Week 3- Cultural Commentary

Well, today's post is not about Chilean culture, but actually Chinese. Tao Chi'en is hiding Eliza so that she can stow away to America. He's originally from China. What I find so interesting about his childhood is the little value children carry. Today there is an overpopulation problem in China, but I didn't realize this started all the way back in 1800's.

The quote that most caught my attention:

"[...] it was not unusual to find newborn baby girls thrown like garbage into the street or floating in the canals, often chewed on by dogs or rats. No one wanted them, they were disposable. [...] 'Better a deformed son than a dozen girls as wise as Buddha,' was the popular saying (162-163)."

I had to read this paragraph twice to make sure I got it right the first time. I suppose it's a very rational way to look at families. Why have children that will contribute very little to the household. They don't bring in any money unless they're sold, but even then the child would have to be brought up until a certain age. Overpopulation and scarcity of money could easily drive someone to dispose of their girl child. I still can't believe that this actually happened!

Not only girls had to go through separation with their families. Tao Chi'en actually got sold to slave traders. He was a fourth son and therefore worth very little. Like a girl, a fourth child only makes another mouth to feed.

I hope that the world never resorts to such atrocities ever again. We are headed towards overpopulation with the growing population of recent decades, but I hope that we've found better ways to deal with such problems.