Introduction
"The Jade Dragon" was published in 2006, written by Carolyn Marsden and Virginia Shin-Mui-Loh. The novel was about a Chinese girl Ginny, who lived in America, meeting a new Chinese friend Stephanie. Ginny had to deal with the traditional family, friendship, and self-identity.
Review
Although I am a Taiwanese, I can still relate to this novel because we have a lot of cultures that are similar to Chinese(Yup, I will definitely not call myself Chinese.) The protagonist, Ginny born into a Chinese family, and her mother cares about her grades a lot and pays attention to Ginny's manner. When Ginny met a new classmate Stephanie, she was excited because there was no other Chinese in the class. As a result, Ginny thought they would have a lot of commons. However, Stephanie is a "Banana," which means she knows nothing about Chinese culture since Stephanie was adopted by American parents. Nevertheless, Ginny still wants to make friends with her.
When in puberty, we always strive for friends' recognition, no exception for Ginny. Take one of the plots, for example, when Stephanie dined with Ginny's family, she was afraid of eating the roasted duck because the duck's head was still on it. After Stephanie told Ginny about this "shocking observation," Ginny decided not to eat it as well. When reading this plot, I think the authors vividly illustrate the teenagers' friendship. We will do something that "seems cool," even if it would hurt our family, just in order to impress our friends. Ginny had to make a balance between friends and family, and I think she didn't do it great, but it was understandable.
This book talks about racism as well. Ginny was called "ching chang chong" at school, which made me worry about myself. I have always thought about studying abroad, but I couldn't make up my mind to step out of my comfort zone. One of the reasons was racism. Although I understand that few people still discriminate against Asians, I couldn't help but be anxious.
As Asians, we have a lot of difficulties that need to be dealt with compared to Westerners. I think "language" is one of the issues that are worth discussing. When Ginny was little, she could talk Mandarin fluently and fully comprehended; however, after she entered kindergarten, her English ability was way behind other classmates. At that time, Ginny's parents decided to only talk in English to her since then. Sadly, Ginny lost her Mandarin ability. In my opinion, it is crucial that we need to learn about our mother tongue. After entering college, I found many classmates had lost their mother tongue. As for me, I can speak Taiwanese Hokkien. Although it is not fluent, at least I can understand most of the words. I have asked a lot of classmates who couldn't speak their mother tongue about the reasons, and most of them were that their parents wouldn't teach them. Instead, their parents sent them to learn English. I think this situation is all due to the inferiority complex of Taiwanese people: we think our native languages are inferior to English. What a pity if we didn't understand the place we came from and the ethnic group we belong to? Then how can we develop our self-identity and belongingness if we only worship Western culture?
I am glad to see that Ginny successfully made a balance between Stephanie and her family at the end of the novel. I cannot imagine how many struggles those immigrants had to go through, but I really respect them for being so brave.
Hello, Iris.
ReplyDeleteYour reflection this time has given me deep thought, especially on the aspect of mother tongue. We often worship cultures that do not belong to us in modern society and despise our traditional culture. This phenomenon is deeply realized after going to college. However, I have to admit that I also had a bit of a foreign-loving mentality and even looked forward to studying abroad all the time. However, that doesn't mean that I hate Taiwanese culture. Indeed, different kinds of culture and life are everyone's choice, but discriminating against culture is disgusting behavior. As you said, we always ignore our own culture's sense of self-identity and belonging, even trying to pursue a culture that does not belong to us ignorantly. Sometimes, I have a sincere question for those, " "where do you belong?"
Again, I still want to declare that I don't hate foreign cultures but like and enjoy accepting different cultures. After discussing this issue with many people, I was surprised by the behavior of some Taiwanese people who always reject Taiwanese culture. Their behavior always shows that they want and are eager to become a different race. Also, I found that some people even consider Taiwanese a vulgar language. Whenever I hear such words, I can't help wondering why they treat their traditional culture as a "lower-level culture" and why they won't embrace our native culture and language. I think we can have an opportunity to discuss this question one day!ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Hello, Iris. This is Joyceline.
ReplyDeleteI had much self-introspection after reading your blog. I will share three things that I am most impressed with your reflection. First, Ginny represents a person that is all deep in my mind. It belongs to the fundamental element that humans need it. I am so afraid that I can't find my best friends in different life stages. Hence, many activities enquire about divided groups, and if you don't have a good relationship with others. Then, you will be isolated. And this could extend to the second point, "friend relationship." From my standpoint, the human was the most complicated creatures. And "best friends" are most brutal to find. Hence, we should cherish our best friend at every moment. Like me, I draw blank on the next semester's dormitory.
Therefore, I couldn't live with my two best friends, which made me depressed. However, we could create more memories in my new rental apartment. No matter how far the distance, I believe true friends will also cherish each other. Last but not most minor cultural recognition. As you mentioned, Taiwanese often worship Western culture, causing us to forget to inherit our own culture. I also hard to say my mother tongue- Hakka. This led to I usually don't know the expression of my grandmother. Thanks for reminding me that I should cherish my own culture. I will spend more time learning Hakka with my grandmother.