The Journey Between Three Countries
Taiwan, Shanghai, and the United States: three cultures, two languages, thousands of challenges and opportunities.
Moving to the United States had been my dad’ goal for more than 10 years. Graduating from Ohio State University, he has always considered the educational system in the United States to be more comprehensive than that in Asia. Fortunately, due to his job movement, my mom and I got to migrate to both China and the United States. As I moved from country to country, I felt like a chameleon adapting to each new environment. Dealing with numerous challenges, such as the transition from Mandarin to English and adapting to different cultures, are issues that I have had to face for a long while. In spite of this, I discovered new ideas and values that I would have never experienced if I had remained in Taiwan. For example, I saw that educational systems do change fairly from place to place; furthermore, I also found it very interesting to observe the difference in moral and cultural values that root deeply within each country.
As my family and I moved to different countries, I made new friends, went to different churches, interacted with different neighbors, and then left them all behind and began again. This caused a struggle for me‚ not only because it was emotionally difficult to say goodbye to people I knew well, but also because being exposed to different moral values made it difficult for me to be certain what my values really were.
Speaking from the perspective of my moral values, living in Shanghai was a bit problematic for me. There, most of my friends focused on financial success and material achievement rather than being satisfied with a simple kind of happiness. At the International School in Shanghai, with its high tuition and affluent families, conversations between my friends were often about the cost of houses, the brands of their laptops, the expensive sports equipment they owned, and the clothing they bought. Take clothes, for example: most of my Shanghainese friends spent time every morning figuring out which of their costly clothes best fit their moods or what pair of designer shoes matched their outfit.
As a student coming from Taiwan who’ used to wearing uniforms every single school day, I soon started to envy what all my friends had and pester my parents for clothes and shoes like my friends’. My mom told me that she was worried about my change, but the fact that all the people at school talked so much about money and possessions made me feel like I needed more. I began to want the hippest backpack, the most expensive Italian watch, and the most professional tennis racquet.
My move to the United States during sophomore year of high school was quite a change. It is true that people here care about nice things, but dollar values are certainly not the main focus of life. My old Taiwanese values, so much like the US values – gradually returned. I have grown comfortable with myself and learned to appreciate more simple things: family, faith, and friends. However, after moving to the United States, I noticed a positive cultural value from China that I was unconsciously affected by.
China is one of the few countries in the world that experienced rapid economic growth resulting in an unprecedented urbanization. Since it is impossible for the rural areas in China to develop at quickly as the big cities, vast rural-urban migration increasingly takes place today. Even though I lived in Shanghai, many people in the city are migrants from inland areas. Those who migrated from rural villages to Shanghai seeking for better job opportunities experience a tremendously different lifestyle than they did previously. Therefore, the sole goal in their life is to earn money the best they can, no matter what hardship they might endure, and send it back home to their families. They do not consider whether they are being overworked, treated badly by the company, or given a poor quality of life care.
According to Michelle Loyalka who wrote “Eating Bitterness,” this type of character or spirit portrayed in the novel, named “chiku” or “eating bitterness” that Chinese people generally hold is what helped China grow so strongly and swiftly. During the two years in Shanghai, I did not only observe this phenomenon in my everyday life, but also witnessed it through the factory workers in my dad’ company. The workers did not care about the poor conditions in the factory, but rather worked extremely hard and tried their best to constantly seek opportunities to work overtime in order to earn extra money. My dad often talked about how the motivation and willingness of his employees incredibly fueled the effectiveness of the company.
Unconsciously, this spirit that many people in China held has affected me in some sense. After I moved to the United States, I realized that I am happy with spending less time on recreations and more time on my works. Instead of constantly thinking about things that can be considered Hedonism, I am more focused on my responsibilities as a student. This may sound normal and logical, but I believe that I was influenced by the spirit of “eating bitterness.” For instance, although studying is a long-term and perhaps difficult process, it is something that I have to endure. However, this does not mean that focusing on academics is the sole goal in my life; as I have lived in different countries, the meaning of education has also broadened for me.
In Asia, I was explicitly instilled with the idea that textbook knowledge and passing required standardized tests are the main aspects of education and the basis of a successful career. From middle school and on, my schools were about studying and memorizing – my PE class turned into additional geometry practice; my biology teacher used my art class for a chapter test. In addition, my daily routine was attending educational institutes for hours after school for more drills and practices.
My move to the US introduced me to another view of education, one that shocked me at first. Indeed, my dad is correct, the schools here are much more comprehensive; they encourage students to explore other aspects of life rather than just academics. Yes, I am still taking math, science, and English, but I also get to explore subjects that I was never exposed to in Taiwan and Shanghai. In my ceramics class during high school, I have learned numerous techniques for making pottery and became proficient at throwing pots on a wheel. This characteristic became even more pronounced as I moved into college. I can play on sports team if I want and can join various professional clubs. Instead of attending education institutes, I am now a member of the Rocket Team, where we build rockets and participate in competitions hosted by NASA.
Living in different countries and cultures has made me think deeply about what I value and how I want my lifestyles to be. I am able to truly embrace ideas such as that simple happiness is more fulfilling than material achievements and that working extraordinarily hard without distractions are the basis of being successful. I see myself as an international citizen, and I want to adopt the things I enjoy the most from different cultures for the rest of my life.