“if I had the opportunity to choose, I would like to maintain both of my identities by spending my life exploring and enjoying both cultures.”
Fuzhou to NYC
That’s what WeiHang Ke, an 18-years old immigrant from Fuzhou, China, said when I asked him about which country does he prefer. Weihang came to U.S. around six years ago. Unlike many other Chinese immigrants, who had trouble adjusting to the new environment, Weihang went through a pretty smooth transition between two cultures.
a picture that Weihang Ke took when he left China for New York
The first year:
“I felt so lonely that I want to go back to China so badly”
Even for WeiHang, who has a quite smooth transition, the first year was still painful and tough. “There were no Asian-looking children in my class; I didn’t understand what they were saying, and I was afraid that they didn’t understand what I were saying,” confronting this totally new environment, WeiHang was afraid that his accent is going to be made fun of by his classmates, “They just seemed so different from me. I just couldn’t look at their eyes as if I was some freak from other places” says Weihang.
WeiHang’s anxiety got even worse when his teacher separated the class into groups. He could only watch his group mates talking, having fun, and every time they looked at him, he felt like they were looking at a weirdo; He became nervous simply going to school, and his grades dropped dramatically. The loneliness and the pressure from school gradually tore Weihang apart.
Fortunately, WeiHang’s cousin, who came here three years before him, helped him adapt to this new environment and gave him a lot of advices. He told Weihang that it was not about his accent, but it was more about having confidence, and as long as he was confident to talk, nobody would mock him. WeiHang’s uncle also showed him around New York City, and introduced American culture and history to him. Besides his uncle and cousin, there was an elder Chinese woman who also helped him. “She is knowledgeable, kind, and caring, she helped me went through the most difficult time of my life,” when WeiHang was talking about this lady, I could see that sense of appreciation in his face. Weihang’s English got significantly improved as she corrected his grammar, pronunciation, and word selections. The elder lady also read American history to Weihang everyday, through which Weihang gained a deeper understanding of American culture. “You know, I was embarrassed about my terrible English, but she told me that no one is perfect, and one day I would be just like them with fluent English,” WeiHang says “Whenever I feel lost and struggled, I would think of her, and I know that day is coming”.
Reminiscence about homeland:
“my nostalgia toward my hometown is never obscured”
Child Weihang
WeiHang never conceals his nostalgia of China. He visited China two years ago, and he felt like he went to a strange country. Weihang was amazed by the tremendous development of China, especially by the convenience of public transportation and online shopping.
Weihang is going back to China this summer, and he can’t hide his excitement of coming home. He misses a lot of things about China, such as his friends, his families, and the most authentic Chinese food there, as he says “I miss my grandparents, who taught me how to be a person with integrity, dignity, and honesty; I also miss my friend there, who gave me gifts with blessing when I came oversea. I mean, even though I have adapted to American society now, there is just a sense of coming home when I return to China every time. There are just some parts of myself, deep inside, cannot be assimilated by American mainstream culture; maybe, no matter how hard I tried, I just can’t feel myself totally Americanized”.
Weihang lived a typical middle-school-student life back in China. He woke up at 5:30 a.m. and spend half an hour memorizing English vocabulary because there was a morning quiz each class. At 6 a.m., he would wash his face, eat breakfast, dress up, and left home at 7 a.m. Weihang and I both laughed as we were talking about this “horrifying” history, “They always gave tons of homework; the kind of homework I needed to spend hours working on, and there were always some students who are so good that I couldn’t catch up with, no matter how hard I tried. However, I just won’t feel bad thinking about that, because that is my youthfulness; my experiences in China shapes who I am”.
A picture of Weihang’s middle school
The difference in educational system between China and American shocks Weihang, especially after I told him about my college experience. “It is like going from hell to heaven in Chinese educational system as we gradually transit to college, while it is like going from heaven to hell in America. The high school materials are just way too easy here,” Weihang found high school is much easier here, while college is much harder in U.S. Weihang also thinks that the education system in China focuses too much on gaining paper knowledge and test-taking skill, while fails to provide students with field experiences and practicing skills.
Connecting past with present, and looking forward to future:
“But, still, New York is my second home. I receive my education here, make many friends here, and perhaps live here for the rest of my life”
A picture of Weihang standing in front of Vertical campus building
WeiHang and his family came here to seek for better education, and opportunity. He was amazed by the prosperity of New York when he just came here. Weihang is gradually realizing his dream: achieved a great career in New York. He is an incoming Macaulay freshman in Baruch college next semester, majoring in business administration.
He is gradually reaching that “Big Apple”. When I asked him about how he feels all these years, he said “Sometimes I don’t understand why would I ever come here, leaving my family, my friends, and the country that I grew up in; I look at those people who grew up here; everything seems so favoring for them, while I have to do extra amount of work just to catch up with them,” and then he laughed
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