Tiger Mom

[pfarber]

Andi and I are watching a Chinese drama on Hulu called 'Tiger Mom'... as Asian parents evidently have this stereotype for being strict when it comes to education... who I am kidding... dem bitches are crazy when it comes to education.. and my wife verified this personally (and another Chinese girl I dated said the same thing... so a pattern is forming). All hail the mighty Gaokao and its ability to ruin your life!

Stereotypes abound as the husbands rich parents spoil Qian Qian (remember Q's are T sounding in pinyan) to hell.. which initially is nexus of most of the comedy. When Qian Qian visits friends in the country she is faced with a squat toilet and refuses to use it... only to pee herself in front of everyone later (whaa whaa)... shit like that. Qian Qian's mother Shen Nan realizes that her kid is a big lump of stupid (thanks gandma and grandpa!) and desperately tries to get her enrolled in a 'key school' in Beijing. A key school is just a top tier school, much better than local schools, and in Chinar the school you go to gives you face.. and you also can get some guanxi by befriending other kids from well to do families.. so yeah, its 60% shcool learnin and 40% try to get in with the powerful crowd.

Since we are only 10 episodes in Qian Qian is still not in a key school, Shen Nan quits her job to try and pound some smarts into her (Chinese homeshooling... THAT sounds like fun) and, well, chaos abounds. It really is a good show and Shen Nan really goes through some shit from everyone.. husband, parents (both sides) neighbors.. you name it.

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[pfarber]

Andi and I just finished Ep 45 last night and the ending was kinda abrupt. Mr. Bi (the Veteran teacher of 40 years hahaha) must have seen Jesus as he comes to regret being so hard on students. Sheng Nan and Lou So make up and Tang Lin goes home empty handed (although her daughter does warm up to her a bit). Du Feng get shot down but the oddly dressed Sheng Nan (how the hell does she go from designer clothes to a frock and a hemp rope for a belt?) but we all knew that was coming.

The last 10 minutes were hilariously bad... the 'farm', green grass and clear blue sky (with water fall!) is so obviously a stage set its not even funny... well it was funny. Which is a shame as the other 44 episodes were quite well done.

Not sure if this was supposed to be a 'moral of the story' in that pushing your kid to hard to pass tests is bad... or if its just a drama and that was the topic of choice... either way all the 'your kids should be happy' talk is gonna fall on deaf ears... the GaoKao is real and can make or break you... and there are at least 3... elementary, middle, and high school. So yeah.. screw up one test and you are destined to be a poor farmer or something...

The show was funny, had the typical Chinese drama twists and turns, and was full hot Chinese middle aged women.