Tikki Tikki Tembo

Rating

Tikki Tikki? No. No.

I certainly don't want to read this to my two sons. Notwithstanding the possible racism, which I have to confess I was mostly unaware of due to my lack of education about other cultures (the illustrations made me think of Japan, but I didn't want to assume that China couldn't have similar art and clothing styles).

The story is this: there are two brothers in "ancient China", where the first and oldest son traditionally has a very long name, and the second son has hardly any name at all because they don't really matter. The elder brother's name is "Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo", which is not Chinese, but the book claims means "The most wonderful thing in the whole wide world," and the youngest is "Chang", which apparently is Chinese, but does not actually mean "Little" or "Nothing". According to the internet, "Chang" means "constant" or "often", but depending on the intonation, can mean a whole lot of things, including "long" and "great" (as in "The Great Wall of China"), so kind of the opposite of "Little." Anyhow, every morning their mother washes clothes at a stream by her house. On the bank of the stream, there's an old well. Which seems a strange place to put a well, since clearly there is water right next to it. Unless the people were concerned (and knowledgeable) about sanitation, in which case they were much more advanced than ancient Europeans. Again, I can't say whether or not this is accurate, as I don't know enough about ancient China, or this mythical place that the author has conjured up which she claims is equivalent. The mother says not to play by the well because they will fall in, and they don't listen to her and Chang falls in. The older brother goes to the mother and says, "Chang fell in the well." Initially, the stream is so loud that she can't hear him, but then he yells at her and the mother says, "That troublesome boy." TTTSRBRPP has to go get "The Old Man with the Ladder" (kind of a sad thing to be known for), who lowers the ladder into the well, climbs in, and brings the boy back out. Chang gets better very quickly. They stay away from the well for several months, but then there's there's a festival and they go to the well to eat their rice cakes, play around, and TTTSRBRPP falls in. Chang goes to his mother and says that Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo has fallen in the well. Like the first time, she can't hear him because the stream is too loud. He repeats himself, but she still can't hear, responding, "Tiresome Child, what are you trying to say?" He replies, at the top of his lungs, "Honorable Mother! Chari Bari Rembo Tikki Tikki Pip Pip has fallen into the well!" She says back, "Unfortunate Son, surely the evil spirits have bewitched your tongue. Speak your brother's name with reverence." Very slowly, out of breath, Chang says the name correctly. She says, "Oh, not my first and honored son, heir of all I possess!" She tells him to go get the Old Man with the Ladder. You would think he would have learned from his own experience in the well that his mother can't really help his brother get out, and probably should have skipped her and gone straight to the old man, who apparently cares less about propriety than about actually saving people's lives, but Chang is a young boy, so maybe it's beyond his understanding. But by the third time, she should have at least heard the part about falling in the well (she heard enough to know he was messing up his brother's name), or seen the emotion on her son's face and realized something dangerous was happening, so at that point she was just being horribly petty at the risk of her eldest son's life. Once Chang gets to the old man, he asks for help using his brother's full name, but finds the old man to be asleep. "Miserable child, you disturbed my dream. I had floated into a purple mist and found my youth again. There were glittering gateways and jeweled blossoms. If I close my eyes, perhaps I will again return." Chang finally just shortens it to, "Please, Old Man with the Ladder, please help my brother out of the cold well." The old man responds, "Your mother's 'precious pearl' has fallen into the well!" And runs as fast as he can. But by the time he gets the eldest out of the well, it takes TTTSRBRPP months to get better. "And from that day to this the Chinese have always thought it wise to give all their children little, short names instead of great long names."

From what I've read since reading this book, the Chinese do not have, and never have had, a tradition which dictates the length of their children's names. Nor do they wear kimonos or Japanese-style sandals. Unfortunately, many people see that this is supposed to be a Chinese folk tale, and assume it accurately portrays ancient China. Which it does not. Thankfully, the characters are not drawn as caricatures or anything that horrible.

