Alone Like Me

Culture Notes PDF

Alone Like Me by Rebecca Evans depicts the loneliness of a Chinese girl who moves to Shanghai with her migrant worker parents. The narrative is deeply rooted in China’s national conditions: the rural-urban divide, the household registration (hukou) policy (pronounced Hoo-Kouh), the one-child policy, and migrant worker culture. The book’s core cultural backdrop is China’s rapid urbanization and the struggles of rural families seeking a better life in large cities.

The protagonist’s sense of alienation stems not from linguistic barriers but from the invisible boundaries imposed by China’s hukou policy—a household registration system that divides residents into rural and urban categories and determines access to education, healthcare, housing, and social welfare. Originating in the 1950s, the policy was designed to control population flow. As China urbanized rapidly in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the policy created a “floating population” of migrant workers who live and work in cities without urban hukou, leaving their children marginalized.

China’s one-child policy, implemented from 1979 to 2015, limited most Chinese families to one child. For rural families, the policy drove parents to seek higher-paying jobs in cities while leaving children with relatives in the countryside (as “left-behind children”) or bringing them to cities where they had no legal status and could not attend school. The protagonist’s loneliness is amplified by being an only child—without siblings to rely on, she must navigate the unfamiliar urban environment alone.

I was also born in the Chinese countryside. However, unlike the girl in the book, I have two younger brothers who were born outside the policy. This was quite common in rural China, especially when the first-born child was not a boy. According to traditional beliefs, only a son carries the family name and lineage, while daughters marry into other families.

The book depicts Chinese zodiac culture effectively by connecting the girls with the dragon and tiger. Although Evans does not explicitly link the animals to the girls’ zodiac signs, readers may naturally make that association, as these are two powerful zodiac symbols in Chinese belief. When the girls write to each other—“We can be fierce tigers and CHOMP their words,” “We can be mighty dragons roaring over the clouds”—they symbolically resist the bullying of city children. For reference, the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, in the order in which they appear, are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Each animal is believed to possess both positive and negative traits.

At the heart of the narrative is the experience of rural migrant workers in China, a demographic that has fueled the country’s economic growth yet often faces social exclusion. Migrant workers typically take low-wage, labor-intensive jobs in cities such as Shanghai, living in cramped housing on the urban fringe. Their children, known as “migrant children,” often cannot attend public schools because of hukou restrictions. Instead, they usually attend informal migrant schools with limited resources, which further isolates them from urban peers. In the book, the girls do not attend school but follow their parents to the factory every day. This is probably uncommon in China, especially nowadays. If parents cannot provide education in the city, they often leave children with grandparents in rural areas, contributing to the “left-behind children” phenomenon. Alternatively, they try to enroll them in charity schools established by volunteers. In Beijing, there was once a well-known charity school called Tongxin Shiyan Xuexiao (同心实验学校), built by hundreds of volunteers and serving children whose parents worked as cleaners, security guards, construction workers, or vendors. However, the school was later declared illegal and ordered to close. In September 2020, it was shut down and transformed into a children’s activity center.

The book’s depiction of discrimination and bullying by city children feels realistic. Although I was not a migrant child, when I left my village to attend high school in the city, I felt the gap between myself and my city-born classmates. I was not familiar with the popular singers, athletes, or video games they discussed, and I often felt alone. It is meaningful that the girls in the story find each other, share similar experiences, exchange notes, and play together. However, their living conditions appear better than those of most migrant workers I have known. Migrant workers commonly live in shantytowns—old residential buildings, private houses in older districts, “urban villages,” or suburban areas. Many families in Beijing lived in dark, damp rooms of less than ten square meters.

The tall, orderly apartment buildings shown in the book do exist—for example, there are dormitories in Shanghai designed for migrant workers. These typically house four to eight people per room, provide shared bathrooms, prohibit cooking, and include service facilities such as a canteen and management office. I have not visited a Shanghai dormitory, but as a journalist and later a literature teacher at a vocational school providing free education for migrant workers’ children in Beijing, I visited several crowded migrant living areas. Although the protagonist’s family appears to live better than many migrant workers, and they remain together as a family, they still cannot be happy in an unfair society.

In summary, the book captures a pivotal moment in China’s urbanization, reflecting the real-life struggles of millions of migrant children grappling with identity, belonging, and loneliness in a rapidly changing society. Its cultural significance lies in humanizing this marginalized group and revealing the hidden costs of China’s development, as well as the universal desire for connection amid displacement. When a narrative engages deeply with historical and social authenticity, it is challenging for creators without lived experience to depict it fully and accurately.

Author: Huan Li, Chinese children’s literature specialist, writer and teacher of children’s literature

2026

Chinese resources

Cui, Shuo 崔硕, and Wen Simin 文思敏. “热点 | ‘流动’儿童，卡在城乡之间. (“Migrant” Children Caught Between Urban and Rural China, author’s translation).” 中国发展简报 (China Development Brief). June 2, 2023. https://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn/news/detail/24668.html.

Li, Qi 李齐. “农民工居住报告：上海②｜集体宿舍、棚户区与群租房.( Housing Report on Migrant Workers in Shanghai (Part II): Collective Dormitories, Shantytowns, and Subdivided Rental Housing, author’s translation)” 中国发展简报(ChinaDevelopment Brief ). May 8, 2018. https://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn/news/detail/18603.html.

Zhao, Junjie 赵军洁. “中国户籍制度改革历程回顾、改革估价和趋势判断(A Review of the Reform Process of China’s Household Registration System, an Evaluation of Its Outcomes, and Future Trend Analysis, author’s translation).” 中华人民共和国国家发展和改革委员会(National Development and Reform Commission). June 28, 2022. https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/wsdwhfz/202206/t20220628_1328962.html.

