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- Unit 5> Review Dialogue
- Lǐ Ping (B), Tom (A), and Lǐ Ping’s classmate from Taiwan, Wang Cheng (D), have Just gone to the movie The Dream of the Red Chamber*. On their way home, they chat.
- B: Tāngmǔ, nī zěnme bù shuō huà? How come you aren’t talking, Tom?
- A: Duìbuqǐ, kàn zhèige diànying, shízài rang rén bu shūfu, tèbié shi kàn dao nàige dìfangr . . . I’m sorry. Watching this movie was really distressing. Especially when it got to that part . . .
- D: Nǎge dìfāng? Which part?
- A: Jiù shi Dàiyù side shihou . . . The part when Dàiyù dies . . .
- B: Ng, duì le, Dàiyù side shihou zhèng shi Bǎoyù Jiēhūnde shihou. Kan dao zhèli, zhēn shi ràng rén hen bu shūfu. Mm, right, Dàiyù dies Just when Bǎoyù is getting married. At that point, I really felt uncomfortable.
- D: Nimen you méiyou zhùyidào, hěn duo nude kàn dao zhège dìfāng dōu kū le. Did you notice, a lot of women started crying when it got to that part.
- A: Wo kàndao le. Ai, yōude shihou, wo zhēnde bù míngbai, wèishenme hěn duo shūli hāishi shuō Zhōng-guo chuāntǒngde dà Jiātíng you bù shǎo hǎochu, hǎochu zài náli? Weile bǎochí dà Jiātíngde chuán-tǒng, ràng niánqīngde yídài huò-zhě Jīdài chi nàme duo kǔ, zhè Jiù shi dà Jiātíngde hǎochù ma? Yes. (Sigh) Sometimes I really don’t understand why a lot of books say that there were many advantages to the traditional Chinese large family. What advantages? Just in order to preserve the tradition of the large family, the younger generation or generations were made to suffer so much. That’s the advantage of the large family?
- D: Dà Jiātíngde hǎochù xiànzài bu duo le. Nimen zhīdào Zhōngguode dà Jiātíng gēn lìshī you guānxǐ. Zhōngguo shi nongyè shèhuì, shēng-chǎn dōu yào kào rénlì, shéi Jiāde láolì duō, shéi Jiāde shēnghuó Jiù huì hǎo yìdiǎn. Li Ping, nī xiǎng shi bu shi zhàyàng ne? The large family doesn’t have many advantages any more. You know, the large family has to do with Chinese history. China was an agricultural society, and production depended on manpower. If a family had a larger labor force they had a better life. Lǐ Ping, do you think that’s right?
- B: Shi, shi zhèiyangde. Yes, that’s right.
- A: Nàme, xiànzài qíngxing bù tong But now the situation is different.
- ’This novel by Cao Xuěqín (172U?-1?6U) tells of the twilight years of the Jiǎ family, grown wealthy in the service of Qīng Dynasty emperors. The story revolves around the spoiled and effeminate young man of the house, Jiǎ Bǎoyù (Precious Jade), and his love for his cousin, Lin Dàiyù (Black Jade).
- le, xiànzài gōngshāngyè fādá le, wèishenme hái you rén shuō da jiātíng hǎo ne? Now that industry and commerce are highly developed, why do some people still say that the large family is good?
- D: Dà jiātíngde guānniàn yījǐng you jǐqiānniánde lìshǐ le, yào gǎibiàn tā, xūyào bǐjiào chángde shíjiān. Dàlùde qíngxing wǒ bù qingchu, Taiwānde qíngxing shi dà jiātíng yuè lai yuè shāo le. Suīrán Zhōngguó rén xǐhuan dà jiātíng, juédé dàjiā zhù zai yìqǐ, hùxiāng you zhàogu, dànshi gōngshāngyè fādá le, gōngzuòde jíhuì duō le, xiǎo jiātíng yě jiu yuè lai yuè duō le. The concept of the large family has already existed for several thousand years. It’ll take a rather long time to change it. I don’t know about the situation on the mainland. But on Taiwan, the situation is that there are fewer and fewer large families. Although the Chinese like big families and think that if everyone lives together they can take care of each other, industry and commerce are flourishing and there are more job opportunities, so there are more and more small families.
- B: Xiànzài dà jiātíng yuè lai yuè shǎo, zǎohūnde fēngsu yě jiu méiyǒu le. Now as large families grow fewer and fewer, the custom of child marriage will disappear.
- A: Zǎohūn he dà jiātíng you shénme guānxi ma? Is child marriage related to the large family?
