My aunt’s life goal was to travel the
world to see what elements of Chinese culture have penetrated and impacted
various global regions and to assess the similarity of Chinese culture to other
cultures of the world. My aunt was born in 1960 in Beijing, China, a major town
at the center of China’s economic, social, and political life. At the time,
China was experiencing the Cultural Revolution, a sociopolitical movement
characterized by upheaval in the attempt by Mao Zedong to regain power over the
Communist party (Phillips, 2016).
However, she asserted that during that time, the area was safe for them,
adding that her family never farmed or owned a ranch. She noted that Beijing
City was not densely populated as it had around 2 million people, which allowed
her family to enjoy the various special landmarks in the city, such as Ditan
Park. Their home was adjacent to the Wangfujing shopping center, which had a
movie theatre and a department store. A bookshop was also built on the street,
which became a highly popular spot as people from all over the country would
flock to buy books, reflecting the strong reading culture at the time.
Regarding the physical landscape, her neighborhood had urban buildings that
housed the theater, the shops, and the bookstore. The area had a good climate
because it was not polluted by company effluent, smog, and vehicle exhaust
fumes.
She noted that her neighborhood had
different kinds of housing arrangements, including apartment buildings and
commercial buildings housing the movie theatre, department store, and the
library. There were no major farming activities in her neighborhood, although
she said that some people farmed on a small scale on their home compounds.
Additionally, the prominent park around the area was Ditan Park, which was a
good place to take a stroll. She quipped that their neighborhood was generally
safe and averred that some of the voices she can remember include birds
chirping early in the morning and much chattering from people. Despite the busy
nature of the neighborhood, her family did not move often. Her neighborhood had
diverse groups of people, and since it was relatively safe, they were allowed
to visit their family friends and were permitted to move all over the
neighborhood. In light of this, her favorite memory is about the interactions
she had with children from the diverse families, and her least favorite memory
is when their family friends moved from their neighborhood.
My aunt averred that they lived in a two-story
apartment concrete building adjacent to the Wangfujing shopping center. Her
parents had rented that apartment, and the family stayed there for over twenty
years. She loved this home because it was located in town, and they could
access almost everything they desired. Their apartment had a sitting room that
was decorated with fresh flowers and with portraits of her family in different
settings. It had three long couches and a red carpet, along with red drapes
that covered the moderately sized glass windows. Their kitchen had an oven and
usually had two basketfuls of fruit on the counters. It also had shiny cutlery
and utensils. There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms that she shared with
her siblings. One of the bedrooms would also host guests whenever they came to visit.
Her parents had a master bedroom that had a huge bed and a bathroom, in
addition to beautiful wardrobes. The house had a moderate-sized basement in
which her dad kept his work tools. Their apartment had a small-sized porch that
her parents would use to relax whenever they were at home. However, it lacked a
garden and only had a small yard, part of which her mother used to farm and
part of which they used to play. Their house was generally warm and did not
have air and heat conditioning, and it was almost 2000 square feet, which was
almost similar in size to their neighbors’ houses.
My aunt stated that their household
had five people, her parents, and two siblings and the interactive nature of
her parents contributed much to the many people they knew in their neighborhood
and the frequent visitors. The family always got up at 7:00 a.m. and had
breakfast together at around 7:30 a.m. They would often have bread, sausages,
fruits, and tea, after which her parents would set out for work. She and her
siblings would have fish and rice for lunch together, and in the evening, they
would have larger meals in the evening. She asserted that she loved having
fried fish and rice as her mother often bought fresh fish every time she went
grocery shopping at the department store on Wangfujing shopping center. As a
family, they would usually congregate in the sitting room and talk, and they
played in their yard for fun. They also loved taking leisurely walks and going
to the theatre to watch movies. They played soccer and volleyball in their
yard, where they and their neighbors spent most of their time playing. They
avoided going to town to play because there were a lot of people, in addition
to the occasional political flare-ups. Her mother did the laundry and the
dishes and cooked because they did not have a housekeeper as her family was
moderately sized and well manageable to her parents. They usually played
football at home and school and belonged to the girl scouts, although her
parents did not belong to any club. My aunt still maintains contact with her
parents and her siblings, despite living far from each other.
