"In China, a woman is nothing," began Yu-i over tea and dumplings. "This is the first lesson I want to give you so that you will understand."
That was the first sentence I read on the back of the book. I don't know if it had the same effect on you but I was immediately interested in this story. I suppose it is easier for me to relate to stories about women and, as anyone who has read any of my other posts knows, I have a soft spot for stories about rebellion. This sentence did not make me feel sorry for or pity the women in China but immediately told me that a rebellion was soon to begin!
So I was hooked from page one. This book was written by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang who was born in America to Chinese parents. Pang-Mei has put the book together in such as way that you are reading both her own story and the one of her great-aunt Yu-i. These two women were born in very different times and struggled through very different circumstances but the underlying problems are always the same - a clash between two cultures and two generations. This is pointed out in the book as well and we might not be going through the same situations as these two women, but through this underlying and ultimately eternal struggle, we can both relate and understand them.
Yu-i is introduced through a dress in a chest. This dress is Pang-Mei's physical representation of her great-aunt and her way of holding on to her memory. I find it very fitting and very human to get to know Yu-i through Pang-Mei's way of remembering her. We all hold on to something in an attempt to keep the ones we love close to us, if only to help keep the mental and spiritual bond alive and to keep them with us when they are gone. Pang-Mei admits that she does not even know if Yu-i even wore the dress but because Yu-i was related to it through the shop she once owned it became "Yu-i". Everything about this book is personal. Everything about this book is human. You can't help but relate and because I was able to connect to both Yu-i and Pang-Mei so well, I couldn't put it down.
Yu-i was trapped between two worlds. She lived in China through very difficult and conflicting times. The traditions of China were being challenged by Communism and by the fact that many of its youth were now being educated in European countries. If you have spent long periods of time abroad, you know that to an extent, everything that you are and everything that you believe in is questioned - not necessarily by the people of your new home but by yourself. You can't help but compare what you already know and have accepted to the new sense of "normality" in front of you. I say "normality" because this is an ever changing concept that changes not only from place to place but from person to person and when you find yourself in a place where the general sense of norm is quite different to what you think it is, you are immediately challenged. When faced with this challenge I find people either open up to this new idea and possibly try to apply it to what they already know or they hold on even firmer to this own sense of normality. This is what was happening in the China Yu-i grew up in. The country was split between the "radicals" who wanted to change China and its traditions and the "traditionalists" who liked things the way they were. Yu-i's brothers were more open to change and she was therefore able to use them to her advantage when pushing for her own ideas and thoughts. She was saved from having her feet bound by her brother who took pity on her when she wouldn't stop crying and she was able to push her parents to allow her to be educated.
Rebellion, rebellion, rebellion...
I can't help it - I really do enjoy the concept.
I was inspired by the humanity in this story. You can relate to everyone and everything. There is no evident right or wrong in most of the situations because there aren't in real life either. We side mainly with Yu-i because she is one of our two heroines (and believe me when I say that she showed a lot more maturity and patience in many situations than I would have been able to!) but we are also able to see and understand the way the people she has to deal with are thinking as well.
What I meant by the level of maturity and patience that Yu-i shows is the fact that her way of rebelling is not to jump up and down and scream the place down until people see things her way but a quiet yet certain stand for what she believes in. We think of the word rebellion and automatically assume there will be many fights and situations where there will be a winner and a loser but that's not the case here - as is it not with very many situations in our lives. Yu-i makes her stand. She stands strong and she comes out on top. She shows incredible mental strength in dire circumstances and is a model we can all fashion ourselves after.
Chang also goes into her own struggles. She is part of an ethnic minority in America - a place infamous for its racism anyway but I believe the main portion of the problems she faced as a child would be the same wherever she was. Chang was stuck between two cultures: American and Chinese. Chinese culture is known for its strict traditions to begin with but I believe that ethnic minorities hang on to their culture more fiercely than the people at home do. What I mean by that is that the Chines in a America are, in sense of culture, more Chinese than the Chinese in China. They hold on to what they know and, I'm not going to say that they reject everything else because I don't think that is true but they have a prejudice to anything that isn't Chinese. This creates an "Us and Them" situation which can lead to complications both socially and culturally.
Pang-Mei grows up in this conflicting environment and struggles to find her identity. I can relate deeply to this as I believe anyone who has grown up with more than one culture behind them can as well. Where do you accept one and discard the other? When do you decide which one to identify with? Which one do you identify with the most and aren't you betraying the one you can't identify with by choosing another?
Questions, questions, questions... But the difficult part about the answers is that only you can find them. You are constructing your own identity; defining the window frame you will view the world through. Only you can determine what you are and that thought is terrifying to most people. That is why people hold on to culture and traditions. They don't want to let go of or shift the identity they have constructed especially if they have lived a majority of their lives looking through a certain window.
Pang-Mei was able to find a role-model and to identify with her great-aunt. This in turn, helped her to struggle through the mess of two cultures and become the person she is today. This book is an inspiration for those who are struggling to find themselves. It takes the stories of two women and shows you that, in the end things will work out.
The underlying concepts and conflicts are outlined by the title: Bound Feet & Western Dress. The conflict which is both mental and physical is described to us before we even open the cover. Later on in the story this phrase comes up again when describing two people. You don't have to agree with it but it is the perfect way of describing people who are opposites. I'm not going to give you spoilers as to who said it but I am pretty confident that you will agree with me when I say that they were completely wrong... This book is incredibly well written and provides incredible insight into conflicts both inner and in the physical world.
