Ethnography

THE HOUSE OF LIM

A STUDY OF A CHINESE FARM FAMILY

TRANG THI KIM LE

ANTH 302: GENDER and CULTURE

INSTRUCTOR: NANCY JOHNSON BLACK

DATE: 4/21/15

Introduction Ethnography

As we have known, ethnography is a long process of observing and describing a particular group through field work. It takes at least a year to have a full view of one human group. The author of the case study which I have chosen spends around two years for fulfilling her field work. One year is for studying the language, and the other is for an observation. “The house of Lim” is a work of Margery Wolf that briefly describes the daily lives of family members in the Lim family as well as focus on the role of men and women within this society. Margery Wolf whose husband is an anthropologist does not admit herself as an anthropologist, but she expresses her interest in studying Chinese family structure. In her book, Wolf would like to send to her readers three things “to present a case study for the social scientist interested in the strains inherent to the form of family considered ideal in China, to provide another account of village life for those with a more general interest in China, and to tell a good story” (page vi). Mrs. Wolf spends two years to live with a farm family in Taiwan, from 1959 to 1961. At the beginning, Wolf explains the reason why she chooses Taiwan for the case study instead of China because China is such a huge country which can be hard to observe. She also wants to remind everyone that Taiwan is not an independent country, but it is a part of China. It will be easier for her to observe Taiwanese by living within the family. The couple gets permission from the owner of the Lim family to live there during two years, but they have to pay rent.

The Lim family lives in Peihotien village where locates in Hotien district with four different distinct areas. It includes mostly the Lim lineage who is the most powerful family in village. Even though the village has other family lineages such as the Ong family that originated a hundred years ago, the Lim family still has a higher position. People communicate to each other by Hokkien, a local Chinese dialect, in the village. It becomes an obstacle for Wolf while she lives there because she just knows how to speak Mandarin. Unfortunately, Mandarin is not the mother tongue in Peihotien village. All conversation with villagers needs help from a little girl who was born in a near village and becomes an interpreter for Mrs. Wolf. During her time of living with the Lim family, it is a large family with fourteen members which is “Lim Chieng-cua and his wife; their six children; Lim Chieng-cua’s older brother’s widow, Lim A-pour; her unmarried son, Masa; her married son, Lim A-bok, and his wife; and their two children” (page 34). All of them live in a house with the same roof and one kitchen which is built new as a brick house from old mud one.