Veronica Li's Blog - Posts Tagged "chinese"
Chinese New Year Sale: Journey Across the Four Seas
Journey Across the Four Seas: A Chinese Woman's Search for Home
Happy Chinese New Year! Journey Across the Four Seas is on sale for $0.99 Feb. 17, Tuesday, through Feb. 19, Thursday. The book, a memoir of my mother’s life, is about the Chinese cultural values on family and education.
Ancient China was called a family state. It was an agricultural society, where people worked the land and never moved away. If you were born in a place, you lived your whole life in that place. Your family kept on growing and growing until it became a village and then a state. The family was everything to a person. It provided education, employment, protection, insurance—everything a person needed in his lifetime.
The Chinese emphasis on education started about 2,000 years ago, when the imperial exam system was established. Any male, regardless of wealth and social status, was allowed to participate. It was the only way for a person to change his station in life. The exams were grueling and went on for days, but a person who passed them became an official of the imperial court. He brought wealth and glory to himself, his family and his entire village.
I wish everyone a wonderful year of the sheep, hopefully a gentle and calm year!
Happy Chinese New Year! Journey Across the Four Seas is on sale for $0.99 Feb. 17, Tuesday, through Feb. 19, Thursday. The book, a memoir of my mother’s life, is about the Chinese cultural values on family and education.
Ancient China was called a family state. It was an agricultural society, where people worked the land and never moved away. If you were born in a place, you lived your whole life in that place. Your family kept on growing and growing until it became a village and then a state. The family was everything to a person. It provided education, employment, protection, insurance—everything a person needed in his lifetime.
The Chinese emphasis on education started about 2,000 years ago, when the imperial exam system was established. Any male, regardless of wealth and social status, was allowed to participate. It was the only way for a person to change his station in life. The exams were grueling and went on for days, but a person who passed them became an official of the imperial court. He brought wealth and glory to himself, his family and his entire village.
I wish everyone a wonderful year of the sheep, hopefully a gentle and calm year!
Confucius Says, a Novel on Caring for Aging Parents
I just published my third book, Confucius Says. It’s a novel on caring for aging parents and is based on my own experience.
In the story, Cary, a middle-aged Chinese American, takes her parents into her home in Northern Virginia. She has been taught to believe in the Confucian virtue of filial piety and wants to do her utmost for her parents. But when the pressure of caregiving builds, and her marriage and health suffer, she reads the classics to find out what exactly Confucius says. The result is a surprising discovery of what filial piety is and isn’t.
“In this era of unprecedented longevity, this story of caregiving for elderly parents is most timely,” says a review by Yong Ho of The China Institute in America. “While love for parents is a natural instinct, the Chinese codify it with a set of written guidelines. Through a humorous and entertaining story, the author uncovers the universal truths in Confucius’ teachings and applies them to a modern-day family.”
In the story, Cary, a middle-aged Chinese American, takes her parents into her home in Northern Virginia. She has been taught to believe in the Confucian virtue of filial piety and wants to do her utmost for her parents. But when the pressure of caregiving builds, and her marriage and health suffer, she reads the classics to find out what exactly Confucius says. The result is a surprising discovery of what filial piety is and isn’t.
“In this era of unprecedented longevity, this story of caregiving for elderly parents is most timely,” says a review by Yong Ho of The China Institute in America. “While love for parents is a natural instinct, the Chinese codify it with a set of written guidelines. Through a humorous and entertaining story, the author uncovers the universal truths in Confucius’ teachings and applies them to a modern-day family.”
