Xinnan: "Don't Be Afraid to Be Yourself."

Interviewer 记者: Benetta

Translator 翻译: Benetta

Editor 编辑: Benetta

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ENGLISH VERSION

Could you tell me more about your cultural background? I would say that I am Chinese American. So my cultural background is that I was born and spent a lot of my childhood in China until I was ten years old. I moved to the States when I was about ten, and so a lot of the education I grew up in is mostly American. So I have a blend of Chinese culture and American culture.

If you were to share your culture with people who are not familiar with it, how would you describe it? I think I would talk about how there's different and unique holidays that are celebrated. So for example, during the Chinese New Year, there's certain food that people eat. We still eat it here, even though we're in the States. So, for example, we'd like to eat long noodles, which signifies being able to have a long life; and we would also have dumplings, which signifies having prosperity and wealth. So we still keep a lot of these cultural background and cultural significance, even though we don't live in China. I would also like to pass this on to the next generation, so even if my kids will grow up in the States, they will maintain their own cultural roots. They would also maybe introduce it to other kids when they go to school, just like when I go to work, I introduce it to my coworkers. This is a good way to help everyone understand Chinese-American culture and background better.

What were some difficulties you faced because of your multicultural background? Yeah. So there's definitely been some difficulties growing up. I think the big one is around food. I would bring food like dumplings to school for lunch occasionally, and depending on the stuffing, if you heat it up, there's certain smells. People who never had dumplings before would be like "what is this? I've never had this before!" Or when I take my friends to go eat dim sum, you know, there's an item, the chicken feet, that is super popular, and I loved it. However, to my friends who never tried it before, some of them were very open to trying, but others were very disgusted by it. There's also certain stereotypes that Chinese eat dogs. When I was in middle school, kids would be like, "oh, your family were in China, have you tried to eat dogs?" Besides foods, there are other stereotypes as well. Another popular one is that Asians study really hard and get good grades. There's something called model minority. It's like, people think that Asians don't need anything. They do really well in the States, they have great jobs and great careers. If we do something really well, they would think that it's because we're Asians instead of that we worked really hard for it. Even when applying to college, they give a certain percentage of people who are admitted to ivy schools to minorities like African Americans, but they don't include Asians as minority when they do admissions because to them, Asians don't need help since they're already doing so well. So that's also a sterereotype. There's also something called bamboo ceiling. When you look at the number of Asian American CEOs of big companies compared to other races, it's a very low percentage. It's like, it's very hard for Asian-Americans to reach the top to leadership positions. What most surprised you after moving to a new country？ I think what surprised me was how easy school was for me, you know, they put me in a regular math class at first and I finished the math problems in like five minutes when the teacher was spending the whole class teaching that stuff. Later on, they put me into a gifted/talented class, which is a higher-level class, but even there, the content was super easy for me. Another thing that surprised me was how the students here interacted with the teachers. When I was in China, I always felt like I need to respect the teachers- I can't just say whatever I want, I can't challenge the teachers if I have questions, and I have to be polite. But students here have a very direct relationship with their teachers, and they can just ask questions when they want to and not be afraid of challenging the teachers. How do you think your multicultural experience changed you? That's a good question. I think the good thing that came out of it is that I'm able to understand and accept, and also have compassion for people of other cultural background. So because I myself have been through stereotypes and difficulties growing up, if there's somebody else who is also minority or from a different culture, when they go through some difficulties in their life, I can relate to that and be a lot more accepting and compassionate. I'm able to see things from different perspectives, not just from one perspective. What suggestions do you have for people undergoing cultural barriers? One suggestion would be to not be afraid to ask questions and to not be afraid to be yourself. There is going to be stereotypes - that's a fact. When you are from a different culture and when you are different from the majority, people are going to ask questions. It's important to be very solid in knowing who you are but also not being afraid of other people's opinions. Be very open to the new culture and don't shut down. When somebody is having stereotypes against you, instead of shutting yourself down or isolating yourself, try to find your own group of friends who are accepting of you, who are open to your culture. At the same time, be open to the new culture because you also want to assimilate to it. You don't want to just live in a bubble. The easiest thing to do is to find people who are similar to you and also not be afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone.

