will not care much about her daughter-in-law, especially if she has been a widow. It seems that the relationship between them had gone as the woman’s
husband passed away. But Madame Wu was a wonderful mother-in-law. From her conversation with Fengmo, her third son, we can see that Madame Wu
cared much about Rulan’s happiness. She wanted the best for her. Therefore, she permitted if Rulan wanted to get married again, and even she would help
her. It is an impossible thing that will be done by other mother-in-laws. She did not care anymore about what people would think about her decision as
long as she was doing good things and they were for other people’s happiness. ‘…. Ch’iuming then asked for Rulan also. “Since the family mourning
is over, and since her own mourning can never cease, she wishes to ease her sorrow by good works,” Ch’iuming said. “She wishes to make
a school for the children of the farmers.” …. “Then you have my permission to go, you and Rulan also,”
Madame Wu said. “I will call the steward in a few days and bid him find suitable houses for living and school, and you shall go when you
like after that…. Decide what you need, and I will tell Ying to prepare it….”’ p. 384
When Ch’iuming told Madame Wu that she and Rulan wanted to go away out of her house to live in the village of Wu’s family, she permitted
them to go. She knew that in her house they felt like strangers because they had no husbands to rely on anymore and they needed activities to fill their life
and to replace their loneliness. From the conversation above, we can see that Madame Wu did not only permit them, but she also tried to give them the best.
She cared about the place where they would stay in and the condition of their life in the village. She even asked her personal servant to prepare everything
for them. If she were like she had been before she met Priest Andre, she would 48
be happy when they wanted to go because it means that they had eased her burden. There was love and sincerity in her every step of life.
4. Forgiving
Living in love and sincerity made Madame Wu become a forgiving person. She could forgive someone’s mistake, even when heshe had done a
fatal mistake. ‘…. “We come to ask if the dead should not be somehow avenged….”
There was a stir of protest in her mind. She saw Andre’s eyes, fiercely refusing vengeance, and she spoke instantly. “Certainly he would want
no vengeance done for him,” she said. “He talked often of forgiving those who do not know what they do.”’ p. 306
Actually Madame Wu had a thought to avenge for Priest Andre’s death, but she decided to forgive the people killing him. She knew that if
Priest Andre had been still alive, he would have not let her take revenge. It is clear how important the influence of Priest Andre and his teaching to Madame
Wu’s personality development is. What Priest Andre taught to Madame Wu is Christianity teaching. Forgiving those who do not know what they do is what
is said by Jesus. Madame Wu also realized that by taking revenge she changed nothing and Priest Andre would not be alive any more.
Actually, Madame Wu’s personality development refers to Christianity teaching, namely to love each other, to forgive others’ mistakes for God has
forgiven us first, to help and care about other people, especially poor and weak people. Priest Andre never mentioned Jesus Christ in his teaching, but actually
what he taught to Madame Wu is all Christianity teaching, besides the knowledge of the world. He knew if he mentioned Jesus Christ in his teaching,
49 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Madame Wu would not have listened to what he said. He knew it because since the first time he was going to teach, Madame Wu had warned him not to
teach her and her family Christianity teaching. He taught the Christianity teaching to Madame Wu by applying it in daily life and giving examples to
Madame Wu, so she could learn it well by seeing the teaching applied in real context of life. Most Chinese people thought if they accept Christianity
teaching, they had to leave their identity as Chinese people, leaving Chinese culture. Here Madame Wu did not realize that actually she had accepted and
done Christianity teaching. Madame Wu did not glorify Jesus as the Lord directly, but the Christianity teaching has given impacts to her personality
development. From Madame Wu’s personality development and how her personality
develops, we can see that we cannot teach a new teaching to someone in the way of our point of view, but we must impart the teaching in the way of
hisher point of view. It means that we should also consider about the culture of the person we teach because culture is very important. It forms someone’s
personality either he realizes it or not. The way Priest Andre imparted Christianity teaching to Madame Wu is like what Enoch Wan 1991 says in
Christianity in the Eye of Traditional Chinese :
“Christianity should not be transplanted to Chinese in a Western pot; it should be transplanted and rooted in Chinese soil.”
We can also see how someone can influence another one although they are from different cultural background. It depends on the way heshe presents
the teaching. We can learn much from what Priest Andre did. The other thing 50
