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Economic Reform in China Post 1978

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After reading “Family”, I get more realize for the feudal system and feel melancholy for the corrupt society. In the novel, the Kao family reflects the real society and the members in the family stand for different characters in the feudal system. Among these people in Kao family, the three brothers, Chueh-chin, Chueh-hui and Chueh-min impressed me most. Even though they have the same parents, the three people have different thought and character, and these two factors determine their destiny will be various.
Kaos were the four generations under one roof and it was also literary family. However, under its magnificent surface, there were full of civil campaign, dissipated and unashamed. Chueh-hui was the third master in the big family and he accepted the higher education in the college. During that time, students were influenced by the May 4th Movement; their passion were ignited and they hope to struggle for their ambition.
Chueh-hui was one of them and he was affected by the new trend of thought. Because of that, his hate to the feudal system was increasing and he felt that he was getting further and further from his family. “Some day, when his hands were bigger, if he could crush the old order between them in the same way, how wonderful that would be…” (70) Living in the big family, Chueh-hui cannot feel the harmony and he believes that “under this peaceful exterior, his family harboured a smouldering volcano” (175). The only comfort that Chueh-hui got was from Ming Feng, the servant of Kao family. Ming Feng was Chueh-hui’s first love and their love was that kind of beautiful and pure. Ming Feng even not hopes to marry to Chueh-hui and her only wish was to serve the third master for the whole life. However, Ming Feng’s destiny was not controlled by herself and her life was determined by the Venerable Master Kao. Ming Feng was sent to others to be the concubine and all of her wish destroyed. Because she could not suffer the anger and bitterness, she chose to jump into the lake to end her youth life. Ming Feng’s death was a huge shock for Chueh-hui and he gave up all hopes to the family and society.
As he lost interests for the family, he prefers to spend more time with his friends who had the same thought and participated to edit the new periodicals to spread the new thoughts to more people and attack this unreasonable of the old (186). Chueh-hui was the unique one in the family because of his infantility and his treachery. He was the only one who dared to challenge Venerable Master Kao and left the family to follow the new cultural movement in Shang Hai. Compared with Chueh-hui, Chueh-hsin seemed to yield to the feudal system and to be the victim of the family.
“Chueh-hsin is the eldest son of an eldest son, and for that reason his destiny was fixed from the moment he came into the world”(35) In the family, Chueh-hsin seemed to be the most pitiful character among these people and he stand for the large number of people in that time who are poisoned by the feudal system. When Chueh-hsin was young, he was a youth with dream and pure love, and almost everyone admired him. However, the etiquette of feudal changed him to another person and Chueh-hsin might not recognize himself gradually. He was forced to give up his love with Cousin Mei and got marry with the girl that he even did not see before. Because of Chueh-hsin’s cowardice, he always followed Venerable Master Kao’s advice absolutely and ingratiated himself with his eldership by doing a lot thing. He chose “philosophy compliant bow” and “principle non-resistance” (43) to be his faith and bear all the misery silently. “He had never disagreed with anyone in his life, no matter how unfairly they may have treated him. He prefers to swallow his tears, suppress his anger and bitterness”. (296)
Chueh-hsin put filial piety in the very top place and he even agreed to take his pregnant wife outside of family just because of the superstition, his wife’s birth will lead to “the curse of the blood-glow”(296). Even Chueh-hsin did not agree with this idea at all, he did not have choice and he had to obey his eldership’s order and proved that he was a dutiful son. At last, Jui-chueh was died when she was giving birth to the second child, but Chueh-hsin could not stay with Jui-chueh when she needs help since Mistress Chen had warned him that he could not enter the delivery room (305). Chueh-hsin lost two women that he loved most, but both Cousin Mei and Jue-chueh did not die, and they had been murderd by the feudalization. Chueh-hsin was living in the torture every day and his “compliant bow” and “non-resistance” determined that he would be the sacrificial lamb of the society. The Second Young Master, Chueh-Min was like the intermediate of Chueh-hsin and Chueh-hui. He was neither as extreme as his younger brother, nor that kind of pedantic as his elder brother. Chueh-Min accepted the same education with Chueh-hui and he also influenced by the May 4th Movement; he was not only hate the feudal system as same as his younger brother, but also hoped the defective system and filthy society could be end as soon as possible. But in the family, Chueh-Min was not as arrogant as Chueh-hui and he seemed could not challenge Venerable Master Kao’s awfulness and he was still fettered by the feudal ethic. He loved his cousin Qin but he behaves not that kind of brave and he just went to Qin’s home to give guidance for her English and try to get more chance to stay with her. Until Chueh-hui knew that his marriage was determined by his grandfather, he could not suffer anymore and decided to leave the home and showed the protest to the family. At last, on the Venerable Master Kao’s deathbed, he canceled Chueh-hui’s engagement and Chueh-hui got his victory from the rebellion. Different with Chueh-hui, Chueh-Min did not leave the family at last and he did not fly away the quagmire of the feudal system. The Kaos was controlled by Venerable Master Kao and he was the materialization of feudal patriarchal system. His position in the family was sacred and inviolable and everyone in the family was extremely respectful for him. “All that interested him was that his orders had to be obeyed, his face preserved. What others suffered as a consequence meant nothing to him.”(260) However, as time going, he found that the family was out of his control gradually and his children and grandchildren were getting further and further from him. After experiencing Chueh-Min ran away from home and Ke-ting kept a concubine on the outside, Venerable Master Kao began to reflect on himself. “For the first time he felt disappointed, disillusioned, sunk in despair. It occurred to him, also for the first time, that he must have made mistakes; but he didn’t know what they were. Even if he could discover them, it was already too late” (282). As Chueh-hui’s new thought had increasing number of bifurcations with his grandfather, there were more and more people in the society begin to against with the feudal society and struggle for themselves. Just like Venerable Master Kao’s self-reflect at end of his life, the feudal system also needs to be adjusted and prepared the new generation’s coming.

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