Parent-Child Relations, the Significance and the Structure of the Family in East Asian Thought - Essay Example

IV. Explain the significance of the family in East Asian thought Eastern Asian is an eastern sub-region of Asia accommodating a population of approximately 1.5 billion people. Historically, societies found in eastern Asia have been part of Chinese cultural sphere; this is implied by the sheer fact that many Eastern Asian scripts and vocabulary were often driven from Chinese. Consequently, the culture of East Asia has to a large extent been influenced by civilization of China and by K’ung Fu Tzu, a great Chinese philosopher. People from Southeast Asia recognize the family as a crucial institution in their society as it helps them to socially identify themselves (Levenson, p, 123). Consequently, it is essential for individuals to live up to the expectation of family and society. To understand Southeast Asian family such parenting and child-rearing, it is significant for us to apprehend the beliefs and cultural values that influence parents, especially family life, and their collective relationship. K’ung Fu Tzu or Confucius the name used by western people is Chinese’s most influential and respected philosopher (Stockman, p, 196). K’ung Fu Tzu a great philosopher was born in Lu in 551BCE. He is known for investigating the ideas of what is wrong and right with pursuit of wanting to know how people relate with each other and this led him come up with Confucius philosophy: Li- teaches about rituals, propriety and etiquettes Jeng-teaches about benevolences and humanness toward each other Chung- teachers about separation of functions between genders Hsiao- teachers about love within the family Yi- talk about righteousness Xin- teaches young should give precedence to the elder The function and importance of family in Southeast Asia In Southeast Asia, the family is an individual’s social, religious, political and economic way of identification. The families are perceived to be vibrant in building family loyalty and in educating children about their obligation (lecture, October 15). The main family obligation was to make sure that every member in the society takes care of each other. For instance, grandparents care for their offspring while adult children take care of their ageing parents. The family members’ interactions and functions are plainly defined by their culture, hence crafting a mutual interaction among the society members which in turn facilitate the creation of resilient bonds both in family and in the society at large Lecture, October 24. In Southeast Asia, families are important institution used for molding children by training them to know the significance of relationships and responsibilities within the society and family (Phanjaruniti p, 202). This is because as children mature, they develop loyalty toward the family and moral obligation thus enabling the family to gain good reputation. Families in Southeast Asia, educate children to suppress violent behavior and negative sentiment and while teaching them to uplift good moral such as self-control, respect and obedient (lecture, October 15). In Southeast Asia, families use proverb and k’ung Fu Tzu philosophy thus ensuring that children are brought-up in the right manner. For example, there is a Vietnamese proverb which says "The fish which is not preserved in salt will be rotten; the child who does not obey his parents will be corrupted in every way."(Wazir-Jahan, p, 109). This Vietnamese philosophy is a clear indication of the attitude possesses by Southeast Asia parents toward their children discipline. Asian parents in general have used k’ung Fu Tzu philosophy to educate their offspring through protecting them, controlling and restricting them thus creating a more a harmonies family and society. Although many people believe that the families in Southeast Asia are essential in molding children thus creating a generation that is morally upright, it is clear that this is done not only for moral reasons but also for creating classes within the society. Children were supposed to act as per the way they were told, and they should not question anything as will be a punishable offence. This is perilous as it will affect children’s freedom of thinking and life perceptive. Philosophers’ recommend that children should be given a chance to interact with their environment without limitation as this will help them form their life insightful thus enabling them to comprehend what is right and wrong. Gender role and the structure of family in Southeast Asia Families in Southeast Asia are structured by gender and age. Male are typically dominant and authoritarian; the father is typically considered to be superior in all family matters (lecture, October 15). The mode of communication used in the Southeast Asia family is vertical communications; usually the message is conveyed from father to mother and parent to offspring. It is unethical for children to speak while their parents are speaking as this is considered to be disrespectful and is a punishable offence. Women in Southeast Asia are considered to be subordinate, and they must acquiescent toward their husbands. Girls, before they are married, are trained to obey their father, husband and in case the husband dies the woman has to respect her elder son. The woman in Southeast Asia culture has authority over her children and, often they are mediators between children and their father (Selin p, 41). Boys and girls in Southeast Asia have different roles to play. In the culture of Lao villages and Hmong communities found in Southeast Asia girls are given the obligation of taking care of their younger siblings immediately they are at the age of 12. Girls also have other responsibilities such as performing household responsibilities. Boys have their role to play such as playing, hunt for animals and birds. A son also acts as the heir of their parents’ property and has the obligation of taking-care their parents at their old age. Consequently, parents tend to invest highly in their sons than in girls. However, it is common for sons to inherit their parents’ wealth and land among all Southeast Asia community but this act of inheritance is different among Lao families where the younger girl is mandated to inherit their parents and boys are not supposed to inherit their parent. However, many philosophers had condemned the act of division of roles in accordance with gender differences. For example, Simon de Beauvoir, who is feminist thinker and philosopher argue “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” (Solomon p, 63) Simon is explaining to us that the role associated with women and that our culture justify does not mean that women were born with unique qualities to handle those roles but rather are socially constructed culture. Women are taught on what kind of role they are supposed to engage in and the type of life to live and this designates how our culture has controlled women rather than them controlling culture. People must live their own lives that will reflect who they truly are but this cannot be achieve if those people lack freedom resulting to what Simon refers to as “bad faith” rather than “good faith” where individuals make decisions that come from their inmost drive hence helping them express an authentic self and this will make them achieve “radical freedom”. Therefore, it was wrong for Southeast Asia culture to use role division to cause gender discrimination (Solomon p, 63). It was also wrong for Southeast Asia culture to give male to dominate the family while women were to be submissive. Parent-child relations in Southeast Asia families It is imperative to appreciate that there is distinction within each cultural group found in Southeast Asia in matters pertaining to parent-child relations. It is also imperative to note that every cultural group in Southeast Asia pamper, cherish and appreciate their offspring. Children learn interpersonal family relationships and extra- family relations through the process of observation and child-parent relations Lecture, October 24. Vietnamese families have good parent-child relations; Vietnamese believe that children symbolize the wealth as they will take care of their parents when they will be comparatively weak due to aging (Binh. p, 107). In the Vietnamese community, the mother is obligated to build good parent-child relations as she is the first teachers who educated her children on what is wrong and right. Children in Vietnamese community are taught to be respectful individual who are ready to admit their mistake. K’ung Fu Tzu philosophy dominate Southeast Asia families for 2000+ years (Binh, p 37) Consequently, Confucian thoughts had caused serious affect such as slowing the development of Chinese in acquiring acquaintance in many field such astronomy medicine and in the field of mathematic this all is caused by Confucian philosophy taught children that life is not their own, but it belong to their family. Works Cited Binh. The Traditional Vietnamese Scripts. Leiden: Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology, 1992. Print. Lecture, October 15. Family as primary Lecture, October 24. Multiple overlapping local institutions Levenson, Joseph R. Confucian China and Its Modern Fate: A Trilogy. Berkeley: U of California P, 1968. Print. Phanjaruniti, Somporn. Site Visit: Traditional Child Rearing Practices Among Different Ethnic Groups in Houaphan Province, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. N.p., 1994. Print. Selin, Helaine. Parenting Across Cultures: Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures. N.p., 2014. Print. Solomon, Andrew. Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. New York: Scribner, 2012. Print. Stockman, Norman. Understanding Chinese Society. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2000. Print. Wazir-Jahan, Begum K. Women and Culture: Between Malay Adat and Islam. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1992. Print. Read More