The Painted Veil

In my lecture, I offer an in-depth analysis on the scene in which Kitty ventures into Waddington’s house, crowded with exotic, strange objects: a time-worn gentleman-clock with his eyes quaintly rolling up and down, a caged bird, a caged cricket, a goldfish, a framed female portrait adorned in the Renaissance attire, and at last the half-naked Chinese lady, taking a bath with a white mouse in her hands.  The camera, following Kitty’s steps, tracks these objects close-up to epitomize Walter’s and Kitty’s toilsome journey, both literally and metaphorically.  The tracking scene contains no dialogue and is tinged with exotic Chinese Opera music until the Chinese lady breaks the silence, uttering in Chinese, “The mouse can speak” (translation mine). What do you make of the symbolic significance of these objects in The Painted Veil?