Transcript for the Piece Audio version of RN Documentary: The Music of Lutes and Harps

CHINA FAMILY DOCO
Broadcast Wed+Fri+Sun, August 23+25+26, 2006
Production number: 1007573

MUSIC: Tibetan Prayer (album Asian Meditation, C.235.685), comp. Hartung, AVC.INC, 260110-2, (2?30?)

COLLAGE: Wilbur 8: I don?t have siblings?whole family. (11?)
Lucy 14: I have no plan to be a mother, because it?s such a big
responsibility (6?)
Jenny 6: Without a child, I wont be happy, and my parents won??t
be happy ( 7?)
Josh 10: Consumerism and materialism is changing the value of
the family. (4?)
Melody 5: The two most important documents in today?s China, if
you want to travel in China, one is the single or marriage certificate,
the other is the family plng book, esp for women (12?)

Radio Netherlands presents:
The Music of Lutes and Harps
The Changing Tune of family life in China Produced and presented by Marijke van der Meer

OPENING: The East is Red, (album 1921-2001), CCD-2001, 058z, ISRC CN-A01-01-318-00/A.J6, 30 sec.

2: When the People?s Republic was founded in 1949, one of the first legal measures adopted by the new rulers, even before the constitution, was the Marriage Law of 1950. The law abolished China?s feudal marriage system. It outlawed ancient practices like the keeping of concubines, the bartering of brides, and bigamy, and in doing so it redefined the role of spouses and family.(30?)

MUSIC Sunland, (album Asia Today 1, C.216.731), Tony Tam, Sonoton, SAS201, 30 sec.

3: In the post-Mao era, Chinese family life has once again undergone radical change. In the present age of economic reform and modernization, a new generation of young urbanites have entered adulthood ? armed with computers, college degrees, and cash. They are the first children raised under China?s now famous one-child policy. (24?)

LUCY 1: My name is Lucy, and my Chinese name is Chianping, I was born in Chungching in 1978. I?m the second child, I have a sister 2 years younger. After 1978, this policy became very strict in China and no couple can have a 2nd child in a city,, and in the country they can have a 2nd one if the first child is a girl. (25?)

WILBUR 1+2: I was born in 1980 my name is Wilbur.. I have a very warm family, I have a mother, a father, so it?s a cozy family.
I don?t have any brothers and sisters, I?m an only child. I think in old times there are lots of children, so if one or several has a talent of reading books they can according to their talent learn, not so much pressure but we are different. We are the only child of a whole family. (28?)

JOSH 1+2: I?m Josh , I?m 23, and Im? from Beijing. I don?t have any siblings I?m the only kid in the family. I think I?m the product of a one-child policy but I?m not sure. We never talked about that.At this moment I might just want a brother or sister. Because it feels a little boring. It feels better if you have someone to share with you. It puts a lot of pressure if your?e the only kid in the family, and if you have a sibling it makes things change.(30?)

LUCY 4A+B: I?m lucky, I have a sister My sister she?s two years older, so we?re more like friends.We call each other often and share secrets and our life experience and feelings, and now of course she just had a baby and we have more to talk about, she had a daughter. I take her as my own daughter, also I perform like a friend to my sister, and we discuss her education, and how to teach her to be a happy person, how to handle her problems, we worrry too much also, like our parents but different. (40?/45?)

JENNY 1: My name is Jenny I?m from Shendong province, from a village in a rural area. My parents are farmers. I was born on Jan 29 1981. I have one brother, sister, and a younger brother. I?m the 3rd child. My mother didn?t want the boy to be alone. In the village, girls get married and move out, so my mother wanted another boy (2?45?), so both decided to move to northeastern China in Hongjong province, more than 3th km away. The policies there are not that strict. So many people from Shendong province moved there to have more children. (1?05?)

4: It is believed that the strict enforcement of the one-child policy since 1979 has prevented the birth of about 300 million individuals. About 80 million new citizens have been born under the policy, and it has changed the relationship between the sexes, and between parents and their children. The policy has affected migration, expectations, reproductive health, the status of women, city planning, and even the design of cars. (32?)

TOY STORE

5. On a Saturday morning at Beijing?s biggest toy and children?s clothing department store, well-fed kids dressed in designer T-shirts try on designer shoes and are lured towards the latest consumer goodies and gadgets. These children are doted on, and demanding. Their end of the bargain? Good grades. (25?)

