Newspapers

"I don't want to be compared! We are different!"

AXL091028ralphjennings.jpg

Ralph Jennings is a journalist and long time resident of China. He currently lives in Taipei. From mid-2000 to 2006, he had an advice column in the 21st Century weekly newspaper in which he answered letters from thousands of students and young professionals. Below is a letter from the archive, with an introduction by Jennings.

A mother can be trouble enough. She insists on study over play. She’s always hounding the kid to pass some test. She censors dates and mates. But add to that a failure, minor as it may be, that sparks Mom’s sense of do-die-or-be-killed competition: My child must beat others at school and it’s the child’s fault if she falls behind. Cinderella tells the story vividly.

Student letters to a foreign agony uncle

Dear Ralph,

I'm a girl in senior middle school grade two. In junior middle school I did very well in my studies. But when I entered senior middle school I began to taste the bitterness of failing. A girl who was not as good as me in junior middle school surpassed me. I was very sad. My mother often scolded me. She couldn't understand me. All she knows how to do is scold and satirize me. I can't stand her, so when I return home I don't want to talk to her. She never wants to encourage me. When I do a good job, she only says, "Don't be so proud. Do you think you really did that well? Think of (insert name), she did better than you." When I do something bad, she says, "What are you doing? Think of (insert name), she is always better than you." I don't want to be compared! We are different persons! All she does is reduce my self confidence. I had an open-heart talk with her. But she just said coldly, "When you grow up, you will know that I did good for you. I don't want you to be proud." Am I proud? Never. I just want to give myself confidence. You may think she is just strict with me. She isn't. She never forces me to do anything. She just thought I wasn't so good, but she never helps me. My mother was my idol. She was beautiful and intelligent. When I was young, I could tell my friends proudly, "My mother is an undergraduate!" But now she has turned into a vulgar woman. I can't communicate with her. I don't want to go near her. What should I do?

Cinderella, Shanxi

April 2002

There are currently 1 Comments for "I don't want to be compared! We are different!" .

Comments on "I don't want to be compared! We are different!"

ignore her? ask her to see a shrink?

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
The WTO ruling: a half victory at best: In August 2009, a World Trade Organization panel ruled against China's system of monopoly control over entertainment products. Was this the victory supporters hailed as the dawn of a new day for American and global entertainment companies in the China market?
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30