The Five Chinese Brothers written by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by Kurt Wiese
You could say that the Five Chinese Brothers is a story
about the deep bond of love between brothers. You could also say that the Five
Chinese Brothers is a story about deception and literally getting away with
murder. It is an entertaining story that contradicts its own charm.
Coined as “an ancient folk tale”, The Five Chinese Brothers
is based on a Chinese legend The Ten
Brothers, known to be written around the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to
1644 “) and retold in Huchet-Bishop’s book published in 1938. (Retrieved
October 8, 2013, Wikipedia)
The tale is that of 5 brothers who “look exactly alike”,
although each possesses their own unique gift or supernatural power, if you
will. Our story begins with the first brother showing off his gift of having
the ability to swallow the sea to a child who begs to go fishing with him. After the brother swallows the entire sea, the
ill-fated victim goes off collect fish and ocean treasures. Unfortunately the disobedient
child would not return on command and the brother, so full of the sea, could no
longer hold it and returns it to the sand engulfing the child. The child
drowns.
The sea-swallowing brother is sentenced by the judge to be
put to death by having his head cut off. But before he does, he asks the judge
for one last request, to see his mother to say goodbye. The kind-hearted judge grants
his request. Unknowingly to the judge, the one who returns for his death sentence is not the first brother, but the second brother who happens to have an iron neck and his head cannot be cut off. Everyone in the crowd was angry he could not be killed and decided he should be drowned. The second brother asks a second time to bid his mother goodbye, and the kind-hearted judge grants his request again.
We witness the same scenario again and again, with the third and fourth and finally the fifth brother, each defeating death with their uniquely amazing supernatural powers and each time making the switch thanks to the judge granting them the opportunity to bid their mother goodbye.
Finally, the exasperated judge rules that because the Chinese brother has defeated death he must be innocent and lets him return home to live happily ever after with his mother, and his other 4 brothers, of course.
This book has been historically criticized for its’ stereotypically
yellow and slant-eyed depiction of the Asian people. In fact, the Chinese in
the book do have many similar characteristics, as so do any race of people we
meet in their own country. We do have to
remember this is a children’s book, written in 1938. Ethnic diversity wasn’t
much strived for in that time period. Reading the text, without the pictures,
you wouldn’t catch a hint of stereotyping but the illustrations by Kurt Wiese
is what took The Five Chinese Brothers off of the shelves of at least one educational
institution. (Banned at Salem Public Library because the racial stereotypes
were demeaning to Chinese people (1990). (Retrieved October 12, 2013
http://epl.bibliocommons.com/list/show/69128707_wendylibrarian/70680896_banned_and_challenged_picture_books#sthash.KXxK3fnB.dpuf)
According to epl.bibliocommons.com, The Five Chinese
Brothers was also challenged in a California school because of the violent
plots to execute the brothers (1998). I do
remember reading this book as a child. I remember my wild imagining and wonder as
the brother swallowed the sea, and held and held it in, until he could no
longer hold it. I remember marveling at the brother who could stretch and
stretch legs above the water so far that he could not drown. I remembered
thinking how heroic each of them seemed as they stood in front of the judge and
all the people and defeated death. I remember feeling a sense of relief that
none had died those terrible sentenced deaths and somehow, what I do not
remember is the violence.
Another thing the book teaches the young reader is that
authority apparently has no power whatsoever. Our good and kind-hearted judge
grants our first brother, not one, not two, but 4 times to say goodbye to his
mother. You would think after the 2nd
or 3rd time of death being defeated that he would realize something
was amiss with these frequent mother goodbye visits. Then at the end, our dear
judge, just throws up his hands, shrugs his shoulders and gives up. What I
found mostly discerning was that the problems in the book were solved with
deception. Not a great lesson to teach an elementary school child.
But here we are reading, somehow gleefully rooting each of
them on. As a child I was enchanted, enthralled. And even now as an adult, I
found the book wildly oddly entertaining. I imagined the swordsman’s tool
coming down in a fierce thump and the Chinese brother triumphantly unharmed. I
was mesmerized by the next brothers ability to withstand fire, and I applauded the wit of the fifth Chinese brother
as he exited the suffocating oven full of whipped cream after a long night and
said “My, that was a good night’s sleep!”
I found the other characters in the story including the
mother, the judge, the sword-yielding head chopper and the people in the crowd all
very much similar looking, which would lead you to believe that all Chinese
people look the same. They all have very yellow skin, and black hair, usually
pulled back into either a ponytail or a bun. And apparently, there is only one woman in all
of China, our much revered mother. She has no voice in the story whatsoever.
But she is the true hero of the story. Not the brother who got away with
murder, or the four accomplices. Definitely not the innocent child, or the
dimwitted judge. The mother, she comes out on top. She gets to be with her
boys, happy, together, forever. And she gets to be the only woman in China. We
can only hope she doesn’t ask her first son to take her fishing. She doesn’t
move very fast these days.
I enjoyed this review of the story:
(Rating by Sonky,
reviewer; Retrieved October 10, 2013 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65217.The_Five_Chinese_Brothers)
“This book is a disgusting example of Orientalism in action
in the educational system of the United States during the 20th Century. The
cover alone should warn you of the prejudicial and stereotyped contents.
I love this book dearly. “
I would recommend this book to children. Just not my own
children.
