I got to admit I bought this book due to the TV drama "人間四月天", I watched it when I was still in secondary school. The drama was about the story of Hsu Chih-Mo and his love life. The first wife of Hsu Chih-Mo was the main character in this book. Hsu Chih-Mo was a poet, his poem was featured in the test book too. So, I was quite curios with the storyline in the drama, was it all based on the facts or just fiction all along.
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| Bound Feet & Western Dresses |
From this memoir, most were consistent with the drama. I think maybe the screen writers plucked some storyline from this memoir. Compared to the drama, this memoir focused more on the Chang Yu-I, the first wife of Hsu Chih-Mo and the mother of his child. This was Chang Yu-I memoir after all.
Well, Chang Yu-I was born into a rich family and her mother bore twelve children, eight boys and four girls. Yu-I was the second girl in the family. In the old times, or even now I think, culturally Chinese prefer boys over girls. So, her grandmother considered her mother the most capable daughter in law among all her aunties. That is a bit funny and a bit sad. A woman's worth is measured by how many sons she is able to give birth too, not her talent or her intelligence.
By the time to bound her feet, Yu-I resisted and finally one of her brothers told her mother to stop doing that, if she didn't get married, he would take care of her. So, Yu-I was saved from the cruel practice. It didn't bode well with her Amah, she felt that a girl with a unbounded feet would not be able to marry into a good family and with her status, she couldn't toil in the farm, It would be 不三不四, neither here nor there. It was the changing time after all, the eastern value clashed with the western value.
Anyway, although Yu-I was born into a rich family, a family misunderstanding caused her parents and siblings to move out from the family home. From that onwards, they were not as well off, so Yu-I struggled to get an education. Although her father placed a high priority on education, it was for her brothers, his sons, not daughters. So after she found out about the cheap boarding school, she pleaded with her parents to let her go. She joked to her great niece (the author of this memoir) that it was probably cheaper to send her to the school than to let her stayed at home. So, along with her sister, Yu-I went to the Suzhou Teachers' College Preparatory School.
Before Yu-I graduation, her fourth brother found a potential husband for her. The person was Hsu Chih-Mo. Both families agreed to the union. I found it strange that her brother just decided that Hsu Chih-Mo was a good match for his own sister from an essay alone. Well, along with the family reputation. Her brother didn't even meet with Hsu Chih-Mo until the wedding.
The Hsu family was very rich. I felt that if Hsu Chih-Mo really wanted an educated wife, he could have just helped to enrol his wife into a school or he could even tutored her. It was not her fault that she was not as educated as he hoped. Although Yu-I was not with bound feet, she was in her husband's eyes. So, after he got her pregnant and had a son, he left for United States to continue his study. He could have bring her along. Instead he just left his young wife with his parents.
After Hsu Chih-Mo deviated from his study on politics and economics. Yu-I in-laws decided to send her to her husband in London. However, Chih-Mo wasn't keen with her presence there. Although Yu-I became pregnant again with her second child, he even wanted her to abort the child. That was so heartless, I really cannot imagined this act with the poems he wrote. Before he left, he even brought a bound feet woman to their house and asked her what she thought about that lady. He said that Yu-I was like a bound feet with a western dress. At this moment, Yu-I knew that her husband was seeing someone but she didn't know who.
Hsu Chih-Mo knew that Yu-I couldn't read or understand English and yet he abandoned her in a countryside with no money or resources. Luckily, Yu-I managed to find her brother who was studying in Europe and he brought her to Europe and found a couple to take care of her. There, after she had her second son and still recovering from the labour, Hsu Chih-Mo came to her to ask for divorce. Yu-I then decided to live for herself, so she agreed to it and stayed in German to take care of her second son, Peter. There, she learnt German and trained as a kindergarten teacher.
However, Peter contracted a disease and died when he was three. Then, Hsu Chih-Mo finally showed up. It must be very sad to see a young child died. Then, her ex in-laws requested her to go back to China, they wanted her approval for Hsu Chih-Mo marriage to Lu Xiaoman, a divorced woman. That finally gave her a reason to go back to China. She told her ex in-laws that she agreed with that. Finally, her in-laws told her that they would separate their properties into three portion, one for the in-laws, one for Yu-I and son, and one for Hsu Chih-Mo and wife.
After that, she taught at a university to support herself and her eldest son. Hsu Chih-Mo married Lu Xiaoman. Lu Xiaoman was a woman without traditional thinking. So, Yu-I ex in-laws couldn't get along with the new daughter in-law. At the end, Yu-I in-laws moved in with her. Wow, that was very filial, took care of your ex in-laws when your ex husband betrayed you. In the book, the author mentioned that Yu-I never quite hated Lu Xiaoman because she wasn't the reason Hsu Chih-Mo divorced her. It was another woman.
