Movie and Book Review:The JoyLuck Club by Amy Tan

'There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.' ~ Chinese Proverb

  I'm not sure if I will do a movie review or a book review on this one. But I guess I'll just write a review about the novel and the film, 'The JoyLuck Club'. I am a fan of the works of Amy Tan. I have enjoyed novels that she wrote. Another novel of hers that I like is entitled, 'The Kitchen God's Wife'. I have collected some of her books. Her novels mostly depicts the life of American Born Chinese (ABC) or people who are of Chinese descent who migrated to America.

 I first saw this movie when it was shown on tv in a local channel. I was immediately drawn to it because the opening has that 'oriental or Asian' feel to it. The scene that I remember the most was a group of elders and a young woman playing the famous Chinese game called 'mah-jong'. 

 The JoyLuck Club is about the life  story of four mothers and their daughters. The movie scenes alternates between the past and the present. With regards to the movie, I think it is faithful to the novel. Also, like in many novels that's adapted into a movie, due to time constraints it's only usual that not everything that's written in the book is included in the movie.

  I am not actually familiar with the actors and actresses who played the role of the mothers and the daughters, as well as the other characters in the movie. But they all did well in playing their role. This movie shows what a mother would do for her child. I was reminded of this movie/novel when I read the tribute of a famous journalist to her late mother.

The movie is very realistic. I really learned a lot from this novel. It has clearly shown the truths with regards to marital problems that some people rarely talk about, thus it resulted to an even bigger emotional abuse. It also shows the role of Chinese women in a male dominant, power-driven culture. I also have learned about filial piety, matchmaking, and other Chinese traditions. If you are a voracious book reader, or a movie fan. Either way you will enjoy watching and reading, the work of Amy Tan.

  I recommend this movie to all the mother and daughter's out there. Truly a mother's love is truly admirable. A mother, and being a woman is worth more than a priceless gem out there.

Book Review: The Chinese Medicine Bible (Penelope Ody)

Chinese medicine began with myth, its practice has been recorded for centuries. 

   I recently bought a book entitled,"The Chinese Medicine Bible" written by Penelope Ody. When I saw it on the shelf of a popular local bookstore I knew in an instant that I got to have it. As a book lover and a Chinese studies enthusiast, I consider this book indispensable. Nowadays, most people are into naturopathy or alternative medicine, one that relies in the natural healing power of nature. More and more people are becoming health conscious. We can see that through the increasing demand of organic fruits and vegetables. 

 This book is a mini-book. It can be carried easily and you can carry it along inside your bag. It also has a lot of pictures that makes it even more so interesting to read. The classification of food is also included in the book. It says in the book that there are five energies from food. That is the cold and cool foods, neutral, warm and hot food and the balancing food. 

   When I had tonsilitis before (swelling and infection of the tonsils) I went to a doctor who is into the natural and scientific methods in curing an ailment. After checking my throat, he prescribed an over-the counter medicine and food that I should not eat until my tonsils is back in its normal state. He further explained the reason why I should not eat certain food. For example, if I have oral-thrush or mouth sores, what we call 'singaw' in our native language, I should avoid eating 'hot' food. It's not really about the temperature of the food, what he meant by 'hot' is the effects that this particular food have on our body. Pizza is categorized in the 'hot' food. I told him that I frequently eat pizza, and he said, "So you see the effect it has on your body!" Some doctors would dismiss this theory saying that mouth sores are caused by a fungal infection. 

    Here in the Philippines, in Chinatown you can find Chinese traditional drugstores. For throat ailments, I've heard from a friend about this sweet sticky syrup that goes by the name 'Pei Pa Koa' (枇杷膏 pi pa gao). It is a famous Chinese cough syrup. Today, they came out with 'Pei Pa Koa' candies. I have not tried this but I'm using a herbal spray whenever I have sore throat, and it works well for me.

     The book has six chapters. It talks about the theory of Chinese medicine, causes of disease and diagnostics, acupuncture and acupressure, types of Chinese herbal medicines, understanding Chinese food cures and body works. 

     I see nothing wrong in trying alternative medicine and going organic. After all, in the bible it says there that Adam and Eve were to eat only vegetables and fruits (Genesis 1:29). Natural is always the best. Have you noticed that our grandparents have longer life span compared to the generation of today. As they say, everything is instant now, and that's also the same with life. In closing let me quote a famous line, "What you eat today is what you will look and feel tomorrow!" So I say always stay happy and eat healthy!

Book Review: Simple Strokes (Song Liwen)

  

I did a book review about the history of the Chinese language before and now it's going to be about the origin of Chinese characters. My former mandarin teacher explained to us a brief history of the Chinese characters that every character has its own story. She gave an example on the board. First, she drew a door. My classmates' reaction was it doesn't look like a door. I imagined the character looks like a door in a western movie, a swinging door. Next she drew an eye. I can't really understand how the character looks like an eye, maybe a single eye. I find the characters to be complex. 

