ipad app for the same reason. |