Post 2 - Keegan Loo

Growing up in Hawaii and being of Asian descent, I am more accustomed to some of the traditions of early Chinese migrants. I have heard stories from my grandparents, parents, uncles and aunties about how life was like during the plantation days. Throughout the generations, traditions and customs have changed. This is due to the younger generations choosing not to continue these rituals.

While watching the movie Eat a Bowl of Tea, I began to notice the difference between Ben and his father’s generation. Ben, who had been raised in America differs greatly from his father, who had been raised in china and moved to America later in life. Because Ben had been raised in America, he grew familiar to the culture and traditions of America.

The movie does a great job at showing how little women were actually in America at the time. After Ben marries Mei Oi, his father is outraged by the situation they have caused. He tells Ben that everyone in the town looks down upon him. Ben then questions why doesn’t anyone ever think that the problem could just be between himself and Mei. This seen shows just how different the mindset of Ben and his father actually is. The difference comes from the assimilation of the younger generation. Ben wonders why his father is angry about what is happening. He doesn’t realize that in Chinese culture family is very important. Whatever the younger generation does, reflects upon the family and how his parents raised him. The mindset is if the child does something bad, it must mean that the parents did a bad job raising their child. So, because Ben and Mei had problems, it brought shame upon Ben’s father as well.