Peiping Family(1948)

[Music] the Great Wall of China was built 300 years before the birth of Christ it stretches 1500 miles across the breadth of China 20 to 30 ft in height and 15 to 40t wide at the top over Hills and through valleys a great wall of defense against ancient invading [Music] Army just before it reaches the sea it passes within 35 miles of bay Pig [Music] Bing or PE King as it used to be called was built in the 15th century the same Century in which Columbus discovered America it is an ancient city and the most beautiful in China there are walls in vaping too a wall around it walls inside it even walls around individual houses but these walls of Defense were not the only walls in China there were other walls too walls of fear and Superstition and they served to isolate this great nation from our modern world but today things are changing the old walls are coming down the ways of our Western World both good and bad have come to China and they've come to stay education in place of ignorance interest in the future as well as the past the speed and strain of modern living Bing a great Chinese city is stirring in her sleep here away from the main business section are the hongs the walled alleys where the people [Music] live early in the morning as the city comes to life the street Peddlers and husters begin the day's work each type of vendor has his own distinctive Street song accompanied by a rhythmic beat on wood or metal sometimes a drum or Bell from Behind the Walls Housewives and servants recogn ize the calls and come to buy Peddlers provide everything that a household could possibly need there are water Sellers and shoe repairers candy vendors and cotton cloth salesmen scissors Grinders and newspaper sellers a visitor to baying would never know what life was like Behind These Walls unless you were invited to the home of a Chinese family who would guess that behind this wall there was a lovely Garden where children were at play this Garden belongs to Dr CF woo a biology professor and his wife their only son Dei is his grandparents pride and joy because he'll carry on the family name Dei has six sisters five of them older and one still an infant that makes seven children in all a large family even in China the games the Chinese children play are not unlike those of American children some of their toys are different however they're shuttlecock and Diablo this game is more familiar to [Music] us but children in China go to school too if they're lucky in this family the teacher is Mother herself the family food budget was so limited because of inflation that Dr Woo decided that the only way the children could be kept healthy on their meager diet was to control their activities and conserve their energies since this could only be done by close supervision Mrs woo decided to teach them herself [Music] you may the eldest girl has become expert in using the Abacus this may look like a toy but actually it's a sort of adding machine which can be used to subtract divide and multiply with lightning rapidity you's education is on Mrs Woo's mind these days she's taken the girl as far as she can it's time now for you may to go to a regular school but that costs money and the Woos have little if arithmetic in China is easy learning to write is extremely difficult there's no alphabet and each word is represented by a separate and complicated design called a character which has to be memorized down to every last ccue to read a Chinese newspaper you have to know from 5 to 10 ,000 characters a well educated Chinese knows about 15,000 it's no wonder that Scholars have always been the most respected people in China in addition children study other languages than their own the most popular language is [Music] English Mrs woo can't forget that she's a mother as well as a school teacher and it's time now to prepare the baby's formula yes Mrs Woo is a busy woman and naturally she's grateful that she has a Cooperative son Dei may be too young for school but he's an old hand at being nursaid even nursemaids like to have fun and Dei has just heard a street vendor singing a song that he recognizes immediately it's the song of a monkey man and its music to his ears you can't wait to break the news to Mother thereby throwing the classroom into a state bordering on chaos the school teacher knows when she's late and class is dismissed [Music] monkeys are just as popular with the children of China as they are with children [Applause] everywhere this one has obviously been to the Chinese Theater and notice that Chinese actors wear masks foreign spee for speech foreign speech [Music] [Applause] suddenly you may remember something her mother asked her to tell her father that lunch would be early today because this afternoon their Arma is taking them to the Winter Palace Park on her way to her father's laboratory she has to pass through the courtyard where her grandfather and grandmother live she greets them with formality and respect because even today old people in China still command great veneration in accordance with ancient Chinese tradition Dr Woo and his assistant are hard at work making microscope slides for college classes teaching jobs are scarce since the war and so this is the way Dr Woo earns his living the microscope was borrowed from a university Dr Woo gives his student assistant a place to live as part of his wages Chinese students make great sacrifices to get an education meanwhile lunch is being prepared turnips are more plentiful and cheaper than most vegetables in Bay ping and consequently are part of almost every meal [Music] after being chopped they're cooked over an old-fashioned coal [Music] range there are no modern conveniences in Chinese kitchens often not even running water all drinking water is boiled to prevent disease and is usually drunk hot this servant or armor may seem like a luxury but most middle class families have one she's considered part of the