A stunning part of Chapter of 28 is another example of how Pao you disregards feudal norms. Pao-Yu’s life motto seems to be “live and let live”. Xue Pan has a party attended by a Courtesan who is essentially high end escort. Normally, these woman are looked down upon society but Pao-Yu seems to not care about such societal restraints. Instead he speaks and makes merry with the woman even to the point of singing with her.
Later in the Chapter, Yu’an Chun sends presents to the house. This a normally happy occasion turns sour when Tai-Yu realizes that Pao-Yu and Pao-Chai were given identical presents. Pao-Yu then tries to give some his gifts to Tai-Yu who becomes very upset. She clearly sees how everyone in the family including Lady Wang and
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Upon attending a Taoist mass, The Chia family receives gifts animals and candles from the general. Futhermore, even the abbot has dressed up in special garb due to their attendance. The abbot then tells Grandmother that he is on the lookout for a perfect girl for Pao-Yu. Upon hearing another instance of scheming in his life Pao-Yu becomes really aggravated. Normally, the men would have no problem with this control of their life because it was customary. However, Pao-Yu’s dislike of Feudal norms, and his love for Tai-Yu causes him great …show more content…
What stuck with me most about their discussion was Pao-Yu stating that if Tai-Yu ever died he would become a monk. I found this very funny and sweet, because it shows how much Pao-Yu cares for Tai-Yu. Then, Pao-Yu does something that unintentionally brings Tai-Yu understandable joy, and Pao-Chai understandable anger. Pao-Yu essentially calls Pao-Chai fat. In ancient china Frailty was seen as marker of beauty, so Pao-Chai’s natural plumpness already puts her outside normal connections of beauty. However, Pao-Chai is still considered beautiful by those around her. Moreover, she has many other redeeming qualities outside her personal appearance that causes others to consider her as a very charming woman. One of these qualities is her ability to conceal her emotions and be humble, which is completely different from Tai-yu who took obvious pleasure in the insult of Pao-Chai. PaoChai utilizes her quick with to counter Pao-Yu’s comments and thus gains the upper hand in the banter. Apart from her hurtful sarcastic comments, Tai-Yu rarely ends an argument with such finesse. Pao-Chai’s demeanor here reminds me a of a disney quote, “a lady never starts a fight but she sure can finish one”.
Now Pao-Yu’s typical infideltlty rears its head again. Upon heading into his Lady Wang’s room, he beings to flirt with Chin-chuan and is caught by Lady Wang. Instead of punishing Pao-Yu lady wang berets and fires the
Chiu’s main conflict is between him and the police officers. After confronting the police he is accused of being a “saboteur” for “disrupting public order”. When actuality it was the police officers who “threw a bowl of tea” which started the incident. He is then further harassed at the police station buy another officer stating how Mr. Chiu “should be punished more” for being a “party member”. Even though he is being treated as such Mr. Chiu stays strong and holds his ground on not being guilty of the crimes he is being accused of. Towards the end of the story he finally gives in and admits to the crimes. He doesn’t overcome this obstacle at first because he admits to the crimes but he does get revenge. In the end Mr. Chui “dragged his lawyer from restaurant to restaurant near the police station” to spread his hepatitis in hopes of getting the officers
In the Jade Peony of Wayson Choy, poh-poh or the grandmama seems to be the most intriguing character. Her character is complex for her grandchildren who are the narrators of the novel and therefore complicated for the reader of the novel; but not so complicated for their neighbour Mrs. Lim or even Father and stepmother who are from the generation in between. Even though Poh-poh’s character is not the narrator, she is present throughout the story even after her death. In each of the three stories, she is mentioned, described, or quoted by the narrators. She has a huge impact on all narrators. Poh-poh like any other grandparent likes to teach her culture, traditions, and language to her grandchildren. The only difference is that her
In Six Records of a Floating Life, Shen Fu writes of his wife, “Yün came to this world a woman, but she had the feelings and abilities of a man.” (Fu: 89) Shen Fu and Yün considered each other to be intellectual equals. However, their relationship was still constrained within the gender roles set by their society. They lived during the Qing dynasty, which was a prosperous time for China (“The Manchus”: 266) but also a time when, as Professor Scarlett states in the lecture Daily Life in Imperial China, “the outside world was for men and the inside world was for women.” Shen Fu and Yün’s relationship was pushing the bounds of their culture, but they still kept (mostly) within the lines of social acceptability.
These Buddhist and Taoist principles mention are the backbone forming Li Mu Bai, but represents the basic antithesis to Jen Yu actions and reactions despite her skills of fighting. Instead of moving in harmony with the flow of chi she rebels against it. In the sequence there is a moment when they are both atop a bamboo stem and Jen Yu is trying hard to unbalance Li Mu Bai, but he looks at her with this pure innocent smile. He seems so calm and in balance with nature, because he and nature are both one. That affirms the Taoist and Buddhist beliefs. While, Jen Yu seems frustrated, unfocused, and unbalance.
