On a typical overcast day, I decided to go buy some baozi from the Ayi in the baozi restaurant near my house and began to make small talk. With her joyful smile and endearing gaze, I can sense the question she is about to ask before she even says it, “Which country do you think is better, America or China?”
I have to respect the straightforwardness of the question. She obviously framed her question in this way to get a clear answer. However, it is ultimately establishing a world of black and white without accounting for any shades of grey. No matter what answer I give, it is not genuine because her question does not account for the world’s complexities.
I grew up in Shanghai my entire life, from the moment I was born until my high school graduation. I learned Chinese with the local kids in my kindergarten and learned English with my classmates in international grade school. Still, I never looked like any of my Chinese friends, and when I occasionally visited the United States it always felt foreign. As much as I was culturally American, it was still a place that looked far different from my home. It felt like I had one foot in the door of both cultures, but that was never enough for either to accept me.
I struggled with this phenomenon a lot, and I would be lying if I said I completely overcame it. However, instead of a glass-half-empty mindset, I now approach my cultural diversity from a different outlook. I have perspectives on the world that few others possess. When I moved to the US two years ago for college, I had an initial bout of culture shock. Tipping culture, limited public transportation, and a change in cuisine were just a few of the differences I encountered. However, my cultural diversity gave me an adaptability to the US that many Chinese international students didn’t have, which resulted in my culture shock only lasting a month.
Maybe I’ll never be able to answer the Ayi’s question genuinely. Maybe I’ll never be able to put both of my feet through either door. Strangely enough, I’m content with that. A new generation of cultural diversity might be exactly what we need to rinse away the black and white categorization of cultures. One day, maybe I won’t be asked that question at all.
Zach grew up and experienced his entire childhood in Shanghai. He is currently a junior at Carleton College in Minnesota studying Economics and History.
