My HeroMoying's Hero, Lao LaoMoying's grandmother, Lao Lao, is Moying's hero because she is a strong woman, and for other obvious reasons. This next page is about Lao Lao and her struggles she went through in her life. Later, it also compares and contrasts Moying's life with Loa Loa's. Loa Loa, Moying Li Grandmother, is Moying's hero becuase Lao Lao had an extremely difficult life. Her difficuly life started off at an extremely young age when she was only an infant and her mother caught pneumonia and died. Her father cherished her and made sure she was a smart girl with a good education, so she wasn't missing out on too much, even without a mother, especially becasue her aunt often came by bringing her goodies and, in a way, acted like her mother. Lao Lao's next struggle was when she was only four. At the time, every girl had their feet bound at age three or four because it was a sign of beauty and elegence to have small feet and walk slowly. Her aunt came by one day to bind her feet and the minute Lao Lao felt even the slightest bit of pain, she ran away and would not let her aunt touch her until her father told her she did not have to get her feet bound.
This video is about the Chinese tradition of foot binding. If you don't like feet, I advise you not to watch this.
Her major dificulties, however, did not happen until her adult life. First, becuase she had bound feet, she needed a special matchmaker to find her a man to marry becuase very few people were interested in her because her feet were not bound. Eventually, she got to marry Lao Ye because his father liked her feet because "Lao Lao could be a more efficient helper in the house" (29). Lao Ye already had another lover and he did not want to marry Lao Lao and left her constantly to have secret affairs with the other woman. With her new family, Lao Lao was treated like a servant. When Lao Lao married into the family, her new family notices that "they had gained not only a fine daughter-in-law, but a capable cook and dutiful nanny" as well (30). Lao Lao wanted to get out of this life so bad that she constantly prayed for a son so she and Lao Ye could move into their own house.
Lao Lao in her courtyard by her new house. Eventually her wish came true, but soon after, Lao Ye decided to built a skating rink with land that his friend ound that was open. The skating rink took massive amounts of money to built and open, money that he didn't have, so he had to barrow money from several different people. His rink was a big hit when it opened, but he refused to pay a fee to the police department when they asked him to. This made the police come into his skating rink on opening night, when it was full of people, and sabotage him and all of his customers. Because of this, his skating rink was destroyed and he no longer had customers, but many customers started to complain about items of theirs that went missing. All of the people that he barrowed money from suddenly wanted their money back as well.
This is a skating rink, like the one Lao Ye worked so hard on to open. This eventually stressed Lao Ye out to a point where it caused a stroke that paralyzed him. Now Lao Lao had to care for her husband, her children, and herself without any money or any help. Through all of this trouble, she was the one who held her family together and took care of her family and anyone else who needed help. She evetually became a teacher for adults who wanted to learn and finally felt respected and her education had finally come in handy. She hardly expected the Culture Revolution that could come again and try to ruin her family in the future when she was accused of going against Mao when she was teaching and when she saw her family around her starving.
Books that represent the wisdom and education Lao Lao had.
Moying Li's life is extremely different from Lao Lao's, but also similar in some ways. First of all, almost every girl in Moying's generation get an education. Moying and Lao Lao both have good educations, but Moying is even invited to a school and does not have to go to special measures to get into the school. Girls in Lao Lao's generation were not educated and the ones that were did not go to a school to get their education. For example, Lao Lao's father wanted her to be educated so he hired a private tutor for her because she could not go to the school like boys could. Next, Lao Lao and Moying both had to paricipate in specific fashions. While the fashion during Lao Lao's time was feet binding, the fashion in Moying's time was short hair. When Lao Lao's time came to get her feet bound, "she ran out of the house. And neither auntie's pleas or her baba's coaxing could convince her to go back," because she was strongly against her generation's fashion and the pain that it brought (25). However, Moying Li was eager to follow the fashion trend when she "with no hesitation or regret, I cut my own long braids into shoulder-length ponytails" (68). Next, both Lao Lao and Moying were mostly raised without mothers. But Moying did have a mother, only she "hed been assigned to teach at a high school far away and could not come home during the week," so Lao Lao was basically the mother of Moying (22). Lao Lao really did not have a mother, unlike Moying, soon after Loa Loa was born, her "mama came down with pneumonia and died," so Lao Lao ended up being raised mostly by her father and aunt (24). Lastly, both Lao Lao and Moying Li had to go through very hard things in their lives. Lao Lao had to go through her life without a mother, worry about not having a husband because she did nt have bound feet and work through her husband being paralyzed from a stroke that he had while dealing wit her children. While Moying had to deal with watching people hang themselves, watching people starve, and watching loved ones get denounced. These are the ways that Lao Lao's and Moying's lives are similar and different in some ways.
