Faith And The American Of The Philippines - 1096 Words

Faith Daniel is a forty-six-year-old denizen of Montgomery, Texas of Chinese descent. Even though Faith was born in the Philippines, she is profoundly influenced by her Chinese ancestry. Her ancestors moved from China to the Philippines due to a World War. She has three sisters. Faith is a certified teacher with teaching experience in the private school sector. Impressively, she can verbalize English, Mandarin, French, and dactylology. The Chinese culture places more value on male children because they carry on the family name. Therefore, when Faith s mother was pregnant with her fourth female child she was offered to trade her baby for a cousin s male child. Faith s parents refused to trade causing a significant disgrace to the family.†¦show more content†¦For instance, their house had to be thoroughly cleaned. Trash was not allowed in the house this day in fear that the family would have trash in their life all year long. Traditionally, new red clothing was laid out for ea ch person and had to be worn. Red envelopes placed under pillows contained an even amount of money. A feast prepared on New Year s Eve was available on New Year s Day. However, cooking was not allowed on the first day of the new year. Fu, the red Chinese symbol of luck, was placed upside down in their doorway to allow luck to flow into their home. Faith is able to identify various prejudices in her culture. In the Philippines, the Chinese people looked down on the Filipinos. The Filipino people were not very accepting of the Chinese because they considered them to be much smarter than they were. Her grandfather had paramount influence in the family s affairs. Faith recalls being taught that you must always marry into the same status. Her greatest fear is disrespecting her parents. Faith s father chose which college his daughters would attend and even selected their major area of study. If they did not follow his wishes, that would be a tremendous disgrace to the family. Faith s grea test success is her children. She is extremely proud that she has been able to pass down her Chinese heritage to them. Furthermore, she attributes her successes and accomplishments to her mother s lofty