Beijing, China: Week 9, Part 3 (Ceremony)

[cswallow]

Many of the gestures of respect that people make naturally here in China were to me, as a child, uncomfortably strange. Little things, like being forced to bow to my grandparents at Chinese New Year's to get our red envelopes. Or my mom making me call the parents of my Chinese friends "Ah-yi" when all I wanted to call them was " Mrs." Those little

Comments

Ahhhhh!

[anonymous]

I think it's wonderful that all the customs and formalities your mother taught you are enveloping you there in China. Both of my sets of grandparents were immigrants to America, and as a child, I was fascinated by things they taught me. When I was very small, my maternal (Scottish) grandmother, who was quite a character, always told me "Never forget your British heritage." I used to wonder what she was getting at, as a child, but I can't tell you over the years how many times I've smiled, and thought, "grandma would be proud..." when I've been touched by memories of her lessons.