LUCY: 5+ 20 (egg): Sometimes I can observe some children once they become independent they are excited but don?t know how to handle their life and time, because before everything is arranged by their parents.. They can get anything, theyr?e supposed to respect their parent and became very special, and got very angry if they didn?t get what they want, and that? true, and parent? only care about their study.There was one student who don?t? even know how to peel an egg. (52?00?) because he coulnd?t find a crack and didn?t know you should break it first. Because his mother always did that for him,?.and everything is ready for him. But now it?s not so cracy, parents realized the ability to take care of themselves is as important as study.(37?)

Spring Water, (album Authenic China, C. 205941), Fuquan Zhang, Sonoton SAS 034, 30sec.

In spite of China?s rapid modernization towards an urbanized, computerized consumer society, certain ancient traditions remain, such as the age-old preference for sons over daughters. (16?)

MELODY 8: It?s a matter of desirability, because culturally it?s important to carry on lineage (36?30?) the famly name, even tho there?s no clear econ incentive, because if you do this you?ll betray the ancestors, because if you stop the male heir line,?No Chinese, esp women, dare to bear such a shame (that you would end the family line. (23?)

Melody (Lu Jow) Wan is from Taiwan and is presently an affiliated fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies in Leiden, in the Netherlands. Her experience with China?s preference for sons is not based on academica research alone.(19?)

MELODY 27: Im not very cose to my father or grandfather, partly because my mother had no son but 3 daughters. She was marginalized in the family because she didn?t bear a son, she?s 62 now. ?So even today in Taiwan women are still stigmatized because they didn?t bear a son (2?00?) I am the first daughter and I was highly expected to be a son. My father is the eldest son so I?m supposed to be the first grandchild, then I turned out to be a women, so indirectly I experienced disappointment, through unspoken gesture, vocal tones, such as my grandfather never look at me directly or he will tell the guests what a pity she is not a son. (52?)

JENNY 9B: My maternal grandparents: my grandma doesn?t like girls, she only likes boys, so she doesn?t even like my mother, the 4th girl, after her a boy was born, my uncle, so my grandma has been waiting so long to have a boy so she let my mother get married when she was only 19 years old (31?)

8: As many experts will point out, China?s traditional preference for sons ? in combination with the one-child policy and new reproductive technologies, abortion and sex screening? has led to a gender surplus of boys, especially in rural areas. Recent studies show that there is now a sex ratio imbalance of 120 boys for every 100 girls born in China. It is believed that in the next ten years, 40 million men will not find wives.(37?)

MELODY 9: In the rural areas the imbalance continues to grow because since the one-child policy was introduced roughly at same time as econ reforms of Deng; huge layoffs in state enterprises, migration flow of labor surplus to urban areas, shift from agriculture to industry, welfare protection and housing and hlth care were reduced in rural areas. All these changes happened while there was no incentive for the rural population to have fewer children, because they still relied on the children to take care of them in old age. Family still depends on children?s production. (23?)

9: The problem is compounded by the fact that many of these children have joined China?s huge floating population, tens of millions of migrant workers, many of them women who are drawn from the countryside to the cities and manufacturing centers of China?s economic boom. In some villages, only the children and grandparents are left behind to care for each others, while the young members of the family go the production centers for work. This is leading to painful separation within families. (35?)

JENNY 3A+B: You cannot support the family only by growing crops (7?30?), by farming, so my father went to Chindow to do migrant work, and he wkd there for nearly 18 yrs, after I went to college, my young brother grad from middle school and went to vocational school also in Huangdow region of Chindow. So none of my siblings live at home, so my mother went to Chindow to be with my father.He didn?t come back every 2 months for harvest or to grow crops in spring, and autumn. (29?)
We didn?t have that strong relation with my father. He was always busy, because he was working, life was so hard, he didn?t have much communication with us, but I know he loved us. (47?)

10: Rural women often try to find husbands in the cities with urban registration so that they can benefit from the urban housing, job, pension and health care schemes. Low-status male migrants sometimes end up living in ?bachelor ghettos?. In Shanghai half of the murders are believed to be crimes of passion. There is more divorce and marital infidelity. (26?)

MELODY 12B: But it?s not openly articulated, as long as it doesn?t break the unity or econ aspect of the family. (54?30?) Whatever happens is between them, but it?s definitely a source of tension, and is widely practiced that it?s acceptable as long as you don?t bring it to the surface and jeopardize the unity of the family. (24?)

11: Given the importance of marriage and offspring in the rural areas, it is not surprising to hear that some people are resorting to unorthodox solutions. [On the border area of Guangzi men are known to seek women from the poor border areas in Laos and Vietnam.] Sometimes women serve as borrowed or shared wives and once a son is born, she is free to go again.(26?)

