"Back at the piano, Lulu made me pay. She punched, thrashed and kicked. She grabbed the music score and tore it to shreds. I taped the score back together and encased it in a plastic shield so that it could never be destroyed again. Then I hauled Lulu's dollhouse to the car and told her I'd donate it to the Salvation Army piece by piece if she didn't have "The Little White Donkey" perfect by the next day. When Lulu said, "I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?" I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years. When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic. Jed took me aside. He told me to stop insulting Lulu—which I wasn't even doing, I was just motivating her" - Simon

I'm pretty glad my mother was not "Chinese" by the author's definition... - Simon

Yeah, I wasn't insulting her -- I was motivating her! - Gabe

that didn't seem exactly "chinese" so much as it seemed to be the author's personal imperative to aggressively shape her children. though she draws larger cultural context from it, which may be somewhat valid, i think you could stereotype "driven" people more than "chinese" people from this. - Nicķ

I just realized that this explains why so many orchestra violinists are Asian women! - Gabe

The lesson I took from this was that you will have to push your kids past the point of politeness on a few hard things they need to master. - Mr. Gunn

I played that song as a kid :) le petit ane blanc, although I never could remember the last three chords http://www.youtube.com/watch... I must be so very western. - Eric Florenzano

What I don't understand is why these mothers are so pushy. Being the best at X (where X is a largely useless skill like getting good grades or playing an instrument) is pointless. Why would you push your children so hard to do something of so little value? - Gabe

What's "success"? In the robot revolution which already started, what allows you to compete might be your creativity, not necessarily just the perfection of a craft... especially if the craft is a lot about repeating the work of masters. If VIOLINBOT2.3 gets out his e-instrument in 2025, even a whiz kid's talent could fade in comparison. Now insofar as perfecting a craft *helps* you to be creative, that's a different issue... - Philipp Lenssen

im so happy to be western. this chinese model is just trying to be good in things that are set. it totally ignores everything that is beyond that box. usually this behavior is helpful in societies that try to catch up...as the chinese society does. its totally useless for societies that try to solve problems where there are no solutions yet. creative thinking is destroyed by this chinese/asian behavior. - Chris Hofmann

just look at the japanese society...beyond work ethic they have nothing. just now the younger generations start to break away from this idiotic behaviour. - Chris Hofmann

The Last Psychiatrist responds. https://friendfeed.com/tudor... - Tudor Bosman

Yes! Been waiting for TLP to chime in since I've seen the article! - Goran Zec

Great article Tudor. "And then you see it: Amy Chua isn't a Chinese mother, she's an American mother. She had a Chinese mother, but now she's a first generation American, which means she has more in common with Natalie Portman than she does with any recent Chinese immigrant. And what do Americans do? They brand themselves. Clearly her brand is SuperSinoMom and her bling are her kids. Which means this self-serving piece has nothing to do with "how Chinese mothers are superior" but is really a summary of her episode of MTV Cribs. "Welcome to my home, yo, let me show you my gold toilet." " - Simon

why English dads are superior: http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum... - Chris Hofmann

... and here's the SFGate story on how she was taken out of context: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin... - Mr. Gunn