In ancient, filial piety, as an important criterion for judging personal thought was the correct example of the correctness of the conduct whether noble or not, and the best example that was held up a people whom is treat elders well to an official in ancient Chinese system. China's filial piety culture has a dual meaning both in family and social significance. In the family, it is mainly reflected in that parents have unlimited authority at home in the implementation of despotism. Obey the parents is regarded as a manifestation of filial piety. The social significance of filial piety lies in maintaining a social harmony, that is, respect for the elders and the ruling order and obedience based on awe.
Chinese people's family concept is very strong, the parents pay a great influence for their children, so in China's filial piety culture, the maintenance obligations must be completed by their children. In addition, the Chinese people will be combined filial piety with the childbearing, and emphasizing the principle of “There are three ways to be unfilial: the worst is to not produce offspring”. Today, this traditional concept is still deep-rooted.
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The Bible has been regarded as the source of Western literary and artistic creation; the moral norms of many Western societies are derived from it. According to the Bible, God's fifth commandment to the human community said "honor your parents." Christian doctrine requires Christians to "honor their parents, make you happy, and long live in the world." In addition to the Bible, western has almost no system of filial piety. Unlike the Chinese filial piety culture, the western filial piety culture is simple and lacks of
In her book, The House of Lim, author Margery Wolf observes the Lims, a large Chinese family living in a small village in Taiwan in the early 1960s (Wolf iv). She utilizes her book to portray the Lim family through multiple generations. She provides audiences with a firsthand account of the family life and structure within this specific region and offers information on various customs that the Lims and other families participate in. She particularly mentions and explains the marriage customs that are the norm within the society. Through Wolf’s ethnography it can be argued that parents should not dec5pide whom their children marry. This argument is obvious through the decline in marriage to simpua, or little girls taken in and raised as future daughter-in-laws, and the influence parents have over their children (Freedman xi).
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...
Chinese cultural traditions such as arranged marriages, different religions, and superstitious notions, all which repress women, also influenced their character. A great deal of importance is placed on the variety of traditions that were placed on them. The theme of tradition being passed down from mother to daughter is also stressed. This particular tradition is not explicitly expressed. In order for it to be preserved and handed down it is to be observed, absorbed, and understood.
Chinese parenting is competent at times but there are other times where it is more suitable to follow other forms of parenting such as the Western style.These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of parent-child relationships. Whether it is Chinese parenting or Western parenting the relationship between family members is crucial. According to Amy Chua, Chinese parenting is more effective in helping the child attain a better future through the parents’ interests, while Western parenting style reflects mainly the interests of the child.
Similarly, 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. The only daughter in the family, Liang had to hear her grandmothers taunt: “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 the family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth, this attitude would really affect the parents from Chinese family preferred 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 trying to learn th...
Zhan, H. J. 2004. “Socialization or Social Structure: Investigating Predictors of Attitudes Toward Filial Responsibility Among Chinese Urban Youth From One and Multiple Child Families.” International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 59: 105-124.
...Mencius, and Chu Hsi emphasises the practice of filial piety and in their literatures and proclamations they made the rituals clear. The practice was widely spread where even in literature such as “Dream of the Red Chamber”, “The Classic of Filial Piety”, and “Six Records of Floating Life”, which all demonstrated the rules and examples of filial piety where the family members demonstrated filial roles towards the elders in the family. In terms of education the children showed filial piety through high education which meant greater reputation for the parents. Those who were successful in their education and career the society praised not just the children but the parents as well, which meant a lot to the parents. Also in the politics, it was essential for the society to show loyalty and respect to the ruler as the ruler held the greatest importance in the society.
She started working at seventeen years old to support her family. In her situation, the necessity of supporting her family is very significant in her life. In Chinese tradition, parents do not expect anything from their sons and daughters, but the sense of respect towards the hard work that Chinese parents do for their kids is a must for successful men and women to support their parents with their free-will. These people are grateful that their parents gave them existence—creating opportunities for searching for ethical values that will help them succeed.
A traditional family in China is one, in which the marriage between couples are arranged or forced by their parents regardless of whether or not the partners love each other. The wife is brought to the husband’s house and lives with her in-laws, and role of her would be to take care of her husband, household and bear a child, preferably a son. No matter how hard or unhappy the marriage is, the wife has no choice, but to tolerate with her “fate” which is formed by “tradition”. The main reason for this would be the fact that the traditional value of men is much higher than that of women.
Today marriage is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the relationship between a husband and a wife or a similar relationship between people of the same sex. For the purposes of this paper, it will focus on marriage between a man and a woman and how marriage is differently defined between the American and Chinese cultures. This paper will discuss the cultural differences found between the American and Chinese culture with emphasis on age and mate-selection. The cultural differences between American and Chinese culture related to marriage practices shows that Americans value individualism and Chinese historically value collectivism.
A specification on how a child is taught to be obedient and respectful to parents relates to complying with orders of their parents. “孝順” (Chinese pinyin: “xiaoshun”, also known as filial piety), is a virtue valued by most Chinese, raised by the Confucian philosophers as early as in Han dynasty. Filial Piety typically refers to “Children’s attitudes about how they should treat their parents” (Chen, W. W. & Wu, C. W., 2017, p. 441). To be a “xiaoshun” child includes attending to their parents’ instructions and needs, taking care of them as they grow old and age (Yeh, K. H., & Bedford, O.,
Both Confucianism and Taoism seem to have opposing views on the subject of filial piety. In The Analects, Confucius urges us not only to serve our parents, but also to obey and respect them under all circumstances. However, in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu wrote: “When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins” (no. 18). What does he mean by that? One possible, or probably the most obvious, interpretation of this statement is that filial piety cannot exist without conflicts in the family. Such interpretation would indeed be in complete opposition to Confucius’ view on the matter. However, since conflict implies action, that interpretation would also contradict the inaction principle of Taoism. Lao is definitely not encouraging conflicts in the family.
But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society, especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism opposed to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse of women and children? Rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.
As there are many different types of people, different standard of success are existing. High education level could be one of the standards of success for someone and excellent reputation could be other standards. Patriarchal period, which dominated by religion such as Christianity or Catholic, people taught various elements for success in life including morality and ethics. However, Capitalism and its market only focus on property and money so the visible wealthy becomes the only one important element for success. In fact, Hochschild illustrates the study which proves the changing of people’s preference in life. According to Hochschild, “between 1975 and 1991, the role of family in people’s idea of “the good life” declined while the importance of having money increased” (187). In this study, it is proved that having a lot of money is more important than family for the quality of life. In other words, people might be satisfied when they become rich in terms of the successful life. The money is not only productive conclusion for success, but capitalism forces to make people think in this way. For instance, Chua indicates the Chinese parents’ parenting style which might be great example how the capitalism takes important role in family and how it represents in parenting. In Chua’s article, she claims that “the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future […]” (56). Because of this reason, Chinese parents requires their children to get perfect grades and they cannot accept A minus or B as a children’s academic result. For Chinese parents, having excellent skill might be able to lead their children to successful life in the future. In the view of capitalism, Chinese parents’ parenting styles seems based on capitalism market system. Capitalism market system divide only ‘useful’ and ‘useless’ and its influences
Given the high sex ratio in recent China population report, the abnormally excessive male birth exemplifies the persistence of son preference on women’s fertility behavior. Son preference rooted in Chinese agriculture-based economy and historical feudalism, in consistence with the reliance on laborers and continuing the family line. Older people prefer to depend on their sons to get financial and physical support, while daughters are regarded as property of their husband’s family since the day of marriage.