I was thinking about our project and about the possible subtopics we could divide it into so that we can each have a focus (similar to how the other groups did their presentations). Here is what I came up with: 1) Gender in general in Chinese culture 2) The process of choosing a mate/husband/wife in Chinese culture 3) The parent and child relationship in Chinese culture 4) The overall structure of the family including the importance of worshipping ancestors. Let me know what you guys think about these categories! I got many of the ideas from the following website, which is very interesting.
Also I think it is very interesting what Christian said about dating in Chinese culture. It surprises me that it doesn't start until the early 20's (as compared to culture in the US where many people start dating as young as middle school!).
As for my own previous knowledge of the importance of family in Chinese culture, I do not know much. I do know that family is extremely important and that there is a emphasis placed upon younger generations respecting elders. I know that the expectations of the youth in terms of taking care of their parents / grandparents etc. is great in Chinese culture, and this idea is something that holds strong no matter the situation, even when the older generation has done something to harm the younger generation. Besides this idea, I know that in Chinese culture family relationships can almost be viewed as religious. People worship their ancestors (their deceased family members) and actually look to their own family for guidance, as they would towards some sort of deity. This idea shows the power of the family bond and lineage in Chinese culture.
I found this website about Chinese parenting which is very interesting. Normally there are 4 main parenting styles throughout all culture: authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and uninvolved. I learned from this website that, because of traditional Chinese culture, the vast majority of parents are "authoritarian" which means high control and low responsiveness.
This is an interesting excerpt from the article:
"However, the majority of Chinese parents still use the authoritarian style of parenting where there are strict demands, expectations and a structured code of conduct. This is accompanied by a low level of responsiveness where children are told to obey instructions and not to question their parents"
This website is awesome! It talks all about how the family is organized and the importance of certain values in the family. I highlighted a bunch of very interesting facts but I'm not sure if you guys can see my highlights. This website also goes on to talk about marriage and dating for whoever ends up talking about that part of the family. Overall, it is a great article!
Reflection on Presentation: I think that overall our presentation went well. It was definitely very informative and covered all aspects of Chinese family and relationships varying from husband and wife to father and son to brother and sister etc. That being said, it was definitely longer than it was supposed to be. It would have been better if we had more time to meet as a group. I know we all did a lot of very good research separately, but more practice as a collective group would have beneficial. Besides that I think we did a very good job and taught the class a lot about both traditional Chinese families and modern Chinese families! Good job team!
http://family.jrank.org/pages/254/China-Tradition-Persistence-Transition.html
This is an interesting excerpt from the article:
"However, the majority of Chinese parents still use the authoritarian style of parenting where there are strict demands, expectations and a structured code of conduct. This is accompanied by a low level of responsiveness where children are told to obey instructions and not to question their parents"
http://chineseparenting.com/chinese-parenting-styles/
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/hbfamilism-u.html