Then, some people from a Women's Bank approached Yu-I to become the president of the bank because of her family connections. However, she would only become the vice-president of the bank because her forth brother was a president of another bank. So, she worked in a bank in the day and managed a clothing store at the night. One of the bosses of the store was her ex husband. That's so messed up!
Hsu Chih-Mo life with his new wife wasn't rosy. Lu Xiaoman had expensive taste and her addiction to opium needed a huge amount of money. So Hsu Chih-Mo lectured in many places and wrote for many publications. I wondered Hsu Chih-Mo was happy with his choices or not. One day, Yu-I last met Hsu Chih-Mo when he went to the clothing store to have some shirts made. Not long after, Hsu Chih-Mo died in a plane crash and it's Yu-I who settled the funeral stuffs. The new wife didn't want to claim the husband. Well, maybe Lu Xiaoman didn't want to accept the fact that her husband died.
Yu-I continued her life and later found a wife for his child. She chose someone his child liked because she didn't want her child to marry in the dark. Then, during the war, she made a fortune selling dye needed for army uniform and later cotton and gold. She went to Hong Kong just before China fell into Communist. She married a divorcee later in life and went he died, she went to US to join her child and grandchildren.
I think Yu-I was very brave to survive a divorce, in the olden times, a divorce could lead a woman to die or become a social outcast. Luckily, she had a family who supported her and with her own initiative, strike out on her own.
In this book, not much was mentioned about Lin HuiYing, the woman that Hsu Chih-Mo admired so much. She was very much featured in the TV drama though. I found it funny when the author mentioned that her own grandfather (a brother of Yu-I) asked her "to be kind to Hsu Chih-Mo" in her studies and requested a reading of Hsu Chih-Mo poetry at his own funeral. It was strange, Yu-I brothers maintained a good relationship with Hsu Chih-Mo even after the divorce, it was so unbelievable.
Hahaha! I will end this with a very famous poem from Hsu Chih-Mo. It was actually very romantic.
Well, Chang Yu-I was born into a rich family and her mother bore twelve children, eight boys and four girls. Yu-I was the second girl in the family. In the old times, or even now I think, culturally Chinese prefer boys over girls. So, her grandmother considered her mother the most capable daughter in law among all her aunties. That is a bit funny and a bit sad. A woman's worth is measured by how many sons she is able to give birth too, not her talent or her intelligence.
By the time to bound her feet, Yu-I resisted and finally one of her brothers told her mother to stop doing that, if she didn't get married, he would take care of her. So, Yu-I was saved from the cruel practice. It didn't bode well with her Amah, she felt that a girl with a unbounded feet would not be able to marry into a good family and with her status, she couldn't toil in the farm, It would be 不三不四, neither here nor there. It was the changing time after all, the eastern value clashed with the western value.
Anyway, although Yu-I was born into a rich family, a family misunderstanding caused her parents and siblings to move out from the family home. From that onwards, they were not as well off, so Yu-I struggled to get an education. Although her father placed a high priority on education, it was for her brothers, his sons, not daughters. So after she found out about the cheap boarding school, she pleaded with her parents to let her go. She joked to her great niece (the author of this memoir) that it was probably cheaper to send her to the school than to let her stayed at home. So, along with her sister, Yu-I went to the Suzhou Teachers' College Preparatory School.
Before Yu-I graduation, her fourth brother found a potential husband for her. The person was Hsu Chih-Mo. Both families agreed to the union. I found it strange that her brother just decided that Hsu Chih-Mo was a good match for his own sister from an essay alone. Well, along with the family reputation. Her brother didn't even meet with Hsu Chih-Mo until the wedding.
The Hsu family was very rich. I felt that if Hsu Chih-Mo really wanted an educated wife, he could have just helped to enrol his wife into a school or he could even tutored her. It was not her fault that she was not as educated as he hoped. Although Yu-I was not with bound feet, she was in her husband's eyes. So, after he got her pregnant and had a son, he left for United States to continue his study. He could have bring her along. Instead he just left his young wife with his parents.
After Hsu Chih-Mo deviated from his study on politics and economics. Yu-I in-laws decided to send her to her husband in London. However, Chih-Mo wasn't keen with her presence there. Although Yu-I became pregnant again with her second child, he even wanted her to abort the child. That was so heartless, I really cannot imagined this act with the poems he wrote. Before he left, he even brought a bound feet woman to their house and asked her what she thought about that lady. He said that Yu-I was like a bound feet with a western dress. At this moment, Yu-I knew that her husband was seeing someone but she didn't know who.
