A Typical Chinese Family Tradition

G.L is one of my roommates’ mothers and I interviewed her for some folklore she has encountered or experienced.  She is Taiwanese and was born and raised in Taiwan, but she moved to California to raise her children. She thinks that it’s more beneficial to have her children study in the State but also having experience their ethnic culture. Having lived in two countries for a long period time, she had experienced two big cultural aspects of the world, so she would have a decent idea of how the Chinese and Western culture works.

G.L told me about an event that would occur every weekend, and it would be a custom for her and her family to attend it every time. This folk tradition would the all of G.L family and eating on a Sunday afternoon together. Since this was in Taiwan, the family would eat at a typical Chinese restaurant. For her, it would be a sense of getting together with the whole family, and to catch up on how well they’re doing. G.L said that the only people you can see not enjoying this are the children.

G.L enjoyed this folk tradition because of how the families would meet up together just for a lunch, and happily talk about their lives. Their families would always meet on a Sunday to eat lunch, even when G.L’s parents were kids, she needed to go these family gatherings. This is a family-generational thing where G.L’s mother’s side of the family and her father’s side of the family would think that it’s a good idea to meet up once a week.

This folk-tradition revolves around family, but the food is one of the reasons that they are able to get together. The family-tradition has passed down from the older generation of the family, and the primary purpose of this tradition is to meet with the families. The whole family aspect of it also revolves around the fact that Asian cultural is really connected by families.

I think this family tradition is a good thing because if the family keeps meeting every week, then it would be hard for them to drift apart. Asian culture does have a big focus on family, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any Asian who would rather be separated by one another. Passing down this tradition can potentially save a family that’s about to break apart.