From your reading of 'Chinese Cinderella' what do you find out about Chinese culture and tradition?

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From your reading of ‘Chinese Cinderella’ what do you find out about Chinese culture and tradition?

‘Chinese Cinderella’ is an autobiography written by Adeline Yen Mah which tells us about her childhood up to the age of fourteen years. This autobiography tells us what happened and Adeline’s experiences throughout her childhood. By reading this autobiography it has given me an idea about different culture and traditions of China.

Whilst reading ‘Chinese Cinderella’ I found that women would have their feet bound because men preferred to marry women who had small feet even if it meant the women had ‘life-long arthritis’. For women to be considered feminine you would have to carry out this act.

‘If you had large unbound feet, no man would marry you,’ which tells us that the women carried out this action for men to marry them.

The result to foot binding was ‘long-life arthritis’ so that you would be noticed by men. The writer made foot binding in our eyes by writing such word and sentences as ‘swaying as if her toes had been partly cut off. This shows us that Nai Nai could not walk properly and shows us how much pain she had to go through. In this book, it expresses to us how horrid and painful foot binding was. By reading ‘Chinese Cinderella’ I got to know how painful this custom was by ‘Nai Nai’ having to come to Adeline walking very slowly and ‘hobbling’ towards her.

I China it is also a tradition in some families for arranged marriages to take place and especially at a young age and to someone who the child does not know. When ‘Big Sister’s’ wedding was taking place, Adeline feared that she might be forced into an arranged marriage.

‘When I get to be seventeen, I sure don’t want to be taken out of school to marry someone I’ve just met! Especially when he is much older than me!’

This also shows that the groom may be ‘twice her age’ and yet the bride will have to accept the marriage.

In China, girls were not thought of much and did not have much say;

‘I’m terrified they’ll force me into having an arranged marriage like Big Sister’s’. This indicates the horror which Chinese girls think in China about arranged marriages. This quote is from Adeline Yen Mah showing her anxiety on this matter and her longing not to be forced to get married to a stranger.

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The females in China are treated very differently compared to the males in mostly all the activities and challenges such as education because females are thought of being a ‘despised daughter’. In China the females are thought as having a lower status than males.

In the schools in China, for entertainment, they often play shuttlecock which is also know as badminton and this game is played by many other people in different countries i.e. in England. In China a game called Majong was popular and was played by Adeline’s aunt, ‘Aunt Baba’.

In 1911 there was ...

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