My aunt stated that she loved
listening to her dad’s cassette tapes, especially because he was a fan of rock
music, a music culture that characterized her neighborhood. She also sang on
Sundays with other choir members and also played the piano in church. They did
not have a piano at home, and she only accessed it in church. Further, she said
that she always loved music by the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Just like
many others in the urban setting, she enjoyed movies and had a particular
liking for the Godfather (1972) and La Dolce Vita (1960) films. Her family had
special holidays that saw her parents treated them with new toys, and new
clothes. They enjoyed the Easter holidays, Christmas, as well as their
birthdays and during birthdays, her mother would bake cakes for them and invite
family friends to celebrate the day. At midday, they would visit places such as
Ditan Park and then eat out and later go to the theater. They also took family
vacations to strengthen the family bond. My aunt’s family also had special
wedding traditions that she learned about when her older sibling got married.
They visited her sister’s husband’s relatives and spent the night talking,
bonding, and celebrating. She got inspired by this occasion and got married
when she turned 35 years old, after which she was blessed with three
children.
She said that her parents were religious
Christians, and her family attended church on Sundays accompanied by their
neighbors and regularly shared spiritual insights during the week. Her family
mostly spoke English and Chinese, and they learned both languages from their
parents. Considering that her neighborhood was a mixture of different
ethnicities, she said that there was a mixture of languages, for instance,
Arabic, English, and Chinese. She said
that English was the prominent language because it allowed them to interact
with everyone, and some of the words they used at the time include “you dig?”
asking if someone understood. Her parents also valued education, and they sent
the children to a school near their home where they studied for nine years. My
aunt loved studying mathematics, Chinese, and English in school and often
enjoyed doing the much homework she got in these subjects in the sitting room
with her parents as they shared a lot of insight.
She said she enjoyed school because the
students were well behaved, and after completing primary school, she attended
college and specialized in Mathematics. She averred that college education was
a vital educational achievement as the qualifications she obtained helped her
get a job. Further, her family loved discussing politics at home and focused
majorly on local, regional, national politics. They obtained political insight
from reading a daily newspaper, which they would talk about during their free
time. Politics was an important subject of conversation, although it was not a
point of contention in their household. My aunt said that she always loved
working because her parents influenced her to have a good work ethic at a young
age. As such, she got a job at the departmental store to arrange and dust items
on the shelves and even contributed to her family budget, although it was not
mandatory. She also worked as a young
adult teaching lower-level students mathematics and English and said she did
not have a least favorite job because the jobs she did improved her in
different ways. Her jobs were all in Beijing, implying that she walked to work,
although her parents had a car that she would use occasionally.
Part II
I notice that there is a cultural
consistency between my life and my aunt’s life. I also grew up in an urban
setting in a home with two parents and three children. Just like my aunt’s
family, our family lived in a peaceful area despite the intricacies involved in
living in urban places in contemporary times. Just like was the culture in my
aunt’s time, our family and many other families in our urban neighborhood do
not farm on their yards and only use them to play and farm vegetables on a small scale. My home is also structurally
similar to my aunt’s, although it has more rooms. I also have that culture of
interacting with my neighbors and often have visitors because I am a highly
sociable person. I also love having meals with my family, and we often hold
discussions on a range of subjects such as politics, different cultures, and the
economy. My parents also embraced the same culture of being providers, and our
mum was in charge of ensuring that the household was running smoothly, just as
my aunt’s mother. I have also experienced different recreational activities to
interact and strengthen our family, which we also do when celebrating birthdays
and specials holidays such as Easter, graduation, weddings, and Christmas.
My aunt and I also share similar religious
cultures as I go to church every Sunday and participate actively in church
affairs. I also enjoy rock music because it examines the intricacies of the
contemporary culture I live in, such as drugs, crime, and other aspects of
modern life. I also play different kinds of musical instruments as I take part
in karaoke and sing in various events. I also appreciate language as the gateway
to any culture and travel widely interacting with people from different
cultures. As such, I believe that our
family shares the same work culture my aunt’s family had because we are all
driven and highly ambitious. Although
the work culture in my aunt’s time was strict, the contemporary work culture is
highly engaging. Considering that we all work, we actively make time to be
together because we believe that the beginning of love, peace, understanding,
and self-discovery is the family.
As such, we have different reading
cultures because people rarely buy books from the library as they access them
through the internet on their computers, kindles, and smart phones. I would say
that these gadgets have also affected the socializing culture because people
spend most of their time on their gadgets even when there are in public and
still avoid physical interactions with people, instead preferring chatting
online. This tendency has eroded the importance of establishing robust social
bonds, which is gradually eroding cultural beliefs and values. Further, the
contemporary work culture has empowered more people to own vehicles, which has
affected climate and impacted health negatively. Thus, despite the many
similarities between my aunt’s culture and mine, the differences are also
highly tangible.