In Wayson Choy’s novel The Jade Peony, Meiying is a bright girl whose forbidden relationship with Kazuo is continually impeded by racism. Meiying attempts to maintain this relationship but since she isn’t capable of coming to an equilibrium, the Chinese and Japanese teen couple living in Vancouver is forced to break up. Throughout the duration of the Second World War, the Canadian-Japanese are strongly discriminated against by the Canadian-Chinese. The “tall”, “elegant”, and “smart” (238) babysitter of Sek Lung that everyone in has come to love, experiences unbelievable hardship. Meiying tragically dies at the end of Choy’s novel.
Choy classifies Meiying as a bright, likable person, and someone who is filled with potential from Sek Lung’s