Amy Chua is the author of " Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. " In the book, Chua, also a professor at Yale Law School, states her child-bringing-up method learned from her parents moving here from China years ago: no sleepovers, no television, no grades lower than an A.
" We guessed her book would cause much disagreement," Wang Feifei, editor at CITIC Publishing House, told the reporter. " We don' t take it as a traditional parenting book, largely because it involves cross-cultural conflict. " The book has been available online since Mid-January and ranked No. 80 in sales on Joyo. com, a Chinese version of Amazon. It is to receive wider distribution (发行) at bookstores after the Feb. 3 Chinese New Year holiday.
The book has struck a nerve with Americans, especially American mothers. An article published earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal, called Why Chinese Mothers are Better, lit a strong reaction (the article now has close to 8,000 comments and most of them are critical, many of them completely unfriendly).
And that' s just what she did on Tuesday night' s show " The Colbert Report. " The host Stephen Colbert put Chua on the spot. " People have accused you of saying that the Chinese way of raising a child is better to what Western mothers do. True or false?" he asked. " Uh… false," Chua replied, her voice uncertain. Colbert seized the opportunity to point out Chua' s inconsistency (不一致). " So you raised your children in a worse way?" Chua made a set of defensive talking points, some of them more convincing than others. Her arguments in defense of strict parenting were " I think if you give a 5-or 8-year-old free choice, I think that' s going to be video games. " Chua thinks that anyone can be what she calls a " Chinese Mother" ; all you have to do is to demand hard work, determination and discipline from your children. " I think they are fundamental American values. "