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中文版本 可以分享一下你的文化背景吗？ 我是华裔美国人。我在中国出生，在中国度过了很多童年时光，直到我十岁。我大约十岁的时候搬到了美国，所以我成长的环境和接收的教育都很受美国文化的影响。我有中国文化和美国文化的融合。 你会如何向不熟悉你文化的人描述你的文化？ 我想我会谈谈不同的、独特的节日是如何被庆祝的。例如，在中国新年期间，人们会吃一些特定的食物。我们仍然在这里吃，即使我们在美国。例如，我们喜欢吃长面，这意味着我们可以长寿;我们还会吃饺子，这意味着繁荣和财富。所以我们仍然保留了很多这些文化背景和文化意义，即使我们不在中国生活。我也想把这种文化传承给下一代，所以即使我的孩子在美国长大，他们也会保持自己的文化根基。他们也可能会在其他孩子上学的时候把它介绍给他们，就像我上班的时候会把它介绍给我的同事一样。这是一个帮助大家更好地了解华裔美国人的文化和背景的好方法。 多文化背景有给你带来什么困难或者困扰吗? 是的。成长过程中肯定有一些困难。我认为最大的问题与食物有关。我偶尔会带饺子之类的食物去学校当午餐，有的馅料加热后会有味道。从没吃过饺子的人会说:“这是什么? 我以前从来没有吃过这个!” 或者当我带朋友去吃点心时，我很喜欢点鸡爪。然而，对那些从未尝试过的朋友来说，一些人非常愿意尝试，但另一些人非常厌恶它。还有一些刻板印象认为中国人吃狗肉。我上中学的时候，孩子们会说，“哦，你的家人在中国，你吃过狗肉吗?” 除了食物，还有其他的刻板印象。另一个流行的说法是，亚洲人学习非常努力，取得了好成绩。有一种东西叫做模范少数族裔。人们觉得亚洲人什么都不需要。他们在美国做得很好，他们有很好的工作和事业。如果我们做得非常好，他们会认为这是因为我们是亚洲人，而不是因为我们非常努力。即使是在申请大学时，他们也会把一定比例的被常青藤学校录取的学生给非裔美国人等少数族裔，但在招生时，他们不把亚裔视为少数族裔，因为对他们来说，亚裔不需要帮助，因为他们已经做得很好了。这也是一种刻板印象。 还有一种叫做竹子天花板（无形的升职障碍）的东西。当你对比大公司亚裔美国CEO的数量时，你会发现这个比例非常低。就好像亚裔美国人很难达到最高的领导职位。 到一个新的国家生活后，有发生什么出乎意料的事情吗？ 我觉得让我惊讶的是学校对我来说是如此容易，你知道，他们一开始让我上普通的数学课，我在五分钟内就做完了数学题，而老师花了整整一节课的时间来教这些东西。后来，他们把我分到一个更高级别的班，但即使在那里，内容对我来说也非常简单。 另一件让我惊讶的事是这里的学生与老师的互动。当我在中国的时候，我总是觉得我需要尊重老师——我不能想说什么就说什么，如果我有问题，我不能挑战老师，我必须有礼貌。但是这里的学生和老师有非常直接的关系，他们可以在想问问题的时候问问题，不怕挑战老师。 你有因为你的多文化背景经历而发生什么变化吗？ 这是个很好的问题。我认为好处是，我能够理解和接受其他文化背景的人，也有同情心。因为我自己在成长过程中经历过刻板印象和困难，如果有其他少数族裔或来自不同文化的人，当他们在生活中遇到困难时，我能感同身受，变得更加包容和富有同情心。我能从不同的角度看问题，而不是只从一个角度。 请给在经历文化障碍的人一些建议叭！ 一个建议是不要害怕问问题，也不要害怕做自己。你可能会面对刻板印象，但这是必然要经历的一部分。当你来自不同的文化，当你与大多数人不同时，人们就会问问题。重要的是要非常坚定地知道自己是谁，但也不要害怕别人的意见。要非常开放地接受新的文化，不要封闭自己。当有人对你有成见时，不要关闭自己或孤立自己，试着去找一群接受你、对你的文化持开放态度的朋友。与此同时，要对新文化持开放态度，因为你也想被它同化。你不想只是生活在一个泡泡里。最简单的方法就是找到和你相似的人，并且不要害怕走出你的舒适区。