Story of Anyi Wang and Granny

Anyi Wang, as noted partially before, is a writer of Chinese birth. She was born in the 1950's to parents named Wang Xiaoping and Ru Zijuan. He works are mostly short norvels and short stories. Just a few of those pieces include the following:

• Life in a Small Courtyard

• The Newly Arrived Coach

• Black & White

• The 1969 Junior Middle School Graduates

Books are far from the only thing she has been involved in. She has been involved with films, television and music throughout her storied career. Wang herself is married to Li Zhang and has been since 1981. She is currently 62 years old and she is absolutely Chinese in ancestry, in addition to being born there (Prabook).

The timing of Granny is not entirely known for sure. As reviewed in this report, it was published in a larger collection of the Columbia Anthology of Chinese Literature. The second edition of that book was published in 2007 and includes the story referenced in this report. As one might expect, so much of what goes into Wang's work "Granny" and other works has its genesis in Wang's own perspective and life experiences. It obviously should not be assumed to be an autobiography but Wang is surely not speaking about the things and themes that she does without any personal or second-hand knowledge of what goes into all of these events and stories. Even if Wang herself had two parents, was not an orphan and actually lived in a household that was full of politics and activism, this does not mean that she herself cannot tell stories about being an orphan, why people act a certain way given the surrounding cultural context and so forth.

It is obvious while reading through the pages of the story that is Granny that people do some seemingly odd and intriguing things when it comes down to what is expected, what is "normal" and what is customary. The story in question is only about eight pages of reading but the amount of cultural and societal themes and oddities to be found are all over the place. Whether it be arranged marriage, the proper way to address (or not) address people, what women are allowed to do, not do, how to speak, how not to speak and beyond, etc., it is clear that it was a very different time in China as compared to what is seen now, at least for the most part. For sure, there are cultural practices and norms that have changed with time or due to political or cultural pressures. Even so, much of the world still behaves very much (if not exactly) the same way that is depicted in the Granny story (Wang).

The arranged marriage angle with Fu Ping, to which Granny was a witness as she was the maid, is just one thing that is quite vexing. Even with that, Granny and Fu Ping had a lot in common. Granny was widowed quite early and she had no sons. Similarly, Fu Ping has lost a huge part of her family in that she was an orphan and was raised by her aunt and uncle. Fu Ping was there to be a prospective spouse as part of an arranged and approved marriage. Her mannerisms and way of speaking (or not speaking, to get to the point) was quite telling. Her head was lowered, she didn't speak out of turn and beyond. Not only was she allowing herself to be part of the arranged marriage courting process, so to speak, she was making very sure to not "rock the boat" or give offense. As the woman/girl in the equation, this was her part to play and she did it best to play it well. As the story itself notes, she was "vigilant" in doing so. On top of that, there is the explicit mention of the fact that the prospective husband was not a blue-collar or working poor person and that there was a laundry list of gifts that were being extended as part of the arranged marriage process. One might think that this all has faded away in the half century or so since the author of Granny was born. However, it still happens and in much the same way as depicted in the story by Ms. Wang. It was absolutely a way for Fu Ping to literally change her life and change her fortunes from the orphaning that was the beginning of her life's story (Houghton) (Wang).

The story quickly transitions to how Granny herself had transformed and changed her mindset and approach to life. The word used by Wang was "transformed," although the book is quick to say that she was not an "urbanite." She had lived in Shanghai for 1-2 generations and she notes that she was changed, but into more of a hybrid. Rather than being truly urban or remaining "rustic" by choice, she called herself a hybrid and believed there to be advantages to taking such an approach. Rather than just blindly and completely glomming onto the norms and values of her new living area, she did retain some of the norms and values of her past. This was obviously a departure from what so many other people did in the story. However, Granny most certainly picked her spots and engaged in some cultural selectivity that some might consider elitist or cherry-picking. Beyond that, it is clear that this was very much normal for that area and Granny was clearly not doing anything that was beyond the pale. Even if she did resist becoming a full-fledged urbanite, she absolutely morphed herself in a way so as to fit in and otherwise blend in with the proverbial cultural scenery (Wang).

Two manners in which Granny clearly did not "stick to her roots" was in the form of her only working for people at certain addresses (Huaihai Road) and turning up her nose a bit to the industrial people and workers in the area. This would seem to run counter to her rustic roots. She was not born into wealth and thus it would not be beyond the pale for her to speak to them. She admits herself that she had encountered all sorts of people and that this had made her a wiser and better person. At the same time, she seemed to buy into the socioeconomic pockets of people and would not "lower" herself to speak with certain people or do certain things. So much is stated when she talks about how she only cleans up and dusts and does not delve into childcare or anything else besides the cleaning. Her selectivity and perceptions even were varied and obvious when it came to the people that she served. She uses words and feelings like "cloying" and so forth to speak about the people she works or worked for. She speaks of a woman who was a widow and a man that was less than enthused, even if he did not react directly and overtly, about neighbor kids playing in his house. It would seem that while not all of the ways of the people along that road "rubbed off" on Granny, she most certainly picked up some of their habits, both good and bad.

It is obvious, though, that much of what Wang speaks of in terms of culture is not first-hand. It is noted on the 465th page that one year in question was 1949 and Wang was not even born until five years later. Even so, the accounts and stories of her parents probably informed that. Even so, she was not young enough to process and truly know what was going on around her until at least the 1960's. By then, the Cultural Revolution would have picked up and everything would have changed. This begs the question, perhaps, how much of all of this perspective was true and how much was filtered through the prism and reaction of her parents and whomever else told her about all these happenings. Just another example of how Granny both resisted and embraced culture was her veritable smugness about how she "chose" her families and not the other way around. Surely, there were nannies and maids that had to take jobs out of necessity and not because they necessarily liked the choices and results they were subjected to. On top of that, it is mentioned explicitly in the text that she did not feel at "ease" until she was back along the familiar lane that she was accustomed to.