family and they feel as responsible for her as for a close relative at last luncheon is served a Frugal luncheon and yet the big meal of the day in quantity it may seem substantial but in caloric value it is dangerously low there's one egg for 10 people and it's given to the old folks but they prefer it to give it to their grandson to a young life just beginning to the boy who will carry on on the family name after they have passed [Music] on in keeping with Chinese custom Mrs woo serves her husband's parents Chinese family life has a kind of quiet dignity and graciousness which is sometimes missing in our busy Western World Before the War breed in middle class families was made of wheat but now almost everybody eats wo wo toe the corn bread of poor Chinese peasants even in Good Times meat was used mostly for flavoring now there's no meat at [Music] all after lunch the children go with their Arma to The Winter Palace in Pavilions and Terraces along this artificial Lake Chinese poets once composed their songs while coures and Royal ladies laughed and played Mrs woo had the girls Arma take them on this trip to stimulate their interest in the historic past of their great [Music] nation but the girls are interested in the present too in the life that is going on around them in short in anything that's alive even if it's only ornamental goldfish and CP curiously enough some of these fish have been alive a good while some of them are almost a century old though they began life as the pets of Emperors and princes they have passed into the hands of the Common People reflecting in their way the story of China itself ancient and modern meanwhile back in the woo household another chapter in the story of China is being written a relatively small chapter perhaps concerning the future of only one Chinese girl Dr Woo is wondering how he'll raise the money to send you to school he considers selling his ftic capak and the fraternity key he received at an American University but they would hardly bring enough Mrs woo has a better idea her Jewels most middle class families in China had to part with their most cherished possessions in order to live during the war and the Woos have only a few left it's a big question they may need these Jewels later on to sell for food [Music] but for the Chinese No sacrifice is too great for Education they prize it traditionally but also because they realize its importance for their nation's future they prize it in a way that we can never understand we take it for granted for them it is something to be fought for bedtime time comes very early for the girls as part of Dr Woo's plan for conserving their [Music] energy Americans might find these beds a little uncomfortable there's no mattress just boards covered by a quilt but Chinese children learn to light their hard beds in fact some Chinese students who visit America complain about the softness of our beds and prefer to sleep on the floor the mosquito netting is necessary in Bay ping because the malaria mosquito still exists there and now it's time for [Music] sleep next morning firecrackers are set off to celebrate a holiday it's grandfather Woo's birthday and a formal ceremony will be held seats of Honor are set on each side of a table where the historic figure of the god of of long life adds his charm to the decoration long noodles wound into a pyramid symbolize long life too these noodles were made Early in the Morning by the armor and this is the way she did it [Music] long noodles are as important to a birthday party in China as a birthday cake is to us and just as much care is taken in their preparation later on these noodles will be cooked and eaten and there's another dish of uncooked food on the altar Peach bread bread that's been molded and colored to look like peaches peaches too are symbolic of a long and happy life meanwhile everybody is getting ready for the ceremony of greeting grandfather and [Music] grandmother the armor helps the younger girls fix their hair neat and well-groomed hair is important to Chinese women and on festive occasions they always decorate it with flowers Dei is busy admiring a new pair of leather shoes a change from the homemade cloth shoes he usually wears at last the ceremony begins grandfather and grandmother take the chairs of honored and get ready to receive the greetings of the family Western Customs may have come to China but on occasions like this the ancient and time-honored traditions still assert themselves first the older generation Dr and Mrs woo come in to pay their respects in the old days they would have made the oldfashioned cow toow and bumped their heads on the floor but today it is enough to Bow respectfully grandmother was born at a time when women's feet were still bound this custom has almost entirely died out today and now the Next Generation the children pay their [Music] respects Dei is on his own for the first [Music] time last year he did it this way even babies pay their respects on a grandfather's birthday that afternoon grandfather who is obviously in a holiday mood himself decides to give the girls a treat a treat in B ping usually means an outing the trip today will be to the Temple of Heaven the most beautiful example of religious architecture in the whole of China and another Monument to man's belief in a power beyond himself no matter what is Creed [Music] [Applause] the roof of the temple is made of tiles which are brilliant blue in color and the Dome is capped with gold even to the Christian Chinese living in hardship and poverty today the temple may bring inspiration out of China's glorious past for courage in facing a far from certain future but courage is not enough and the educated Chinese like drct and Mrs woo know this more and more of their countrymen must have the opportunity for Education only then will the old walls of fear and ignorance disappear so that China may take her rightful place in the world today [Music] oh