Li-Lan (Lan) in Daughters of Shandong: The Youngest Daughter's Survival and Symbol of Family Resilience

Overview

Li-Lan, called Lan, is the fourth and youngest daughter of the Ang family, born in July 1948 in Zhucheng, Shandong. Her birth is met with disappointment rather than celebration: her father does not name her, and Nai Nai is bitterly disappointed that the family still lacks a son. Lan's early life unfolds against the backdrop of the Chinese Civil War and the family's desperate flight from Communist persecution. As an infant, she contracts tuberculosis during the family's time in Qingdao; the disease attacks her bones and permanently damages her legs. Her survival—secured when her mother sells a precious ruby ring to pay for treatment—stands in stark contrast to the death of her older sister Three, who died of the same illness because the family refused to spend money on a girl child. Lan's recovery and the eventual surgery that improves her mobility make her a powerful symbol of the family's resilience and the depth of the mother's sacrifices.

Plot Role

Lan enters the narrative as the fourth daughter, born into a family that has already been disappointed by three previous daughters. Her birth coincides with the illness and death of her sister Three, who contracts tuberculosis after a river outing. The family's refusal to pay for Three's medical care—Nai Nai declares, “We don't waste that money on a girl child”—foreshadows the stakes of Lan's own later illness.

When the family flees Zhucheng, the mother stays behind with the three youngest daughters, including the infant Lan. In Qingdao, the family takes shelter with Uncle Sen, and all of them contract tuberculosis. Lan, being the youngest and weakest, is hit hardest. The disease spreads through her blood and attacks her bones. She had just started walking, but now she cannot lift her legs or bend her knees.

Lan's illness becomes the catalyst for one of the novel's most significant moments: the mother's decision to sell the ruby ring that Hai had given her. The sale funds Lan's treatment—two injections of antibiotic and a nourishing silkie chicken soup—and Lan responds well. But her legs are permanently damaged. She can only crawl, pulling herself forward with her arms and kicking her right leg for support.

Lan's disability shapes the family's trajectory. The mother worries that Lan will never marry and that caring for her will fall to the older sisters. This concern influences Hai's determination to earn her own income and, later, her decision to save money for Lan's leg surgery—an eight-hour procedure that would straighten her legs, reduce her limp, and eliminate her pain.

Motivations and Traits

Lan is too young for most of the novel to have articulated motivations in the way the older characters do. Her traits are shown through her actions and the responses she evokes in others:

• Resilience: Despite her illness and disability, Lan survives. She responds well to treatment when others, like Uncle Sen, do not. She adapts to her condition, learning to crawl and move by “undulating like a snake” when motivated.

• Emotional sensitivity: Even as a young child, Lan senses the emotions of those around her. When the mother is sad, Lan crawls over and grabs her ankles, “because she could tell that she was sad, but she was too young to understand why.”

• Vulnerability: Lan is consistently portrayed as fragile—a thin child with frail limbs and a protruding belly from intestinal parasites by the time the family reaches Taiwan. She shrinks in her mother's arms, intimidated by the father she does not remember.

Chronological Arc

Birth (July 1948): Lan is born in Zhucheng. Her father does not name her; Nai Nai is disappointed. During the mother's confinement, Aunt Ji secretly brings pork stew to help with milk production.

Infancy and Three's death: While Lan is a newborn, Three falls ill with tuberculosis and dies. The family quarantines in one room; the narrator and mother care for both Three and the infant Lan.

Flight from Zhucheng: The family flees the Communist advance. The mother stays behind with Lan and her two older sisters, Hai and Di, while the rest of the family departs.

Illness in Qingdao: The family takes shelter with Uncle Sen. All of them contract tuberculosis. Lan, under a year old, is hit hardest. The disease attacks her bones, leaving her legs permanently damaged.

Treatment and survival: The mother sells the ruby ring to pay for Lan's treatment. Lan responds well and survives, but her legs are permanently damaged. She can only crawl.

Hong Kong: The family travels to Hong Kong. Lan is carried by the mother, tied to her for relief from her weight.

Reunification in Taiwan: The family reunites with the father in Taiwan. Lan is two years old, frail, with a protruding belly from intestinal parasites. She does not remember her father and shrinks from him.

Later years: Hai, now a teacher in Taipei, saves money for Lan's leg surgery. Jia-Shen contributes the rest. The surgery is intended to straighten her legs, reduce her limp, and eliminate her pain.

Relationships

With her mother: Lan's relationship with her mother is the most significant. The mother's willingness to sell the ruby ring—her most precious possession—for Lan's treatment is a direct contrast to the family's refusal to spend money on Three's care. The mother's guilt over Three's death seems to fuel her determination to save Lan. She worries about Lan's future, telling Hai that Lan will never marry and that caring for her will be a lifelong burden.

