is father and mother, his grandfather and grandmother, and the three generations preceding them"-though a family was merely required to "worship" three (34). Age was also an important factor within Chinese society. Lao Tai-tai comes in contact with Ida Pruitt because of her wish to adopt a baby boy for her second son's wife. They already had a girl, but it was expected that they should also have a son-for he would carry on the family line. Lao Tai-tai had four sons, described in-depth to some extent. Lao Tai-tai's fourth son married a French woman, much to his mother's distress. She was not Chinese, but more than that she refused to learn the customs of her husband's people. The bride and groom were expected to kneel before the ancestors and before the (living) parent, Lao Tai-tai, her fourth son's wife refused to do so. The marriage was seen as a disappointment to the family. The youth were changing, and intermarriage became more acceptable to certain renegade youths.While modern ways began to take hold of Chinese society many still clung to their Eastern roots. Lao Tai-tai was a traditional Chinese woman, with a modern spirit-she took measures to ensure education for her granddaughter as well as her grandson, providing equally for each. Lao Tai-tai even had a modernized bedroom-a bathtub, mattress and bed, and other furniture from the west, though she cared for it little (44). The practicalities of western inventions (plumbing, bathtubs, beds, etc) were desired, but the cultural ramifications from adopting a completely Western worldview would have been far too great. For that reason it was best that China should stay, as it was during the time of Lao Tai-tai, "east for essence, and west for practical use"....
