[Joy Chao]

This past week really was a feast to me. Even though I grew up in an Asian-centered culture, there is still so much to know and to learn. I’ve been teaching Chinese for 10+ years and the topics related to Chinese culture has always been a big focus, especially for my upper levels.

One of the most interesting pieces I read this week was the piece by Ban Zhao. I thought it was very interesting to analyze the relationship between men and women and the certain lessons that women back then (and to a certain extent even today) must follow in order to be a “good wife.” These restrictive rules and regulations on women can also be seen in the other presentations that were given throughout the week as well. Foot binding not only physically restricted women but also emotionally relegated them as inferior and incapable. While this is no longer practiced today, foot binding is only a part of the long-lasting tradition of suppressing women. Cosmetic surgery, especially in South Korea, has now also shifted the ways in which women perform and embody social standing. These “normative beauty standards” are a double-edged sword: conforming to these norms can be seen as restrictive practices forced onto women, but on the other hand, the results of these surgeries can end up empowering women.

Regardless, we cannot discount the Western ideology that has also been imposed on all of us. When it comes to evaluating Asian culture and practices, we cannot relegate these cultures as and apply Western thought onto these evaluations, rather, we should view the many cultures and ideologies from an objective standpoint. This is not to discount the many rights that democracy provides us, but to show that these privileges and norms we deem as “inherent” were not even introduced back when foot binding or Ban Zhou’s piece were written.

In the end, I feel that I am armed with more knowledge and understanding about East Asian culture overall. I will definitely incorporate these lessons into my teachings and help my students learn more about the different cultures and standpoints that have been passed down from generation to generation. I find that many of these teachings are still prevalent today, even as the times have changed.

[Joy Chao]

I wasn’t very clear about the “picture bride” until today after visiting the Japanese American National Museum. The practice started in the early 20^th century of immigrant workers in Hawaii and the west coast of the US. These workers selected their brides from their native countries through a matchmaker, who paired up couples of similar backgrounds by using only photographs. Women came to Hawaii and the US as the picture brides for various reasons; some to escape familial duties, some for economic reasons some came here to seek freedom. Some women even doing so because “it was a trend at that time so I just joined the crowd.” I felt this was an even more simplified version of matchmaking because all agreements were only based on the photographs. Per our docent, some brides went back to their native countries, but the majority of marriage did work out at the end. I think it must be a lot of hardship and homesickness initially and I wonder if these women felt they were there more as a workers than wives.

[Joy Chao]

When people heard about the word “culture” center, most would immediately link it to something old or outdate. It is definitely not the Korean culture center we visited today. Besides the exhibitions of traditional Korean housing, clothing/textile, musical instruments and writing, there’re also other activities that attract the younger generation – Kpop academy, story time and language class. I also enjoy reading the pamphlets introducing different areas of Korea. Such a fantastic way to get people interested in visiting Korea.

[Joy Chao]

Hi Zoey, I was also thinking about what you mentioned in your last paragraph. When we emphasize something so much, it clearly signals that it’s a focus or an issue. I remember once watching Shark Tank and this girl trying to sell her new intention called “Girls can code” and she explained why her toy is needed for girls out there “because coding has always the guys’ thing.” I don’t know if such trick is attracting more attention from the girls or doing the exact opposite. When we keep on saying “equal pay,” that means pays are still not equal; but by not saying it it doesn’t make the problem go away. You asked a very good question at the end and I wish we could get Prof. Tran’s insight on this one.

[Joy Chao]

Kawase's TED talk really was an amazing one. I will always remember what she said about why she fell in love with making movies; "movies let us cross oceans, and let us share our emotions." We can't go back in time, but by looking at the flims we made, those moments can come back to us. It's like a time machine, as she put it. What seems to be just reocordings of ordinary lives turned into a lasting memory. 

[Joy Chao]

Hi Monica, I share the same sentiment with you. I moved here from Taiwan for college and later grad school, then eventually stayed here to work and started a family. Like you, I would sacrifice my happiness for my children and parents. Being here for 20+ years I still find it hard to get past many of my upbringing from the Chinese society. Even though we don’t have an underlying rule that children should not move away from their parents, but we know the parents would always prefer to see their children settle down close by. I think our family values really shape who we are, regardless how old we become and where we are.

[Joy Chao]

Prof. Wang use the picture of a pair of chopsticks and another picture of fork and knife to explain the relationship between men (Yang) and women (Yin). The Chopsticks is to represent “complement” as you need to make the two sticks work together in order to pick up food. Unlike the chopsticks, a fork and a knife work “against” each other in order to cut up a piece of food before one can eat it. I thought this is a rather interesting way to explain the relationship between yin and yang. On another note, chopsticks are a symbol of the Chinese culture, not only are they used as a eating utensil, they also have many symbolistic meanings to the Chinese. Here’s a YouTube video with English sub and maybe it can be of use if you were to use “chopsticks” to introduce a Chinese symbol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlqGAn9vVmk

[Joy Chao]

“The battle hymn of tiger mom” by Amy Chua was a sensation when it came out in 2011. It quickly became a hot topic of discussion about the Chinese and Western way of raising children. I use excerpts of this book and videos of Chua, as well as interview clips with Chua’s daughter for my AP Chinese class for the topic of education, and it always strikes up deep and reflective discussions from my students. Here’s the link if you want to know more about this book http://battlehymnofthetigermother.com/

[Joy Chao]

