Just finished reading this book...Afraid to be Chinese by a local author Xin-Mei.
I was expecting it to be more about the the stigma on the Filipino-Chinese in the Phils like kidnappings but it is different. It's about the Tsinay and her issues growing up, including not having a birthday and inheriting slave girls to arranged marriages. However I was recently told a lot of the contents are not anymore true. I spoke with a few chinese ladies (2nd generation) who were born here but whose parents migrated from China and they said that slave girls are not true (at least not since the 2nd world war.) Then even if your birthday falls on a different date on the gregorian calendar every year, it is always celebrated unlike what is said in the story (bec the date on the lunar calendar is permanent.) And you are not forced to marry or give away your child to a childless sibling if you do not consent. However, the rest of the stories, like growing up in a private all-girls school, exchanging letters with boys, these I think were typical. Still, I think it's nice for someone to write about being a Tsinay.