"Digging in China," by Michelle Yu describes the alienation and pain that came along with Michelle's childhood, when she was abandoned by her mother at a very young age. Michelle was born in Changzou, China, in 2000, the year of the Dragon. In Chinese culture, having a son on the year of he Dragon was something to be proud of. However, Michelle was a girl. Eventually, the police found a baby wrapped in a blanket, with a jade charm, and sitting at the gate of a police station. The memoir focuses on Michelle trying to piece together her past, and discover and resolve the issues she's had since childhood. 

Michelle's abandonment at a young age really stuck and affected her throughout her life. In the memoir, Michelle states, "I can't help but blame my birth mother, who not only took away my childhood, but also my ability to adjust to a home." With having to be raised in an orphanage, Michelle secluded and distanced herself away from many peers and friends, due to abandonment and trust issues. Eventually, Michelle decides to visit China once again, and begins roaming her old orphanage as well as the living conditions of the town she was in. She begins noticing how poor and poverty stricken the homes and families are and begins to wonder if her mother left her in order for her to support herself. Michelle begins wondering if she really would have been better off if her mother had taken care of her. Michelle begins wondering and the hard image that she had of her mother for 15 long years begins to dim. At the end of the piece, Michelle has acknowledged the fact that she might never get absolute answers or any form of proper closure, she realizes that "it doesn't matter if parts of my past were missing" and decided to focus on the future.