This is one of the stories that I share with my students when teaching about Confucianism and related stories. Mencius, a famous scholar and philosopher and often refereed to as the “second sage” of Confucianism. Long story short, he was only 3 when his dad died so he was raised by his mom. When Mencius was little he takes a like to imitate others’ behaviors around him. Next to his house there was a

cemetery where there’re people perform funeral ceremonies, so Mencius starts to perform the same ritual at home, his mom stops him by moving to another town. This time there’s a market nearby, so Mencius starts to act like merchants that peddling on the street. This angers his mom again so she decides to move next to a school and finally she sees what she wants to see - Mencius goes to school and study and of course, eventually became a scholar just like what the mom wished him to be. This story touches up a few aspects we can point out; a woman’s role in the society, a mother’s devotion to her child’s education, and the child being filial by fulfilling his mother’s wish. Some of my students wonder what the mom would do if the school shuts down, how many more time she would be willing to move throughout her life time, and if the mom eventually died of neurasthenia – just some funny questions that students raised for a laugh 🙂

[Joy Chao]

The 125 stories compiled by Liu Xiang seems to set an extremely high standards for women across all cultures. While one’s characters, internal powered and talent can be nurtured, physical beauty is by luck. Confucian ideals for womanhood clearly define a woman’s place is at her material home, being a filial daughter to her father, later to her husband’s home to be a dutiful wife and a mother. Her contribution is not for economy or politics in the society but in an indirect way by assisting the men throughout her life. By current standards this is completely unfair; a book of stories that tells women how to think and what to follow at that time. Even for me, born and raised in the Chinese society in the late 70s, is too much for me. I’m curious to know what you think for those who were born and raised here or in a different culture.   

[Joy Chao]

Hi Kimberly, a good observation that you point out about school rules. Growing up in Taiwan, which is very much the same as most Asian countries where obeying authority and rules is the norm, I can completely understand why the teacher/narrator simply go with what is given to hey by the school. I remember back to the days when I was a student there, questioning a teacher or the rule is seen as inappropriate and disrespectful; the parents are also expected to abide by these rules, even though they might find them questionable. Challenging authority is simply not acceptable back in those days. Nowadays it has changed but only to a certain degree, but following the rules is still highly expected and appraised. There's good and bad in it the way I see it. Too much of anything usually turns into something negative. 

[Joy Chao]

I also enjoy reading this short story. I made a mistake myself that years ago, I had a boy in my Chinese 1 who always fell asleep during class, well actually, more like he came to school to sleep because this happened in all of his other classes as well. I talked to him a few times and he always says “sorry I’m just tired.” At that time I made the conclusion that he’s just “one of those lazy students” who doesn’t care about learning. But, one thing puzzles me is that he always finishes his homework on time and his writing is quite good, so it doesn’t really fit into the type. His sleepiness pattern lasted the first few weeks of school until the day of back to school night, I saw his parents coming in with him dragging 3 other young children, age between 3-7 or so. While his parents sitting in the classroom, he was with his younger siblings outside and I could hear him telling them to be quiet and behave. The next day after class I found a chance to talk to him, he bashfully told me that everyday after school, he had to rush home to help his parents take care of his siblings because both of his parents work at the restaurant until late at night. He also had to put them to bed and wait until they fall asleep before he can finally start with his homework. I don’t need to tell you how bad and ashamed I felt. Too often we come to a conclusion too fast. I’ve learned from this experience to never put a label on any of my students until I get to the bottom of it. 

[Joy Chao]

I also found her smile to be awkward, or fake, even. I wonder if it was a social norm for the women to always wear a smile at that time, or it was the intention of the director, asking his cast to put up a front of artificial happiness, as a reflection of post-war spirit? I noticed there were quite a lot of contradictions in the film - the smile you mentioned, the traditional tea ceremony vs. coca cola & British shortcake, life vs. death (Noriko's mom), women wearing kimonos vs western dress, old men getting married vs. young women getting divorced; however, Ozu combined all of this in the film but it was harmoniously presented in one. 

[Joy Chao]

I was moved by the part in which Noriko’s father giving her the reasons why she should get married. He keeps on emphasizing the importance of giving her best to make her marriage work and not to expect immediately happiness, because “happiness comes through the couple’s effort in their marriage.” He uses his own marriage with Noriko’s mom as example, how she had to put up with him at first but they were able to work on their differences throughout their marriage to achieve happiness. Throughout his last “lecture” for his daughter, there was no outrageous emotions; no confrontation, no arguments whatsoever. When Noriko took a knee in her wedding gown, thanking her father for all these years raising her, I noticed that the father helps Noriko get up by holding her left hand, and lightly pat on her back, all these take place within only 3 seconds. This is the only part that I noticed that they have some kind of bodily contact. Again it was very subtle and almost unnoticeable, but I think this gesture express more than words. A father’s love for his daughter may be lack of words, but it runs deep and lasts forever. I think this film is one of the best representations of such affection I’ve seen.

[Joy Chao]

There were an additional of 12 lessons later added onto the existing 24 filial piety stories so it became "the 36 filial piety stories." I remember reading these stories growing up in Taiwan and it was one of the required readings in elementary school. These stories in the books are usually accompanied with colorful pictures depicting the filling sons (and a few daughters) with their aging and ailing parents. Without knowing they’re aquiring one of the most important virtues in the Chinese society, children learn the concept of filing piety through reading these stories with vivid description and drawings as they would with any other fictional stories. As you can see the importance of being filial is a must in the Chinese society, you don't even question it as it is a way of life, very much the same here in the US where we emphasize the importance of being independent. Being filial make you an acceptable member of the society and those who aren't are being frowned upon and harshly criticized by all. 

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