However, even if this book wasn't culturally insensitive, even if it were set in a mythical land instead of a real one, it would still be a bad book. It depicts an institutionalized mistreatment of younger sons, suggesting they are worthless since they lack inheritance. If Chang was a girl (and thereby also ineligible to inherit property in many societies), this would be unbelievably sexist. As it is, there's no clear "-ism" for it, but I'm not reading it to my two sons. I both my children equally, regardless of their age, and throughout our current society, the vast majority of wills are written so that all heirs get the property divided equally among them. The mother belittles her younger son to the point of almost killing her favored eldest. She clearly plays favorites, and horribly neglects her children. It is a toxic message. It's supposed to be a funny story about long names, but I don't even understand what it's trying to say. What's the message the author's trying to get across? "Don't give your children long names"? That doesn't quite fit. "Here's why Chinese people have short names"? But that's not a thing. They don't have short names, any more than Europeans do. And it's not like it was a common misconception or stereotype, either. I'm guessing, based on her name alone, that Arlene Mosel is not Chinese. Although it's technically possible that she was, and married someone with the last name Mosel. Or heck, maybe "Mosel" is actually a Chinese name, and I'm woefully ignorant. But I'm disinclined to believe her as far as Chinese folk tales go, until she shows me she's done the research. And, according to my own sparse research, she didn't.

If the mother were punished for her callous treatment of her children, especially the youngest, then maybe her behavior would act as an anti-example. But as it is, with no repentance or personal consequences (only her eldest son suffers for it), I don't want this read to my kids. I don't want her behavior modeled for them. I don't want them to worry I'll ignore them if they fall down a well, or treat them differently based on their age alone. And I don't want them to feel that either of them is worthless. Not even in a relative sense.

Message

Chinese people are exactly like Japanese people, except with stupid (nonexistent) traditions. Also, among siblings, only the oldest son is important and everybody else is basically disposable.

Authors
Illustrators
Awards
Publication Year
1968
Age Range
4-8
Number of Pages
38
Number of words on a typical page
70

Thank you for this. Whether people consider this book racist or not, it at the very least is historically inaccurate. What would the gun-toting, give me my haircut, Confederate flag waving folks say about a historically inaccurate, made up "folk tale" about the United States? This is a children's book, and we are going to correct systemic racism, please let's start with education and children.

Cassandra Gelvin

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by Chinese-American (not verified)

We could call it "Ricky Ricky Jimbo".

I'm glad I'm able to (if only momentarily) transcend the white privilege a tiny bit. I hope I don't sound like a jerk when I say it's hard work, and a long process that I know I'm never going to be done with. Otherwise everybody'd do it.

I hate tribalism. But the human brain is pretty much wired for it. And all I can do is see it in myself when I can, and use as much empathy as I can get away with. If I use too much, I get paralyzed with horror.

someone (not verified)

3 years 10 months ago

Im korean. My 2nd grade teacher told me this story. This isn't racist because Japan was influenced by China. Also I think you have ruined my childhood for me. I really love this book. This book doesn't need logic because when we were little we hardly used logic.

Cassandra Gelvin

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by someone (not verified)

I single-handedly ruined your childhood with one book review, that barely mentioned racism?

Jeannie (not verified)

3 years 9 months ago

On a personal note, when this book was read to my class in elementary school, I was taunted for weeks by other kids for my Asian-ness by having them repeat that ridiculous rhyme that mocks the Chinese language. I am 40 today and I still remember the emotions of shame and confusion of being Asian (I’m Korean not Chinese). I totally support the reviewer in her assessment that this book perpetuates the racist notion that all Asians are the same and not to be perceived as individuals.

I'm embarrassed to say it didn't even occur to me that the rhyme mocks the Chinese language. It clearly does. Thanks for pointing that out.

Shelley (not verified)

3 years 8 months ago

I always loved this book. I have Chinese friends who love this book . Why nowadays does everyone start to jump up and down and make everything be about racism and or inequality . It is a children's book . If people do not like it for what ever reason then fine . Don't start jumping up and down about it being racist

not a trol (not verified)

3 years 8 months ago

imagine getting mad at a book that was written about 50 years ago.

Anonymous (not verified)

3 years 5 months ago

Gawd you people are exhausting. It's just a funny story. Quit smearing everything with your toxic virtue-signalling shit-sheen. No one wants to hear it. Read it or don't read, but keep your retarded BS to yourself.

Lynette Herrera (not verified)

3 years 5 months ago

If you want to see racism, you’ll see it. If it is read as intended, it’s a cute story. People need to quit looking for racism in everything. #CancelCulture is a disease.

