Relative to “Fifth Chinese Daughter” the general plot is noticeably similar: a first generation Canadian-Chinese girl looking to find approval from her overbearing parents while seeking her own happiness and success. However, here is where both depart vastly from each other. While Jade Snow Wong seeks success in Academia and later business, which her father feigned disapproval: more like a wait and see attitude. However, Jade Li pursues fame as an actor with her parents extreme disapproval, even lying to their families and friends. Part of the dissimilarities amount to different times. Jade Snow Wong grew up in the WWI/WWII era while Jade Li grew up during the 80s/90s and was able to get away with more. The documentary shows that acting and being in show business was more taboo, and although this act is shameful to the Li family, was more acceptable than her dating a Caucasian male, which lead to the demise of her familial ties.
The movie: “Double Happiness” and the book: “Fifth Chinese Daughter” both have similar fathers: distant, busy, and strong drive to provide for their families. Jade Li’s father occupation in the movie is not provided, or rather, I did not pick it up, while xiaojie Wong, her father’s occupation is a part of her existence. They both have an arm’s length relationship with their fathers; their success while nice for the honor of their respective families, is not quite so important as their oldest brother. Therefore, they have a little bit more freedom for their pursuits, however, less financial support as well. Their fathers both pressure them to get married and peruse the asian male “market” (for lack of a better word) for potential mates. Jade Li gets set up with two males: one being gay, but hides it from ...
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...igins in the World War era were too Chinese. All the movies spoke of tradition and how the Asian community saw a break with tradtion. Those in the family circle saw it as shameful and dishonorable, while those on the outside looking in saw these indiscretions as both curious and gossip fodder. In the movie, “Double Happiness” the gossip is almost parodied, showing to the rebel that their traditions while sacred to their parents were seen as old and slightly ridiculous. The performers in the documentary wanted to become famous and did everything they could to break though stereotyping and tradition to get ahead. Jade Li broke completely to find her happiness in a foreign, yet familiar world. The moral of the stories of these aforementioned discussed is: tradition is nice, but sometimes one has to break the mold to find their true happiness…you can’t have it both ways.
Chinese Dancing Bendigo style is an exceptional story that emphasises on cultural perspectives and how it affects certain individuals. In doing so, it has shaped my understanding of how life is for a half Asian, primary school boy living in Australia. Some messages found through the story are how it has a didactic aspect to it in regards of teaching us not to be judgmental due to the fact that the bi-cultural individual may be facing problems of self-acceptance in many aspects such as appearance. In addition to this, the story portrays the differences between the cultures found within the story showing me how different two cultures can truly be. Finally, in the end of the story, we see the persona accepting himself through culture showing me
Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...
This powerful film takes us on a journey through the eyes and hearts of four young girls from the Yorta Yorta community. Cynthia, Julie, Gail and Kay shared a love of singing, before Kay was taken away by the government and placed in an institution to learn the ‘the white ways’. The four girls reunited as adults to embark on their own journey through Vietnam, singing as an all Aboriginal girl group
Amy Tan 's novel, The Joy Luck Club, explores the relationships and experiences of four Chinese mothers with that of their four Chinese-American daughters. The differences in the upbringing of those women born around the 1920’s in China, and their daughters born in California in the 80’s, is undeniable. The relationships between the two are difficult due to lack of understanding and the considerable amount of barriers that exist between them.
Jing-mei finds her cultural identity when she becomes and adult. One half of her wants to be that perfect, obedient child that her mother wants. The other half wants to have attention from her mother. She is that “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented” daughter. Although Jing-mei and her mother’s culture clashed, she was able to find who she really
... co-operated with English- language magazines that showed them how to act, look and what to buy. In his other book, The Jade Penoy, Choy tried to recreate his past, to explain the struggle which he faced between being Chinese and being North American. He also said that, the people who came to North America who don’t belong here faced this struggle; which is universal.
Chinese-Americans authors Amy Tan and Gish Jen have both grappled with the idea of mixed identity in America. For them, a generational problem develops over time, and cultural displacement occurs as family lines expand. While this is not the problem in and of itself, indeed, it is natural for current culture to gain foothold over distant culture, it serves as the backdrop for the disorientation that occurs between generations. In their novels, Tan and Jen pinpoint the cause of this unbalance in the active dismissal of Chinese mothers by their Chinese-American children.
...en in this film have any strong masculine qualities. They cannot take charge, they are easily intimidated, and they are never assertive with their beliefs and restrictions giving the impression to the movie viewers that Asian Americans are docile beings and Asian Americans are obstacles easily overcame.
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
The film explains the difference between Chinese and American values of gender in marriage and family as well. It clearly shows how Chinese woman is expected to good wives for their chosen husband. Girls are promised at an early age to a man. In the film Aunty Lindo had an arranged marriage when she was only four years old. In an American marriage, it is supposed to be based on a love and connection between two people.
The American daughters, on the other hand, the other half of the inseparable pair, tell stories of how their mothers tradition, culture, and beliefs, helped them come to many realizations about themselves. These realizations are both positive and negative. Jing-Mei Woo tells the story of how her mother wanted her to be the next Shirley Temple. "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant...You could become instantly famous.
In the beginning half of the 20th century, China experienced an intellectual revolution, known as the May Fourth Movement. Among other things, May Fourth thinkers were passionate about women’s rights, and fought for equality between the sexes. Like in any school of thought, ideas about women and their roles evolved over time. In 1925, Lu Xun wrote “Regret for the Past”, a story about Shih Chuan-Sheng and Tzu-chun, a modern couple whose relationship falls apart. Ten years later, in 1935, the film “New Woman” was released. The film follows Wei Ming, a music teacher whose life begins to crumble due to the machinations of a lecherous businessman. Both Tzu-chun and Wei Ming represent a version of the “modern woman, but their similarities and differences illustrate how the idea of the modern woman changed and stayed the same over time.
Traditions, heritage and culture are three of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. Passed down from mother to daughter, these traditions are expected to carry on for years to come. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, daughters Waverly, Lena, Rose and June thoughts about their culture are congested by Americanization while on their quests towards self-actualization. Each daughter struggles to find balance between Chinese heritage and American values through marriage and professional careers.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).