Curriculum Connections PDF

Appropriate for Grades: Grades 1-8.                   Best for Grades: Grades 1-6

Introduction to the Book

Alone Like Me features beautiful watercolor images, and the main characters are illustrated as pops of bright colors. Overtly, the plot is rather simple, yet it carries undertones of much larger themes. For young readers, the book would work well as a mini-unit. For middle grades, the book could serve as an introduction to bigger units that explore themes of rural-urban divides, empathy, socioeconomic limiting factors, children and factories, and China’s Hukou system.

Teacher’s Note: The one-page author’s note at the back offers an excellent introduction to some of the underlying themes in the book and should be read in advance to help guide productive conversations during and after the reading.

Best Matched Curricular Unit Themes 

• Watercolor and Contrast (Art)
• Friendship and Empathy (English)
• Rural-Urban Identity (English/Social Studies)
• Factories and Children (English/Social Studies)

Essential Questions

• How does one find one’s place when “home” is relocated?
• How can societies support relocated families with limited funds?
• Why is friendship essential?

Front and Back Matter

The author uses every single page to add information and enrich the reading experience. Where there are often blank pages, she instead enriches the reading experience with the following:

Inside Front Cover: Illustration of rural landscape with rice terraces

Glossary and Pronunciation Guide : Very useful; note that the family is shown boarding a bus on a dirt road.

Title Page: Note that the family is shown exiting the train at a stop in Shanghai.

Author’s Note (in the back): Introduction to the origins of the story idea and research

Inside Back Cover: Illustration of Shanghai cityscape along the Huangpu River

Suggested Activities

Character Matching. Liling (pronounced: Lee-ling) writes a note translated as, “Ni hao, I am Liling.” Her note is also written in Chinese characters. Have students draw lines from each Chinese character to the translated word they think it matches.

Answers: 你好 (ni hao)，我 (I) 是 (am) 莉玲 (Liling)。

Clues for Translation. Examine Liling’s second note (“Your yellow coat…friend Liling.”). Since it is longer, it is much harder to figure out which words match their translated equivalents. As a class, try to use different context clues (repetition, position in the note, etc.) to find the Chinese character for “yellow.”  (Answer: 黄)

Writing Chinese. Liling writes, “我是 莉玲,” and then Qiqi (pronounced: Chee-chee) writes, “我是 琪琪.”  So the characters for “I am” are “我是.”  Students can try writing, “我是 [their names].”

Drawing Landscapes. Liling and Qiqi both draw the landscapes near their homes. Have students try drawing the land around their homes, even if they live in a city.

Red Ginger Flowers and Notes in a Can. Have students pair up. As a class, have the pairs of students find pictures of red ginger flowers and then discuss the following: Do you agree that Liling looks like a Red Ginger Flower? If your best friend were a flower, what kind of flower would he be? Try drawing the flower you choose and then writing your friend’s name under it.

As a class, set up cans with strings attached (the way Liling and Qiqi do it in the book), and send notes to one another using the cans.

Zodiac Animals. Qiqi draws a yellow and orange tiger to accompany her, and Liling draws a red and pink dragon for herself. It is possible that these animals represent the zodiac signs associated with each girl’s birth year. Have students find their own zodiac animals and then draw them using their favorite color.

Research. The author’s note at the back of the book provides six websites, but many of the links are no longer working. Children could explore the websites listed below and share what they learn in a jigsaw activity. (Note: a jigsaw activity is one in which students gather information on different topics, sometimes in small groups, and then share what they have learned to the entire class in order to piece together the bigger picture)

• For older students, the film Last Train Home by director Lixin Fan (2011) would be an excellent addition to the unit after this research (https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/lasttrainhome).
• Child Friendly Factory Spaces (https://studio-anrikevisser.com/child-friendly-factory-spaces-in-china/)
• PBS Newshour: Chinese Children Left Behind (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/millions-of-chinese-children-fend-for-themselves-when-parents-must-follow-work-far-away)
• CNN World: China Raises Left-Behind Children (https://www.cnn.com/2014/02/04/world/asia/china-children-left-behind/index.html)
• China Briefing: Shanghai Hukou (https://www.china-briefing.com/news/china-hukou-system-shanghai-benefits-eligibility-application-process)

Suggested Discussion Questions/Writing Prompts

• BEFORE reading. The book is titled Alone Like Me. Why do you think the author gave it this title?
• Liling says, “My parents can’t afford to pay for school here in the crowded city.” Why do you think school would be too expensive for her?
• When Liling goes to work with her Mama and Baba, how do her parents look at her differently from how the other workers react to her?
• Did you see anything at the market that Liling visits that is different from the markets you visit?
• After first seeing the smiling girl wearing yellow, Liling looks for her everywhere she goes. Why do you think Liling tries so hard to find her again?
• There is a two-page illustration where Liling looks out over the city from her balcony. Describe what you see. How does the view make you feel? Why?
• Why do you think Liling wears red and Qiqi wears yellow? (Note: red and yellow or gold are traditionally paired as auspicious colors in Chinese culture.)
• Why do the kids at the park behave unkindly in both words and actions toward Liling?
• Is Liling’s dragon illustrated as a scary dragon? How is the dragon similar or different from dragons you have seen in other stories?
• AFTER reading. The book is titled Alone Like Me. Why do you think the author gave it this title?

Author:  Josh Foster, educator and learner, Instructor of Film Studies and English Literature, A. Mario Loiederman Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Maryland

2023