Throwaway Daughter by Ting-Xing Ye

Author:Ting-Xing Ye [Ye, Ting-Xing]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780385673501
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2003-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

The Green Villa restaurant was on Nanjing Road, which must be the most crowded street in the world. Most of the tables were occupied. We were shown upstairs to a table by the window. I sat down, grateful for the air conditioning, and Song began to chat with the waiter. He went away and returned to hand me a menu in English.

I put it aside. “I don’t need this, but thanks anyway,” I said.

“I know you don’t need it,” Song replied, “but it will help me. I don’t have enough English to describe the fancy food and cooking here. I’m hoping you’ll explain a few things to me.”

Next to us a party was in progress, with six adults and a boy of about five or six. The obnoxious little creep was anywhere but in his chair. He spent his time crawling among the other tables and roaming around the dining room, annoying other diners, all the while chased by a young woman with a bowl of rice in one hand and a spoon in the other, trying to feed the brat as he scooted from place to place.

I thought about my dad and his motto: if a kid doesn’t eat, he isn’t hungry. I had often argued with him about that, wanting to play and eat at the same time, or eat in front of the TV. Dad would have ended this little troublemaker’s travels fast. I told Song that the kid reminded me of the spoiled boy-king in the movie The Last Emperor.

“Yes, boys like him are called little emperors nowadays,” she answered in English. “Look at him, doted on by everyone. I bet his poor mother hasn’t had a bite yet, but the ruler of the family must not be disciplined! All because he’s the only child—and a boy.”

“And the girls are empresses?”

“Oh, no. I’m afraid China still has feudal attitudes about this matter, especially in the countryside, where boys are preferred. Surprised?”

“Well …”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that all girl children are mistreated or undervalued. Look, I have a daughter and I wouldn’t trade her for a dozen sons. Nor would my husband.”

“But don’t more than eighty percent of Chinese live in the country? What’s the problem there that they’re still so behind the times? They’re educated, right? They have radios, and TV?”

“I’m sorry I upset you, Grace,” Song said quietly.

“No, no, it wasn’t you,” I said. “I was thinking out loud.”

At that moment the little boy scooted under our table for the third time. I had to force myself not to boot him in his fat little ass.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.