In an effort to understand shame in Chinese terms, this ethnographic study examines parental beliefs and practices with respect to shame, as well as young children's participation in shaming events. Nine middle-class Taiwanese families participated in this study. Interviews with the primary caregivers and longitudinal observations of spontaneous home interactions revealed that the socialization of shame was well underway by age two-and-a-half Two types of events were identified, most incidents of which were playful and involved the child J s active participation. The child J s rudimentary sense of shame was manipulated in order to teach right from wrong and to motivate the child to amend. These events were vivid illustrations of the practice of opportunity education.What distinguishes the human being from the animal is shame. When a person does not know shame, his/her conscience would vanish. For such a person, parents would have no way to discipline; teachers and friends would have no way to advise. Without the will to strive upward, how could one improve? To be an official without shame is treacherous; how could he be loyal? To be a son without shame is disobedient; how could he be filial? To be a neighbor without shame is wicked; how could he be kind? . . . As one knows shame, the sense of right and wrong would be realized, and his dying conscience would have a chance to revive.-The Pedigree (and Familial Instructions) of the Zhou Clan his study asks, how does the young "shameless" Chinese child become a competent social member who knows shame? This question is based on the premise that shame is a meaning system that cannot be understood apart from its social and cultural contexts. Although the young come into the world equipped with Ethos 27(2):180-209.

The goal of this study was to determine how personal storytelling functions as a socializing practice within the family context in middle-class Taiwanese and middle-class European American families. The data consist of more than 200 naturally occurring stories in which the past experiences of the focal child, aged 2,6, were narrated. These stories were analyzed at 3 levels: content, function, and structure. Findings converged across these analytic levels, indicating that personal storytelling served overlapping yet distinct socializing functions in the 2 cultural cases. In keeping with the high value placed on didactic narrative within the Confucian tradition, Chinese families were more likely to use personal storytelling to convey moral and social standards. European American families did not treat stories of young children's past experiences as a didactic resource but instead employed stories as a medium of entertainment and affirmation. These findings suggest not only that personal storytelling operates as a routine socializing practice in widely different cultures but also that it is already functionally differentiated by 2,6.

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Narrative, self, and face‐to‐face interaction all intersect in everyday storytelling practices in which children and caregivers make claims to personal experiences. This article examines such practices as a site for the social construction of self in early childhood. Drawing upon excerpts of narrative talk from a variety of cultural traditions in the United States, we describe the self‐relevant meanings and processes entailed in three particular narrative practices. [narrative, self, childhood socialization, language socialization, ethnopsychology]

The goal of this study was to determine how personal storytelling functions as a socializing practice within the family context in middle-class Taiwanese and middle-class European American families. The data consist of more than 200 naturally occurring stories in which the past experiences of the focal child, aged 2,6, were narrated. These stories were analyzed at 3 levels: content, function, and structure. Findings converged across these analytic levels, indicating that personal storytelling served overlapping yet distinct socializing functions in the 2 cultural cases. In keeping with the high value placed on didactic narrative within the Confucian tradition, Chinese families were more likely to use personal storytelling to convey moral and social standards. European American families did not treat stories of young children's past experiences as a didactic resource but instead employed stories as a medium of entertainment and affirmation. These findings suggest not only that personal storytelling operates as a routine socializing practice in widely different cultures but also that it is already functionally differentiated by 2,6.

Using longitudinal data from five Irish American families in the United States and nine Chinese families in Taiwan, in conjunction with an emerging body of evidence in the cultural psychology literature, we propose universal, culturally variable, and developmental dimensions of young children's pretend play. Possible universal dimensions include the use of objects, and the predominantly social nature of pretend play. Developmental dimensions include increases in the proportion of social pretend play initiated by the child, the proportion of partner initiations elaborated upon by the child, and caregivers' use of pretend play initiations to serve other, nonplay social functions. Culturally variable dimensions include the centrality of objects, the participation of specific play partners, the extent of child initiations of social pretend play with caregivers, the various functions of social pretend play in interaction, and specific themes. These findings raise the theoretical issue of how universal and variable dimensions of pretend play interact in specific communities to create distinctive development pathways.

Socio-cultural perspectives explain inconsistency in Chinese child-rearing research when imported methods and concepts are applied. We sought to elucidate child-rearing belief constructs relevant to Chinese contexts. Exploratory factor analysis identified items representing child-rearing concepts both imported and indigenous to Chinese culture and forming four dimensions: Training, Shame, Authoritative, and Autonomy. Data from parents of preschool-aged children in Hong Kong (N = 228) and Taiwan (N = 213) were subject to confirmatory factor and scale internal consistency analyses. Results support the conceptual and psychometric coherence of each subscale. Discussion of findings focuses on the benefits of culturally responsive methodology and the potential utility of the scales in child-rearing research with Chinese and other Confucian cultural populations.

This study examines the construction of the culture-specific self through a form of seemingly harmful socializing practices among young Taiwanese children. Spontaneous daily family interactions have been systematically and longitudinally videotaped in seven families and events of shame are found to occur regularly at all datapoints. One third of these events occur in chains, involving multiple episodes about the child's transgressions committed at different times, mostly in the here-and-now, followed by reenactments of the past and expectations for a better self in the future. While in nearly half of the episodes, some authority is explicitly invoked to judge the child's behaviors, family members are always co-present with the child and ready to share his/her transgression and shame. Findings of analyses on spatiotemporal and relational markers in these situated events suggest a dynamic and fluid view of the self and a holistic treatment of multi-leveled contexts.This study asks how constructions of socio-cultural selves and interpersonal relationships could possibly be accomplished in a form of apparently risky socializing activities. It is an extension of the first author's earlier work (Fung, 1994(Fung, , 1999, which documents how shame is manipulated in daily disciplinary practices at home with preschool-aged children in Taiwan. In these recurring events, termed 'events of shame,' the child's self is portrayed as a flawed one who often disobeys and transgresses rules, and feelings of shame are provoked with the threat of ostracism and abandonment. When examining the lexical and syntactical content, these events are rather hostile to the young child and put his/her positive self-esteem at high risk. Healthy development is nearly impossible, according to scientific research reports as well as popular literature on how damaging shame or shaming is to the self, interpersonal relationship and mental health. While these parents seem to routinely disregard the importance of protecting and enhancing the child's self-esteem, what are their emotional resonances and motives underlying these surface phenomena? In addition to the