https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtJgDaTzF525dE15el9pYWhmaDJqQVNOeDBMQUNZSWc#gid=0
As I was reviewing the top interviews I had a difficult time deciding. The reason being is because I had six people with 20s in the end. I had to go into further details and review the top six again and go from there. In the end, my top three interviewers are Chancelvie B, Jonathan Madden, and Labib Rahman. These three people had outstanding blog posts and were able to present the information they have obtained very well.
They had great country reports and were able to give me great background information into the country they were interviewing. Most importantly with the country reports they were able to back themselves up with cross references. You can tell from their pre and post interview posts that they put in a lot of time and effort to put this all together.
The one person that stuck out the most was Chancelvie B. She went above and beyond this blog expectation and presented her post in a very clear and precise manner. She gave a picture and a recording of her interviewee which was unique. I thought that was like no other posts because Chancelvie was able to give us more than just the transcript information. Chancelvie gave us an image and a better idea of the person she interviewed, making a more personal connection to the audience. Job well done!
Monday, October 22, 2012
First Interview
Jonathon Gerry
English 191
Interviewer #1 Shu
Date of Interview: Thursday, October 18th, at 3:30 p.m.
10/22/12
English 191
Interviewer #1 Shu
Date of Interview: Thursday, October 18th, at 3:30 p.m.
10/22/12
Country
Research
One of the world’s largest countries, China, has fascinating features make it what it is today. China is the third largest country in the world with the area of 3,695,500 square miles. The terrain of the north and northwest part of China include mountains, deserts, and arid basins. In the south side of China are mountains and on the east side are hills and plains irrigated by the Yellow River, Yangtzekiang River, and Si Kiang River. Two thirds of China is either mountain or a desert. The correct name in today’s world for this massive country is People’s Republic of China. Today China is the world’s most populous country with a population size over 1.3 billion people. There is a great diverse among religions in China such the traditional atheist are Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist. The other religions are only minority groups such as Muslims, Catholic, and Protestant. With all this being said, China is no simple puzzle, it has great diversity. Two topics that will be focused on in this research paper are Chinese Philosophy and Chinese families.
Two things are put into great consideration under this research, China’s Philosophy and the families. A country is nothing more than a land governed by the people that live in it. Overall it is important to understand the people that make up this country and the values they uphold because they are inseparable and coexist with one another. The first topic that is going to be discussed is Chinese Philosophy. The Chinese Philosophy is significant because it is what mold the people who they are and shape their beliefs and perspectives on the world. The Chinese Philosophy will be divided into four subparts: Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, and Marxism. Throughout history China has been built on social order that still exists to this day and these were a key importance to that.
The first virtue that will be discussed is Confucianism. Confucianism was “First laid down by Confucius in the sixth century BCE emphasized personal virtue, promotion on merit by scholarship, devotion to the family, and justice” (48 Flower). What Flower state here is Confucius suggests one’s own belief, learning, devotion to not only your family, but your morals is important. The core belief in Confucianism is that human beings can be taught, improved, and perfected through self experiences.
Another virtue, Legalism, was coined during the 211 BCE during the time of the Qin emperor Shi. Flower states the cruel belief of Legalism as a view that “Man essentially was born sinful, and only the full force of arbitrary law ruthlessly applied could quell his baser impulses” (49 Flower ). What this meant was man was born evil and only by ruthless laws can you contain him.
The third virtue Flower brings to the table is Daoism. Daoism was announced in 570 BCE by the sage, Lao Ze. Daoism rejected both Confucianism and Legalism and had a belief of its own. Daoism belief was “justice flowed from living in a state of harmony with the natural world around us” (49 Flower). What is being said here is everything around us runs through life and all that exists at that presence.
The final belief discussed is Marxism. Marxism was discovered by a German philosopher name Karl Marx in the 19th century. What Karl Marx was trying to accomplish through these is get rid of the “Class levels” instigated by today’s world and the “political and economical power” embedded into industries such as factories. What is meant by this is society shouldn’t be labeled based off their wealth or success, nor should industries should be owned by the owner, but rather the people. Overall Marxism is trying to establish equal rights throughout society, regardless of how much money they have or what their position is in the companies they work at. This Chinese Philosophy is only a small part of what the Chinese practice and have a lot more to be taken into account for present here. It is important to go out and understand others beliefs because the world runs differently in other areas and should be put into consideration before exploring that area.
The final topic that will be covered is families in China and how they operate. Families are the base foundation of what build up a country. They are what keep the country going and continue on the legacy in hope for a future and further success. The following are going to be discussed regarding families in China: family value, children, and elders.
The family value in China is unique compared to the United States. China has a different view on family compared to the rich Western countries. Flower states, “ In many rich Western countries, the traditional family (two married parents, two children) is constantly said to be “in crysis.” In China it is regarded as the basis of society and of individual’s guarantee of happiness and security” (61 Flower ). This is implying that Western countries see family as a struggle where China sees it as a guarantee for happiness of one self. To back this up Flower tells us that “unmarried mothers are still rare and the divorce rates are low” (61 Flower). She is able to illustrate the low ratio of divorces in China and compare that to what is implied a high ratio in Western countries.
The second topic Flower presents are the children within Chinese families. China has a unique policy known as the One Child policy. Due to the fact that China has an enormous population, they now have a regulated policy that limits families to one child. Children in the family are expected to follow this golden rule set by Confucius, the filial piety. “Filial piety is the basis of all virtue. It begins with one’s parent’s, is kept up by serving one’s sovereign, and ends up by establishing oneself” (62 Flower ) Pretty much the filial piety is the virtue of all of life passed down from one person to the next in hope for them to follow. Unfortunately, the One Child Policy, has a negative feedback on the children following the filial piety. Flower backs herself up with “ the Chinese press regularly laments that it has created a generation of children who are worshiped by their adoring parents, and who, because they have no siblings, have not had to learn the tedious early lessons of sharing and compromising” (62 Flower). What is told her is these children with no siblings are spoiled and don’t know the meaning of sharing or compromising, therefore ruining their value of filial piety. The Chinese love their children not only for the continuity of their family, but the fact that they bring joy and excitement in a country where life can be dull, hard, and gray for many.
The final and oldest member of the family discussed is the elders, or ancestors. China values their elders greatly and advises to pay respect to older people. Instead of sending them to nursing homes, Chinese family would look after their elder family members at home. With this courteous deed came a consequence. The negative aspect of this tradition is anyone who held a high rank of power was pretty much guaranteed to keep it till they die. This brought issues for the country’s economy or even the chance of a young member to be promoted. China not only value their elders, but their ancestors as well and a festival is hosted in their name known as the Qing Ming. The Qing Ming is where families bring offerings to their ancestor tombs as offerings. With all this being said China values every family member in their clan. They try to not only pass on their family name, but uphold family tradition and virtues and pass them on to the next generation in hope for a bright future for their clan while they are gone.
The four virtues of Chinese Philosophy and family structures and values are only a mere glimpse of this marvelous country. What was discussed in this research paper didn’t even scratch the surface of how China operates and continues on throughout these days. It is important to keep in mind the Chinese Philosophy and the families that uphold them, along with other numerous virtues. Every one operates differently throughout the world and we should all be aware of that so we can learn to respect one another. The fact that the world is so diverse we tend to pass judgment and stereotype one another. By understanding one another we will pass less judgment and come together as unison to get through life in this world.
Work Cited
-Flower, Kathy. China. London: Kuperard, 2010. Print.
-Wikipedia contributors. "China." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10/22.
Preparations
Leading up to the interview was probably the most hectic part of this entire project. The reason being is because I was unprepared of what was to happen on Monday. On Monday, October 15, professor made an announcement that the first interview paper was due the following week. Personally I thought it was due the week after and had no game plan. I knew I wanted to interview China someone from China, and I wasn’t afraid of asking someone for an interview, I just felt the rush. At the end of class one of the classmates, Thanh Thanh, Tran, told me that she was going to interview someone from China from a group of friends she knew. We got to talking and she offered me someone to interview from the group and I accepted it. There was a catch though, the interview was tomorrow and I had nothing.
Following right after class I didn’t have a whole lot of background research on China, so what I did was I quickly ran after class to find books that had information about China. I found three books, but I only used one because it had everything I needed, from high power government to how to present yourself to someone from China. The book that I did research on the night before the interview was China and the author was Kathy Flower. So for the rest of the night I sat on Wikipedia and read China until I had a general idea of what was going on.
The following day came and it was time for interview. I had no idea who I was interviewing and was freaking out a little because I still felt like a night wasn’t enough to plan ahead. I wasn’t worried about the interview itself because I’m not a shy person and open to new things. What I was nervous about was getting my information mixed up and looking like a fool and shooting down the rest of the conversation. The interview was at 3:30 at the Caribou Coffee shop at the Atwood Center. I had class all day following up to that interview and boy was it nerve wrecking. I only had an hour before of spare time before the interview, so I used that to dress up in the best formal dress outfit that I wear on special occasions, combed my hair, and shaved. The moment was true, and it was game time. I started walking to Atwood around 3 and got a text from Tran saying that my interviewee couldn’t do the interview right now because they have a test and asked if I could do it at 8 later that night. I had a test the following day, so I couldn’t do that as well. We then rescheduled the interview for Thursday at the same place and the same time.
Wednesday I didn’t really do a whole lot to focus on the interview. I only glimpsed over my notes and the book that I found so useful. I did happen to think of unique questions outside the core ones that just in case everything falls apart. On top of that I asked my roommates what they would like to know about China. I told them about the interview and told them they can write down one question if appropriate that they would like to know about China and their culture. I have ten roommates, but only four of them could think of appropriate questions. After that I narrowed down all the questions from the list I made earlier to the new additional ones. After a good debate I finally picked them and went off to the library to go print them off.
The following day the same routine happened that occurred on Tuesday. The only difference was I decided to get ready a little earlier and Google some fun facts about China on my phone as I was walking to the interview to expand some more insight on the country. It’s not a whole lot, but at that point it wouldn’t hurt.
Review of the Interview
The moment came and I arrived at the coffee shop around 3:20 to meet up with Tran. We found out that our interviewee was upstairs above the coffee shop and wanted us to meet them up there. As we were walking upstairs and I saw the interviewees, for some reason my heart was pounding. I don’t know why, but I was starting to get nervous and I started to panic inside. As we approached the group of three people from China, there were two girls and one boy. Tran approached one of the girls and they started to talk and make conversation.
At this point I realized I messed up from the very beginning. I had no idea who I was interviewing and neither did my interviewee, so it was pretty much like a little “blind date” set up. Tran’s interviewee was outgoing right when we got there, but I noticed her friend, whom was my interviewee, was nervous and uncomfortable, making me uncomfortable as well. As what it appeared, it seemed that my interviewee had no idea why she was brought up there. She just came along for the ride and didn’t know that she was going to get questioned by some random person. As soon as her friend told her that I am interviewing you can see the unease and hear the tone in her voice. I then asked her if she would like to sit in a more comfortable area, so we walked to this couch across the room.
As we were walking to the couch I felt bad for her because I put her through this and decided to make things right. I got the game face back on and I approached her and asked her for her name. She replied her name was “Shu.” I told her what my name was and apologized for her to get blindsided from the entire situation. My main focus wasn’t to get the interview started, but to get to know Shu. The reason why I did this is because we are both complete strangers towards one another. The fact that it was our first time meeting each other and talking to each other made the entire situation less comfortable. It isn’t as difficult for people who scheduled an interview because they have an idea of who they are talking to and they know what to expect. Another important factor I put into consideration is it’s hard to open up to people enough as it is, so I can’t imagine what it would be like to open up to no only a complete stranger, but someone from a different country. So I got to know who she was and asked her where she’s from without recording anything for a while. I was doing what you would call “breaking the ice,” and hoping this girl would come around and ease her way into this situation.
After a while I noticed Shu was coming around and decided to introduce her to the core questions. Shu then went back to square one with the panic mode. It was as if she felt like she was being graded if she didn’t answer the questions right. She asked me what the questions for, why I need them, and that she doesn’t know the answer to them. As soon as she panicked I started to as well and then for some random reason made things worse. I told her that we aren’t going to ask the questions, it was more of a guideline and then I pulled out the tape recorder. That was something I shouldn’t have done because I was not thinking clearly, I didn’t approach it well, and I threw another curve ball at Shu. Shu didn’t like the fact she had to be recorded because she wasn’t confident with her English. Truth is I thought she was doing great with her English. She had great pronunciation and great grammar and hardly stuttered. Before I went on I made sure I got the ok to record the message. This is a huge key for later on!
What I did next I thought was the key to saving this interview from initiating. I wasn’t done yet warming up with Shu because I got her rallied up again so I had to lower the tension. While I was warming up I pressed the record button while Shu wasn’t paying attention. I realized she was uncomfortable with the recorder to begin with, so I didn’t want to panic her by telling her she is being recorded. It’s like when someone puts you on the spot to sing, you know how to do it, but when you finally got people’s attention you freeze.
It was a hit, once I got Shu to come around it was a unique experience of its own. I had a great time interviewing Shu and getting to know her background and where she came from. We had good laughs and good talks throughout the entire time. As a matter of fact I even forgot I was even in an interview. I completely forgot about the questions at task, but the thing is I covered them all. The entire time I was interested in what Shu had to say about China and it appeared as if Shu was excited to share her knowledge of her country. Not only was I able to get to know more about China, but Shu herself. She had a great heart and a real trooper for sticking through the interview. To put someone in that situation, especially her, I would not have blamed her if she walked out.
Overall the first interview had ups and downs. The interview started out really rough for both party members, but towards the end it was a remarkable and fun experience for the both of us. I have learned a lot from this first experience. I know the huge mistakes I made that almost jeopardized the entire interview and I know some tactics on how to keep it going. I can’t wait for my next interview and the next country I get to learn about!
The Interview
Shu- Interviewee
Interviewer- Me
One of the world’s largest countries, China, has fascinating features make it what it is today. China is the third largest country in the world with the area of 3,695,500 square miles. The terrain of the north and northwest part of China include mountains, deserts, and arid basins. In the south side of China are mountains and on the east side are hills and plains irrigated by the Yellow River, Yangtzekiang River, and Si Kiang River. Two thirds of China is either mountain or a desert. The correct name in today’s world for this massive country is People’s Republic of China. Today China is the world’s most populous country with a population size over 1.3 billion people. There is a great diverse among religions in China such the traditional atheist are Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist. The other religions are only minority groups such as Muslims, Catholic, and Protestant. With all this being said, China is no simple puzzle, it has great diversity. Two topics that will be focused on in this research paper are Chinese Philosophy and Chinese families.
Two things are put into great consideration under this research, China’s Philosophy and the families. A country is nothing more than a land governed by the people that live in it. Overall it is important to understand the people that make up this country and the values they uphold because they are inseparable and coexist with one another. The first topic that is going to be discussed is Chinese Philosophy. The Chinese Philosophy is significant because it is what mold the people who they are and shape their beliefs and perspectives on the world. The Chinese Philosophy will be divided into four subparts: Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, and Marxism. Throughout history China has been built on social order that still exists to this day and these were a key importance to that.
The first virtue that will be discussed is Confucianism. Confucianism was “First laid down by Confucius in the sixth century BCE emphasized personal virtue, promotion on merit by scholarship, devotion to the family, and justice” (48 Flower). What Flower state here is Confucius suggests one’s own belief, learning, devotion to not only your family, but your morals is important. The core belief in Confucianism is that human beings can be taught, improved, and perfected through self experiences.
Another virtue, Legalism, was coined during the 211 BCE during the time of the Qin emperor Shi. Flower states the cruel belief of Legalism as a view that “Man essentially was born sinful, and only the full force of arbitrary law ruthlessly applied could quell his baser impulses” (49 Flower ). What this meant was man was born evil and only by ruthless laws can you contain him.
The third virtue Flower brings to the table is Daoism. Daoism was announced in 570 BCE by the sage, Lao Ze. Daoism rejected both Confucianism and Legalism and had a belief of its own. Daoism belief was “justice flowed from living in a state of harmony with the natural world around us” (49 Flower). What is being said here is everything around us runs through life and all that exists at that presence.
The final belief discussed is Marxism. Marxism was discovered by a German philosopher name Karl Marx in the 19th century. What Karl Marx was trying to accomplish through these is get rid of the “Class levels” instigated by today’s world and the “political and economical power” embedded into industries such as factories. What is meant by this is society shouldn’t be labeled based off their wealth or success, nor should industries should be owned by the owner, but rather the people. Overall Marxism is trying to establish equal rights throughout society, regardless of how much money they have or what their position is in the companies they work at. This Chinese Philosophy is only a small part of what the Chinese practice and have a lot more to be taken into account for present here. It is important to go out and understand others beliefs because the world runs differently in other areas and should be put into consideration before exploring that area.
The final topic that will be covered is families in China and how they operate. Families are the base foundation of what build up a country. They are what keep the country going and continue on the legacy in hope for a future and further success. The following are going to be discussed regarding families in China: family value, children, and elders.
The family value in China is unique compared to the United States. China has a different view on family compared to the rich Western countries. Flower states, “ In many rich Western countries, the traditional family (two married parents, two children) is constantly said to be “in crysis.” In China it is regarded as the basis of society and of individual’s guarantee of happiness and security” (61 Flower ). This is implying that Western countries see family as a struggle where China sees it as a guarantee for happiness of one self. To back this up Flower tells us that “unmarried mothers are still rare and the divorce rates are low” (61 Flower). She is able to illustrate the low ratio of divorces in China and compare that to what is implied a high ratio in Western countries.
The second topic Flower presents are the children within Chinese families. China has a unique policy known as the One Child policy. Due to the fact that China has an enormous population, they now have a regulated policy that limits families to one child. Children in the family are expected to follow this golden rule set by Confucius, the filial piety. “Filial piety is the basis of all virtue. It begins with one’s parent’s, is kept up by serving one’s sovereign, and ends up by establishing oneself” (62 Flower ) Pretty much the filial piety is the virtue of all of life passed down from one person to the next in hope for them to follow. Unfortunately, the One Child Policy, has a negative feedback on the children following the filial piety. Flower backs herself up with “ the Chinese press regularly laments that it has created a generation of children who are worshiped by their adoring parents, and who, because they have no siblings, have not had to learn the tedious early lessons of sharing and compromising” (62 Flower). What is told her is these children with no siblings are spoiled and don’t know the meaning of sharing or compromising, therefore ruining their value of filial piety. The Chinese love their children not only for the continuity of their family, but the fact that they bring joy and excitement in a country where life can be dull, hard, and gray for many.
The final and oldest member of the family discussed is the elders, or ancestors. China values their elders greatly and advises to pay respect to older people. Instead of sending them to nursing homes, Chinese family would look after their elder family members at home. With this courteous deed came a consequence. The negative aspect of this tradition is anyone who held a high rank of power was pretty much guaranteed to keep it till they die. This brought issues for the country’s economy or even the chance of a young member to be promoted. China not only value their elders, but their ancestors as well and a festival is hosted in their name known as the Qing Ming. The Qing Ming is where families bring offerings to their ancestor tombs as offerings. With all this being said China values every family member in their clan. They try to not only pass on their family name, but uphold family tradition and virtues and pass them on to the next generation in hope for a bright future for their clan while they are gone.
The four virtues of Chinese Philosophy and family structures and values are only a mere glimpse of this marvelous country. What was discussed in this research paper didn’t even scratch the surface of how China operates and continues on throughout these days. It is important to keep in mind the Chinese Philosophy and the families that uphold them, along with other numerous virtues. Every one operates differently throughout the world and we should all be aware of that so we can learn to respect one another. The fact that the world is so diverse we tend to pass judgment and stereotype one another. By understanding one another we will pass less judgment and come together as unison to get through life in this world.
Work Cited
-Flower, Kathy. China. London: Kuperard, 2010. Print.
-Wikipedia contributors. "China." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10/22.
Preparations
Leading up to the interview was probably the most hectic part of this entire project. The reason being is because I was unprepared of what was to happen on Monday. On Monday, October 15, professor made an announcement that the first interview paper was due the following week. Personally I thought it was due the week after and had no game plan. I knew I wanted to interview China someone from China, and I wasn’t afraid of asking someone for an interview, I just felt the rush. At the end of class one of the classmates, Thanh Thanh, Tran, told me that she was going to interview someone from China from a group of friends she knew. We got to talking and she offered me someone to interview from the group and I accepted it. There was a catch though, the interview was tomorrow and I had nothing.
Following right after class I didn’t have a whole lot of background research on China, so what I did was I quickly ran after class to find books that had information about China. I found three books, but I only used one because it had everything I needed, from high power government to how to present yourself to someone from China. The book that I did research on the night before the interview was China and the author was Kathy Flower. So for the rest of the night I sat on Wikipedia and read China until I had a general idea of what was going on.
The following day came and it was time for interview. I had no idea who I was interviewing and was freaking out a little because I still felt like a night wasn’t enough to plan ahead. I wasn’t worried about the interview itself because I’m not a shy person and open to new things. What I was nervous about was getting my information mixed up and looking like a fool and shooting down the rest of the conversation. The interview was at 3:30 at the Caribou Coffee shop at the Atwood Center. I had class all day following up to that interview and boy was it nerve wrecking. I only had an hour before of spare time before the interview, so I used that to dress up in the best formal dress outfit that I wear on special occasions, combed my hair, and shaved. The moment was true, and it was game time. I started walking to Atwood around 3 and got a text from Tran saying that my interviewee couldn’t do the interview right now because they have a test and asked if I could do it at 8 later that night. I had a test the following day, so I couldn’t do that as well. We then rescheduled the interview for Thursday at the same place and the same time.
Wednesday I didn’t really do a whole lot to focus on the interview. I only glimpsed over my notes and the book that I found so useful. I did happen to think of unique questions outside the core ones that just in case everything falls apart. On top of that I asked my roommates what they would like to know about China. I told them about the interview and told them they can write down one question if appropriate that they would like to know about China and their culture. I have ten roommates, but only four of them could think of appropriate questions. After that I narrowed down all the questions from the list I made earlier to the new additional ones. After a good debate I finally picked them and went off to the library to go print them off.
The following day the same routine happened that occurred on Tuesday. The only difference was I decided to get ready a little earlier and Google some fun facts about China on my phone as I was walking to the interview to expand some more insight on the country. It’s not a whole lot, but at that point it wouldn’t hurt.
Review of the Interview
The moment came and I arrived at the coffee shop around 3:20 to meet up with Tran. We found out that our interviewee was upstairs above the coffee shop and wanted us to meet them up there. As we were walking upstairs and I saw the interviewees, for some reason my heart was pounding. I don’t know why, but I was starting to get nervous and I started to panic inside. As we approached the group of three people from China, there were two girls and one boy. Tran approached one of the girls and they started to talk and make conversation.
At this point I realized I messed up from the very beginning. I had no idea who I was interviewing and neither did my interviewee, so it was pretty much like a little “blind date” set up. Tran’s interviewee was outgoing right when we got there, but I noticed her friend, whom was my interviewee, was nervous and uncomfortable, making me uncomfortable as well. As what it appeared, it seemed that my interviewee had no idea why she was brought up there. She just came along for the ride and didn’t know that she was going to get questioned by some random person. As soon as her friend told her that I am interviewing you can see the unease and hear the tone in her voice. I then asked her if she would like to sit in a more comfortable area, so we walked to this couch across the room.
As we were walking to the couch I felt bad for her because I put her through this and decided to make things right. I got the game face back on and I approached her and asked her for her name. She replied her name was “Shu.” I told her what my name was and apologized for her to get blindsided from the entire situation. My main focus wasn’t to get the interview started, but to get to know Shu. The reason why I did this is because we are both complete strangers towards one another. The fact that it was our first time meeting each other and talking to each other made the entire situation less comfortable. It isn’t as difficult for people who scheduled an interview because they have an idea of who they are talking to and they know what to expect. Another important factor I put into consideration is it’s hard to open up to people enough as it is, so I can’t imagine what it would be like to open up to no only a complete stranger, but someone from a different country. So I got to know who she was and asked her where she’s from without recording anything for a while. I was doing what you would call “breaking the ice,” and hoping this girl would come around and ease her way into this situation.
After a while I noticed Shu was coming around and decided to introduce her to the core questions. Shu then went back to square one with the panic mode. It was as if she felt like she was being graded if she didn’t answer the questions right. She asked me what the questions for, why I need them, and that she doesn’t know the answer to them. As soon as she panicked I started to as well and then for some random reason made things worse. I told her that we aren’t going to ask the questions, it was more of a guideline and then I pulled out the tape recorder. That was something I shouldn’t have done because I was not thinking clearly, I didn’t approach it well, and I threw another curve ball at Shu. Shu didn’t like the fact she had to be recorded because she wasn’t confident with her English. Truth is I thought she was doing great with her English. She had great pronunciation and great grammar and hardly stuttered. Before I went on I made sure I got the ok to record the message. This is a huge key for later on!
What I did next I thought was the key to saving this interview from initiating. I wasn’t done yet warming up with Shu because I got her rallied up again so I had to lower the tension. While I was warming up I pressed the record button while Shu wasn’t paying attention. I realized she was uncomfortable with the recorder to begin with, so I didn’t want to panic her by telling her she is being recorded. It’s like when someone puts you on the spot to sing, you know how to do it, but when you finally got people’s attention you freeze.
It was a hit, once I got Shu to come around it was a unique experience of its own. I had a great time interviewing Shu and getting to know her background and where she came from. We had good laughs and good talks throughout the entire time. As a matter of fact I even forgot I was even in an interview. I completely forgot about the questions at task, but the thing is I covered them all. The entire time I was interested in what Shu had to say about China and it appeared as if Shu was excited to share her knowledge of her country. Not only was I able to get to know more about China, but Shu herself. She had a great heart and a real trooper for sticking through the interview. To put someone in that situation, especially her, I would not have blamed her if she walked out.
Overall the first interview had ups and downs. The interview started out really rough for both party members, but towards the end it was a remarkable and fun experience for the both of us. I have learned a lot from this first experience. I know the huge mistakes I made that almost jeopardized the entire interview and I know some tactics on how to keep it going. I can’t wait for my next interview and the next country I get to learn about!
The Interview
Shu- Interviewee
Interviewer- Me
Shu-What
class is this for?
Interviewer-This is for my English class 191
Shu-Oh!
Interviewer-What our professor has us do is go out and interview an international student and find out about their country and their culture. It’s a really interesting class because you get to see outside your own world.
Shu-I took 191 last semester, but we didn’t have any outside activities.(Haha)
Interviewer-Really? I heard about this class and how the professor makes it more than just writing papers and I wanted to try something new for an English class.
Shu-Lucky! All we did was write papers
….So what is this paper of questions for? I don’t know what you mean by the first question.
-Interviewer-That paper is more of a guideline and what the questions will revolve around during this interview.
Shu-I still don’t get the first question
Interviewer-Let’s not worry about the questions on the paper, let’s just have a “normal conversation”
Shu-Haha Ok!
Interviewer-So what does your family do for fun, or what do you guys value?
Shu-Ummm our family usually gets together….
-Ok then, so did your family move up with you to St. Cloud or are you here by yourself?
Shu--By myself
Interviewer-Ok then, so do they put you with other international students or do they put you with random people?
Shu--Random people!
Interviewer-That’s cool, so is this your first year here up in St. Cloud?
Shu--No, this will be my umm second years.
Interviewer-Second year, so what did you think of your first winter?
Shu--What do you mean?
Interviewer-How did you enjoy your first winter up here in Minnesota?
Shu--Oh! Last year was not so bad, not as bad as I thought it would be.
Interviewer-Yeah that’s what I thought too! This is my second year here up in Minnesota.
Shu--I think this year is a lot colder!
Interviewer-Yeah I think so too! I think it’s just mother nature taking her revenge on us from last year. (Haha)Do you guys have winter in China or where you live?
-Oh…uhh…do you know where Fujian Province or have you ever heard of it?
Interviewer-No I’m sorry I believe I don’t
Shu-It’s ok! Well Fujian Province is in South of China, so it’s pretty warm. North China is cold. Like you know what China looks like?
Interviewer-Mmhmm
Shue-(Using hand gestures) Well my Province is like South way over here and here is the North
Interviewer-Ok then, that’s awesome. So let me ask ya, is it like different, is the culture different from one side of China to the next?
Shu-Ya! It’s really different!!
Interviewer-Really different, well what’s your culture like?
Shu- Mmmmm like which part?
Interviewer-Yeah, like your home town, how is it different?
Shu -But like you mean food or or you mean culture, holidays, or what?
Interviewer-Just anything..
Shu -Ok! Well food is different
Interviewer-How so?
Shu -Uhh like in Northern, North side of China they eat noodles. Like noodles are the main thing in North of China. Like in South of China where I live we eat rice…
Interviewer-That’s cool!
-Like for North, people who live in North part eat spicy food cause they can keep them warmer. It’s cold for them and..well in winter we don’t get snow, but the North part does.
Interviewer-Oh ok then, so Northern part of China is more colder than Southern?
Shue-Yes!
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu -So yeah, they eat spicy food and they eat noodles, but South part we eat noodles but not as much as they do.
Interviewer-All right then, so what would you say is the South’s favorite food, or what’s your favorite food?
Shu - Mine, well I think that depends on…you know my hometown, we live near the sea, so we eat a lot of seafood.
Interviewe-Ok then
Shu -Yeah then I think different provinces have their different food.
Interviewer-What do you mean?
Shu -Well each province has their own “special food.” So we have many different kind of special food for different cities. When we travel North part we will pack our own food.
Interviewer-Ok then, so how would you compare your food to down here in Minnesota?
Shu-Uhh, it’s very….diverse because we have American food here, Mexican food here, Chinese food here, Japanese food here, like everything you can imagine.
Interviewer-So is it not as diverse not in China?
Shu- It’s different cause we have many kinds but it’s all Chinese food, but it’s like here, there’s food from all over the world.
Interviewer-Haha yeah that is true. I’m not gonna lie I love Chinese food, it’s my favorite!
Shu-Really?
Interviewer-From what I hear the American Chinese good is different than the “real Chinese food.”
Shu-Here is a little bit sweeter.
Interviewer-A little bit sweeter?
Shu-Mmmhmm but for like Mae(her friend that also attends SCSU) and me, we live in the same province, but different city. In her city they eat sweeter food and we don’t. So yeah pretty different.
Interviewer-All right then, so did you and Mae know each other before you came over here?
Shu-No
Interviewer-No not at all? So how did you guys all meet?
Shu-The first time I met her to meet was in Garvey
Interviewer-Nice! That’s a great place to meet people (we both laugh)
Shu-Yeah and once we all know we are all Chinese it’s very quick to know each other.
Interviewer-Ok
Shu-Yeah like speaking Chinese is very comfortable for us
Interviewer-All right then, so do you feel more comfortable around people from China than people from America?
Shu-Cause know we all happen to be from the same place and we happen to speak the same language that’s and cultural similarity.
Interviewer-So it’s more of an edge, that’s got to help out a lot more…like you said comfortable for you all.
Shu-Mhmm
Interviewer-So is it getting more comfortable to talk to me or are we not there yet?
Shu-Yeah it’s comfortable for me to talk to you but I’m not confident with my English
Interviewer-No don’t even worry about it, you are doing great!
Shu-Mmmm
Interviewer-Trust me you are doing really well
Shu-(Haha) Why thank you!
Interviewer-So how many siblings do you have in your family?
Shu- I have younger sister and younger brother.
Interviewer-Younger sister and younger brother eh, so you’re the “guinea pig” of the family
Shu-Yeah I’m the oldest one (haha)
Interviewer-How old are your siblings?
Shu-They are…my sister is three old…three years younger than me and my brother is six years younger than me
Interviewer- Oh wow that’s cool they have a sister like you to look up to! I must ask, do you and your sister give your brother hell? (Haha)
Shu-(Haha) oh yeah!
Interviewer-That’s the best part, you got to keep them in line.
Shu-(Haha) yeah
Interviewer- I have to younger siblings, a younger brother and a younger sister. My sister is years is two years younger and my brother I think is four years younger..
Shu-Oh
Interviewer-Yeah, I kind of like, you know as the first child you either get in trouble or you do well your parents are like they’ll set those rules on how ever you screw up for the rest of them.
Shu-Yeah like you’re supposed to be a good example for them.
Interviewer-Yeah!
Shu- And when they do something bad you have to take the responsibility. Somewhat like your fault!
Interviewer-Yeah I agree, like every time by younger brother does something stupid my parents just look at me and say “You did this..” and I would be like “I wasn’t even there!” Then they would be like “You taught him it!”
Shu-(Haha) yeah! I don’t like to be the oldest one, I hope I have a older brother or sister, yeah older one.
Interviewer-Yeah I agree, it would take a little pressure off of us!
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So do tell what does your dad do for a living? Like..yeah what does he do for a living?
Shu-….what do you mean?
Interviewer-Like where does he work at?
Shu- Oh! Uhh… he, my father owns a shoe factory, so he is the boss.
Interviewer- Oh wow, so he’s a high ranking guy!
Shu-Yeah..uhh the business isn’t doing well these years because uhh…the global economics, or recession, I don’t know.
Interviewer-Yeah, it’s hard these days for everybody. So what do you want to do after you’re done with college?
Shu-I don’t know probably like…work at some…I don’t know, see who picks me and I will follow them (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) all right, I guess we get what we can get these days right.
Shu-(Haha) yeah!
Interviewer-So what are you majoring in right now.
Shu-Uhh I am majoring in pre-business manager. I haven’t decided which specific major yet.
Interviewer-Ok then, at least you have an idea! You’re on the right path.
Shu-Mmmhmmm
Interviewer-So is this your second year in college?
Shu-Yeah it’s my second year.
Interviewer-Do most people in high school in China get an opportunity to go to college, or is it uncommon?
Shu-You talking about now these days?
Interviewer-Mmmhmmm
Shu- I guess most people go to college after high school.
Interviewer-Ok then, so do you guys have a lot of Colleges and Universities up in China?
Shu-Mmmhmmm
Interviewer-So I got to ask ya then, what made you choose St. Cloud State University instead of one in college?
Shu-I feel..well it’s pretty complicated! Cause I don’t know when I’m in junior high school..I did all my courses in English and then our school have a new program! It’s the Canadian school program. So it’s like in my senior high school, once we graduate can go directly to the…no from the junior high school once we graduate we go to the senior high school in our school!
Interviewer-Ok then?
Shu-But that’s not what most people wanted because that’s for people who don’t have good grades.
Interviewer-Ok then, so if you have good enough grades do you go from Junior high school straight to college?
Shu-Uhh..no..no. If you get better grades you go to better school. Like you know in St. Cloud we have graduate program and undergraduate program, and we have uhh even if I did good in the undergraduate here I would go to other universities in other cities for graduate
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-I wouldn’t stay here to go to the graduate program here, so that’s what I mean.
Interviewer-Ok then, just to be sure I understand, there are lower classes right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So you have to do well in order to go on to the next higher level of high school right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-Then from there you then go on to college?
Shu-Yeah!
Interviewer-All right then! I got it figured out (Haha)
Shu-Good! Well because I didn’t do well on my Junior High..so I go to the senior high in the same school because English is my…I don’t want to say this (Haha)
Interviewer- It’s all right no judgment will be passed! (Haha)
Shu-Well in my class I am the top one in the English course. So I go from the CTC, the Canadian Training College. So I went to that program, although it’s in the same school! So I actually get two diplomas in high school!
Interviewer-Really, what do you mean?
Shu-So one is for Chinese high school and the other is for Canadian high school. Yeah and then for those people in the CTC class, all of them want to go to Canadian College! But my family doesn’t have a whole lot of money so I don’t get to go to Canadian College (Haha)
Interviewer-It’s all right!
Shu-So yeah and then we go to that one place…what’s it called Visa?
Interviewer-Hmmm?
Shu-Uhh…where you need to…where go abroad you need to sign up for Visa. They need to meet the financial stamina to show that you can go to college outside of China. So for Canadian school, they have higher requirements.
Interviewer- Ok then, I have a question, and it’s a silly one, but when you are talking about Canadian college you are talking about the ones in Canada right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So if you don’t make it to Canada you get to go to the United States?
Shu-That’s my decision, other people get to go to places like Signapore or Austrailia, or basically you can choose whatever place you like as long as you can afford it!
Interviewer-So what made you decide to come to the United States out of all the other countries?
Shu-Cause the education system here is very famous. Like many famous or top colleges are in the United States.
Interviewer- Oh wow! I didn’t even know that! Well the fact that you are in college is awesome! So you plan on completing your undergraduate program here and plan on completing your graduates somewhere else?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So do you have to go to the graduate program is it your choice?
Shu-Uh it’s my choice.
Interviewer-Your choice, so do you want to the graduate program?
Shu-My family wants me to get into the graduate program to get a graduate degree.
Interviewer-Yeah my family are the same way.
Shu-I don’t like books, I don’t like homework! I don’t like everything (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) I know what you mean!
Shu-But it’s.. I don’t know, going to school is a good thing because everyone says once you work you will miss your school.
Interviewer- Yeah that’s what my mom said. They say the real world is tough.
Shu-Yeah everybody says that! But I have heard a lot.
Interviewer-Yeah I’m debating if I want to leave right out of school into the world or to stay in it as long as possible.
Shu- Yeah
Interviewer-Well we’ll find out soon enough! We can always come back to college if we don’t like the real world.
Shu-Yeah (Haha)
Interviewer-We sure can’t go back to high school, but we are welcome back into college (haha)
Shu-(Haha) yeah!
Interviewer-So what’s the education system like in China?
Shu-I think it’s pretty standard. Like here it’s more flexible!
Interviewer-How so?
Shu-Well in China you have to like…focus on the final exams more. Like uhh those study quizzes and exam you take here, they don’t matter.
Interviewer-Really?
Shu-So once you get good grades on finals you pass the class, you did good, but you can’t do it here in the United States.
Interviewer-Yeah it’s true, you have to do good on everything leading up to the finals. The sad part in the United States is some finals are huge and some finals are similar to a regular test.
