It has almost been a month since I came to China to serve an internship at the American Consulate in Shenyang.  My experience here in Shenyang so far has surpassed my expectation on every count, and I have really come to love China, its people and culture, that I feel I am no longer a stranger to this country.  Prior to this trip though, the only China I knew was from information provided by text books, professors and media, and I must admit that I was a bit scared to come to China at first.  However, since I came to Shenyang, I have gotten to meet the real people of China and gain first-hand experience with the Chinese culture.  Everyday has been full of excitement and discoveries, and I wake up every morning asking God what kinds of fascinating people and things I will encounter that day.  In this essay, I will discuss some of the things that have stood out to me about Chinese people and their culture.

One of the first things that caught my attention was the strong sense of community people have here in Shenyang.  I think that the sense of community is especially evident in the communal activities held at parks all over the city of Shenyang every night.  People gather, dance, chat, play jianzi, and sing merrily as if all the people present at the park have been best friends for generations.  In these gatherings at parks, I see a truthful sense of solidarity among the Chinese, and I consider this as one of the most outstanding qualities that the people of Chinese demonstrate.

Another thing that has blown me away is the Chinese people’s fascination and openness to foreign cultures and peoples.  Whenever I walk around Shenyang with my Caucasian American friends, people gather around us and ask us various questions about us and our country, the United States.  This is also true when I ride a taxi.  When I tell a driver where to drive me to in my broken Chinese, he/she would usually express puzzlement and ask me why I do not speak Chinese even though I look like him/her.  I typically tell him/her that I am American but my parents are Japanese, which usually sparks him/her to ask me questions about me and America.  Even though I usually do not understand a word of what a driver is saying to me, it excites me that he is so curious and fascinated that he attempts to communicate with me regardless of my language skills or lack there of.  I believe that the interests and openness that the people of China express to foreign cultures are invaluable especially as the integration among nations of the world has been intensified as a result of globalization in the current world.  Willingness to accept and learn about others demonstrated by people here in Shenyang are something to be admired.

There are countless things that I would like to mention to express my fondness of Shenyang and China at large, but I am going to conclude my essay by expressing how much I enjoy and appreciate the food served in Shenyang.  I find it breathtaking to see the colorfulness, variations, and decorativeness of Chinese food, and I consider these qualities of Chinese food to reflect the Chinese’s sophisticated sense of art and aesthetics.  Also, I think that the aforementioned characteristics of the food are delightful since it appears to me as if they are making a celebration out of a meal.  Needless to say, I have enjoyed every bite of the food in China.

I have six more weeks left in Shenyang, and I am thrilled to find out what I will encounter during the rest of my stay here.  I hope to learn more Chinese words so that I can further my interactions with people I meet in Shenyang including people at parks, taxi drivers and waiters and waitresses.  As I mentioned earlier, there are many, many qualities of China that are truly invaluable and phenomenal, and I consider this opportunity to live in Shenyang as an honor and privilege. 

(Mari Masuko)