www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Opinion / Blog

No girls allowed on family tree

By teamkrejados (blog.chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-05-26 08:51

It started with trees. Family trees, to be specific.

I was talking with my freshmen about how in America families are so disparate that family records are kept in various ways, most commonly on Family Trees. See, in America, the nuclear family – Mom, Dad, siblings – does not necessarily live around their extended family – cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Sometimes, people do not know their extended family. We have family reunions to get everyone, or at least everyone who can attend, in one place for one weekend a year or every few years.

Some families never have reunions. My family is such a one: my children barely know a quarter of their cousins, let alone any of their aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews. They have only met their paternal grandparents a handful of times, and their maternal grandfather three times. They have never met my mother.

I contend that heritage is critically important. Not just for practical reasons like medical history or vital statistics, but also for a sense of continuity and belonging. I have learned the hard way how important it is to have such feelings; they anchor one into society and give one a sense of stability and equality among their peers.

I grew up without family. I was not an orphan, but my mother specialized in keeping my siblings and me far away from extended family. Thus I did not know I had relatives in France, and I barely knew any of my relatives in America. It took me years as an adult to find and meet everyone. Well, not quite everyone, but at least now I know I have a wealth of family on both sides of the ocean.

In China, there is no such thing as a distinction between nuclear and extended family. Everyone is family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins… everyone is simply called family. There is no need for reunions here because everyone gets together every year, several times per year. There is no need for family trees because family tradition and history is passed down from generation to generation. At Spring Festival, Qing Ming, National Holidays and weddings, the whole family tells stories, and sometimes legends of their ancestors.

No wonder I was met with glazed eyes and blank stares when I introduced the concept of family trees. It seems the idea that family would not be together is inconceivable to the Chinese.

But, as I pointed out to these kids, when they graduate they may or may not return home. As with so many other things in China, the trend is now for families to break up. Grown children are moving permanently away from the villages and to the cities where they can make money. Some do not go home at all anymore. They marry someone they met in the City and make their life in these concrete jungles. Oral traditions are fading. In just a few years, the Chinese will also need to have family reunions and record family ties on trees.

During the discussion two of my students, Mandy and Yolanda, averred that their family does maintain a family book. Their fathers currently have custody of it and it is a revered family document, going back centuries. However, neither Yolanda nor Mandy are listed in the books of their respective families. They will be, once they marry. Correction: they will not be; their husbands will be.

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Most Viewed Today's Top News
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产日产欧产精品精品推荐小说 | 成人影院免费看 | 99精品在线播放 | 天堂男人在线 | 久久成人免费 | 国产成人a大片大片在线播放 | 欧美a在线视频 | 美国毛片基地a级e片 | 亚洲精品日韩一区二区 | 成人不卡视频 | 日韩一级大毛片欧美一级 | 亚洲精品成人久久 | 杨幂精品国产专区91在线 | 精品在线播放 | 亚洲黄色免费在线观看 | 国产精品久久久久久久久岛 | 国产欧美日韩综合精品一区二区三区 | 99re66热这里只有精品免费观看 | 欧美成人a大片 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片免费看 | 国产欧美一区二区精品性色 | 欧美三级中文字幕 | 亚洲 欧美 日韩中文字幕一区二区 | 日韩欧美精品综合一区二区三区 | 日本肥老妇色xxxxx日本老妇 | 三级视频在线播放线观看 | 中文字幕 亚洲精品 第1页 | 欧美xxxxx九色视频免费观看 | 成人18免费入口 | 依依成人综合网 | 一级一级 a爱片免费视频 | 国产偷自拍 | 国内精品久久久久影院老司 | 久久免费毛片 | 美女视频黄色的免费 | 欧美aaaaa一级毛片在线 | 久久精品国产国产精品四凭 | 最新在线精品国自拍视频 | 一级毛片私人影院免费 | 成人免费毛片一区二区三区 | 一级女人毛片 |