MELODY 22: If you?re not able to marry you?re the most marginalized even in the poor community, so in these communities marriage is no longer economic, it?s also about you can afford to be a respected member of the community (15?30?), it?s also about family shame. (18?)

12: There is a great deal of speculation about where the sex ratio imbalance will lead. Will it increase male aggressiveness,prostitution and the trafficking of women, or in fact enhance the status of women? One western publication recently predicted an increase in military activity, and even the deliberate recruitment of surplus men for high-risk, high-mortality missions. Others believe it will lead to more homosexuality.(28?)

MELODY 23: Homosexuality remains a very urban phenomenon and also western, and therefore corrupt. Brokeback Mntn was banned in China but in today?s China there?s always a parallel current in society where people don?t actually give a dam about what?s actually prohibited . You follow it when you need to.
Whereever there?s a policy there?s a counterpolicy. There?s a people?s reaction to it. Shang heu deiz aw de shao de ze?This applies to homosexuality as long as it isn?t threaten family institution. (47?)

MUSIC: Waves, (album Authentic China, C. 205.941), Sonoton SAS034, 45sec.

CONFUCIUS:
It is said in the Book of Poetry, ?Happy union with wife and children is like the music of lutes and harps. When there is concord among brethren, the harmony is delightful and enduring. Thus may you regulate your family, and enjoy the pleasure of your wife and children.? The Master said, ?In such a state of things, parents have full contentment (entire complacence)!? (30?)

13: Chinese family life varies enormously from region to region and from one ethnic group or social class to another, and there are huge differences between conditions in the cities and in the rural areas. But in all of China, certain ancient teachings, dating back to Master Confucius in the pre-Christian era, are still deeply rooted in Chinese culture. One of these is the principle of filial piety.(29?)

MUSIC: Crossing the Wujiang River (Authentic China,C.205.941), Sonoton SAS034, (1?10?)

CONFUCIUS:
Meng Yi asked about the treatment of parents. The Master said, ?Never disobey!?. Fan Chi said, ? In what sense did you mean it?? The Master said, ? While they are alive, serve them according to ritual. [When they die, bury them according to ritual and sacrifce to them according to ritual. Meng Wu asked about the treatment of parents. The Master said,][6sec] ? Behave in such a way that your father and mother have no anxiety about you, except concerning your health?.Filial sones nowadays are people who see to it that their parents get enough to eat. But even dogs and horses are cared for to that extent. If there is no feeling of respect, wherein lies the difference?? Zixia asked about the treatment of parents. The Master said, ?Filial piety does not consist merely in young people undertaking the hard work, when anything has to be done, or serving their elders first with wine and food. It is something much more than that.? (1?02?)

MELODY 2: Filial piety in Chinese is called shyou is still considered the most important virtue in Chin society, not only because it is a Confucian legacy, but also because it is at the center of the political system ? (10?40?) Filial piety has regained its central place in being emphasized by the state, because of the need of the state to , the responsibility for children and care for the aged, putting back to the family again. Therefore there?s a wave of emphasizing this again, not necessarily because it?s a cultural legacy but also because of the current economic reality that it?s necessary to reinforce it again. (34?)

WILBUR 16: China has 5 thousand years history and we have lots of moral standards, and these are valuable. Generations like my cousin?s (40?00?) because educ system has disadvantages, at some level this is being neglected.Moral education being neglected. Moral education is in some way is being neglected. It?s a pity. E.g. in old times, we respect old people very much. If there is old people at the table, the young were not allowed to sit at the table, they had a small table and ate together. When I was a pupil and went to my grandparents, I always wait until my grandparents come to the table when they sat and started to eat.(35?)

LUCY 7: We have a very close relation with my mother?s parents (8?30?). My grandfather passed away two years ago, so my mother and her siblings will take care of my grandmother together. My grandmother when we were growing up, she took care of every child in my family. (26?)

JOSH 3: Actually, my grandparents were there too when I was little. They helped me grow up a lot.When I was 7 or 8, my grandpa came to my family and helped us out, they took care of me. They lived with us for 2 years. We have a very big family and my grandparents are always moving and helping some family members.
They love kids their grandsons. I have lots of cousins, and they?re always very lovely people, and they just love to help out with the kid.(32?)

