Cici is the protagonist of Measuring Up. She lives in Taiwan at the start of the novel but quickly moves to the United States, where she has to learn to reconcile her Taiwanese identity with her life in America. At the beginning of the novel, she is hesitant to reveal Taiwanese customs to her friends. By the end of the novel, she comes to realize that she can be both Taiwanese and American.

Family is important to Cici, especially her relationship with her A-má, who is her father’s mother. Cici’s actions are driven by her statement—“as A-má made me a promise, I make a promise to myself that she will come for her birthday” (8).

She enters the cooking competition to buy A-má’s plane ticket. Through the competition, she also comes to learn more about herself during her first year in the United States. Therefore, the conflict that Cici experiences is a financial and practical one: Without the money from the cooking competition, there is no way for A-má to buy a plane ticket to visit Seattle. Additionally, the competition propels Cici’s growth.

Cici’s promise becomes the impetus for Cici to learn more about her passion for cooking, and to question what she would like to do in the future.