Blood is Thicker Than Water - 血浓于水

I have frequently heard that you can learn how to fix anything nowadays using the internet. For example, I know someone who was able to fix their car and someone else who was able to repair their troublesome washing machine just by using Google and YouTube. They were happy to say that in the long run, using the internet had saved them money and the frustration of dealing with a repair shop. Thankfully, the problem I needed fixed with the internet was not a matter of saving my money or my sanity. It was merely a matter of learning how to use chopsticks. I had always felt a little embarrassed that I didn't know how to perform one of the most basic Asian functions. Thus, one of my first goals after the I-Am-Chinese epiphany of 2015 was to learn how to use these utensils. One hot summer day that year, I found myself hunched over our family kitchen table, chopsticks in hand, watching a pix-elated  five-minute YouTube video. It starred a twelve-year old boy demonstrating how to use c...

   Recently, I read the book  Bend Not Break  by Ping Fu as an extra credit project for my AP Language Arts class (I was not very excited at first, as one of my weird quirks as an avid reader is a dislike of reading for school).However, I found myself actually enjoying Ping Fu's story.  The narrative chronicles her younger years growing up under Mao's dictatorship in communist China, arriving in America as a young adult after the Chinese government ejected her from China, and succeeding as the entrepreneurial creator of Geomagic. Ping Fu chooses to tell her story by switching back and forth between two narratives: one taking place in China and the other in the United States. The former begins with her early childhood living in Shanghai, and the latter opens with her arrival in the United States as a young adult. Throughout all the hardships she endures in both China and the States, Ping Fu is able to produce a story that is threaded with hope and an aston...

Up until my high school years, I had never really stopped to think about the fact that I am Chinese. I knew that I was adopted from China, but it meant nothing to me beyond the fact that I got to celebrate an Adoption Day as well as a Birthday every year (which was great, as it meant I got two days per year that were all about me). I felt no desire to visit China or learn Chinese, as I didn't feel Chinese. Gradually, during my sophomore year of high school, I began to realize what it really means to be American and Chinese. It meant that even though I had never known anything other than American life, there exists an undeniable connection between me and a whole country of millions of people on the opposite side of the world. A country who's past, traditions, not to mention food, are radically different from America's. I could finally see my Chinese heritage as something worth investigating. This blog is a way for me to express what I learn as I explore China's cultu...