Observations
The sample consists of 12 students，who had no Chinese-background，in an advanced Chinese class in an Australian university.The textbook that we use is New Practical Chinese Reader(Book 5，2005)published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press.This textbook uses many literary texts(abridged or not)which fit our requirement of including literary texts.In the following section will be seen how students from different cultural backgrounds respond and interpret the same text differently.These examples of students’readings will illuminate how important it is to enhance second-language learners’awareness and understanding of the target language and culture.
In the following passages，the focus is on the teaching and reading of“The Silhouette of His Back”（《背影》）written by Chinese author Zhu Ziqing（朱自清，1898-1948），who is one of the best-known writers in modern Chinese literature.This short story has been selected for the textbook of Chinese language and literature in China for many years and every Chinese student who completes Year 9 would be familiar with it.In 1995，it was selected for The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature by Joseph S.M.Lau and Howard Goldblatt（Lau and Goldblatt，2017：643-645）which again indicates its significant position in Chinese literary history.In this story，Zhu Ziqing unabashedly tells of the sensitive and respectful love between a father and a son.The narrator（always being identified as Zhu Ziqing himself）is leaving his home city Nanjing to study in Beijing.His father sees him off at the train station.Although the son is already a young man twenty years of age and“has been travelling to Beijing several times，”his father insists on preparing everything for the son to ensure the son’s trip will be safe and comfortable.The father repeatedly tells the son to be alert on the journey，especially at night.He also reminds the son to stay warm and“don’t catch a cold.”At this point，the son thinks secretly in his heart that he is experienced enough to look after himself and he laughs at his father’s“fastidiousness”.
The story reaches its climax when the father，who is described as“fat”and clumsy，makes every effort to climb down and over the railway platforms in order to buy some tangerines for his son.It is worthwhile quoting this passage in full for the reader to better appreciate the story:
I said，“Dad，you might as well leave now.”But he looked out of window and said，“I’m going to buy you some tangerines.You just stay here.Don’t move around.”I caught sight of several vendors waiting for customers outside the railings beyond a platform.But to reach that platform would require crossing the railway track and doing some climbing up and down.That would be a strenuous job for father，who was fat.I wanted to do all that myself，but he stopped me，so I could do nothing but let him go.I watched him hobble towards the railway track in his black skullcap，black cloth mandarin jacket and dark blue cotton-padded cloth long gown.He had little trouble climbing down but it was a lot more difficult for him to climb up that platform after crossing the railway track.His hands held onto the upper part of the platform，his legs huddled up and his corpulent body tipped slightly towards the left，obviously making an enormous exertion.While I was watching him from behind，tears gushed from my eyes.I quickly wiped them away so he or others should not catch me crying.The next moment when I looked out of the window again，father was already on the way back，holding bright red tangerines in both hands.[Emphasis added and the translation is my own]
The narrator elucidates how hard it is for his father to move his massive body for the purpose of buying some tangerines for him.His attitude towards the father’s verbose“pedantry”alters after seeing all the difficulties the father has overcome in order to buy tangerines.For native Chinese readers，this climactic scene aims to show how much the father loves his son and how the son feels and appreciates his father’s deep and implicit love.It is believed that every Chinese reader who has encountered Zhu’s story is profoundly touched and even sheds a tear with the narrator.
In order to understand how students learning Chinese as a second language respond to this“tear-jerker”，some questions were put to them after reading the story.The first question was:What do you think about the father in this story?Responses from students of non-Chinese background can be summarized as below:
a.The father is fat.
b.The father lacks exercise and needs to move his body more often.
c.He spoils his son.
d.The son is a“big”baby.
The second question was:“How do you feel after reading this story?What is this story trying to tell us?”Students’responses were:
a.I don’t know why the narrator cries again and again.
b.I don’t see the point.
c.I think this story is trying to tell us as an adult，don’t let your father look after you.
The last question asked was：“Do you think your parents are great（weida，伟大）people？”The students’instantaneous response was“What does weida mean？”and so a definition was supplied：“Weida means great，and ready to sacrifice oneself for the sake of children or family，or for the country and its people.”One of the students said，“I think my parents are great people，but I don’t think they are sacrificing themselves to raise me.”The entire group of students thought their parents“are just ordinary people leading ordinary lives”.
From this example can be seen an obvious and significant discrepancy between Chinese students（or those with a Chinese background）and other students in the readings they give of Zhu Ziqing’s short story.Why are Chinese students so deeply moved by the story while students of Chinese as a second language in Australia consider it as“too sentimental”and beyond understanding？Why does the same piece of writing evoke completely different，if not antithetical，interpretations？To answer these questions，we need to take into account the idea of xiao（孝）or filial piety.In China and in other Confucian countries，children were，and arguably still are，taught to be obedient and filial to their parents because parents are weida（great）as they raise the children.Parents are supposed to sacrifice themselves to raise the children and the children are expected to be filial to the parents and to take care of the parents when they grow up.Given this context，the“spoiling”father in Zhu’s story becomes more understandable：he wants to do everything he can to keep his grown-up son safe and comfortable；that is the way the father expresses his love towards his son.On the other hand，the son understands the father’s selfsacrifice and so it is natural that he“sheds tears”on seeing all the efforts made by the father.
As this investigation has revealed，cultural context is the key to interpreting Zhu’s essay.Even though my students were at an advanced level of Chinese as a second language，which means they could recognize and read almost every character as well as the meanings of most of the sentences in Zhu’s essay，they still misunderstood or misread it.This is not to say their readings were wrong;however，they lacked awareness of Chinese traditional culture and their readings came from outside of the specific Chinese social and historical context that would have accessed Zhu’s purport.This Chinese literary text offers the students an opportunity to look closely at Chinese society and culture and experience the“baffling”，“incomprehensible”relationship between son and father as a form of what Zhang Longxi refers to as a cultural“Other”.[1]
This study also found that the students were positive and supportive of reading literary texts in advanced levels of Chinese.The texts helped them to really ponder diverse possible interpretations of a text while taking its context into account.However，it is vital for educators to choose appropriate texts as some may be too difficult for students to comprehend and this could impair student morale in learning.The educators and learners can work together on materials selection.If the students find a literary text too long or with too advanced a vocabulary，they can discuss alternatives with teachers.As for the contents，modern or contemporary or even some passages from popular online novels can be considered as long as they are intriguing and promote the discussion of cultural similarities and differences.