The Chinese characters has really an interesting historical background. From the book, it says that, "In the history of civilization, many nations have recorded their native ideographic languages, but those have long been lost. Many people believed that Chinese characters were doomed to extinction. Chinese characters demonstrate  superiority over romanized language."

    Description from the back cover of the book. Do you know that every stroke in a Chinese character represents an idea or symbol that each Chinese character tells a story? Simple Strokes demystifies the Chinese language as it traces the history of each Chinese character and explains why the Chinese script is written that way.  With pictorial symbols to help readers especially first-time learners of the Chinese language. Simple Strokes is the fun way to learn and memorize complex strokes and their usage, and more importantly, how they put together a meaningful sentence. 

    As you can see from the photo that I posted here, there's a translation of the Chinese character. There is also a drawing on how the character evolved, past up to the present Chinese character. A description of its history in English, and also in Chinese. How to write it, order of the strokes, and usage of the character. The author of the book is Song Liwen, a graduate from Capital Normal University with a degree in Chinese language and literature. He is now an editor in the Department of Chinese and Linguistics at Peking University Press.

    I recommend this book to those who are interested in studying the Chinese language. Especially to Chinese studies enthusiasts like me. Looking beyond the art of Chinese writing. It will help you even more appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of the Chinese way of writing.

Back to School at Confucius Institute in Ateneo

   Today was my first day of class in Ateneo. I enrolled in Basic Chinese 2. My interest in studying Chinese was put on hold for a decade. I was still in my college days when I studied Chinese in my college university, Centro Escolar University and I took it as a summer course in Languages Internationale. 

   It felt good to be back in school again after a year of not stepping on any school grounds. It was just last year when I finished my Master's degree course in Miriam College, and now I'm back again in Katipunan, and this time in Ateneo. 

   My brain was in a state of shock this morning because after we recited the pinyin, b, p, m, f, etc. We proceeded to counting numbers, and it was not just 1 to 10 but up to 100. It's a good thing I still know how to count in Chinese. After that we learned some vocabulary words with regards to food and drinks. We were also made to recite a tongue twister, 'si shi si', to brush up on our knowledge with regards to the tones. Our professor also taught us the Chinese names for the 12 animals. I must admit I'm also having a hard time with the tonal system of Mandarin. From what I know Mandarin language uses four tones, I guess I should be thankful because in Cantonese its maybe 6 or 7. My classmates also have their textbook with them. I don't have a textbook because I was not aware of what we are going to use. Some of my classmates know each other already because, they have attended the Basic Chinese 1. The textbook that they've used before, they will also use in Basic Chinese 2. We had a lot of fun in our class. I even made a blooper because instead of saying, 'Wo xihuan chi dangao'. (cake), I've said 'dongao', I'm looking forward already for our class next week. After our class I bought the book, and I inquired about my school I.D., according to the staff, Ms.Airen it is not yet finished. I saw that our book was from Beijing Language Cultural University press, wow! That school is really famous for those who want to learn Chinese, I know its impossible for me to study there. Also, the tuition fee is quite pricey. So I'm just contented with the book for now.

   I was pondering while in the classroom, if I should transfer to Basic Chinese 1. I made up my mind that I'll just stay in our class because its a good challenge for me. Besides, I've already studied Chinese before. We are 12 in our class. We have 3 boys and the rest are girls. One of my guy classmate who's older than the rest of us was really funny, his answers were really funny, so we cracked up with laughter. Our laoshi's name is Ms. Maria Joanna Tecson, and her Chinese surname is Chua. She said that she also teaches in Chiang Kai Shek college in Manila. I find her nice and cute.

  Confucius Institute according to Wikipedia is:

   a non-profit public institutions aligned with the Government of the People's Republic of China that aim to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. Confucius Institutes are sometimes compared to language and culture promotion organizations such as Britain's British Council, France's Alliance Française and Germany's Goethe-Institut. 

  From what I read, the institution promotes the study of Chinese culture, history, language, music (learning how to play traditional Chinese musical instrument, Guzheng), calligraphy, painting, and martial-arts (tai-chi and qigong). The courses offered in Ateneo are limited only. Their music class is available only in their Makati campus, as well as the other courses that were mentioned.

  So if you want to de-stress, learn something new or just do what you love to do. Like me, a Chinese studies enthusiast. Then I suggest you enroll in Confucius Institute in Ateneo. Let me end this post by quoting Confucius saying.  

"Never be tired of learning, or teaching others." - Confucius