Project 3

Laura Reyes

Prof. Joellen Hiltbrand

Engl-205, Sec. 8437

13 April 2019

Project 3: Chinese Culture

There are many cultures around the world as well as here in America. People have different spiritual beliefs. Some people believe in Buddha while others believe in Jesus Christ. Some cultures see big ear lobes as good luck and other cultures see big ear lobes as being unattractive. Some cultures valued females having small feet. Some cultures do not eat beef and others do not eat pork. In some cultures drinking alcohol is looked down upon. Some cultures require women to be covered up while other cultures let the individual women decide what they want to wear. Moving along, the book I chose to read was The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. This book was about four mothers and their four daughters, who lived in San Francisco, CA. They grew up differently, since the daughters grew up in America. In reading The Joy Luck Club I have learned a lot of things of the Chinese culture and its beliefs and I will discuss these things in my paper.

The belief of the elements in each individual affect the way each individual’s character. Jing-Mei Woo’s mom taught her daughter about these elements. She said that each person is made of five elements. “Too much fire and you had a bad temper. That was like my father, whom my mother always criticized for his cigarette habit and who always shouted back that she should keep her thoughts to herself” (Tan, 31). “Too little wood and you bent too quickly to listen to other people’s ideas, unable to stand on your own” (Tan, 31). Too much water made you flow in many directions. “…Like myself, for having started a degree in biology, then half a degree in art, and then finishing neither when I went off work for a small ad agency as a secretary, later becoming a copywriter (Tan, 31).

They believe in a type of superstition to bring luck. When Rose Hsu Jordan was a young girl, she lost her youngest brother at the Ocean. Her mom believed that the reason her youngest son, Bing fell into the ocean was because of what one of her ancestors did. Rose’s mother, An-mei Hsu said the following to Rose. “’An ancestor of ours once stole water from a sacred well. Now the water is trying to steal back. We must sweeten the temper of the Coiling Dragon who lives in the sea. And then we must make him loosen his coils from Bing by giving him another treasure he can hide’” (Tan, 129).  An-mei believed she can bring Bing back safe and sound. “My mother poured out tea sweetened with sugar into the teacup, and threw it into the sea. And then she opened her fist. In her palm was a ring of watery blue sapphire, a gift from her mother, who had died many years before. This ring, she told me, drew coveting stares from women and made them inattentive to the children they guarded so jealously. This would make the Coiling Dragon forgetful of Bing. She threw the ring into the water” (Tan, 129). Unfortunately, she was not able to bring Bing back. I was hoping that he would appear, but they never even found his body.

They believe that a missing leg will bring bad luck on Chinese New Year. “I poked the crabs with a pencil to see how feisty they were. If a crab grabbed on, I lifted it out and into a plastic sack. I lifted one crab this way, only to find one of its legs had been clamped onto by another crab. In the brief tug-of-war, my crab lost a limb” (Tan, 200). This was when Jing-Mei Woo was a kid and helping her mother, Suyuan Woo do the shopping for Chinese New Year. “’Put it back,’” whispered my mother. “’A missing leg is a bad sign on Chinese New Year’” (Tan, 200).

They believe in Chinese astrology. “I was born in the year of the Tiger. It was a very bad year to be born, a very good year to be a Tiger” (Tan, 248). Ying-Ying St. Clair, one of the mothers was sharing this with her daughter, Lena St. Clair. “Then she told me why a tiger is gold and black. It has two ways. The gold side leaps with its fierce heart. The black side stands still with cunning, hiding its gold between trees, seeing and not being seen, waiting patiently for things to come. I did not learn to use my black side until after the bad man left me” (Tan, 248). The Chinese astrology has 12 signs like western astrology, only that it is changes yearly.

They believe that certain face characteristics mean something. Lindo Jong, read her daughter face, Wavery Jong. “’You are lucky,’” she said. “’You have my ears, a big thick lobe, lots of meat at the bottom, full of blessings. Some people are born so poor. Their ears are so thin, so close to their head, they can’t ever hear luck calling to them…You have my nose. The hole is not too big, so your money will not be running out. The nose is straight and smooth, a good sign. A girl with a cricked nose is bound for misfortune…’”She tapped my chin and then hers. ”’Not too short, not too long. Our longevity will be adequate, not cut off too soon, not so long we become a burden.’” She pushed my hair away from my forehead…”’Perhaps your forehead is wider, so you will be even more clever. And your hair is thick, the hairline is low on your forehead. This means you will have some hardships early in life’” (Tan, 256-257). This part was very interesting to me that every detail of our face means something.

In conclusion, I have learned a lot about the Chinese culture and its beliefs. This is what amazes me about the Chinese culture. It is very complex and full of mystery and fortunes. It is very unique compared to modern western culture and that is what makes it interesting to me. I really enjoyed reading The Joy Luck Club.  

Work Cited

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Penguin Books, 2014, pp. 17-288.