Over the past few months Wang Miao’s mother has been attending the local community learning center which provides free and cheap courses to mature students as supported by the government. She’s been learning Chinese paper cutting, and she can be seen most nights after our evening meal, sitting infront of the TV watching a health show and pracitising. She is now pretty adept at transferring designs from books onto paper and cutting them. The community center has recently had their winter presentation, where the different groups present what they’ve been studying and some awards are given out. It seemed that Miao’s mother was the best in the class but the award was given to a relative or associate of the teacher.

It seems that even at this sort of activity family association comes into play and I find it a little hard to believe. Miao’s mother wasn’t too bothered by it as most of the members of the school have been going there for a long time and have relationships with the administration and tutors, however I don’t think I could be so accepting. I know it’s a little selfish to seek recognition for hard work and skill, but in what should be a fair environment like a school, i find it a little wrong and feel dissaproval. I still have some way to go to understand and accept Chinese culture.