Lao Lao, Moying Li, and Lao YeFor more pictures of Moying's family, click here.
Loa Loa, Moying Li Grandmother, is Moying's hero becuase Lao Lao had an extremely difficult life. Her difficuly life started off at an extremely young age when she was only an infant and her mother caught pneumonia and died. Her father cherished her and made sure she was a smart girl with a good education, so she wasn't missing out on too much, even without a mother, especially becasue her aunt often came by bringing her goodies and, in a way, acted like her mother. Lao Lao's next struggle was when she was only four. At the time, every girl had their feet bound at age three or four because it was a sign of beauty and elegence to have small feet and walk slowly. Her aunt came by one day to bind her feet and the minute Lao Lao felt even the slightest bit of pain, she ran away and would not let her aunt touch her until her father told her she did not have to get her feet bound.
This video is about the Chinese tradition of foot binding. If you don't like feet, I advise you not to watch this.
Her major dificulties, however, did not happen until her adult life. First, becuase she had bound feet, she needed a special matchmaker to find her a man to marry becuase very few people were interested in her because her feet were not bound. Eventually, she got to marry Lao Ye because his father liked her feet because "Lao Lao could be a more efficient helper in the house" (29). Lao Ye already had another lover and he did not want to marry Lao Lao and left her constantly to have secret affairs with the other woman. With her new family, Lao Lao was treated like a servant. When Lao Lao married into the family, her new family notices that "they had gained not only a fine daughter-in-law, but a capable cook and dutiful nanny" as well (30). Lao Lao wanted to get out of this life so bad that she constantly prayed for a son so she and Lao Ye could move into their own house.
Eventually her wish came true, but soon after, Lao Ye decided to built a skating rink with land that his friend ound that was open. The skating rink took massive amounts of money to built and open, money that he didn't have, so he had to barrow money from several different people. His rink was a big hit when it opened, but he refused to pay a fee to the police department when they asked him to. This made the police come into his skating rink on opening night, when it was full of people, and sabotage him and all of his customers. Because of this, his skating rink was destroyed and he no longer had customers, but many customers started to complain about items of theirs that went missing. All of the people that he barrowed money from suddenly wanted their money back as well.
This eventually stressed Lao Ye out to a point where it caused a stroke that paralyzed him. Now Lao Lao had to care for her husband, her children, and herself without any money or any help. Through all of this trouble, she was the one who held her family together and took care of her family and anyone else who needed help. She evetually became a teacher for adults who wanted to learn and finally felt respected and her education had finally come in handy. She hardly expected the Culture Revolution that could come again and try to ruin her family in the future when she was accused of going against Mao when she was teaching and when she saw her family around her starving.
Moying Li's life is extremely different from Lao Lao's, but also similar in some ways. First of all, almost every girl in Moying's generation get an education. Moying and Lao Lao both have good educations, but Moying is even invited to a school and does not have to go to special measures to get into the school. Girls in Lao Lao's generation were not educated and the ones that were did not go to a school to get their education. For example, Lao Lao's father wanted her to be educated so he hired a private tutor for her because she could not go to the school like boys could. Next, Lao Lao and Moying both had to paricipate in specific fashions. While the fashion during Lao Lao's time was feet binding, the fashion in Moying's time was short hair. When Lao Lao's time came to get her feet bound, "she ran out of the house. And neither auntie's pleas or her baba's coaxing could convince her to go back," because she was strongly against her generation's fashion and the pain that it brought (25). However, Moying Li was eager to follow the fashion trend when she "with no hesitation or regret, I cut my own long braids into shoulder-length ponytails" (68). Next, both Lao Lao and Moying were mostly raised without mothers. But Moying did have a mother, only she "hed been assigned to teach at a high school far away and could not come home during the week," so Lao Lao was basically the mother of Moying (22). Lao Lao really did not have a mother, unlike Moying, soon after Loa Loa was born, her "mama came down with pneumonia and died," so Lao Lao ended up being raised mostly by her father and aunt (24). Lastly, both Lao Lao and Moying Li had to go through very hard things in their lives. Lao Lao had to go through her life without a mother, worry about not having a husband because she did nt have bound feet and work through her husband being paralyzed from a stroke that he had while dealing wit her children. While Moying had to deal with watching people hang themselves, watching people starve, and watching loved ones get denounced. These are the ways that Lao Lao's and Moying's lives are similar and different in some ways.