But this is not necessarily the way it was perceived by the Chinese. There were plenty of unhappy women. However, there were also men who thought that the private (inner) life of the family was more desirable than the public life which they faced.
The marital conflicts between Ying-Ying and her husband was one of the marital conflicts that stood out. In the film her husband had been having an affair and one day he brought the lady home with him. It was like he wanted her to know he was having an
Amy Chua’s evolution seemed to involve her inherited identity. Confucianism is an aspect that is very present in the memoir. It is
Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.
In Confucianism, it was expected that a woman should always be correct in manner and upright in character, and that by following these traits, she could bring honor to her family. One of the first scenes in the beginning of the film has Mulan preparing to impress the matchmaker. During this process, the servants sing of the right traits a proper woman should possess, such as “calm” and “obedient”. For followers of Confucianism, woman must always speak appropriately and with respect, especially towards elders and men. In the movie, Mulan’s father walks outside of his home and is commanded by the emperor’s soldiers to join the war effort against the Huns. Concerned for the wellbeing of her father, Mulan talks back to the presumably older male soldiers, begging them to allow her father not to fight. Although Mulan does the exact opposite of what a Confucian follower should do, Chi-fu’s scolding towards Mulan’s father, as well as the latter’s disappointed reaction provides the movie with historical accuracy concerning the expectation of womanly behavior. A final example of the expectation of womanly behavior is the scene in the alps, when it is revealed to the soldiers that “Ping” has secretly been a woman all along. The reaction from the men is one of disgust and anger, which is a fit reaction because, according to Confucian values, women are supposed to work at
They despise her so much that they cannot wait for her to die, so they can bury her. Generations can only be passed on from father to son, which she is unable to deliver. Therefore, while Winnie is pregnant, her husband attempts to have sex with her again, in order to get enough sperm inside of her, through this, he will be assured that she will give birth to a boy. Wen Fu makes her apologize to him for trying to prevent him from employing such actions. In reality, he despises a baby girl because she will have to get married and sent off to their in-laws home to serve them, not her own family due to the fact that it is not the custom to keep your unmarried daughter in your house forever. Females are not considered the breadwinners or a part of the elderly support system, unlike the males. Moving on, at dinner, her husband and father-in-law get to their meals first. Winnie is only allowed to eat after she picks the food out of her father in law’s beard. Winnie blames mother-in-law for tending her son’s desires as if she is his servant because a woman has no right to be angry at her husband. She then thinks that it is wrong of her to blame her mother in law for her miseries, but that is how she is raised, to never criticize men or the society they rule or Confucius, who made the society. According to Confucius, a virtuous woman is one who entirely submits herself to the service of her husband. In regards to this, it is best for a
Since these wives were basically prostitutes under the guise of marriage, many people ignored the “taboo” and “deviant” nature of this version sex industry because it was difficult to understand. Vu Trong Phung not only clarified the structure of these marriages but also brought to light the dangers to the women. While highlighting the dangers, he also criticizes his own culture for essentially providing no other options for these women and then shunning them when they had enough (14). He even further objected to the condemnation of prostitutes by equivocating marrying for anything other than love was like receiving a life-long prostitute (14). By having these eccentric stories and radical beliefs, Vu Trong Phung was able to call attention to a subject no one wanted to talk about – let alone read
can get an idea for the respect most of the young people have for their elders. Tao and his sister show a great deal of respect to their mother and
Gender discrimination, such as sexism, are evident in, “The Jade Peony”. In Chinese cultures, pregnancy is an important but superstitious process in which mothers are fed herbal foods and drinks by their mother-in-laws to aid the pregnancy. Old timers tales describe things which the mother should avoid in order to not have something bad happen to the baby. For instance, rubbing the belly will make the child spoilt. In the beginning of The Jade Peony, Jook-Liang describes touching Stepmother 's "protruding tummy" (6). Later on in the novel, when Sekky is born, he is weak and gets all the attention from Poh-Poh. Furthermore, the importance of having a baby boy is a huge part of the Chinese tradition (hence the enforcement of the
In this time in China, the role that women and men had were very different from each other. Women were expected to be quite, obedient, and respectful. While men were the provider, the intellectual and the decision maker in the family. In Shen Fu and his wife, Yun marriage it started out like the typical relationship in eightieth century China, each one fulfilling the roles that society had in place for them. But as they became to know each other more, Shen Fu saw Yun real personality and wanted someone to experience life, so he started to encourage her to be herself and told her she didn’t have to live up to this gender stereotypes for women. They both were always
At the end of the story, Lae Choo is finally granted the paperwork to collect her son after ten harrowing months. However, her expectations of a perfect reunion would soon be crushed. As the caretaker walks Lae Choo to Kim, she discusses his behaviors at the mission nursery school. She mentioned how difficult he was to manage at first, but how “’children so soon forget, and after a month he seemed quite at home and played around as bright and happy as a bird’” (Far 1727). With this change of behavior, Far draws a parallel between Kim and the American rejection of Chinese culture. His difficult behavior when he arrived at the mission nursery could be seen as his retainment of Chinese culture. However, at the end, he is happy and is compared to a bright and