The Transition of My Family

There were usually two side effects for each event in old china, one for the government, and another for people. From all these events, I deeply remember the most important one for my whole family which was the New Culture Movement. It happened in 1920, and I learned about it from my grandmother. At that time, people used to follow all the older people’s steps. No matter if the steps were wrong or right, they also copied them without any differences. People who lived at that time had no idea about their future lives, and the students especially had no freedom in their studies or their thoughts. My great-grandmother was one of these students. This New Cultural Movement was a big change for my great-grandmother to decide her dream and her future life.

One effect of the New Cultural Movement was students didn’t have freedom. During the New Cultural Movement, even though the students had a lot of ideas for their studies or their lives, they also had no choice to plan their own directions of study. At first, they didn’t realize these problems, and they were compelled to study some unusual subjects which were under the old feudal thought. As time passed, they started to think about the necessary problems about their lives so that they were formally protesting. Moreover, they held a student demonstration at Beijing University. Surly, as a college student, my great-grandmother also joined in this student demonstration. However, she lived in GuangDong, and the demonstration was held in Beijing. Therefore, she spent all her money to join this movement. In Beijing, she stayed at Beijing University every day and asked the government, which controlled all students’ future, to give them their own freedom to plan things however they liked. Thus, the students stopped their classes at the same time. My great-grandmother was also the same as these students. During the last days, my great-grandmother and some students planned to burn the Japanese articles and buildings one day. Unluckily, during this even, my great-grandmother was caught by the police and kept for three days. The worst part was that the policemen sent her back to GuangDong.

Another effect of this movement, which had another name-“May Fourth Movement was happening in the highest moment, my family spent all their money, so they didn’t have enough money for my great-grandmother to set up her dreams to be a teacher. The difficult part didn’t only happen to her school studies; it also affected her daily life. In school, she had a lot of homework to do. As student during that time, the school asked my great-grandmother to join in the Mew Cultural Movement. As a result, my great-grandmother started to confuse her dream. In addition to this, my great-grandmother’s family was very poor, so she had to support her big family. During the day, she went to school, but after school, she had to go to the field. In the evening, when she was doing her homework, she used to do some housework. It was so hard for her to complete her education. Finally, she decided to give up her education and her dream.

The last effect of this cultural movement was that may great-grandmother didn’t have a choice to choose her happiness. In the New Cultural Movement, people believed that women had to marry a person that their parents chose, and they couldn’t object. As an average woman, my great-grandmother married a stranger who she didn’t love and never saw before. Nevertheless, this person who her parents had chosen could help their family have a better economic status. After she married this person, the government opened the country’s door and welcomed some helpful foreign knowledge. Therefore, my great-grandmother had a chance to go to foreign countries with her husband. Finally, all her family went to the U.S., and she began a new life in a foreign country- the U.S.

In a conclusion, the New Cultural Movement gave a majority of people a lot of changes, but it especially made my great-grandmother give up her dream of a lifetime. Moreover, this movement changed her whole life. For the government, they decided to open the country’s door and get some benefits from foreign counties. After I heard about the New Cultural Movement form my grandmother, I understood why my mother always said they were poor in the past. Now, I believe that a movement can change one person’s entire life and a country’s future.