After a brief detour as a dentist, she is now grateful to spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. When she’s not writing, you can find her on the curling ice, where she and her husband are world-ranked in mixed doubles.
Chao applied the Page 69 Test to When You Wish Upon a Lantern and reported the following:
From page 69:Visit Gloria Chao's website and Twitter perch.I fill our teacups, and Liya taps the table twice with three fingers to thank me. It’s a tradition my family doesn’t do, but I’ve noticed that all the Huangs do it. The story goes that Qianlong, the emperor of the Qing dynasty, once traveled in disguise to observe his subjects. After he poured tea for his companions, custom dictated they should bow to him in thanks, but they couldn’t do this without blowing his cover. So instead, they tapped three fingers on the table, with two fingers representing prostrated arms and the third representing a bowed head. Now the tap translates to a silent thank-you to the person who pours tea. I believe it stems from Cantonese culture, and since Liya’s mother’s side is from Hong Kong, I’m guessing the tradition started with her and was picked up by her nainai and father too, even though they’re Taiwanese.This test works somewhat for my book. This is actually an important scene, but there isn’t enough context set up from just reading this page. However, it is a good representation of the book in that When You Wish Upon a Lantern features some of my favorite Chinese traditions, food, holidays, and folk tales, and you get a small taste of the first two here.
While sipping steaming teacups of oolong, Liya and I brainstorm ideas until Mr. Chen explodes up to our table with fanfare, clapping his hands and doing a little dance. From behind him, Jack appears with a glistening Peking duck.
Liya and I exchange excited glances.
What’s actually happening in this section is that Liya and Kai have recently resumed their friendship after several months apart, and Liya has just confided in Kai that her family’s wishing lantern store is struggling. Together, they’re brainstorming ideas for how to increase revenue, part of which will be them teaming up to grant the wishes of the store’s customers in secret. This was a practice Liya had done with her beloved grandma until she passed away six months before the story began. And since Nainai was also family to Kai, he is the perfect person for Liya to resume the tradition with. By letting him in on this secret, she’s opening her heart up again. Soon, sparks will fly and Liya will realize she has a secret wish of her own that she doesn’t know how to grant—to be with Kai.
The Page 69 Test: American Panda.
--Marshal Zeringue
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