Catherine (not verified)

3 years 4 months ago

Thanks for calling out this book on its racism. It exposes Asian children in the classroom where the book is read to ridicule -- for a supposed custom that never existed. (It is hard to prove a negative, that Chinese people never had long names, said the author of one of the articles linked here; but my major in university was Classical Chinese, and I can assure you that in the source materials I read, dating back 2500 years, there were no long names and no different naming customs for firstborns.) Here's a real Chinese custom: Chang should have called his brother Older Brother. There's a very strong, and as far as I know extremely ancient, taboo in China that forbids use of the personal name of an individual who is older or higher in rank, and while it's okay to use the name of a younger person, it's not as common as in other cultures. People call each other by titles, mostly. Mother. Father. Older Son. Younger Sister. There's a well-intentioned and not racist at all mostly book called Chin Chiang and the Dragon Dance, in which an old lady introduces herself to the protagonist BY HER PERSONAL NAME instead of Auntie Last-Name and for the rest of the book I felt a thrill of horrified anticipation because if she breached cultural norms to that extent, what depths might she not sink to? Kidnapping! Torture! Cannibalism! Perhaps just lewd exposure... How far was a picture book prepared to go? (Spoiler: she was normal, she just had an ignorant Anglo author/illustrator -- Ian Wallace by name -- and editor/publisher). If this were an actual Chinese folktale, the length of Tikki's name would not matter, because once the mother realized that Chang was using the name, she'd punish him while Tikki was drowning (being the oblivious, cold-hearted, and protocol-obsessed person that she was).

The thing is YES, Tikki Tembo is a funny story. But when you tell a funny story about an identified group of people, and it makes assertions that are not true about those people, it's an ethnic joke, and it is not okay. There's a song we sang at camp in the 60s, with the exact same story ("Eddie Cootchee Catchakama Tosamara Tosamara Sammakama Wacky Brown / Fell into the well, fell into the well, fell into the deep dark well") and it doesn't single out one particular ethnic group for being stupid, and it's funny. That's how to do it.

H. (not verified)

3 years 1 month ago

Everyone making an issue of this is racist. Who are you to think it is your job to save the poor Chinese people who may feel different. This book was meant to make people smile, yes some didn't but... welcome to life. Find one comedian who doesn't talk about things that are different and I'll show you a comedian that is not funny. Get over it, stop using your white guilt to perpetuate anger and contention across the world.

Cassandra Gelvin

3 years 1 month ago

In reply to by H. (not verified)

You're the kind of person who calls a minority by a racial slur and then claims you were "joking."

K.w. (not verified)

3 years 1 month ago

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I fondly remember checking it out and rechecking it out from the library as a young child. Why my parents didn’t just buy it for me now makes me laugh. Most likely we couldn’t afford it. Anyhow, I see this review was written in 2018, and I appreciate that you are still reading and responding to comments. Although, this was one of my favorite books as a child, I had a notion that there may be some current day backlash over the use/misuse of cultural stereotypes. Alas, I came upon this review. Thank you for bringing up the subject and allowing open dialogue. Children don’t understand racism. It is only as adults that those who are aware of the social norms of our childhood, that we begin to realize the hurtful stereotypes that were perpetuated to us. That being said, we adults know better and now this book will likely not continue to circulate in classrooms. I still have fond memories of this book despite this information. As a child, the lesson I retrieved from this story, was the irony in which the older boy suffered despite his prestige by a nonsensical tradition. In the end, I found it to be a lesson of challenging traditions, and possibly a little more progressive at the time than you are giving it credit for. As we all were educated on the Chinese tradition of honoring men over women and female infanticide in the early eighties, when I would have first been exposed to this book.

I wanted to say, I appreciate your ability to see both sides. To have it be one of your favorite childhood books, and also to see its problems, is something I don't encounter much on this topic.

D and S (not verified)

3 years ago

Hi Cassandra! My friend and I are both 16 and we recalled this book from our early years in school. After we looked up the book and read that the wikipedia article automatically stated, "It is a sort of origin myth about why Chinese names are so short today," we instantly thought..."Wait, that can't be right." After a little more scrolling, we tried to find more on the subject of its controversy and stumbled upon your article. We were so pleased and in disbelief at this story we grew up reading in school (which was not that long ago), that we just had to read every. single. comment. Thank you for standing up to all of those ignorant, small-minded, and racist people. The comments brought up some great points that we didn't even consider and your responses to the meanies were funny, refreshing, and very well said. Nowadays, people get scared when the truth puts them in an uncomfortable position, but as a white person, you are doing a great job being an ally. I'm jewish and my friend is black and we totally understand how it feels to be singled out in a "seemingly innocent" stereotype, so it is relieving to see you hold your position in this. Thank you :)

Cassandra Gelvin

3 years ago

In reply to by D and S (not verified)

It's comments like these that make me want to keep doing this.

seriously (not verified)

2 years 11 months ago

lol this is ridiculous. i am a child, and i didnt find this post racist, rather am amused by the fact that adults around the globe are arguing about a book being racist or not