Jing-mei sees her sisters as she enters the terminal. At first, they look just like her mother. Later, she sees no trace of her mother — yet the women still look familiar. She sees in them the part of her that is Chinese. Her father takes a picture of the three girls; they look at the Polaroid photograph, and they see that together, they all look like their mother.
This highly emotional ending to the novel is based on a true incident from Tan's life. In 1987, Tan visited her half-sisters in China. At the time, her mother suffered from a dangerous heart condition and had recently suffered an attack of angina. Tan wanted to find out more about her heritage while her mother was still alive. The trip was a turning point in Tan's life. She explained her reaction in a July 4, 1989, interview in the New York Times. For the first time, Tan "felt a sense of completeness, like having a mother and a father," she said. "It was instant bonding," she continued. "There was something about this country that I belonged to. I found something about myself that I never knew was there." Her fictional creation, Jing-mei, shares the same reaction.
Through her meeting with her half-sisters, Jing-mei finds her heritage, her identity. At first, she is startled that her half-sisters look so much like her mother. Then she sees that there is no real resemblance at all. Finally, she realizes what makes them look so familiar lies beneath mere facial features. It lies deep in the blood. This theme reaches its climax in the final image of the book. It is only when the three sisters are together that they look like their mother. They share "her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish." Their mother's name — "Long-Cherished Wish" — has become truth.
