Cultural Identity Analysis

Culture and Identity

Different countries have different cultures and cultures affect people each and every day. China has over five thousand years of history; she developed many great virtues. Virtue is one of the most important parts of the Chinese culture, virtues impact how Chinese think, behave and treat people. As a traditional Chinese, I grew up in this conventional circumstances then move to the United States for another cultural influence and the combination of both cultures give the identity I have for today. One of the virtues is in school; students must obey their teachers and do everything teachers ask them to do. I followed it before I moved to the United States and this virtue influenced me very much. When I was in elementary
school and middle school back in China, my parents and my teachers always told me that I must listen to teachers and follow their orders in school. I listened to my parent and never talk or fight back to my teachers even they were wrong about something. I still remember one day when I was in middle school, my Chinese teacher wrote something wrong on the board, and I did not have the courage tell him right away, I just murmured it to myself. However, he thought I was talking to my classmate. In Chinese culture, talking during class is forbidden. He gave me detention and even after class I did not tell him about his mistake. During the detention, he asked me why I was talking; I did not know what to tell him and I just lied to him because I did not want to talk back and not obeying teachers since I have been always told to not talk back and obeying teachers. Therefore, I just accept the punishments he gave even though I knew I was not wrong. This is me and this is my identity, affected by my traditional Chinese culture. Even though I have been impacted by Chinese conventional virtue, I have been changing since I moved to the United States. I attended High School in the States and I have been affected by the American Culture. One of the most different between life in Chinese school and American school is that students in the United States have more freedom and they do not have to listen to the teachers every time. Furthermore, I found that the relationship between teachers and students here in the United States is quite different than that in China. In America, students tend to form their own opinions and always think critically about everything. They are able to express their ideas when they do not agree with the teacher. I found that amazing when I first moved to here because this is something new to me. I used to accept teachers’ ideas, opinions, and not form my own ideas. After half year, I started to adapt American culture and add new things to my personal identity-thinking critically and form my own thoughts. I started to have discussions with my teachers and express my feelings and thoughts about their teaching. This was new because I would never discuss my feelings of their teaching back when I was in China; my relationship with teachers has been changed since I got here. My identity have been “update” by American culture, it has been impact me since I got here.
After moving to the United States, my personalities have been changed much because the living circumstances and environments are nowhere near China.
People speak different languages, they think differently and they behave differently. However, I adapt to the environment very well; I became more confident and wanted to become leaders in different organizations. Before I moved to the United States, I was really shy and did not want to participate in any events in school. However, after a year in America, I wanted to become the leader in school’s math team because I wanted to help my school to win the regional championship and even the state championship. Since my American friends were always giving me the courage and confidences. I became very comfortable around different people. Therefore, I started to join the International Club and eventually became the president. American culture influenced Americans and they impacted me. My identity has been influenced by two different cultures and it is a very unforgettable
journey.
Although American culture has an impact on me much, my root is still back in China. Chinese culture still has a bit more influences on me than American culture. In Chinese culture, sons and daughters are supposed to take care of their parents and grandparents when they grow up, In addition, parents are suppose to take care of their children even after eighteen. This traditional culture has a great impact on me in many different ways. I tend to be more polite toward my parents; I do not talk back or fight back when they yell at me.
I tend to obey their orders and always ask permissions for things like sleepover at friends’ house. Usually I do not disobey their orders; I think disobeying their orders is wrong. In the addition to obeying my parents, I always wanted to get together with my family members when Chinese New Year or Mid-autumn's festival comes because getting together with them on these special occasions is very important to me, getting together is our tradition. On the other hand, In China, family members usually live really closely because in this way, family members could help each other easily. Furthermore, I value family the most, I believe family matters and it is the most important thing in the world. This is just my personal identity influenced by my own
culture. Another big part of my culture is China folk taboo, for instance, a superstition of Chinese New Year would be house cleaning. My mother used to tell me to help her clean the entire house before New Year’s day, all brooms, brushes, dusters, dust pans and other cleaning equipment are put away. Sweeping or dusting is not allowed on New Year’s Day. Therefore, I developed a habit, clean my room weekly and keep it clean and organize, in this way I could avoid cleaning my room and the house in one day because cleaning the whole house in one day is quite tiring. This is my personal decision influenced by my culture because I developed the habit based on my culture and I kept it. Therefore, this part of my culture helped me develop a really good habit of cleaning rooms regularly and I made the decision to keep doing that from then on. Even I am still a very Chinese person, American culture had a huge influence on me; my identity has been affected by both of the Chinese and the American culture. Chinese virtues are really important parts of my culture, China folk taboos and superstitions are also parts of my culture. They are the first culture that is influencing me even I moved to the United States. The second culture that is impacting me is American culture, American culture teaches me how to be confident, how to work with others, and how to become a leader and develop the right relationship with teachers and professors. This is me, two cultures but one identity; both cultures have been adding colors to my identity board and making it wonderful.