Hsuen-Luen Liang picked up the pieces of shattered porcelain on the floor. She put them very carefully on her desk. Then she took out her US passport and placed it next to the shatters. She sat down, looked at the passport and the shatters and sighed.
Thirteen years ago, Mr. Liang moved to the States with his wife. They have planned, ever since they got married, that they are going to immigrate to the States and bear their child there. Within two years they both got their green cards through their works, and Mrs. Liang was finally pregnant.
When Hsuen-Luen was born, they decided that she should learn Chinese, seeing that most American children are learning it. They invited their father to christen the baby girl and made up their minds that she would go back to Taiwan and attend local American school there in the future.
So the whole family returned to Taiwan when Hsuen-Luen was six. They lived in with Mr. Liang's father. Hsuen-Luen was very fond of her grandfather, for he always told her interesting facts about Chinese.
"Every Chinese character is special," he said to a nine-year-old Hsuen-Luen in Taiwanese. "In some Chinese-speaking families, you can even figure out who is elder by looking at the family members' names."
"How, Agong?" asked Hsuen-Luen interestedly. Agong meant "grandpa" in Taiwanese.
"Our ancestors made up some verses with characters that indicate each descendant's generations. The descendants have a certain character in those verses as the second character of their names. People in the same generation share the same character. For example, the character hsuen in your name is the character that indicates your generation in the Liang family. The middle character in your siblings' and cousins' names should be hsuen as well."
Agong took out an old, torn book entitled The Family Tree of the Liangs. He opened it and pointed at the characters gen and hsuen.
"Gen is the middle character of the Liang descendants in your father's generation. The character itself literally means 'root.' Figuratively, it means where someone's family comes from. Our ancestors did not expect us to forget the history of the Liang family, and that we are originated in China. They wanted us to keep the Chinese culture and value. Now, even though you have a green card and are studying in an American school, you should remember it."
Hsuen-Luen nodded. "I'll remember that, Agong. What about the character hsuen? What does it mean?"
"Hsuen means to pass on an idea. When adults give a child a name with hsuen as the middle character, they usually give them a character that has positive meanings as the last character of their names. The last character of your name, luen, means ethics. I gave you this name because I want you to pass on the good parts of the Chinese culture. It is very easy to achieve, as long as you care about others and be polite to everyone, especially the elders, you have half-succeeded. Always remember and perform it, and you will become a noble girl in spirit."
On her eleventh birthday, Hsuen-Luen received many gifts and blessings. The most valuable ones are from her parents and Agong. Her parents' gifts were a blonde Barbie and a makeup kit with many kinds of cosmetics, both cost a lot of money. Agong's gift, however, was a small porcelain doll he bought in Jiang Xi, China many years ago.
The doll was a model of a woman in the costume of the Tang Dynasty in China. She was playing the pipa, a traditional Chinese instrument which looked like a guitar.
"This doll is a replica of a piece of pottery made in the Tang Dynasty." Agong told Hsuen-Luen at the end of the birthday party her parents held for her. "Her costume is imitated from that of the Hu, a group of people living outside China. People in the Tang Dynasty accepted a lot of things from other cultures, and they never reduced their own."
He sighed. "It's a pity that I can't tell your parents the story of the doll. They would refuse to listen. They want their insides to be American only, because their Chinese friends in America always criticize the Chinese culture. They – both your parents and those friends – hope to turn themselves into Americans, both physically and mentally. However, I want you to know that not everyone who immigrates to the States is like them."
Since then Hsuen-Luen had started a habit of looking at the doll and recalling what Agong said about her ancestry and the Chinese culture. She even made them her themes when her teacher asked her to make a report about the culture of a certain race. Agong was very proud of her (when Hsuen-Luen told him about it in Taiwanese), but her parents merely grunted.
Agong soon began to teach Hsuen-Luen the Analects and Mencius in Chinese. Hsuen-Luen remembered them very well, and Agong always urged her to recite them in front of her parents. However, it never interested them.
"What's so good about those old clichés?" Mrs. Liang sneered one day. "They are useless."
"No, they are not!" protested Hsuen-Luen. "Agong said they can be the guide of the way we handle things, and for me, they are helpful!"
"Nonsense!" boomed Mr. Liang. "That's enough!"
He rose up and stormed away.
That night, Hsuen-Luen was woken up by a serious quarrel outside her bedroom.
"Hsuen-Luen is my daughter, not yours! You can't wash her brain like that!" snarled Mr. Liang's voice.
"She is my granddaughter and the descendant of the Liang family, and so are you!" cried Agong with a voice shaking with anger. "How can you have forgotten what I used to tell you when you were a child?"
"You've told me the same thing you told her! And what's the point of teaching a modern child all those useless ancient thoughts?" was the defiant reply. "They are nonsense in the modern world! Only the Western thoughts fit!"
Suddenly, the window of Hsuen-Luen's bedroom opened. Mr. Liang's hand reached in, grabbed the porcelain doll on Hsuen-Luen's desk and took it away before Hsuen-Luen could stop it. Then, a loud smashing sound came from outside.
"I don't need the Chinese culture and neither does my daughter!" Mr. Liang said stubbornly.
Immediately, there came a crisp SMACK. Hsuen-Luen's heart jolted.
"You are pathetic," Agong panted. "You think the Chinese value and thoughts are rubbish while your own daughter finds it very useful in her life. You are ashamed of being a descendant of a Chinese, while your own daughter is proud of it. If there is one thing I have done wrong and disgraced our ancesters, it is that I didn't teach you well about not forgetting your root, and if there is one thing I can do to make up for it, it is that I have taught your daughter that successfully. You are pathetic!"
The next morning, after Hsuen-Luen arrived at her school, she went directly to the Art Room and glued the shattered doll together. As she worked, she recalled something Mencius said:
According to you, Xue Ju-Zhou is a noble man.
Let us assume that he is persuaded to become an official.
If everyone in the king's place, from the oldest to the youngest, from the people with the highest position to the people with the lowest, is like Xue Ju-Zhou, then who can teach the king to behave wrong?
If everyone in the king's place, from the oldest to the youngest, from the people with the highest position to the people with the lowest, is unlike Xue Ju-Zhou, then who can teach the king to behave right?
How can Xue Ju-Zhou alone do anything with the king?
