Chang Fu Nan Character Analysis in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Chang Fu Nan is Chang the coffin maker’s fourth son. The Chang family originally arranges for Fu Nan to marry LuLing. However, they rescind the offer after Precious Auntie’s suicide, fearing that her ghost will haunt their family if LuLing marries into it. After the Lius send LuLing to live in an orphanage, the Changs arrange for Fu Nan to marry LuLing’s sister, GaoLing. Fu Nan is an incompetent opiate addict, and GaoLing is so miserable being married to him that she eventually runs away to live with LuLing at the orphanage. After the war, GaoLing puts further distance between Fu Nan and herself by emigrating to the United States. LuLing remains in Hong Kong and encounters Fu Nan several times as she waits for GaoLing to send for her. During these encounters, Fu Nan threatens to publicly announce the fact that GaoLing and LuLing aren’t really sisters, which would jeopardize GaoLing’s ability to sponsor LuLing’s visa. He also threatens to alert American officials to the fact that he and GaoLing are still legally married, which would compromise her ability to become an American citizen by marrying Edmund Young. However, Fu Nan’s incompetence and debilitating drug addiction ensure that he never actually acts on these threats.

Chang Fu Nan Character Timeline in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

The timeline below shows where the character Chang Fu Nan appears in The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Memory, Culture, and the Past Theme Icon

...by the Changs and bringing honor to her family. Though she hasn’t met the Changs’ fourth son , she knows he is only two years older than her and apprentices in the... (full context)

...fixes her sister a meal, and GaoLing fills her in on her life. She and Fu Nan , her husband, have been living in Peking. They have no children. The Changs now... (full context)

GaoLing continues, explaining how she managed to find her way to the orphanage. Fu Nan , who is an opium addict, ordered her to go to Immortal Heart to demand... (full context)

...and Sister Yu hunched over a letter from the “Japanese Provisional Military Police,” addressed to Chang Fu Nan , informing him of his wife’s arrest. The letter claims that GaoLing confessed to the... (full context)

...later to begin work as Sister Yu’s assistant, she informs LuLing and Sister Yu that Fu Nan told nobody about the letter and ran off to join the army instead. She also... (full context)

...war but receives inconclusive feedback. GaoLing gets a more definitive answer the following afternoon, when Fu Nan returns to the ink shop. Fu Nan is still addicted to opium and informs GaoLing... (full context)

...opportunity to escape, but she ultimately feels happy that GaoLing will be able to escape Fu Nan Chang . She decides to accept whatever her New Destiny has in store for her. Three... (full context)

...LuLing up on things back home in China: Father was furious when he learned that Fu Nan lost the Peking ink business. Meanwhile, Chang refuses to criticize his son’s actions, reasoning that... (full context)

...LuLing is in town to buy a new bird cage for Cuckoo, she runs into Fu Nan Chang , who looks horrible: his eyes are discolored, and he’s missing an entire hand. Fu... (full context)

LuLing writes GaoLing that night and informs her of Fu Nan ’s threat, wanting her that he might try to alert the American authorities to the... (full context)

One day, Fu Nan stops appearing. LuLing wonders if he has died. The following week, LuLing receives GaoLing’s response... (full context)

...of the Changs. GaoLing scowls at the thought of her former in-laws and recalls that Fu Nan had likely died around 1960, and Chang had been publicly executed by the Communists nearly... (full context)