Strong Roots & Passion

Grace identifies as Chinese American, and from a young age, she learned to read, write, and speak Chinese from her parents and by attending Chinese school. Although she spoke fluently as a child and retained her studies and Chinese roots when growing up, she finds herself between her Chinese and American cultures when interacting with Chinese international students. In one of her classes, the non-Chinese students assumed she was an international student, and the Chinese international students assumed she was American, so when they formed groups with peers, Grace was left out. When she tried to tell the Chinese students that she can speak and understand Chinese, however, they still did not accept her identity and spoke only in English, creating a barrier in front of her. Despite her exclusion, she is proud of her heritage through her undefeated wins during her Chinese school’s speech competitions and her praise and solos during her dance camp in China. Regardless of how people perceive her, she is able to ground her roots in her passions and relations with family and friends who are also Chinese American.

When she talks with other Cross-Cultural Kids, Grace says it is most interesting to learn about others’ cultural customs, food, holiday and traditional clothing, and dance forms. Though these can be unique and special to each culture, generally they have a similar way of living, she says, which makes them more similar to her than she had originally thought.