Modern Chinese Literature

Modern Chinese Literature

            For many years, the Chinese women have held certain practices, beliefs and perceptions about their culture and the way to treat other personalities in the society. In the story “When I was in Xia Village,” Ding Ling demonstrates that the women feared men and held high respect about masculinity. Although the connection and the culture have a considerable amount of good teaching and practices, the overall culture needs some reform, especially on the areas of organizing marriages. This paper explains the need for improvement in the Chinese cultures while citing the actions by Zhenzhen, one of the most critical players in the Ding Ling’s story.

As observed from the Ding’s authorship, the father to Zhenzhen organizes Zhenzhen’s marriage without consulting her. It is noteworthy that modernity requires that persons entering into marriage have an agreement between themselves without being coerced by anyone. Notably, many people discussed much concerning Zhenzhen relating to her conducts right from her birth, through her movement to Japan, and later she comes back to China. While noting that Zhenzhen had loved Dabao in their early lives, she continues to show respect for him even though Dabao did not show any significant signs of loving her in the old days.

Although Zhenzhen is still young at 18 years, she shows her confidence in declining any marriage arrangement made by the father. Traditionally, parents organized marriages for their daughters in many communities. However, she had become enlightened about the best practices partly because of her movement from china to japan. Notably, moving to Japan and having lived in Japan for many years, Zhenzhen had borrowed extensive Japanese culture that she would have wished to integrate into the Chinese culture. Of importance, the widespread exchange of culture and practices between persons of various communities or societies, the latter ultimately results in new cultures. In this regard, Zhenzhen could not continue practising some primitive traditions or practices.

As observed from the actions by Zhenzhen and Dabao following her return from Japan, Zhenzhen had become lonelier and separated from society. Notably, she loved Dabao in their early life, and she feared that she would not marry him. One of the reasons that require a change in Chinese culture is because the culture is making the members of the society lose their wishes. For example, if the Chinese culture was changed, Zhenzhen could have married a person of her choice. While demonstrating an action that many Chinese women undertake, Zhenzhen decides not to discuss with the parents about the marriage but runs to the church. She becomes more frustrated and mixed up and thus fails to become a nun as well as marrying Dabao. In the end, she suffered her social status and lost her dignity because of “being abused by many men and had constructed stigma” (142).

While the Chinese culture sat on patriarchal society, women could hardly speak before their male counterparts. In this regard, when Zhenzhen disputed with the father’s suggestions to marry another rich man, she could not air her opinion but instead run away, heading to the nearest Catholic Church. Because she understood the state of the society and its perception of marriage, confronting her father could be taken from a different twist.  As such, many women have continued to lose their social status and dignity without seeking justice for fear of being termed as disrespectful by other people in society. It is for this reason that Zhenzhen stands out as a feminist ready to fight for female rights.

For example, the village people held that although Zhenzhen could not agree to buy her father’s idea to marry an older man just because of his wealth, she could not stand her father and thus decided to go to the church for her safety.  Besides, she believes that because a list of men has abused her, she has become less valuable in society. in the end, Zhenzhen claims that she does not “deserve any good marriage.”

Just like in the Ding Ling’s “When I was in Xia Village,” in The Night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ling Shuhua demonstrates that the society placed high status for men while demeaning women. For example, traditional Chinese people help some thoughts and behaviours that demean the abilities of women. All women including the wife, the husband’s mother and the wife’s mother believed that failure to eat together with the duck at the “mid-autumn festival might portend some challenges” a belief that caused women from acting more liberally.

In many parts of the world, women have historically been taken from an inferior perspective. As such, the patriarchal society has continually benefited from this particular misperception. It is from this perspective angle that women in china have held positions in the government and political life. As demonstrated Chinese, by the position held by the majority of the people in the political arena. Ling Shuhua indicates that women are their political enemies. For example, the poor husband sold in the grocery store, a task that many people termed it as a disguise. Instead of placing any blame on the husband for failure to the husband, the husband’s mother extends the blame mind of responsibility to the husband’s wife.  Nonetheless, the wife and her mother continually claim that the latter is in its current situation, mainly because of the economic status of the household. As such, both the wife and her mother, two female characters argue that the poor background of the father is the leading cause of the deteriorating picture of the larger society.

