Sister Yu Character Analysis in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Sister Yu is one of the teachers at the orphanage where LuLing lives after Mother banishes her from the Liu home. She is a small, bossy, and opinionated woman who has a habit of mocking the orphans she supervises, many of whom have physical disabilities. Sister Yu loathes self-pity and believes there is always someone whose situation is worse than one’s own. Sister Yu’s impoverished childhood has made her resilient but not particularly gentle or compassionate. Still, LuLing admires Sister Yu’s strength and partially names Ruth after her (Ruth’s full name is Ruth Luyi Young).

Sister Yu Character Timeline in The Bonesetter’s Daughter

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

In addition to Teacher Pan, the monastery also employees Teacher Wang and Sister Yu . The missionary women’s names are Miss Grutoff and Miss Towler, who is the orphanage’s... (full context)

...the orphanage. Her least favorite job is sweeping the floors and cleaning the chapel, since Sister Yu is constantly overcritical of her efforts. One day, Sister Yu tasks LuLing with removing the... (full context)

...Kai Jing informs LuLing that the Japanese are nearby Peking and that war is imminent. Sister Yu tells her the Japanese have captured the Marco Polo bridge. (full context)

Sister Yu initially objects to GaoLing staying there. She says that her own sister was married to... (full context)

Later, LuLing returns to her room to find GaoLing and Sister Yu in the midst of what appears to be a fiery argument. Eventually, LuLing realizes they’re... (full context)

A few days later, LuLing walks in on GaoLing and Sister Yu hunched over a letter from the “Japanese Provisional Military Police,” addressed to Chang Fu Nan,... (full context)

...next week. When she returns to the orphanage a month later to begin work as Sister Yu ’s assistant, she informs LuLing and Sister Yu that Fu Nan told nobody about the... (full context)

...She hopes they won’t come, but they do, bringing many extended family members with them. Sister Yu thinks it’s rude of the family to abandon LuLing at the orphanage and only return... (full context)

...Kai Jing bring the delicacies they buy to Teacher Pan’s sitting room in the evenings. Sister Yu , Dong, and Chau join them, and Teacher Pan plays records on his phonograph. LuLing... (full context)

...LuLing reminds herself that she should also care for Teacher Pan and her students. Ultimately, Sister Yu is most convincing: she tells LuLing that she won’t be able to join Kai Jing... (full context)

...and LuLing live in the backroom of the old ink shop, and Teacher Pan and Sister Yu eventually join them. Meanwhile, Chang—the man LuLing now knows killed her father and grandfather—owns the... (full context)

That afternoon, Sister Yu leaves for the medical school and informs them that Miss Grutoff has been released from... (full context)

...other is studying to become a dentist. Soon after this, LuLing receives a letter from Sister Yu informing her that she’s better off not returning to Peking, for China’s civil war situation... (full context)

...around 1960, and Chang had been publicly executed by the Communists nearly a decade before. Sister Yu ultimately became a high-ranking leader in the Communist Party, and Teacher Pan received an award... (full context)