Arlt: Chinese Imagination

Repay your love and friendship

Chinese literature, for example, ancient poetry, lyrics, and traditional Chinese stories, reveals many different kinds of good personalities of people. According to a famous ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius (Ð'Ñ--Ð"--Ð"--Ð""), men are born to be kind (Ð"?Ð"‹Ð"-Ð'®Ð'Ñ-Ð"µÐ'©o Ð"Ñ'Ð""Ð'±Ð'Ñ*Ð"‰Ð"†). Everyone has his or her own good qualities and sometimes they are just hidden and needed to be explored and discovered.

In traditional China, people had a strong sense of repayment (Ð'?Ð"Ñ-Ð'Ò'Ð"o). People who do not have this ability to repay others who have helped them before are usually being looked down on. The sense of repayment is perhaps a product of a good friendship or love. And the boundary of love here in this case, is not only about the love between couples but all different kinds of love also, for instance, the love between family members. Therefore, repayment is in fact tied in with the theme of filial piety. PeopleÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs devotion to and their respect for their parents or elders are actually a form of repayment.

In the story, Ð'ÐŽÐ'oThe Courtesan Li Wa,Ð'ÐŽÐ'± Li Wa is surely very respectful to her Ð'ÐŽÐ'omotherÐ'ÐŽÐ'± though she is not her real mother who gives birth to Li Wa. While Li Wa and the young man are taking a rest at Li WaÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs auntÐ'ÐŽÐ'®s place, she gets a message that her mother is ill, suffering very badly and cannot even recognize the people in the house. Li Wa, without a doubt, decides to go back immediately to see her mother without even considering the young man. Though I have to say that I personally doubt that this is in fact a proper and an appropriate way to handle this situation, Li Wa has certainly shown her respect and devotion to her so-called Ð'ÐŽÐ'omotherÐ'ÐŽÐ'±.

A while later in the story, the young man fails to find Li Wa and her aunt. He has been roaming about and at some point close to death due to illness. He ends up being employed by the mortuaries to sing. On one occasion, the young manÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs father happens to be there and an old servant recognizes the young man. His father takes him out of there, stripped him, flogs him with a horse whip several hundred times and leaves him for dead. The young man does not end up in death because the youthÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs music instructor sends someone to keep and eye on him. At this point of the story, the young manÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs relationship with his father has already broken and the young manÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs father even thinks that his son is beaten to death by himself. When he meets Li Wa again, Li Wa feels extremely sorry for him but her mother told her to send him away. However, here Li Wa gives a speech which shows her decency and qualities of being, later, a noblewoman. She notices that it is totally her and her motherÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs fault which causes the young man to suffer and the broken relationship between the young man and his father. She has been devoted and respectful to her mother but she does not do this over the line. Li Wa does what she believes to be right and what she ought to do. She pays her mother for her freedom. However, she still offers to Ð'ÐŽÐ'olive in a place close by, so that [they (Li Wa and the young man)] can still pay [their] respects to [her mother] daily.Ð'ÐŽÐ'± The author once again lets us see that Li Wa shows her filial piety to her so-called Ð'ÐŽÐ'omotherÐ'ÐŽÐ'± and that she does this as a repayment to her mother for being her Ð'ÐŽÐ'omotherÐ'ÐŽÐ'± for twenty years. Ð'ÐŽÐ'oThe Courtesan Li WaÐ'ÐŽÐ'± is a very clear and good example to show how repayment and filial piety are tied together.

Ð'ÐŽÐ'oThe Leper GirlÐ'ÐŽÐ'± is another story which is in the theme of filial piety. ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їi is a very positive and devoted character which shows filial piety. ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їi, with the help of the old man Ssu-kung who is ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'ЇiÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs uncleÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs friend in Kwangtung, is introduced to Li-yuÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs family. He realizes that his personal background is not good enough to match Li-yuÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs family, so he first hesitates to even go there. Later he keeps himself very well-mannered and humble and asks for an absence of a short period of time after the marriage in order to transport his uncle, Huang Hai-koÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs body back to their home. Li-yuÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs mother questions about this. However, her husband stops her and instead praises ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'ЇiÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs filial piety to his uncle. Readers are clearly told that ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'ЇiÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs respect and devotion to his older generations is outstanding.

In the same story, Li-yuÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs disobedience of her parents is also important. She is in fact unfilial but only that she does this because she is doing what she believes to be right and what she ought to do. She cannot see herself Ð'ÐŽÐ'omurderingÐ'ÐŽÐ'± ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їen ChÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їi by transferring the infection to him.

A clearer opposite example of filial piety, perhaps it could be called, filial impiety, is the story, Ð'ÐŽÐ'oOld Servant Hsu.Ð'ÐŽÐ'± Two of the three brothers of the Hsu family, Hsu Yen and Hsu Chao have shown no filial piety at all as the disregard their fatherÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs will and divided the property and do not care about the widow of the other brother. The two disrespectful brothers once even say that there is no need to listen to their fatherÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs