Personal Statement of Mu-Yi Tsai
I was born in Taiwan where people are passionate and enthusiastic. I have grown up in a society where people respect and welcome different thoughts and beliefs. Until 2005 my family moved to Guangdong as my father’s job requirement. China has been developing rapidly over the past 20 years. I integrated into Chinese society pretty soon although both are quite different in many ways. I had made a lot of acquaintance with local students in the schools and had a wonderful study in high school to win the scholarships for three consecutive years. In 2011, I passed the high school entrance examination and got admitted to Dongguan Middle School which is the best one in Dongguan area.
Many say that I’ve grown up with great positive energy. I think it was a gifted personality and my parents had also helped cultivate that as I grew up. They have taught me to be responsible for what I have done, always to care for others, and to view the world through my heart with open eyes. For the past few years I have travelled to different cities in China, visiting cultural and historical sites. While walking on my feet through the viewpoints instead of joining in tours, I greatly improved my independence and patience. In 2010, I was honorable to be one of the representatives to participate a one-month exchange student program at Stadthagen, Germany. Although I have joined an Ecology Camp in Inner Mongolia held by the Chinese National Geography Magazine in 2008, this was totally a different experience for me to home stay in a German family. I had a wonderful time with my lovely host family and even though they could not understand English very well, I still enjoyed the time when we had to work through our language boun...
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...I walk in the campus that I have realized the success of my efforts.
To be honest, I do not like how most of the universities in China requires students to decide their majors in freshman year. I found HKU's whole person education concept, mass courses system, unique college system as well as the exchange programs with other universities all over the world extremely fascinating. Thus, being a student in the Bachelor of Arts or Social Science department always been my biggest dream in the past few years. Not only this, University of Hong Kong is the ideal school that I have always been pursuing. Just like what the proverb says, chance favors the prepared mind, and I am ready to challenge myself in this new task. That being said, I am looking forward to become a part of Hong Kong University in the upcoming year. And by the mean times, my dream will finally come true!
In my junior year of high school, one pivotal experience transformed the way I viewed myself and my cultural identity. I met and quickly bonded with a Chinese exchange student over our shared taste for Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou. Our friendship blossomed from that
When Chinese immigrants enter the United States of America, it is evident from the start that they are in a world far different than their homeland. Face to face with a dominant culture that often times acts and thinks in ways contrary to their previous lives, immigrants are on a difficult path of attempting to become an American. Chinese immigrants find themselves often caught between two worlds: the old world of structured, traditional and didactic China and the new world of mobile, young and prosperous America. They nostalgically look back at China longing for a simpler life but look at the United States as a land of opportunity and freedom that they did not know in China. For this is why they came to America in the first place, to provide for their children and themselves what they could not in China. To do this, of course, they are faced with the challenge of assimilating. Learning the language, acquiring education, owning property, etc. are all ways to seize the American Dream. However this poses a problem for the Chinese immigrant for, in the process of assimilation, they lose some of their Chinese culture. This especially rings true for the children of Chinese immigrants: the second-generation Chinese Americans.
Though trying new food and rooming with strangers seems like an insignificant aspect of almost every child’s life, it was not for mine. The experience went beyond just showing me other cultures existed; it made me want to dedicate a part of my life to helping preserve the diversity that exists among us. Since that trip almost six years ago now, I have volunteered a little over 100 hours of my time on weekends to helping set up and run culture exchange programs. Most of these programs take place near Valdosta State University, a college near where I live, and in these programs, I have the opportunity to meet and talk to people from around the world. The programs have helped me grow a greater sense of cultural appreciation by constantly reminding me that the world is full of different points of view. The basic ideals I learned on the trip to D.C. have helped to understand that there is more to the world than I can possibly know. That makes it essential for me to keep an open mind when facing new
...only regret. Eh, méi bànfǎ (There’s nothing you can do), as they say in Mandarin Chinese. What else can I do? Regardless, in the end, I feel as though I appreciate Chinese American society culture a great deal more, more so than I did beforehand, so that’s always a good thing, right?
My tenure in student government groomed me into an adept problem solver, negotiator, and critical thinker, always willing to help others. I translated these skills as a member of the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) program where I taught Chinese to students desiring to learn the language. Moved by the eagerness of students to learn the Chinese language, I spearheaded my own program, The Language Corner, to teach students not only how to speak Chinese, but to also provide them with an understanding of China’s history, society, and rich culture. Through teaching, I realized that I have a unique perspective to offer and that I should not put my self into the immigrant box as if I have nothing to offer. My experiences have prompted me to be proactive in my engagement with others, steadfast in my studies, and committed to achieving the success my parents worked so hard for me to
How your culture had shaped who I am today? I was born and raised in China for at least 8 year, and my parents’ culture have once deeply influence my choice of the future and limit my vision. As everyone know, China is once a communist country, similar to old Russia (USSR). People are not allow to be wealthier and education are limited. In Chinese culture, it is necessary to subject one’s own desire for a greater value to the family. If I don’t follow my parents order, it will brings shame to the family. There were moment in my life where I would follow the tradition and culture as a nice son, but I am tired of following the tradition. Sometimes, we have no clue that we live under the internalized oppression from culture and elder. Internalized
Unlike most other families mine had decided to live with the Chinese rather than in the isolated compound away from them. I and my parents, we saw no need for separation, after all, what bad could it be? The culture and language of China had begun to grab my attention from the moment I started to learn them. I went to
My parents come from China, my mom grew up in Taisan and my dad grew up in Guangdong. Around age twenty, they migrated to San Francisco, California where they met and later got married. A few years later they had my older brother and then me with a seven year age gap. I lived there for about 9 years, then we had moved to Bottineau, North Dakota for a year and after that we moved and have been living in Ohio since then. We’ve prevailed a huge transition from moving to the suburbs from a big city. With my first language being Chinese, because my parents only spoke Chinese, I had to learn English through school. Also the large population of Asians in the area of San Francisco that we lived in spoke little to no English,
All my life my parents have told me how fortunate I am to be growing up in San Francisco. My immediate reply would always be, “Yes, I know. You have told me a million times”. I used to think that I understood the extent of my privileged life, but I was sorely mistaken. The school trip to Yunnan allowed to experience first hand the drastically different lifestyles people lead in rural China.
In a word, both family and school play a crucial role in American born Chinese’s socialization process. Both of them influence ABC’s behaviors, norms and personalities.
I stayed with a host family (a father, mother, and a younger sister) where I witnessed certain Chinese traditions such as wearing slippers in the house and got to eat real authentic Chinese food. I acclimated to the air pollution and the cheap prices, as well as the many different smells and crowds that filled the city streets. I went on that trip hoping to find my roots, or at least some form of them, and to see if I could blend in with the crowd. While my expectations were high, I slowly realized that people could tell that I was an American. My host sister even told me that I “looked American.” Throughout my six weeks in China, my host family showed me who I really
The first reason we take into consideration is the keener competitive environment in China. In recent years, kids in kindergarten was asked to learn English, play an instrument, and study Olympic Mathematics, because if they do not study hard, they will lose the chance to compete with other kids. The long term result is kids are exhausted and parents are doubtful about the Chinese education. Although the admission rate of university is increasing year by year, key universities and colleges are only available ...
A little something to know is that I’m something called an A.B.C., otherwise known as an American Born Chinese. Both of my parents are from China, but they moved to America to look for new job opportunities. I was born in Akron, Ohio and I now go to Green Local Schools. My parents moved to America when my uncle was the owner of his restaurant called China House. After a few years my uncle decided he wanted to sell his restaurant, and my dad agreed to buy it. As of this day, my dad has been the owner for more than 20 years.
I built upon my cross-cultural experiences as I befriended exchange students from Belgium, Japan, and Korea. Each time, the friendships enriched my appreciation and understanding of not only my own culture, but the very concept of culture. What falls under the cultural blanket can vary from person to person, and I found it to be very interesting that while one person could claim lan...
I vividly recall asking my mother why she made me go on a trip with the school to Peru, instead of going back to China. She replied to me with only one Chinese word: “Li Lian”, meaning “getting life experience and developments”.