.
Suyuan had also told her daughter about the soldier who had come to her house in Kweilin. He told her she must flee at once to avoid the atrocities of the Japanese invaders. She quickly packed a few belongings and left with her two small children. Little by little, she was forced to abandon her .
belongings. Eventually, she left her children behind as well, hoping they would be spared. Jing-Mei was shocked. She had never heard her mother's tragic story and had never known about her abandoned sisters. .
Honoring her father's wish, Jing-Mei travels to An-Mei's house to attend a meeting of the Joy Luck Club. It begins with the reading of the minutes, then, as An-Mei prepares the food, the other women gossip. After supper, they play mahjong. .
As she is about to leave, Jing-Mei is approached by some of the women in the group. They give her $1200 to travel to China. They explain that her mother's lifelong dream had been to locate her lost twin daughters. Because of her efforts, the daughters have been located. They want Jing- Mei to go and meet them, for it would answer Suyuan's dream.
This opening chapter is very significant, for it explains the meaning of the book's title and introduces several of the themes. Jing-Mei explains how her mother, Suyuan, started the first Joy Luck Club in Kweilin, China. Then when she came to America in 1949, she began another Joy Luck Club .
in San Francisco. Although Jing-Mei knows little about the club, she states that the Chinese women who belong meet together to play mahjong, gossip, share their oriental culture, and support one another. .
Key themes are also established in this chapter. The first is the pain caused by lack of communication. Jing-Mei and her mother, Suyuan, often have difficulty communicating. Being very traditional, Suyuan is extremely proud of her Chinese heritage and fights to keep it in place. Jing-Mei, born and raised in America, does not understand or care about the old customs and is embarrassed by her mother's .
