Of mums and mums-in-law
Today one of my letters to the Straits Times in response to recent discussion on filial piety was published. I would have missed reading it if husband had not pointed out a letter on poorly-mannered Singapore doctors. When I read my letter again, I realized that a very important sentence was omitted because it is, clearly, not politically correct to even express such a view in a national newspaper. The full text of my letter is here: When researching elderly Chinese living in sheltered housing in the UK, I was struck by how often daughters-in-law were rendered invisible. They did not feature in family photo albums nor were they talked about, except negatively, which is probably why these older Chinese were living on their own. Why, I wonder, would this generation of women who had suffered the wrath of their own mothers-in-law, treat their daughters-in-law so unkindly? It transpired that before our marriage my husband told his parents in no uncertain terms where I, his wife-to-be, would