Analysis of The Five Chinese Brothers

The Five Chinese Brothers
Written by: Claire Huchet Bishop
Illustrated by: Kurt Wiese
Originally Published: 1938 by Coward-McCann Inc.


Synopsis: 
     There are five Chinese brothers that are all identical. Each brother also has a unique superpower or ability. Each brother stands in place for the older brother when the older brother is accused of murdering a boy from the town. Each brother uses their unique ability to preserve their lives through four different execution methods. In the end, after they cannot be killed, they are presumed to be innocent and they return home to live happily for many years with their mother.

About the Author:
     Claire Huchet Bishop's was born in Le Harve, France. Her writing career followed the footsteps of her grandfather and mother. The Five Chinese Brothers was her first book that she wrote with many following. After WWII she had many Jewish friends that had been persecuted which lead Bishop to start writing on spiritual issues for children and adults. Bishop also started advocating efforts for the harmonizing of race and religion. Bishop died at the age of 94 in 1993. (Lambert, 1993)

About the Illustrator:
     Kurt Wiese illustrated over 300 children's books in his life. He was born in Germany and traveled through China as a merchant. During the start of WWI he was taken prisoner by the Japanese for five years and eventually turned over to Great Britain. During his imprisonment he developed his love for nature and began sketching it. This love evolved into his successful career. Kurt Wiese lived from April 22, 1887 to May 27, 1974. (Bucks County Artists, 2013)

Analysis:
      The first thing that is quickly noticed from the illustrations is that all the characters are depicted by caricatures. All the characters lack depth and are identified by being Chinese through stereotypes. Here is a list of stereotypes that I saw:

What the illustrations portray                                                      Related Stereotype

Everyone looks the same                                             All Asian people look the same 

Everyone has yellow skin                                Asian people are identified as "Yellow"

The clothes are robes/traditional                           China is still ancient and not modern

     

          

Tea pot on the judges table                                                Chinese people drink tea

    

The old man with the sword                     Old Chinese people have swords and fight

All the characters are skinny                                       Chinese people are all skinny

Most of the characters are drawn with slanted eyes                 Chinese people have slanted eyes

     The Five Chinese brothers, the judge, and the people all have power in this story. The Five brothers have their special powers, the first brother being able to swallow the sea, the second brother has a steel neck, the third brother can stretch out his legs, the forth brother can not be burned, and the fifth brother can hold his breath indefinitely. The first brother uses his powers to make money, while the other four brothers use their powers throughout the story to trick everyone and save their brothers life. The judge and the people have power over the execution methods. The mom in the story has no power and is stereo-typically "at home where girl should be".  This makes the Male gender the active-doers in this story, although the story could be told with the same response if all the gender roles were switched. 

       There are two actions that I saw in the story that had results. The first is from the boy that did not listen to the older brother and was drowned in the sea because of it. The boy had made a promise to listen to the older brother and pay heed to him, but when the boy did not listen, he lost his life. I think this in itself can teach a child that they need to listen to their parents or bad things happen to them. However, I also see the five brothers using their powers to gain advantage of others through deceit and eventually the oldest brother is deemed innocent because of it. Instead of teaching children to tell the truth, the brothers ultimately teach that if people lie enough they can eventually be innocent. Boomgarden (2010), a teacher, stated the following, “the only thing that students could gain from this is the art of manipulation and getting out of punishment. That is no lesson that I want to teach my students. Boomgarden is just one of many people who see the harm in reading this book. However, there are a few people that take the perspective of Kasmarine (2012) who said, “Although, the author’s apparent purpose was to amuse her audiences, the underline message was that each person has special qualities that benefit those around them and make the world a better place to live." Both Boomgarden and Kasmarine were commenting on the same actions of the brothers, yet they had such opposite conclusions. It really comes down to what points the reader focuses on and what message they would like to teach to their children. 

      I have looked through the story many times and I have not been able to see any loaded words or any language that describes the Chinese culture. There is the phrase "Round Eyed" that may have some controversy."The most interesting slurs is "round-eye" because it seems to be invented by the very group of people to whom it refers."(Paden, 2006). In the story this phrase  is used to describe the people's shocked reaction when the brother does not die for the fourth time, as seen below. I really do not think that Bishop intended demean the Chinese people in any way, she was just trying to share an Old Folk story of five brothers that had special powers.

      I think the real concerns that come from this story come from the illustrations by Wiese. They are very stereotypical of the Asian people. Perhaps Wiese's time traveling through China and being a prisoner of war in Japan caused him to develop stereotypes or discord for the Asian people.I also own the Story About Ping which is illustrated by Wiese and he illustrated similar stereotypes. A sample page from that book is on the right.(Flack & Wiese, 1933) I am sure that this stereotype can be seen in his other works as well.


Conclusion:
      I grew up with this book and I have fond memories of the tying to figure out what power I would want to have. The only images that I  remembered were when each brother used their particular power. I would recommend this book to be read as a fable, but with extra emphasis on the unique abilities that everyone has. I also think it would be great if this book could be re-illustrated to not have stereotypes portrayed.

References:

Bishop & Wiese. (1938). the Five Chinese Brothers. New York, NY. Coward-McCann Inc.
Boomgarden, M. (2010 March 16). Community Reviews [Web log post]. Retrieved March 21,  2013, 
     from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65217.The_Five_Chinese_Brothers.
Claire Huchet Bishop. exodusbooks.com. Retrieved March 21,2013, from  
     http://www.exodusbooks.com/author.aspx
Flack & Wiese. (1933). The Story About Ping. USA. Viking Press, INC.
Kasmarine. (2010 April 24). Community Reviews [Web log post]. Retrieved March 21, 2013,
     from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65217.The_Five_Chinese_Brothers.
(2013). Kurt Wiese. Bucks County Artists. Retrieved March 21, 2013, from 
     http://www.michenermuseum.org/bucksartists/artist.php?
Lambert, B. (1993 March 14). Clare Huchet Bishop, 94, Author of Popular Books for Children.
     Obituaries. Retrieved March 21, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/14/obituaries/clare-
     huchet-bishop-94- author-of-popular-books-for-children.html     
Pasden, J. (2006 May 26). The Myth of Round-eye. sinosplice.com. Retrieved March 21, 2013, from
     http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2006/05/27/the-myth-of-round-eye