Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior By Amy Chua?

Whether it’s “A- is the Asian F” or “All Asians become doctors”, these phrases have never felt true to myself. As an avid fan of American TV Shows, I’ve found that Asian stereotypes are often inflated in American media. In US media, Asians are often portrayed to be hard-working, studious and wealthy. While these stereotypes are not completely false, as a Chinese-Australian student living in Hong Kong, I rarely come across an Asian who truly conforms to all these stereotypes to the extreme that they are portrayed in US media, where they get straight A’s, aspire to become doctors, and have strict parents who starve and beat them. So when I came across the New York Times article “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” by Amy Chua, it made me wonder,
Perhaps this portrayal of Chinese mothers is relatable for Chinese-Americans because they have had a different experience with Chinese culture. For 2nd or 3rd generation Chinese-American children, whose ancestors made many sacrifices to achieve their American Dream and whose values are rooted in hard work and sacrifice, perhaps their experience with Chinese culture significantly differs from mine as I go to an international school where most students come from a privileged upper-middle class background.
Her article, an extract from her memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” - her story of raising two children in America the “Chinese” method. It discusses her strict parenting and emphasis on education which she claims ultimately led to her children’s acceptance to Harvard. While her parenting style may be relatable for some Chinese people, they do not apply to all, at least not the ones I know. In my international school in Hong Kong, only a small portion of students receive straight A’s and aspire to be
It was as if she knew the immediate stereotypes associated with being “Chinese”, and that calling “Chinese Mothers” superior would gain more attention than just calling herself a superior mother. It also sets herself apart from the audience - the boring western parents. The popularity of her book being driven by the successes of her own children is as if her children’s pain and success were stepping stones for their own success to achieving “superior mother’ status.
From Chua’s memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”, it is important to understand that Chua’s views are only representative of a small portion of Chinese people, and perhaps it doesn’t represent the values of Chinese people living in China or Hong Kong as much as they represent the values of Chinese-Americans due to different experiences of Chinese culture. Whether she intended to or not, Amy Chua’s memoir has reinforced stereotypes about Chinese people. Writers should take responsibility of their portrayal of social groups, and be aware of the negative impacts of using stereotypes to promote their own