This Is How I Live My Life is a Taiwanese documentary film that chronicles the life of a good wife and a good mother, Gui Mei. The whole film gives me a very comfortable feeling throughout: gentle tone, soft images, no golden lines, and no violent conflicts. It is not like Sichuan hotpot with chili peppers, which is refreshing and invigorating after a single bite, but like Cantonese soup, which looks like nothing at first glance, but tastes more and more delicious. Perhaps, this film is about life itself.
Guimei, a woman living under a roof, is introduced by her cousin to Hou Yongnian, an old man with three children and abandoned by his ex-wife. By today’s standards, many of her sisters would have waved their hands and refused to be a stepmother to their three children. Besides, wouldn’t it be too much of a loss for such a good woman like Guimei to marry a man with such poor conditions?
But in those days, Chinese women had few choices, and Guimei could only get a place to live if she married Hou Yongnian. One thing I like about Guimei is that she has the calmness to watch the flowers bloom and fall in front of the garden, to look at the clouds rolling by the sky, and not to be frightened or overbearing.
If others can’t tolerate her, she’ll just leave and never force others to change their views. Even though she is a woman, she is more temperate than many men. Before the wedding, Guimei told her husband that she was no longer a virgin and that he did not have to marry her if he minded. The rich woman who works as a maid in someone else’s house suspects that she and her husband are having an affair. Gui Mei did not argue, and quietly resigned from the broad lady who insulted her personality.
The man who was described by the matchmaker as a non-smoker, non-gambler, caring and considerate man, Hou Yongnian, immediately changed his appearance and became addicted to gambling all the time, making the family’s finances extremely tight.
At this time, I have to sigh again at the unreliability of the matchmaker. The matchmakers don’t care whether the two people are really suitable or not, they don’t have a place to put their mouths, they just brag, make a “good thing”, take the money and leave. So, the matchmaker’s mouth, the deceitful ghost, nothing don’t believe.
But Guimei is not a puppet who only knows how to endure the torment of suffering and fate. When she could not resist her fate, she married Hou Yongnian quietly and followed him to live a steady life. But when she could change the fate of herself and her family, Guimei stuck to her dream of opening a restaurant and led her family to a new life, leaving poverty behind. This woman, with her unusual magnanimity, knew exactly when to be patient and calm, and when to fight against fate.
She felt that people are like the king’s bitch on the case board, sticking out his head is also a knife, shrinking his head is also a knife, no matter how is also a death. Since she had come to this world once, she could not cower to live, and it was only right to try to live a life with dignity and prosperity. This is what she thought, and this is what she did. Not eating food handed out in contempt, not accepting money handed out by others no matter how difficult it is, and relying on her hardworking hands to create her own restaurant “House of Xia Fei”, Guimei has always been trying to be a woman with dignity and personality.
Although life has been a mess for her, she has used her hands to break up the hardship little by little, creating a very beautiful life. Guimei is a great woman, a traditional good wife and mother. She was like water, both soft and tough.
My cousin also lamented Guimei’s fate, exclaiming: “Women, it’s just not good enough, and you have to admit that you’re with any kind of man. Had I known, you might as well not have married at all. Most of the suffering in a woman’s life comes from marriage. I listened to my cousin’s words, I also have a lot of emotions in my heart, how can such a good woman marry such an irresponsible man? Fate is too unfair.
A good wife and a good mother like Guimei would make any man wake up laughing in his sleep if he had her as his wife. The good news is that Chinese women have risen to a great extent, and they no longer have to repeat the fate of the old-fashioned women who had to work in seclusion. Modern women don’t have to marry the chicken to follow the dog; they have more choices and jobs that provide them with a stable source of income, and it’s comforting to know that their destiny is in their own hands.
But all in all, my biggest thought after watching this movie was not to raise my voice for the injustices that have been done to women in the past. What I really wanted to do was to praise the beautiful qualities of women. Even the most ordinary woman, once she becomes a mother, will shine brightly.
My cousin doesn’t have much education, doesn’t make much money, and isn’t the intellectual woman that is popular today, but I am still proud of her beautiful qualities. Every time I went to my cousin’s house, she and her brother-in-law, who were usually very frugal and fastidious, would set a good table for me and clean up the room, just to help me get rid of my travel fatigue and make my stay more comfortable.
She didn’t have a good job, but she was still looking for part-time jobs to create a better environment for the little princess in her family. Every day she is busy, her hair is falling out due to poor sleep, and her skin is getting rougher and rougher due to her hard work, but even though the years have made her fade away, she still does not stop working for love.
These are the most ordinary housewives in China, the most beautiful women in China. They are our mothers, our sisters and sisters, and they are the people we girls will become.
I always feel that to call this Women’s Day “Goddess Day” is an insult to women who are hardworking, strong, and can hold up half the sky. We are not goddesses, we are just ordinary women who worry about everything from the big things to the small things. We are just ordinary women who worry about everything from the big things to the small things to the small things, but we are able to support our families and society with our strong spiritual strength. Women, women, housewives are amazing!
Please give a bouquet of flowers to your busy mother, and give your blessings and praise to the strong and courageous women around you.
I’ve noticed that on Women’s Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a sincere congratulations to the women of the country, and men are eager to give flowers and blessings to women, which is a great honor and glory in Russia. Whenever we talk about Russian women, men proudly praise them for their beauty, strength and greatness. In China, on the other hand, I could hardly feel such a glorious atmosphere and even the stench of all kinds of hateful and degrading remarks about women.
One thing that sticks in my mind is the talk on the Internet some time ago that Chinese girls belong to Chinese boys. Men were typing heroic words on their keyboards vowing to protect Chinese women, but then saying ridiculous things like this is between two people when someone mentioned that instead of talking about protection, they should first help women who have been abused. This intellectual statement left me speechless for a moment.
Hey, I said. Instead of talking about protection, how about learning to respect women first? No false verbal promises, just tangible respect.
The best way to protect women as men is not to fight against the ceiling of the female workplace, not to take videos of women under their skirts or in the bathroom, not to commit domestic violence, and not to make derogatory remarks about women.
If men would give women the normal respect and care, we would have a more civilized society.
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