according to kingston, what characterizes traditional chinese speech, and what kind of talking is valued?

Certainly women were not expected to have a voice. THe theme of silence is introduced in the first sentence of her memoir, "You must not tell anyone." Silence about one's past and the community is of great importance. Much of this memoir has Kingston trying to find her voice, trying to tell her story. She also attempts to find a voice of the ghosts that haunt her past like the no-name woman who killed herself and her illegitimate baby.