Two Kinds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show
A few times in last nights reading Ed Sullivan and The Ed Sullivan Show were referenced a few times. (p. 135, p.136, p. 139). The Ed Sullivan Show was a talk-show during the 60s that many people watched. Some historians consider the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show to be the beginning of the counterculture in 1960s America.

http://www.shirleytemple.com/
Shirley Temple was a child star and cultural icon for innocence and the ideal white child of the time period. She is important to the story because her mother wants her to "be a Chinese Shirley Temple" (p. 132) even though she is not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China_%281949%E2%80%931976%29
“She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls” (p. 132) In 1949 the China ‘fell’ and the Commies took power. It is possible that this is what caused the family to lose everything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nairobi

Jing was asked by her mother the capital of Finland. She guessed the most foreign word she could think of, and that was Nairobi. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya, but this was just a random guess. I’m guessing that this was probably not a coincidence and that it’ll become relevant later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream
The chapter opened with a paragraph about how the “mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America” (p. 132). The contents of this paragraph are a very good example of the idea of the American Dream.