- D: You guānxi. Zhè zhǔyào° shi láo-lìde wèntí. Yes. It’s mainly a question of labor force.
- B: Nǐ xiǎng, zǎohūn, zǎo you háizi, jiāli láodònglì duō, lǎorén yě jiu kéyi zǎo yidiǎn dédào zhàogu. After all, with child marriage, children are born sooner, the family has more work hands, and the old people can get taken care of sooner.
- A: Kěshi zài gōngshāngyè shèhuìli, duōshù lǎorén dōu you shōurù. Xiànzài Táiwān yǐjǐng shi gōngshāngyè shèhuì, zhèiyangde wèntí yě jiu méiyǒu le. But in an industrial-commercial society, most of the old people have an income. Today Taiwan is already an industrial-commercial society, so that kind of problem doesn’t exist there anymore.
- B: Dànshi, nǐ bié wàngle, dàlù hái shi nōngyè shèhuì, zhàogu lǎorén-de wèntí hái shi dà wèntí, zǎohūnde fēngsu yě háishi you. But don’t forget that the mainland is still an agricultural society. Caring for old people is still a big problem, and the custom of child marriage still exists there.
- A: Nǐ dàgài nòngcuòle ba, dàlùde zhèngfǔ zěnme huì tóngyì rénmen zǎohūn ne? You must be mistaken. How could the government on the mainland agree to let people marry as children?
- zhǔyào, "mainly"
- B: W3 shuōde shi nongcūn,-’- shénme zǎohūn na, zhòng nan qīng nil a, zhèizhǒng shi z3ng shi he JīngJi bù fādá you guānxide. I’m talking about rural areas, Things like child marriage or regarding males as superior to females always have to do with an undeveloped economy.
- D: W3 shízài bù xīhuan zaohūn. Wo xiang duōshù zaohūnde rén hòulái-de shēnghuó dōu y3u diǎn wèntí. I really don’t like child marriage. I think that most people who are married as children have problems later on in life.
- B: Tèbié shi fùnū. Especially women.
- A: Duì le, w3 tīngshuōguo zhèijrang yìzh3ng shuōfǎ: Zhōngguo fùnu meiyou Jiēhūn yǐqián yào ting fùmǔde, Jiēle hūn děi ting zhàngfude, zhàngfu sǐle děi ting érzide.^ Qīngwèn, Zhōngguo fùnu shénme shíhou cái néng y3u tāmen zìjīde xiǎngfa, shénme shíhou cái néng y3u yìdiǎnr zìyóu ne? Right. I’ve heard a saying to the effect that before a Chinese woman gets married she has to obey her parents, after she gets married she has to obey her husband, and after her husband dies she has to obey her son. I ask you, when will Chinese women be able to think for themselves? When will they be able to have a little freedom?
- B: Ou, xiànzài meiyou rén Jiang zhèixiē le. Nobody is strict about those customs anymore.
- A: Suīrán méiyou rén Jiang, kěshi zhàizh3ng chuántong sīxiǎng^ hái-shi you a! Nobody is strict about them, but the traditional thinking is still there!
- D: Nī shuōde yě you dàolǐ, háishi nàjù huà, Jǐqiānniánde lǎo guānniàn bǔ shi hen kuài kéyi gǎibiànde. That’s right. It’s still the same old story. Ideas which are several thousand years old can’t be changed very quickly.
- B: Ììg, búguò wo xiǎng, dàlù yě hǎo, Taiwan yě hào, Jīshínián lái dōu y3ule hěn dàde gǎibiàn, fùnude dìwei yě dōu y3ule tígāo, chuánt3ngde guānniàn yě zài biàn. Yeah, but I think that both the mainland and Taiwan have undergone big changes in the past few decades. The status of women has improved, and traditional ideas are changing.
- A: Ng, zheyidian wo tongyi. Mm, that I agree with.
- ^nōngcūn, "rural area" (See Unit 6)
- Zhōngguo funu meiyou jiēhūn yiqian yao ting fùmǔde: (1) meiyou Jiēhūn yǐqián is completely equivalent to Jiēhūn yǐqián "before getting married". The meiyou does not change the meaning. (2) Ting fùmǔde is equivalent to ting fùmǔde huà, "to obey one’s parents."
- ^sǐxiǎng, "thought, thinking" (See Life in China module, Unit h) ^tígāo, "raise, improve(ment)" (See Traveling in China module, Unit 2)
- B: Hǎo, women Cheng jìnqu : dào jiǎ le. Wang Okay, we are at my house. Come iuòzuo ba! in for a while, Wang Cheng, okay?
- D: Hǎo, jìnqù yíxià. Okay, I’ll come in for a while.
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