She did not believe the ‘child-eating’ rumor” (Chang 92). She arrested the rioters, protected the missionaries and put a stop to the ridiculous fabrications. This showed that Cixi was indeed trying to repair China’s relations with the foreign powers. With Cixi leading, China was able to change the foreigner’s perception of their country and build a stronger bond. Charles Denby7 wrote of Cixi’s ‘splendid reputation’ (Denby 241) among the Westerners and of her many accomplishments.
Reason why it is history, because the worst gender inequalities were existed long time ago. Most of them start from Han Dynasty, and it end up after Mao Ze-dong’s activities of destroy all of old things. This activities were well known as the Cultural Revolution. However, gender inequalities were big aspect of traditions of China. Even though Chinese people destroyed most of old things during the Cultural Revolution, but basic idea of gender inequalities still left in people’s mind.
For example, in China, Suyuan hoped for a better life for her next daughter, June. She believed that June could do whatever she wanted to do as long as she set her mind to it. However, June doesn’t have the same blind faith that her mother does in the American Dream. We can see the visible disconnect this produces between the two of them in piano lessons, college, and even Suyuan’s death. It tears them apart and creates such a wall between them that June says that she doesn’t even know what her mother was like.
The training in the camp was hard considering that what they were up against is a strong Mongolian army. She was turning out to be a failure when she realized to double her efforts and to persevere for the sake of her family. Eventually, all her efforts paid off. The Chinese army won the fight against the Mongolian army and Mulan defeated the army’s captain. She was also considered by the emperor as the hero of China.
Which supports her argument later on that nothing is fun until you are good at it. In her article she states, “Chinese parents can get away with things Western parents can’t” –because of the stereotypes regarding child upbringing, Chinese parents have got a bigger room for raising their children as they see fit without being judged she writes that Chinese parents can tell their children that they need to lose some weight if they see fit, but Western parents have to tip-toe around the subject to prevent their child getting a negative self-image. But in her opinion it does not do the children any good to treat the subject ‘health’ as a taboo, because they still end up in therapy for eating disorders
May fourth Feminism movement was the first feminist movement in china. This movement constituted of mostly males who were activists and reformers that were enthused with the idea of women liberation. They wanted to bring change to Chinese society and make China a stronger nation. Hence, they concluded that the source of China’s weakness and problems lie in the Chinese family structure. These women were illiterate and had bound feet which prevented them from reproducing or even raise their family, .
Here in America is an entirely different set of standards, which does not require that women sway helplessly on little feet to qualify them for good matches..” (72). Today, it is illegal to bind a girl’s feet. But the bitter taste still lingers on our tongues from the realization that this horror was recent, and that woman alive still hold the memories of their feet being bound. We all now know that Chinese footbinding was a terrible practice of mutilating little girl’s feet for the vacuous reason of “beauty”. Binding the feet was a tradition for beauty and status, passed down from mother to daughter.
Furthermore, the language in Dreams of Joy becomes necessary if not lifesaving. In Lisa See’s novel, Joy does not speak Chinese, nor does she know the local dialects. Upon her arrival in Red China, she is being kept under close surveillance. Since English language and everything western has been banned from Red China, learning the language becomes necessary for Joy’s survival besides being her way of
However, I do understand that this issue is because of her not remembering anymore due to her old age. One lesson I learned after reading Chinese Cinderella is not to give up; do not let other people stop us from achieving our dreams; the only people who can hinder us are ourselves. Despite of all the challenges we face in our lives, we should keep on striving to achieve the dreams we have because one positive dream weighs a lot more than a thousand negative
Cultural differences are prevalent in both of Amy Tan’s novels, The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife. The mother’s face gender inequality based upon living in a patriarchal society in China, where they are oppressed with silence by their dominating husbands. Nevertheless, their daughters live in American, where they have an opportunity of freedom, have not faced constrainment in their lifestyles as their mother’s have. The independent girls have their own authority and mindset, being raised in western societies. Therefore, it is quite difficult for the mother’s and daughter’s to have a sense mutual understanding.