LUCY 8+9: I remember I went to my grandmother, and I was so happy for one week. No father?s teaching?no fathers bothering me around, and I was so happy,and after a week when my father came back, I didn?t want to leave, and I don?t know where I found the courage to say ? NO I don?t want to go home, I want to stay here. And my father got very angry. So that?s very impressive. I ran around my grandfather. He couldn?t do anything, and he just kept saying don?t run, it?s ok, go home with your dad, ..my father beat me very heavily I should say (1?05??)

JOSH 6+7: I think I had a lovely childhood, down to every details, like my parents offered me the best opportunity. The thing I can remember is my first bike, we were not that rich so we had to save money, and I always wanted a blue bike but I had to ask my parents to buy the bike. My dad used half of his monthly salary to buy me the bike, so he saved half of his cigarette money to buy me the bike, that was really touching at the time. I think I was eleven at that time.

LUCY8+9: (cont?d): My father gave me some medicine, ointment for the hurt, for the pain after he beat. That feels a bit strange, he beat me and then he cured me (13?45?) and he nursed me, that?s a little strange.
Now it?s very seldom for parents to beat the children, because more people realized this is not a good way to educate children. I haven?t talk with him about this, because I can feel he regrets this, maybe I feel I don?t have to talk with him to embarrass him and I think the way to forgive him is to care more and call him more often (17?30?) and tell him about what I?m up to and then he?s very happy and then he knows I care about him and like to share my life with him, that?s better. (37??)

WILBUR 7: Every year I go home twice, winter and summer vacation for 2 months, winter is one month. We just sit around and chat and I cook for my parents. Sometimes we cook together. My father doesn?t like to go shopping, but my mother does so I accompany her and we go shopping together. (32?)

MUSIC: Joyful Year, (Chinese New Years? Concert, C.237.867), Hugo Productions, HRP 7223-2, 45 sec

LUCY 25: The most important family reunion inChina is sprng festival, new year, based on lunar calendar around early February, and at that time everyone goes home, and on new year?s eve we have a big family dinner, and all the children , uncles and aunts come, For my family, the whole family for new year?s dinner, there will be about 30 people (laughs). We live in different cities, so it?s a happy time, and we would burn firecrackers after dinner, so fireworks, so every family will do that., a happy time.

JOSH 4: I?m not sure how many cousins I have, around 10, that?s a lot. They live everywhere, some abroad, some here in Beijing..Shanghai.Usually we see each during the sprng festival, but now since everyone is very busy so we don?t see each other that much but we do care for each other a lot. When we get together we talk abut lots of things, careers, prosperity, everything. During the spring festival, it?s like Xmas eve, nice meal For a trad family, during the meal there?s a dish called dumpling, But nowadays, it?s not a big deal, but we have this sphere of sharing e o. In the cities people are starting to not take it as seriously as before. 20 yrs ago it was the biggest thing in the whole year., but now that we have the time and the money, we can see e o whenever and where we want.

MUSIC; My Heart Will Go On, Mao Ning perf., CD0479, ISRC-CN-E04-98-368-00/A.J6, (45?)

14: Now the first generation of offspring of the early years of the one-child policy are themselves old enough to be married and have children. Young educated urbanites are not facing the same problems as their rural counterparts, but they face other, new problems.(19?)

WILBUR 9 (marriage plans): Of course, everybody wants to marry (22?38?) but I have to consider lots of things. Also in Chin tradition boy?s responsibility is very heavy. They should make a home ?a man should be a supporter of the whole family, altho we are one child, this tradition is still on our shoulders. even heavier because in old families there are several children and maybe a brother or sister can help. Now it?s different. Two children will raise old men. Two children must take care of four old parents

LUCY 11: My sister?s married and has a baby, and I?m still single so I?m the only child my parents still worry about. Their idea for me is to have a family (18?50?). Children?s not important but family is, that somene?s taken care of me. Now after a few years here they start to worry about my marriage, I don?t have a boyfriend, and they say, maybe I can call auntie John and introduce someone to you , do you think you have time to make an appointment, and don?t be too choosy, you cannot find the best, and if it?s not too bad, it?s ok, they just worry about my age. I know in Beijing and Shanghai I know a lot of career women, 30 or even 40 and still single and they can support themselves, and it?s not a problem,

JOSH 11: Finding a grilfriend is just the last thing on my mind now?finding that particular one is hard. It?s even harder to find a particular woman, than just a woman. It is important that my parents would offer me some advice but not pivotal. It?s you who?s getting married andnot your parents. (42?)

