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Name implications in Chinese culture
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It was a pitch dark and blustery night in December 1926. The sky was starless and moonless, as dark as coal. The thunder rumbled and reverberated like a furious and wild tiger. The freezing wind was bitter, one could feel the cold biting through one’s skin, and etching every strand of nerve. It was the day she was born. In Tan Chuen (a village in Panyu, China), Peng Xiu Zhi gave birth to an adorable daughter, who glistened with beauty. Her eyes sparkled and twinkled like stars, enthusiastic to discover the whole new world. She was very vulnerable, like a fine bone of a bird. Nevertheless, Peng’s father was not on cloud nine, Peng’s mother was not in seventh heaven, and no one in the family was jumping for joy. Rather, everyone was disappointed and dispirited, because the newborn infant was a girl. In Chinese age-old tradition, girls are deemed less valuable than boys. So-Ha’s family regarded boys as exquisite pearls, but girls were inferior, not even worth mentioning. Elders in the family criticised Peng for bringing the baby girl to the world, commenting, ‘It is more preferable to bear a barbequed pig than a daughter!’ Elders in the family were regarded as the patriarchs of the family, thus they were responsible for naming the baby. According to Chinese beliefs, a good name for a child is crucial to its well-being and success; it determines the future of the child. They named her arbitrarily, ‘So-Ha’, which literally means ‘newborn baby’. So-Ha’s family made their living as farmers and shopkeepers. Although Tan Chuen provided free education to children, So-Ha did not have the opportunity or the time to go to school. She worked from the crowing of the rooster to the dark of midnight. She was not the only child in her family;... ... middle of paper ... ...urned to the vehicle — all except Ling. Ling’s friend screamed, ‘Ling Gwing Shen! Ling Gwing Shen!’ But no one replied. So-Ha considered the possibilities: Ling was heavily short sighted, and he may have fallen from a cliff, or that he ran away to avoid the bullets and got lost. However, it remains a mystery. There is a question mark in So-Ha’s mind but the question would never be answered. So-Ha was only thirteen when this misfortune occurred; she is now eighty-six years old but the sorrow still stays in her heart. In 1926, So-Ha was born. She didn’t have a proper name, and she had an arduous life. Could this misfortune to the family be avoided if the elders gave So-Ha a proper name? Or was everything just a coincidence? No one knows the answer. But certainly, just like this misfortune will not be unremembered and the sorrow will remain in So-Ha’s heart forever.
Chapter one, The Observers, in the Death of Woman Wang demonstrates the accuracy of the local historian; Feng K'o-ts'an, who compiled The Local History of T'an-ch'eng in 1673. The descriptive context of the Local History helps the reader to understand and literally penetrate into people's lives. The use of records of the earthquake of 1668, the White Lotus rising of 1622 and rebels rising vividly described by Feng the extent of suffering the people of T'an-ch'eng went through. Jonathan Spence stresses on how miserable the two-quarter of the seventeen-century were to the diminishing population of the county. The earthquake claimed the lives of nine thousand people, many others died in the White lotus rising, hunger, sickness and banditry. P'u Sung-ling's stories convey that after the loss of the wheat crops there were cases of cannibalism. On top of all of this came the slaughtering of the entire family lines by the bandits. The incredible records of women like Yao and Sun in the Local History present the reader the magnitude of savagery the bandits possessed. All of these factors led to the rise of suicides. The clarity of events Spence given to the reader is overwhelming.
In the stories told by Jing-Mei, Tan weaves in flashbacks and memories of Jing-Mei's own childhood experiences, including stories she has heard of her mother Suyuan's early life in China. These stories help to explain why she teaches her daughter the v alues of optimism and determination. As the reader encounters these flashbacks, Suyuan's tragic history is revealed. When the war reaches her town, Suyuan loses everything she owns, and in an attempt to save her own life by fleeing from China she is force d to leave her two twin babies behind on the side of the road in hopes they might have a chance at a good life. Jing-Mei recalls that her mother "had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China... but she never looked back with regret. There w ere so many ways for things to get better"(Tan 132). As Suyuan's past is revealed, the reader can not help but realize her determination, optimism, and strong will as she perseveres against the odds to establish a better life in America. Suyuan tries to pass on her virtues of determination, optimism, and perseverance to her American born daughter Jing-Mei. Jing-Mei's mother sees American movie stars performing on the television set and believes that with hard work and practice her daughter can aspire to the same stardom. Despite the constant protests of her daughter, Suyuan forces her to practice t...
In Chinese culture, names are not merely "labels" to distinguish one from the other nor are they used as "mediums" that "reflect" one's identity and individuality; names represent all the long-term greetings and expectations from parents to children. A name is the essence of a person, and it is a gift (the first gift) from parents to be carried for the rest of one's life.* A person's name is like a title of a book or poem: we use a title to identify the nature of the book and its "essence", while we use a name to identify a person and his/her individuality. Chinese name is distinctive in a sense that each name has a story behind it, e.g. June's mother named her twin daughters in China "Chwun Yu" and "Chwun Hwa" since they were born in spring ("Chwun"), "Yu" (rain) was given to the first born and "Hwa" (flower) to the second which indicate their sequence of birth ("rain comes before flower": par. 88); furthermore, rain and flower are nature's elements that exist for one and the other, indicating these twin daughters would stay inseparable.
I am saddened by the relationship between An-mei and her mother. “ I knew it was my mother even though I had not seen her in all my memory”, this shows us that, despite being mother and daughter, they did not have the opportunity to establish a close bond. An-mei had no memories of her mother, even though she “knew it was my mother”. An-mei’s mother is foreign and strange to her as her mother looked “strange too, like the missionary ladies at our school, who were insolent and bossy in their too-tall shoes, foreign clothes, and short hair”.
Coming of age is essential to the theme of many major novels in the literary world. A characters journey through any route to self-discovery outlines a part of the readers own emotional perception of their own self-awareness. This represents a bridge between the book itself and the reader for the stimulating connection amongst the two. It is seen throughout Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong, Hang’s coming of age represents her development as a woman, her changing process of thinking, and her ability to connect to the reader on a personal level.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
" Lindo says that Huang Taitai looked right through her and saw that she would be a perfect wife--a strong, hard, good worker, eager to please her elders in their old age. Lindo describes what happened next. This is how I became betrothed to Huang Taitai's son, who I later discovered was just a baby, one year younger than I. His name was Tyan-yu--..when he was born, his father was very sick and his family thought he might die. Tyan-yu would be the leftover of his father's spirit.
In her Childhood, she was a middle child of three siblings and the only daughter. She grew up with a loving father and mother. Education was crucial in the Wu family. Her mother was a teacher, along with her father being an Engineer, Chien-Shiung Wu learned to love math and science. She later in her life had a husband named Luke Chain Yuan and had a baby boy with him.
The lives of eight Chinese women are told throughout the book The Joy Luck Club. How their childhood was, their first marriage was and all their hopes and dreams that they wish to come true. A mother’s love for a daughter can some be joyful or very painful. In the case of these women all the mothers want was their daughter would not make the same mistakes that they did in the past, and for them to learn for those mistake. That is the love for a daughter from her mother. A mother gives her daughter advice about everything in life.
The arms of the mother are personified an indication of the conflict that Lae Choo faced of being accepted into the new way of life and remembering how life in China felt like. She “sank to the floor with anguish as “dinner remained on the table” (170). Her hungry arms exhibit the
Many studies have been conducted in a bid to understand the cultural and geographical differences that influence the naming process among different communities (Alia 2008, p. 6). Within each of the studies, there has been considerable address of the issues that were in the past of great importance among different communities and the way the names have been changing with time, based on various the present-day trends (Norman 2003, p. 529). One of the significant findings in the studies conducted is based on the fact that many of the names that are given to newborns possess unique meanings and the different communities have made it part of a cultural practice to maintain this trend (Darlington 2011, p. 1).
This story follows Wang Lang a poor young farmer in rural China that is forced by his father to marry a slave that belongs to the powerful local Hwang family. The Hwangs sell Wang a 20-year-old slave named O-lan who becomes his wife. O-lan and Wang Lung are pleased with each other, although they exchange few words and although Wang is initially disappointed that O-lan does not have bound feet. Together, Wang Lung and O-lan have a cultivate, beautiful and profitable harvest from their land. O-lan becomes pregnant, and Wang Lung is overjoyed when O-lan’s first child is a son. Meanwhile, the powerful Hwang family lives decadently the husband is obsessed with women, and the wife is an opium addict. Because of their costly habits, the Hwangs fall
“You see, Kian”, his mother said, “Your name is one of the things which connects you to your family in China. It shows that you belong to them, and that they belong to you.”
Huong uses a circular writing style to portray the characterization of Hang. As the novel flows from Hang’s past memories to the present, her feelings are paralleled with the different events. This allows the reader to see Hang’s feelings towards her current situation. Because the reader is exposed to Hang’s feelings, her journey to find her self-purpose is
What is the name? The name is a word used for identification. Through two words—a family name and a given name, a personal name identifies a specific, unique and identifiable individual person. Countries name people using their own customs, which are determined by history, society and culture. Some people believe that naming is simply choosing some words to make a good meaning. But Cindy Chang’s article “Chinese names blend traditions, drama” ,which was published in the Los Angeles Times, reveals her family’s experience of naming her brother’s child and states that naming is a challenge for her family because of the blended culture with Chinese, American and Korean backgrounds. Indeed, naming is a challenge for parents because of Chinese traditional naming customs and local naming customs.