Author Scott Kronick

"The fact is that the large majority of Chinese youth are happy, or at least content. There is no burning desire or excruciating pain being experienced." (Lee) Although not as instantly apparent, many of the values of these cultures are quite similar. Academic achievement, friendship, and family are all important factors in both the United States and in China. Symbols of popularity and prosperity are seen in fashion, automobiles, and homes, even though the traditional styles of such still hold sway, and allow for almost immediate visual distinction between our nation and China.

In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.

Kaye Hong grown up in San Francisco and attended university of Washington. At the begging of his essay, he was not sure where he should lie his future in because he sees his future clearly in both China and America. Through half of his essay, we can tell that he is also considered China as a weak and low quality county by saying, “I shall deplore China’s lower standard of living, that the chaos of China’s government offers me no promise of economic security” (62). Although he had thought of go back to China, the bad living condition and insecure economy has immediately stopped his thinking. To put it differently, Hong is also lack of knowledge of China, and they way he looks at China’s future was incorrect. Indeed, at that time China’s economy and condition were not as good as today. But due to his enormous population, it is possible for its citizens to make it strong and rich, which this is also what the Stanford students are trying to express. However, Hong is very pessimistic with China’s

Maxine Kingston, a famous writer whose work is often rooted in her experience as a first-generation Chinese American, wrote pieces that often shed light on how first generation Americans have figured out “how the invisible world the emigrants built around [their] childhoods fit in solid America” (para. 10). In her memoir The Woman Warrior, the first chapter “No Name Woman” involves a cautionary tale meant to discourage young Kingston from engaging in adultery and humiliating the family; the mother hopes the fear of being forgotten will serve as a deterrent for sexual lewdness. The chapter dramatizes the cultural differences between China and the United States, particularly the narrator’s internal conflict of identifying “what is Chinese tradition and what is the movies” (par.12). Through the mother’s initial tale and the narrator’s manifestation of her aunt’s life, Kingston creates some sort of dialogue between China and the United States. Moreover, Kingston employs the story of the dead aunt to navigate between the contrasting regions by highlighting the differences in traditions, customs, and the idea of femininity.

On November 16, 2015 I attended an event called China Rising in Sykes Theatre. The presentation was given by Marlin Darrah because of the unfortunate event that Dale Johnson’s wife was having open heart surgery. Marlin began the presentation with explaining how he had been to China and that his wife was Chinese. One joke he made was that when they had visited China, his wife was called a prostitute because he was not a Chinese man and was “stealing” her. I was unsure of what to expect from this presentation at first, only to leave with the felling as if I had actually visited all the places the video had showed.

Recently, I read Postcards From Tomorrow Square by James Fallows. This book addresses the Universals of Culture by exploring different misconceptions about China and proving them wrong. From exploring the television programming to entrepreneurial endeavors, Fallows tries to paint a new picture of China. In America, we have many preconceived notions of what China and its people are like, but if you explore the country, you’ll see how unique and complex China really is. Three examples of this include: China’s recent industrial boom, China’s game shows, and China’s gambling industry. These each highlight some of the most prominent Universals of Culture in China.

The author introduces the practices done by the foreigners which are different than those of Chinese people. They spoke English language and didn’t know how to speak Chinese. They had a completely different culture. Even the food that they ate was not the same. Ailin found it hard to adjust in the beginning when she started working.

Eileen Chang was a Chinese novelist who was known for her stories depicting 20th century Chinese life, a time and place in which different cultures collided. Instead of depicting a perspective aligned with either modern or traditional outlooks, Chang’s work manages to reject blanket opinions of whether one is better than the other and illustrates a world far more nuanced and that reflects the mixing of worlds and ideas happening in the modern era. One of the most prominent ways she does so is through the use of folk story themes: Chang uses folk elements to destroy and to satirize dichotomies that the reader may rely on to categorize her stories, in effect depicting a more nuanced China in which opposites work together.

I soon began to work with Quentin Young more to get ready for the expedition. Respect grew between us during the long days of collaboration. Young conjured a chinese name for me. It was “Ha Gansi” which is translated as “ laughing with courageous thoughts”. China has given me piece of mind that I have never had before, and a calmness that is a great relief. I began to worry about how we were going to keep the panda alive, etc. so I began to think that a baby panda instead of an adult was a good solution. Though, it would be hard enough to find a panda, a baby panda would be impossible to find. “I was told that Western China was no place for a lone white women- especially a woman with no experience in business or traveling. I did not believe it. I was also warned of the present possibility of running into bandits in the interior of Szechwan and reminded that Bill had been compelled to run back. I had done too much to admit defeat before I started.” I soon began to discard my Western ways. My American clothes were left behind in Shanghai. My Shanghai tailor fashioned for me loose-cut, boxy jackets and matching trousers made out of blue cloth and coolies wore. I was hoping to forget all things Western and absorb all things Chinese. Just miles out of Chengdu there were reports of bandits in the area. We came across a man sprawled on the road next to an open field and pierced with bullets. This was a freshly murdered body of one of the

“Each man reads his own meaning into New York" - Meyer Berger. New York is the one of the largest city in the world which located at east of the united states, it is a lovely, modern and fashion city, so many different culture are exchange and blending at here, which makes this city has so much power to influences the world on the financial, media, politics, entertainment and fashion areas. As a part of New Yorker, I love this city. Although, my hometown also is locate at the east of China. As the “Holy land between sky and sea”, Zhoushan is the first and largest archipelago city in China, over 1390 islands are there, the main traditionally culture is the marine culture, “Sea, Scenery, fishing”. There are many similarities and different between

‘Unsavory Elements,’ a new book edited and partly written by Tom Carter, investigates the experiences of 28 foreigners ‘on the loose’ in the People’s Republic of China. A traveler and photographer, Mr Carter mixes well known names, true heavyweights and more anonymous observers of Chinese lives whose tales are connected by one single element: being an outsider in the former Middle Kingdom.

I got lucky enough to have a mother who made us travel a lot when we were younger with my brothers. I remember enjoying discovering other culture but it wasn’t until I moved in China for couple of months, in order to live with my brother. That I understand the true difference and accommodation one needs to live in another country. Last year, I went to spend three months with my brother in Shanghai, China. He lived there for a couple of years now and is married to a Chinese woman name Yulan and just had a daughter who is today sixteen months old. Within these three months, I discovered many new aspects of the Chinese culture as well as my own. I traveled to different places and I had to face many cultural shocking experiences.

Have you ever felt oddly out of place somewhere that should be more, familiar? I’ve never felt more alien then on my third trip to China visiting the Hunan province in a little town called Chengdu. This little town was my origins. Like much of China it had become more urbanized and like much of China it was unrecognizable to me. Seventeen years and six months ago I was adopted by Colleen Colbert, and Joel Carreiro from an orphanage in a little town called Chengdu.

‘Imagine Youtube, Facebook and Google are prohibited after 2047; Imagine Hong Kong is full of black smog and rubbish as the today’s Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing; Imagine your passport become useless and you

I intensely remember my first trip to China one year ago. I was just a few weeks into my appointment as Adviser to the Minister of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship. I was given the opportunity and privilege to work with this extraordinary professional, and my perception of China was at the time was still quite asymmetrical.