Hsu Chih-Mo knew that Yu-I couldn't read or understand English and yet he abandoned her in a countryside with no money or resources. Luckily, Yu-I managed to find her brother who was studying in Europe and he brought her to Europe and found a couple to take care of her. There, after she had her second son and still recovering from the labour, Hsu Chih-Mo came to her to ask for divorce. Yu-I then decided to live for herself, so she agreed to it and stayed in German to take care of her second son, Peter. There, she learnt German and trained as a kindergarten teacher.
However, Peter contracted a disease and died when he was three. Then, Hsu Chih-Mo finally showed up. It must be very sad to see a young child died. Then, her ex in-laws requested her to go back to China, they wanted her approval for Hsu Chih-Mo marriage to Lu Xiaoman, a divorced woman. That finally gave her a reason to go back to China. She told her ex in-laws that she agreed with that. Finally, her in-laws told her that they would separate their properties into three portion, one for the in-laws, one for Yu-I and son, and one for Hsu Chih-Mo and wife.
After that, she taught at a university to support herself and her eldest son. Hsu Chih-Mo married Lu Xiaoman. Lu Xiaoman was a woman without traditional thinking. So, Yu-I ex in-laws couldn't get along with the new daughter in-law. At the end, Yu-I in-laws moved in with her. Wow, that was very filial, took care of your ex in-laws when your ex husband betrayed you. In the book, the author mentioned that Yu-I never quite hated Lu Xiaoman because she wasn't the reason Hsu Chih-Mo divorced her. It was another woman.
Then, some people from a Women's Bank approached Yu-I to become the president of the bank because of her family connections. However, she would only become the vice-president of the bank because her forth brother was a president of another bank. So, she worked in a bank in the day and managed a clothing store at the night. One of the bosses of the store was her ex husband. That's so messed up!
Hsu Chih-Mo life with his new wife wasn't rosy. Lu Xiaoman had expensive taste and her addiction to opium needed a huge amount of money. So Hsu Chih-Mo lectured in many places and wrote for many publications. I wondered Hsu Chih-Mo was happy with his choices or not. One day, Yu-I last met Hsu Chih-Mo when he went to the clothing store to have some shirts made. Not long after, Hsu Chih-Mo died in a plane crash and it's Yu-I who settled the funeral stuffs. The new wife didn't want to claim the husband. Well, maybe Lu Xiaoman didn't want to accept the fact that her husband died.
Yu-I continued her life and later found a wife for his child. She chose someone his child liked because she didn't want her child to marry in the dark. Then, during the war, she made a fortune selling dye needed for army uniform and later cotton and gold. She went to Hong Kong just before China fell into Communist. She married a divorcee later in life and went he died, she went to US to join her child and grandchildren.
I think Yu-I was very brave to survive a divorce, in the olden times, a divorce could lead a woman to die or become a social outcast. Luckily, she had a family who supported her and with her own initiative, strike out on her own.
In this book, not much was mentioned about Lin HuiYing, the woman that Hsu Chih-Mo admired so much. She was very much featured in the TV drama though. I found it funny when the author mentioned that her own grandfather (a brother of Yu-I) asked her "to be kind to Hsu Chih-Mo" in her studies and requested a reading of Hsu Chih-Mo poetry at his own funeral. It was strange, Yu-I brothers maintained a good relationship with Hsu Chih-Mo even after the divorce, it was so unbelievable.
Hahaha! I will end this with a very famous poem from Hsu Chih-Mo. It was actually very romantic.
<再別康橋>
輕輕的我走了，正如我輕輕的來；
輕輕的我走了，正如我輕輕的來；
我輕輕的招手，作別西天的雲彩。
那河畔的金柳，是夕陽中的新娘；
波光裡的豔影，在我的心頭盪漾。
軟泥上的青荇，油油的在水底招搖；
在康河的柔波裡，我甘心做一條水草！
那榆蔭下的一潭，不是清泉，是天上虹；
揉碎在浮藻間，沉澱著彩虹似的夢。
尋夢撐一支長篙，向青草更青處漫溯；
滿載一船星輝，在星輝斑斕裡放歌。
但我不能放歌，悄悄是別離的笙簫；
夏蟲也為我沉默，沉默是今晚的康橋！
悄悄的我走了，正如我悄悄的來；
我揮一揮衣袖，不帶走一片雲彩。
1928.11.6 by 徐志摩
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