Ermita del Humilladero en Calera de león

In "The Story o f Hsiao-Pi," Chu, for the first time, m oved closer to social realism in her treatm ent o f a story. It is about a young boy’s coming o f age, as narrated by a young girl who lives next door to him in a civil service community.

The three characters, M other Pi, Father Pi and H siao-P i are used to present problems arising from the plight o f a factory girl, the loneliness o f an old m ainlander and the education system. The content and p lo t o f this, and her other film stories, show that no m atter what her level o f aw areness o f social issues was when she graduated, she had rapidly acquired a thorough grasp o f social conditions throughout Taiwan.

The story starts with the predicam ent o f H siao-Pi's m other. She is a young w orker who has an affair with her boss in the factory, and bears him a child, H siao-Pi. B ut the boss being m arried feels that he cannot m arry her. Asham ed, she leaves the factory, and in order to earn m oney to raise Hsiao-Pi, becom es a taxi dancer in a night club. Next, in order to get security for h erself and Hsiao-Pi, she marries a m ainlander twenty years older than herself. Such a m arriage contrasts sharply w ith the idyllic unions o f C hu T ’ien-w en's early stories, which do not feature in her work from now on.

Hsiao-Pi's stepfather is a soldier who has no relatives in C hina or Taiwan, and he is very pleased to have the chance to make a new family. The couple live in one o f the civil service communities, and Hsiao-Pi's m other gives birth to two more boys. However, their m arried life is fraught with difficulties for both sides. In this story, Chu also explored the differences betw een the generations w ithin m ainlander families. She showed the difficulties for the m arried couple o f sharing feelings and exchanging ideas. Their lack o f conversation is not ju s t due to the difference in age betw een them. There is also a serious language problem . The

working class Taiwanese wife cannot speak M andarin, and the m ainlander can speak no Taiwanese:

The way M other Pi speaks her M andarin is indeed laborious. It is not that her M andarin has an accent or is non-standard, in fact, the pronunciation is very correct. There are two reasons, one, M other P i’s m andarin is directly translated from Taiw anese, so she speaks slow er than other people. The other, to tell the truth is that M other Pi seldom speaks, so that she will gradually loses her ability to speak language (at all), w on't sh e ? 17

In the story, through the tolerant kindness o f both sides, the barrier is conquered on a day to day basis:

M other Pi talks to her children in Taiw anese, and F ath er Pi som ehow understands. For instance, at dinner time, she says to the children, 'Your shoes are worn out, buy a new pair at N ew Year.' T hat Sunday, Father Pi would take the children to the shop in the city to buy shoes.18

Hsiao-Pi's m other takes great care o f Hsiao-Pi, everyday she takes a lunch box to him at school, and if it rains, she brings a raincoat as well. N evertheless, H siao-Pi does not appreciate his mother's love. Over the years H siao-Pi grows into a badly behaved adolescent, hanging out on cam pus and m aking trouble. O n one occasion, H siao-Pi steals the m oney m eant for his tu itio n fees, and spends it w ith his friends. W hen H siao-Pi's step-father finds out and questions

17. "Hsiao-Pi te ku-shih" (The Story of Hsiao-Pi), TYHSC, p. 15. 18. Ibid., p. 16.

him, Hsiao-Pi challenges his step-father's authority over him, because he is not his biological father. In his rebellious attitude, Hsiao-Pi ignores his m other's and his step- father's feelings.

V ery soon after H siao-Pi challenges his step -fath er, d isaster occurs. Hsiao-Pi's m other being bitterly disappointed in her son's behaviour, and feeling that all her efforts have been fruitless, commits suicide leaving a letter to Hsiao- Pi, asking him to respect his step-father.

Through the story o f Hsiao-Pi's mother, Chu show ed the problem s o f a vulnerable factory girl, her first innocent love and the disgrace o f bearing a child before marriage. She is described as thinking seriously about her life:

Sometimes, after collecting the laundry M other Pi stands at the front door, watching father (Pi) and (her) youngest son play, her calm face ju st looks and looks, so long and so concentrated, I w onder w hether she is ju s t day dreaming. Usually, Hsiao-Pi is still playing around outside the house at this tim e.19

M other Pi is depicted as a martyr-like character. Chu's narrator comments on her w ith gentleness:

In fact, in this world, what sort o f love affair is not im perfect? She w anted it to be impeccable, so she w ould rather break the precious jad e, but, was there no other way?20

19. Ibid., p. 15. 20. Ibid., p. 20.

The story suggests that Hsiao-Pi's mother kills herself out o f guilt and despair at her failure to bring up Hsiao-Pi properly.

The description above o f M other Pi is an ornate passage to use in the story o f a good but ordinary woman. Probably Chu had in m ind the heroine in The Dream o f R ed Chamber, Lin Tai-yii, who died o f an unfulfilled love. Chu in

h er essay on the The Dream o f R ed Chamber m ore th an once expressed adm iration for Lin: "Lin Tai-yii at the famous flower burial scene. . . so fierce, filled with lighting and thunder, as cherry in full blossom, and then falling, she is so passionate even heaven cannot do anything for her."21

Chu's views on the education system were reflected in the g u lf depicted betw een H siao-P i and the school authorities. To th e a u th o ritie s, he is a troublem aker stealing books and generally causing mischief. B ut he is shown as having a positive side to his character in the way he protects the narrator, his fem ale neighbour in the village, who feels that the school has failed him in not understanding that his m isbehaviour is caused by his unstable childhood. W e have echoes here o f Chu's earlier criticism o f the lack o f the personal touch in the school system. A fter his mother's death, Hsiao-Pi realises how m uch trouble he caused his m other and resolves to reform. He decides to enter m ilitary school to cut h im self o ff from his past and to reduce the financial b u rd en on his step­ father. Chu's young narrator shows a strong adm iration for H siao-Pi's action: "He is still young, and having the whole world in front o f him, he w ants to have an absolutely new beginning."22 C hu's use o f A rm y serv ice as a w ay to redem ption has obvious roots in the military connections o f her family.

If we compare her first film script with the im m ediately previous work, we can see that C hu was already m odifying her uncritical acceptance o f m ainlander

21. Chu T'ein-wen, "An tzu hsi jen pi hua ti", HPTKS, p. 146. 22 "Hsiao-Pi te ku-shih", TYHSC, p. 20.

thinking by depicting positively some aspects o f the local Taiw anese way o f life. The m ainlander is shown as seeing the merits o f adapting to the local Taiwanese ways o f life, and starts a small grocery store. At the end o f the story, Chu show ed that after he retires, Father Pi becom es one o f th o u san d s o f sm all business entrepreneurs: "His father's grocery store expands and jo in s a chain store 'The Youth Store', and has three or four people to take care o f buying and selling, Father Pi is happy to be boss at hand."23