A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and Family Relationships in the US and China - Essay Example

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and Family Relationships in the US and China Introduction A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li is a short narrative contained in a collection of short stories bearing the same name and depicting the implications for Chinese both at home and America following the Cultural Revolution. The stories takes the reader from China to America, tracing the many facets of Chinese interaction in the face of influencing familial and societal forces. Many of the short stories are set in the 1990s, a time of great political and social change globally. Yi depicts both the political and personal adjustments required of her characters in coping with these changes as they move ahead. Among her characters are Chinese immigrants who are either settling or settled in America or immigrants who have returned to China. In the short story A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Mr. Shi visits his newly divorced daughter in America and the cross-cultural clashes are poignant. Arising out of these cross-cultural skirmishes a cultural theory arises which demonstrates the differences between relationships among family members in both China and the US. Background to A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Yiyun Li, herself a Chinese immigrant to the US was born in Beijing, China moving to the US in 1996. (Ahmed, 2005) Her work A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is a reflection of the Chinese personal and cultural adjustments to a country and its ideology that morphed from Marxism to one the world’s strongest economic forces. (Ahmed, 2005) Even so, the historic impact of political and societal Marxism continued to stifle Chinese consciousness and greatly impact Chinese familial relations in stark contrast to American cultural realism. US and Chinese Cultural Mores in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Mr. Shi in Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers illustrates the contrast and the continuing struggles of Chinese Marxists ideology as Chinese moved on in the 1990s. In A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Mr. Shi a new visitor to America finds himself marvelling over the disparity in earning capacity. For instance he tells a woman, a Persian immigrant that his daughter who is merely a librarian in America makes more money than he did in China as a rocket scientist. (Li, 2006, 263) Mr. Shi makes some minor but salient observations that highlight the cultural differences between Americans and Chinese. To start with five days into his visit he has made many acquaintances and observes that Americans are happy and friendly. (Li, 2006, 263) The assumption is that back in China there is an aura of discontent. Mr. Shi is enamoured by the Americans he encounters in the park. He describes the women with their babies in strollers who wave at him. He also observes a couple, the woman smiling, her hand on her husbands and the husband greeting him. Implicit in Shi’s observation is an acceptance that the close knit family relations between Americans dictates the closeness of Americans as whole. These family bonds served to tie the families to each other in a cultural and political manner which was unheard of in Chinese culture despite globalization and economic growth. He also comments on the free speech elements of America commenting “In America we can say anything.” (Li, 2006, 266) A significant difference in family values between Chinese culture and American culture is observed in Mr. Shi’s attitude toward his daughter’s divorce. He views it as a disgrace to her and leaves the reader with the impression that an unwed Chinese woman is valueless. Mr. Shi reflects: “Women in their marriageable twenties and early thirties are like lychees that have been picked from the tree, each passing day makes them less fresh and less desirable, and only too soon will they lose their value, and have to be gotten rid of at a sale price.” (Li, 2006, 264) Shi’s comments to his daughter also highlights the role of women in Chinese family cultures, a role which is diametrically opposed to liberal thinking Americans. He chides his daughter who challenges his assertions that she is unhappy telling her: “You know, a woman shouldn’t ask such direct question. A good woman is deferential and knows how to make people talk.” (Li, 2006, 66) In this exchange between father and daughter Mr. Shi points out that a good woman was not confrontational. This exchange illustrates a striking distinction between American attitudes toward family life brought on by social and political norms and those of the Chinese concept of family culture. Americans as a whole are very outspoken and that characteristic does not bare gender constraints. In Mr. Shi, Li is able to point out the lack of emphasis on family life and welfare and the commitment to a sense of duty outside of the family. Mr. Shi reflects on his days as a working man and muses that, although it was a mistake it was unavoidable: “Truly it was his mistake, never establishing a habit of talking to his daughter. But then, he argues for himself—in his time, a man like him, among the few chosen to work for a grand cause, he had to bear more duties toward his work than his family. Honorable and sad, but honourable more than sad.”