"Girls are made of water." This quote from the Chinese Classic The Dream of the Red Chamber defined me as a child. Growing up in southeast China, I was used to the continuous rainy seasons. Flooding rains immersed me in excessive sentimentality. I shed tears for fallen petals, for separation of couples in fictions, and for sufferings of people in war thousands of miles away. As I grew up, I became resentful of my water-like self. I felt guilty for...

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