Traditions And Culture In The Jade Peony

Imagine coming from a country where sticking to your ethnic traditions and staying true to your culture is important. Now imagine coming to a country where people in the society are not familiar with the importance of your traditions and culture. Therefore, would you be able to persist on those traditions and stay true to your culture while living in a modernized country? In Wayson Choy’s novel The Jade Peony, Poh-Poh, the grandmother of the family and someone who is very cultured, wants to influence her family so they remember to keep their culture alive. Moving to a Canada from traditional China in the 1930’s where the culture and people are different can be a struggle to settle into. Having a generation of children born here was even

He was often told the ancient legends and stories that Poh-Poh knew and was interested in them. Even after Poh-Poh’s death, Sek-Lung believed that his grandmother was still with him and helping him get stronger from the sun infection he was born with: “I’m getting stronger, aren't I, Grandmama?” (Choy 167) Poh-Poh also obligates traditional values on the family such as how in the Chinese culture, girls were considered worthless and more useless than boys because they cannot provide more: “Jook-Liang, if you want a place in this world... do not be born a girl-child.” (Choy 31) The way Poh-Poh was treated in her past affects the way she treats Jook-Liang. This was something that Jook-Liang did not agree with which is one of the reasons why she would not accept the Chinese culture. This leads to the reason why Sek-Lung received such lavish treatment from Poh-Poh. When Poh-Poh passed away, Sek-Lung was given the jade that once belonged to his grandmother to represent the tradition within the family: “The precious jade peony, a carved stone the size of a large coin, knotted with red silk to hang like a pendent from the centre, like the clapper of a sacred-bell.” (Choy