Eat a Bowl of Tea

As I was watching "Eat a Bowl of Tea" this morning, one of the things that really stuck out to me was the tensions that existed between first and second generation Chinese Americans, or those who grew up in China and those who had grown up in America. In the reading for last night, Takaki talked about how tensions existed between the first generation of Chinese Americans, who had been born in China, and the second generation of Chinese Americans, who had been born in America. While the Chinese born Chinese Americans wanted to adhere to the traditions and ways of China, tensions existed between the two generations because the second generation of Chinese Americans wanted to adhere to their American heritage.
This tension was something that I noticed in "Eat a Bowl of Tea" as well - Ben, as second generation Chinese American, was happy with his American heritage: he spent time in American night clubs, dates American girls, he joins the American army during World War Two, and did not learn how to speak Chinese. He only goes to China to find a wife because his father, a first generation Chinese American immigrant, insists that he bring a wife to America from China. While in China, Ben is married to Mei Oi, the daughter of another first generation immigrant who is a friend of his father's, in a traditional Chinese ceremony. However, Ben highlights the tensions that exist between first generation and second generation immigrants during the wedding ceremony: he knows what to do in the ceremony, but he also brings in American aspects of a wedding ceremony - kissing the bride and the exchange of wedding rings.

The tension between first and second generation Chinese Americans was perhaps most obvious in the pressure that Ben and Mei Oi were under to have a child right after their marriage. While Ben and Mei (Ben especially) weren't in a huge hurry to have a child, Ben's father and the other first generation Chinese American immigrants placed a large amount of pressure on the couple to have a child right after their marriage. Even Mei, to a certain extent, was eager to have a child right away, because it was the tradition in China, where she had grown up. The pressure on the couple to have a child right away was so great that it actually prevented the couple from conceiving a child, and drove Mei to cheat on Ben, which does result in a child being conceived.