bethkhe
Oct 4, 2009
Undergraduate / Stanford Intellectual Vital; "world free from the barriers of social prejudices" [9]
I revised my essay... based on a similar idea but totally different wordings... Tear this one apart for me! I'm not too sure whether it addresseds the prompt or not... =)(by the way, I am not Chinese... if that clears up my stance in the essay)
***
I have lived eleven years in China. I have witnessed, at the frontline, the major changes that China has gone through over the last decade or so. Along with the array of developments, the stereotypes and biases against China also seems to have grown. Products made in China are now generalized as cheap counterfeits, and the Chinese people have been generalized as advocates of suppression. What is interesting, at least to me, is that those who maintain such views are those who have seen only the superficial sides, those who do not know the true inside world.
My friends snicker when I stand on China's side. "You're so Chinese," they say, with a tint of arrogance. I understand where their attitudes come from: the Urumqi crisis, the persecution of religions, and the censorship of the internet probably lead them to think that their country is better off than China. Surprisingly though, they have only been in China for at most a month for a trip. I am not in support of the abovementioned aspects, but I do wish to tell them a quote I read, "You can write a book about China after a year in China, but you can't after ten years."
China's development hasn't always conformed to what the rest of the world believes. But those are only part of the picture. China has a land mass of 10 million square kilometers and a population of over a billion; they are not necessarily represented by the few people of the central government.
I want people to experience the welcome that I felt during the years I spent in China. I want people to hear the encouragement I received from strangers while climbing Mt. Tai, to taste the homemade food at the average Chinese home, to see the tears shed over gratitude for those who aid, and to realize that China can't be summarized by one simple sentence.
***
Liebe,
"^Fre from social prejudice? How has China embraced cultural heterogeneity?"
That wasn't what I was aiming for in the first essay... so I guess I was totally off track. Could you perhaps take a look at my second one? I'm not too sure if it answers the prompt... maybe this one's a failure too =P But thanks for the feedback!
I revised my essay... based on a similar idea but totally different wordings... Tear this one apart for me! I'm not too sure whether it addresseds the prompt or not... =)(by the way, I am not Chinese... if that clears up my stance in the essay)
***
I have lived eleven years in China. I have witnessed, at the frontline, the major changes that China has gone through over the last decade or so. Along with the array of developments, the stereotypes and biases against China also seems to have grown. Products made in China are now generalized as cheap counterfeits, and the Chinese people have been generalized as advocates of suppression. What is interesting, at least to me, is that those who maintain such views are those who have seen only the superficial sides, those who do not know the true inside world.
My friends snicker when I stand on China's side. "You're so Chinese," they say, with a tint of arrogance. I understand where their attitudes come from: the Urumqi crisis, the persecution of religions, and the censorship of the internet probably lead them to think that their country is better off than China. Surprisingly though, they have only been in China for at most a month for a trip. I am not in support of the abovementioned aspects, but I do wish to tell them a quote I read, "You can write a book about China after a year in China, but you can't after ten years."
China's development hasn't always conformed to what the rest of the world believes. But those are only part of the picture. China has a land mass of 10 million square kilometers and a population of over a billion; they are not necessarily represented by the few people of the central government.
I want people to experience the welcome that I felt during the years I spent in China. I want people to hear the encouragement I received from strangers while climbing Mt. Tai, to taste the homemade food at the average Chinese home, to see the tears shed over gratitude for those who aid, and to realize that China can't be summarized by one simple sentence.
***
Liebe,
"^Fre from social prejudice? How has China embraced cultural heterogeneity?"
That wasn't what I was aiming for in the first essay... so I guess I was totally off track. Could you perhaps take a look at my second one? I'm not too sure if it answers the prompt... maybe this one's a failure too =P But thanks for the feedback!
