The House of Lim

A detailed Summary of The House of Lim

Wolf, Margery 1968 The House of Lim. Englewood Cliffs. Prentice Hall

The House of Lim by Margery Wolf is a first hand account of the daily lives and family structure of a Chinese family living in Taiwan in the early 1960s. Margery Wolf, a wife of an anthropologist who specializes in Chinese studies, declares herself as not being an anthropologist but in the book she wanted to accomplish three things: "to present a case study for the social scientist interested in the strains inherent to the form of family considered ideal in China, to provide another account of village life for those with a more general interest in China, and to tell a good story (Wolf 1968: preface)." The House of Lim was written based on a two year live in study of a Chinese family that Margery Wolf and her husband resided with. The couple shared a farmhouse with the Lim's of Peihotien, a small country village in Northern Taiwan, from 1959 to 1961. She was aided by a good many informants who gave here information about the people of the town and the background information she need to present the data gathered during her 2 years of living with the Lims.

Margery Wolf's goal was to provide and account of the village life of the Lims and the tr

Margery Wolf and her husband were not there to interfere but to observe the rituals and customs that the Lims took part in. She was there when the family celebrated and she was there when they fought. In some cases she was the mediator between the fighting family members. Margery Wolf covered a wide range of topics that dealt with the every day lives of the Lims as farmers than as business people, that gave us insight into the human side of the Lims. She started out painting a portrait of the eldest Lim, Lim Han-ci as a respected member of the village and more importantly a very respected man by his family. From there she goes on to indulge the reader with the biological sons, daughter and adopted daughters that Lim Han-ci had.

ial and tribulations that are inherrent with families of that particular region in Taiwan. She also writes about the customs and culture that are very different from what we westerners deem normal.

The Lims allowed Margery and her husband to live with them but they had to pay rent, by living with the Lims she collected a lot of information about the customs and culture of their families. They took part in everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning and other household chores. The Lims took them in and eventually they were like part of the Lim family. So anything they did reflected on the Lims as a whole, if they were invited to go to a dinner banquet they were to go, by not going that showed the inviting party a lot of disrespect, which reflect on the Lims.

The House of Lim was a very enjoyable book to read. Margery Wolf did an excellent job in tracing back the ancestry of the Lims, which incidently was traced back to 1770, when two Lim brothers left mainland China for the prospect of free virgin land. By giving the background information and a diagram of the family tree of the Lims, Margery Wolf reduced confusion in the reading that would have been associated with thi

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Approximate Word count = 1293
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History