(Li, 2006, 267) A concurrent theme throughout A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is founded on morality, a morality that transcends cultural boundaries. The reader comes away with the distinct impression that years and years of corrupt government autonomy evades Chinese family life and corrupts family values. This is in stark contrast to American governance where the government is accountable to the governed. In Chinese political culture the governed is accountable to its government. The underlying message of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is that this ideology has dire consequences for Chinese families in the sense that it only creates a gap between family members and Westernization only serves to widen the gap. Shi’s daughter has become Westernized and this is observed by Mr. Shi when he overhears his daughter talking on the telephone. She is loud and laughs a lot and speaks loudly. Moreover she is speaking English and “her voice is more shriller than he has ever known it to be.” (Li, 2006, 268) He concludes that she is a “total stranger” and not the daughter he knows. (Li, 2006, 268) In this sense his daughter’s westernization has widened the gap between father and daughter. The gulf already existed in the dissension dictated by autonomous government. On the contrary in American political and social mores, the families and society are brought together by a common trend that makes the government accountable to its people. Westernization and the move toward modernization cannot erase the oppressive past. This is the approach taken by Li in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. (Gu, 2006, 56) Xiao Jia Gu writes of Li’s approach: “Li explores in intimate detail the inner suffering of a society experiencing rapid change while struggling to come to terms with the oppression of the past. The ten stories range widely in subject, focusing on urban isolation, sexual inhibition, rural rage, political violence and family abuse. All these, ultimately, are shown to have origins in the collective nightmare of the cultural revolution.” (Gu, 2006, 56) The difference between right and wrong is conveyed in portrayals of modern Chinese government and its institutions and the manner in which it treats Li’s characters in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. (Albritton, 2006) Laura Albritton describes the passionless and insensitive treatment by Chinese Government as represented in Li’s short stories as “morally reprehensible.” (Albritton, 2006) For instance, Mr. Shi was only a rocket scientist for a very short time. At work he had engaged in conversation with a single woman and a married man conversing with a single woman was morally reprehensible. The single woman was transferred out of the province and Mr. Shi was withdrawn from the project. (Li, 2006, 270) Although things had changed slightly since then, the remnants of such passionless governance and its impact on Chinese family values remained an influence today. This is evident in Shi’s attitude toward his daughter’s divorce and her ascribed role as a woman. What can be discerned from Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is that the dynamics of Chinese family culture is founded on principles of helping others. However, a close examination of American family values and culture is predicated on a theory that it is far more satisfying to render help to family and friends than it is to help strangers. (Keller, Edelstein, Tobias Krettenauer, Fu-xi and Ge, 2005, 317-337) These differences are accounted for by government treatment of its people and can be easily discerned by Li’s approach to the Chinese American and the Chinese people in general in her book A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. In America the family is free in all aspects of civil liberties and from government having the power to dictate how a family leads its private life. As a result American families tend to be more focused on social issues and justice and view rendering help to strangers as purely voluntary. (Keller, Edelstein, Tobias Krettenauer, Fu-xi and Ge, 2005, 317-337) Chinese and Asian cultural beliefs and customs however take the position that it is their duty to help strangers. (Keller, Edelstein, Tobias Krettenauer, Fu-xi and Ge, 2005, 317-337) While this aspect of familial cultural differences is not directly expressed in Li’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, it is indirectly alluded to in the manner in which Mr. Shi whether abroad or at home is poignantly conscious of his conduct and his daughter’s divorce and how it is viewed by the public in general. This tie to strangers manifests on a subconscious level that Chinese culture are deeply immersed in relationships with strangers in much the same manner that Americans are deeply entrenched in interpersonal relations between family members. Conclusion The primary differences between American and Chinese family cultures as depicted by Yuyin Li in A Thousand Years of Good Prays is that American cultural values are primarily vested in justice and centered around the family and its position in the community. As observed by Shi, Americans have a sense of warmth between them in their interpersonal relationships. The Chinese families are commandeered by a sense of caring toward one another and those outside their familial boundaries. In other words the distinction between American and Chinese cultures can be characterized as justice vs caring. These differences are accounted for by the relationships between government and its people. Bibliography Ahmed, Fatema. “A Thousand Years of Good Prayer: Double Agent.” The New York Times. October 23, 2005. Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/books/review/23ahmed.html Retrieved June 14, 2008 Albritton, Laura. “A Thousand Years of Good Prayer”. Harvard Review. Available online at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0RWZ/is_30/ai_n16520074 Retrieved June 14, 2008 Gu, Xiao, Jia. “Never Forget.” New Statesman, Vol. 135, Issue: 4778, Feb. 6, 2006, 56. Keller, Monika, Edelstein, Wolfgang, Krettenauer, Tobias, Fu-xi, Fang and Ge, Fang. “Reasonaing about Moral Obligations and Interpersonal Responsibilities in Different Cultural Contexts.” In Edelsteing, W. And Nunner-Winkler, G. (Eds) Morality In Context. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005., 317-337. Li, Yiyun. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. New York: Random House, 2005. Never Forget. Xiao Jia Gu A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Yiyun Li Fourth Estate, 224pp, [pounds sterling]14.99 Contemporary Chinese novelists offer two contrasting pictures of their homeland. Writers such as Zhou Wei Hui, author of the bestselling Shanghai Baby, portray a country that is young, dynamic and westward-looking. Writers such as Gao Xingjian, author of Soul Mountain, look back on the tragedies of the Mao era. The authors of the two genres, which are known as "Pretty Woman Literature" and "Scar Literature", appear to have little in common. Yiyun Li is 33 years old and has been living in the US since 1996. Born in Beijing in 1972, she was only four when Mao died and the cultural revolution ended. She belongs to the post-Mao generation, whose leaders are the driving forces behind Chinas economic transformation. For the most part, this generation is only too happy to pretend to have short memories. But Yiyun Li is different: she is not prepared to forget. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is a brilliantly written collection of short stories about modern China. Li explores in intimate detail the inner suffering of a society experiencing rapid change while struggling to come to terms with the oppression of the past. The ten stories range widely in subject, focusing on urban isolation, sexual inhibition, rural rage, political violence and family abuse. All these, ultimately, are shown to have origins in the collective nightmare of the cultural revolution. Li’s characters demonstrate amazing resilience as they struggle to adapt to the new realities, yet their defences are weak and they end up being cruelly exposed. Li has a remarkable talent for telling the story of the whole of China through apparently insignificant lives. In "Immortality", a baby boy is conceived moments after the Great Leader proclaims the birth of New China to the chorus of "Communism is so great". The boy grows up to bear a striking resemblance to the Leader, a quirk of destiny that initially propels him towards a glorious career during the cultural revolution, but later leads him to ruin when class conflict gives way to capitalist competition. In "Extra", a middle-aged worker who has been alone all her life is made redundant. She decides to accept a marriage of convenience to an old man suffering from Alzheimers. She nurses him until death with the kindness of a stranger, never questioning the meaning of the intimacy she has chosen. Then, at a boarding school outside Beijing, she befriends a six-year-old boy, who awakens in her a kind of love she has never experienced. By turns horrifying, beautiful and deeply moving, Yiyun LI’s stories, despite their modern setting, carry great historical resonance. With this small collection, she has already become one of the most important Chinese voices of our time. http://www.questia.com/reader/action/readchecked?docId=5014887574 Keller, Monika, Edelstein, Wolfgang, Krettenauer, Tobias, Fu-xi, Fang and Ge, Fang. “Reasonaing about Moral Obligations and Interpersonal Responsibilities in Different Cultural Contexts.” In Edelsteing, W. And Nunner-Winkler, G. (Eds) Morality In Context. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005., 317-337. Page Excerpt: 4. Obligations and responsibilities in close relationships in a cross-cultural perspective The development of obligations and responsibilities in close relationships has rarely been studied in a crosscultural perspective. First, research has focused more on adolescents and adults than on younger children. Second, especially in the Kohlberg tradition, the focus has been more on moral norms in hierarchically structured relationships than on the development of responsibilities in relationships of equality such as friendship. Crosscultural research has shown that cultures give different priorities to justice-related concerns and to interpersonal responsibilities. Comparing Asian and Western cultures, Bersoff and Miller (1993; Miller, this volume) showed that persons from India were more concerned with issues of care and gave greater priority to interpersonal responsibilities than US-American persons. In contrast, persons from the United States were more concerned with moral rules and issues of justice, and gave priority to formal moral obligations. Thus, Indians judged helping to be obligatory independent of the type of relationship, while US-Americans judged helping friends to be more obligatory than helping strangers. Miller suggests that these differences arise from different moral codes where Indians give priority to social duties, while US-Americans give priority to individual rights and personal choice. Similarly, Shweder, Mahapatra and Miller (1987) claim that Indians perceive interpersonal responsibilities as duties, while US-Americans see them as more voluntary. Cross-cultural findings in the Kohlberg-oriented tradition revealed that the scoring criteria for stages of development derived in the framework of justice reasoning were too narrow to capture the specifics of moral reasoning of persons from different cultures (Boyes & Walker, 1988; Eckensberger & Zimba, 1997). However, this deficit may not only result from Kohlberg’s western-biased theoretical framework but also from the fact that the scoring manual for arguments (Colby et al., 1987) was exclusively based on US-Americans. Persons from Asian cultures such as China and India frequently mentioned issues of interpersonal harmony, concern for others‚ welfare and mutual benevolence and harmony with nature which were not adequately captured through the criterion judgments in Kohlberg’s scoring manual (e.g., Dien, 1982; Hwang, 1986). The arguments are similar to aspects of interpersonal responsibility described by Miller and Shweder for Indian persons. Miller (1991) has discussed the findings of her research with regard to the debate about gender-specific morality, in which it was claimed that men and women are differentially inclined towards justice or care. She criticized Gilligan’s assumptions of a female morality of care because it implies that persons of the same sex from different cultures are more similar in their moral reasoning than are persons within a culture. Given the differences between cultures and the weak effects of gender that have been found within cultures (Walker, 1991), Gilligan’s thesis does not appear plausible. Rather, cultural context seems to contribute significantly to moral learning. Cultural differences between Western and Asian cultures have been explained as due to a distinction between individualistic and collectivistic orientations (Triandis, 1990). http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en/institut/dok/full/keller/moralobl/Kell_moralobl.pdf scroll down to page 4. Read More