With Hai (the narrator): Hai, as the eldest, takes on a protective role toward Lan. She alters her own shirts to fit Lan as the child grows. She promises herself that she will work and earn money to support Lan and her mother. Years later, she saves her teaching salary for Lan's surgery—a decision that shapes her own marriage negotiations, as she insists on keeping her job and wages so she can pay for Lan's care.

With her father: Lan's relationship with her father is marked by absence. He does not name her at birth. When the family reunites in Taiwan, Lan does not remember him and shrinks from him, intimidated by his presence.

Key Decisions and Consequences

The mother's decision to sell the ruby ring: This is the pivotal decision that saves Lan's life. The mother sells the ring on Qingdao's black market, uses the money for Lan's treatment, and buys a silkie chicken for nourishing soup. The consequence is Lan's survival—though with permanent leg damage. The sale also teaches Hai a lesson about the power of having one's own money: “I learned that money is irrelevant unless it is your own.”

Hai's decision to save for Lan's surgery: Hai's determination to pay for Lan's leg surgery shapes her marriage to Jia-Shen. She insists on keeping her job and controlling her wages, and Jia-Shen's willingness to contribute the remaining funds convinces her he is the right partner.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Lan functions as a symbol of the family's resilience and the mother's sacrifices. Her survival is bought at great cost—the ruby ring, the mother's breast milk lost to illness, the family's scarce resources. Her eventual surgery represents the family's ability to rebuild and invest in the next generation.

Lan's story also connects to the theme of gender discrimination and the devaluation of daughters. Her birth is met with disappointment; her father does not name her. Three's death—because the family would not spend money on a girl child—is the dark shadow over Lan's survival. The mother's willingness to sacrifice everything for Lan is a direct challenge to this devaluation.

Lan's disability and the family's flight connect to the theme of displacement and refugee survival. Her illness is contracted during the family's displacement in Qingdao, and her survival depends on the black-market economy of a city under siege.

The mother's sacrifices for Lan connect to the theme of maternal sacrifice and intergenerational legacy. The mother's decision to sell the ring echoes her broader sacrifices throughout the novel—from staying behind in Zhucheng to protect the property to enduring the flight with three daughters.

Lan's story also touches on memory, homeland, and identity in exile, as she grows up in Taiwan, a child of refugees who has no memory of her homeland.

Five Book-Specific Questions

1. How does Lan's survival contrast with Three's death, and what does this contrast reveal about the family's circumstances?

Three died of tuberculosis because the family refused to spend money on a girl child. Lan survived the same disease because her mother sold her ruby ring to pay for treatment. The contrast reveals a shift in the family's circumstances: in Zhucheng, the family had resources but refused to spend them on daughters; in Qingdao, the family had almost nothing but was able to make its own decisions about how to spend what little it had. As Hai reflects, “In Zhucheng we lived with so many resources, yet we were impotent... Yet, when push came to shove, we were able to protect our own.”

2. What does the mother's decision to sell the ruby ring reveal about her character?

The mother's decision reveals her willingness to sacrifice her most precious possession for her daughter's life. The ring was a gift from Hai, kept “tucked safely inside her bun, at the nape of her neck.” Selling it for Lan's treatment shows that the mother values her daughter's life above material wealth—a direct contrast to Nai Nai's attitude that a doctor's cost was not worth spending on a girl child.

3. How does Lan's disability shape the family's decisions about their future?

Lan's disability makes the mother worry about the family's long-term prospects. She tells Hai that Lan will never marry and that caring for her will be a lifelong burden. This concern drives Hai's determination to earn her own income and, later, her decision to save for Lan's surgery. The mother also believes the family must find the father in Taiwan partly because of the additional medical expenses Lan's condition will require.

4. What role does Hai play in Lan's care and recovery?

Hai is a devoted older sister. She alters her own shirts to fit Lan as the child grows. She promises herself that she will work and earn money to support Lan and her mother. Years later, as a teacher in Taipei, she saves her salary for Lan's leg surgery and insists on keeping her job and wages after marriage so she can pay for it. Jia-Shen's willingness to contribute the remaining funds is what convinces Hai he is her life partner.

5. How does Lan function as a symbol of the family's resilience?

Lan's survival—against the odds, bought at great cost—symbolizes the family's ability to endure and rebuild. Just as Three's death “unraveled the tapestry of our family,” Lan's survival “allowed us to see it in a new light.” Her eventual surgery represents the family's investment in the next generation and their refusal to give up on even their most vulnerable member.

For further exploration, see the book overview, the ending explained, and discussion questions.