JENNY 6D: Me and my husband will both work. I won?t be a housewife, but he should be responsible for his work and for the family. I want him to be successful, but if I?m more successful it?s ok, and we will both shoulder the responsibility for the children, housework, cooking.
Is it easy to meet good men like that?
Not that easy. We can choose . I can choose to wait until he comes.(43?)

JOSH 8 (love vs marriage): Well, that?s the last thing on my mind right now. First of all.. I have no plans because I?m stlll very young. First, I want to be independent, I want to be fin independent and take care of my parents when they?re older in a moral traditional way.
Maybe when I become 30 or 35 , that would be the best time to get married, because I don?t have to worry about finances, probably I?ll be very successful, it?s a long time from now, you become more mature and you know what you want. It?s easy to be in love, but it?s hard to know what love is, yes I?ve been in love. I?ve never thought of getting married?I think falling in love and marriage are 2 different things. Love is one,marriage is another. Marriage is more like a business, ?(57?)

JENNY 7 (dinks): Many would choose to be dink? double income without kids or not married. The major reason is pressure and fierce competition in job market. The house prices in Beijing and education of children, in so many years I want to develop myself. A lot of friends have the same thoughts. ?(35?)

JOSH 10 (marriage= contract): I think the traditional views of family has changed more or less. Consumerism and materialism is changing the value of the family because nowadays when you seek marriage, you seek someone you love and who can bring prosperity to your life as well, it?s like a joint venture ocmpany, marriage. I think people are more materialistic and more business minded.

JENNY 6 A+C (marriage + kids): I?m not a typical for my generation. I will get married, I will not be a housewife, but I?ll take care of my husband and I will try tohave a good relation with his and my parents (who will live with us) and I will definitely have a child. I want to my life to be complete, because in my mind to be married is to have a child, a whole family, is a perfect life. Without a child, I wont be happy, and my parents won??t be happy. (47?)

WILBUR 18+19 (two?s enough): (laughs) I want to have children but 3 or 4 I can?t afford. Two?s enough. One is also ok. For me a boy and a girl is ok. But in old Chin tradition people tend to favor a boy, because boys are in our eyes still belong to the family, and if a girl married then she will leave this family and enter the other family. But nowadays it?s ok, because not only girls left home, boys left home, too. (30?)

LUCY 14: (no kids): For me, I don?t want to have children. Not now at least, I have no plan to be a mother, because it?s such a big responsibility, it?s not just like buying something. It?s at least 18 yrs responsibility, you cannot go karaoke and go to bars often, and you have to behave very properly. Your child is observing you 24 hours, maybe I?m not so confident of myself, but maybe one day, it depends on if I get married. I have to find a good husband first. Who will take care of you in old age? Good question.

MUSIC: same as opening, 2min 30 sec

15: Josh and Wilbur are their parents? only child. Their children will grow up without aunts and uncles, or first cousins. Long-established patterns are changing, and new types of networks and bonds are taking their place. (16?)

WILBUR 23: I don?t have brothers or sister .Im an only child of my family. I think I?m influenced by my parents, and they are very warm. I have a character that is easy to have friends. Actually I have lots of close friends, I really can?t tell the difference between us and a brother and a sister. I treat them as my brothers, I call them brothers . In Chinese if you have a friend close to you, you will call them brother or sister. I am always ready to help them, even when they have problems, at that time they really need a friend, and in the future we need friends. This kind of position is occupied by close friends instead of brothers and sisters. But still it depends what kind of family a person comes from, I think we don?t have theproblems of communicate of the same age friends. We are glad to have many friends because we are the only child in our family. (37?)

LUCY 23: I think friends is very important, the most important thing now, I get a lot of support from friends, and in hard times, without them I cannot survive, and this kind of support you can?t get from your parents. The parents can?t help you, they?re in another city, you just make them worry, so friendship is important, and even if I?m married, and I won?t leave my friends, because of my husband, you know. (28?)

JENNY 8: I have a lot of friends, they are my source of spirit when I?m sad or in bad mood. To recover. Friends you can?t always be together I feel I cannot always bother them, but family is always there for me. , no matter what. and I?m always there for them. So family is something that I cannot live without.(37?)

WILBUR 21: All societies not only in China, also in Europe and America, family?s the basic cell, so not individuals. But a family is a basic unit. But for a family every member is very important, wife, husband,and children, and no one can be lost. If the family is stable, then so is the whole society is stable. (?)

You?ve been listening to ? The Music of Lutes and Harps?, about the changes in family life in China. The program was produced and presented by Marijke van der Meer. This has been a Radio Netherlands presentation.

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