Notably, she loved Dabao in their early life, and she feared that she would not marry him. One of the reasons that require a change in Chinese culture is because the culture is making the members of the society lose their wishes. For example, if the Chinese culture was changed, Zhenzhen could have married a person of her choice. While demonstrating an action that many Chinese women undertake, Zhenzhen decides not to discuss with the parents about the marriage but runs to the church. She becomes more frustrated and mixed up and thus fails to become a nun as well as marrying Dabao.

The Chinese traditional culture needs some considerable reforms because Zhenzhen has demonstrated that the culture needs of its cause. Zhenzhen reveals that she can easily place some information from that is purely borrowed from the Japanese army into the Chinese military. The latter shows that if a situation similar to that can cause the oppressors to calm down, then it is essential for the Chinese political and cultural drivers establishes a change mechanism to ensure that the change occurs effectively to the target group.

Even though the contributions by Zhenzhen from the Japanese army into the Chinese military are a significant contribution, most of the traditionalists perceive it from a negative perspective. Without playing sides, it is essential to state that the people challenge these significant contributions because of the beliefs, perceptions and cultures of the people of China. Often, the customs and traditions block someone from seeing beyond the chains of these traditions. As such, anything that happens and is contrary to the culture or tradition is always seen as a harmful element introduce to the customs. The added feature is observed as a strange element and an element that can mutilate the tradition. Therefore, the people of China would always not let anything from a foreign nation to be implemented as a genuine contribution. If anything that must be incorporated from a foreign government into the local country, it must not emanate from a woman. Therefore, the negative perceptions about the significant contributions by Zhenzhen into the Chinese army are only viewed as not very significant because it is a female who is introducing them to the local culture. Therefore, it is critical to initiate reforms to the Chinese culture to ensure that the learning can accommodate the global changes that would bring change to the country for the good of all people.

Also, Zhenzhen manages to initiate a different way of looking at things, including marriage practices. When she decides to stand firm on her stand by refusing the marriage arrangements by the father, she introduces another chapter in the Chinese culture. Notably, this new chapter is all about protecting the rights of the female. While traditions hold that daughters cannot go against the will of their parents, this particular initiative is important towards bringing reforms as the females can start a feminist movement that can put across all the interests of the female. Although Zhen Zhen refuses the marriage arrangements partly to ensure that she does not do anything that might affect Dabao’s reputation, the overall event is a great achievement for the female gender and global gender-oriented issues.

As demonstrated Chinese, by the position held by the majority of the people in the political arena. Ling Shuhua indicates that women are their political enemies. For example, the poor husband sold in the grocery store, a task that many people termed it as a disguise. Instead of placing any blame on the husband for failure to the husband, the husband’s mother extends the blame mind of responsibility to the husband’s wife.  Nonetheless, the wife and her mother continually claim that the latter is in its current situation, mainly because of the economic status of the household. As observed from the actions by Zhenzhen and Dabao following her return from Japan, Zhenzhen had become lonelier and separated from society. Notably, she loved Dabao in their early life, and she feared that she would not marry him.

She had become enlightened about the best practices partly because of her movement from china to japan. Notably, moving to Japan and having lived in Japan for many years, Zhenzhen had borrowed extensive Japanese culture that she would have wished to integrate with to the Chinese culture. Of importance, the widespread exchange of culture and practices between persons of various communities or societies results in new cultures. In this regard, Zhenzhen could not continue practising some primitive traditional methods.

Conclusion

The above discussion demonstrates that there is a great need for the reforms to the traditions and the nation’s cultures. Marriage is usually a great and critical cultural event that must be observed with a lot of care. Nonetheless, it would be perceived as a significant milestone, especially women, when they have the freedom to choose the marriage partners of their choice. Besides, maintaining some stands among the women shows some confidence among women when trying to ensure inclusivity, fairness and justice across the gender.

Work cited

the Columbia anthology of modern Chinese literature