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer- So are your grades for the class from just the final?
Shu-Midterm and Final, those are two big exams! Your grades rely on those two exams.
Interviewer-Sheez!!
Shu-Yeah! I don’t know if you know the exams for uhh like ACT and SAT here, you are not required to take those exams right?
Interviewer-Yeah we have an option not to.
Shu-Yeah we..most Chinese students take the Gaokoa Exam! It’s the test for high school to get to college.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Like you have to do well on that exam so you can go to a good university.
Interviewer-So if you don’t pass you don’t get to go to a university?
Shu-Like we have grades level!
Interviewer-What do you mean by that?
Shu-Suppose that exam is worth 700 points, like that is from different subjects like, Math, English…something like that and in total they..let’s say they have 700 and if..different school have different grade like. Like if you pass 300 hundred points you can get into this university, if you get pass 400 points you can get into this university, but 700 is the max. It’s only once a year!
Interviewer- Once a yeah?!
Shu-Yeah if you don’t pass, like let’s say you don’t do very well on this exam but you really want to go to better university then you have to take the exam next year.
Interviewer- Oh my!
Shu-And you have to pay for the same tuition again!
Interviewer-That sounds terrible! So is it something every one studies really hard for then?
Shu- mmhmm yeah, during the exam period, you can see on the newspaper or television there’s always something about students who like…pretty weird things happen during that period?
Interviewer- Like they pass out in class?
Shu-Like some… I can say one..it’s not usual, but it actually happened. In one family, I don’t know who passed away, father or mother, but some one really close passed away. Because their children are going to take that exam it’s very important for their whole life. So they don’t want their children to know that their relatives died.
Interviewer-That’s really sad
Shu-Yeah so they don’t want to influence their childrens mood.
Interviewer-What do you mean by that?
Shu- Like if you were the children and I am the family member and I know you are going to take this exam and if you failed you cannot go to a good university. So I won’t let anything bother you. I want you to focus on your exam only. I want you to do well on the exam! I want you to know this, but I can’t tell you because I want you to do well on this big event.
Interviewer- Ok then, so if you are my aunt and my dad died you wouldn’t tell me because you don’t want me to worry about it because this is a big exam and you don’t want me to be affected by this?
Shu-Mmmhmm I won’t tell you anything that’s going on. Like you know…ok let’s say one family member is very sick. I will lie to you and say something like “They are doing well.” Nothing big just something like this, white lies.
Interviewer- So how did the kid not find out that their parents didn’t die? Are you segregated from your family or something?
Shu-Once you are in this…it’s considered an intensive period, so you will work very hard. You wake up, you study, go to lunch, study, get dinner, study! Sleep and the next week it’s all over again.
Interviewer-So how long did it take or what did you do to prepare yourself for this exam?
Shu-I didn’t take the exam cause in my..well I went to a CTC school, so I studied the Canadian material. So I didn’t study the Chinese material for the exam!
Interviewer- Ok then
Shu-So if I were to take the exam I would fail! I couldn’t pass any of it!
Interviewer- Ok then, so you studied material required for Canadian schools where as others are for Chinese material?
Shu-Yeah, so my case is pretty different.
Interviewer- Ok then, so they’re just trying to get you ready to come over here right?
Shu- Yes, cause you know that exam Gaokao…students..well many Chinese students are going out for studying abroad.
Interviewer-So is the Goakoa exams getting more challenging?
Shu-There must be many reasons why students are studying abroad, but I think it’s the pressure in order to go to a good Chinese university. Many of my friend go study abroad.
Interviewer-That’s awesome, so do you still stay in contact with your friends, like do you use skype or something?
Shu-We don’t use skype we use a different program. It’s called Ka- Koo
Interviewer- I like that name more than skype (Haha)
Shu-It’s a very powerful program! It combines many programs together.
Interviewer-That’s awesome! So do you guys use Facebook too?
Shu-Facebook, we can’t use Facebook in China because it has been banned.
Interviewer-You cannot use Facebook in China?
Shu-Cannot
Interviewer-Really, why is that?
Shu-I don’t know. Probrably…have you heard that Google has been banned in China a couple of years ago?
Interviewer-What?! I haven’t heard of that at all!
Shu-I think many people know that..
Interviewer-So can you use Google at all these days?
Shu-I think now you can, but back a couple years ago you could not.
Interviewer-Why is that?
Shu-Cause you can say anything you want on the internet and something may be sensitive to political things and then China’s government will do something about it, so Google. Is forbidden
Interviewer- All right then
Shu-We have “searching engine”…we use that one more
Interviewer-Searching engine?
Shu-I use Google after I come to United States. In the beginning I didn’t use it much, but now I do.
Interviewer-Wow
Shu-I use it more now these days than I used to.
Interviewer-I love Google, it can find just about anything.
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So let me ask ya, what sports are big in China? Like have you been to the football games up here yet?
Shu- I heard it before, but I’m not familiar with it because I don’t like sports.
Interviewer- Ok then, so what type of activities do you or did you like doing back at home?
Shu-Activities?
Interviewer-Mmmmhmmm
Shu-Oh I would have to say Karoke! That is a different thing between China and America. Like I think you don’t have much Karoke here. In China, well only in my city we have many Karoke stores!
Interviewer- Really?
Shu-Like especially on holidays and weekends everyone goes there.
Interviewer- Is it a place where you would go out with the family and have some fun?
Shu-Yeah, but I think karaoke is changing a lot cause when I was young..I think karaoke is a very complicated place. It’s like crap. Many bad people go there (haha) Yeah when I was young karaoke wasn’t a good place to go, but it changed a lot. Now people go more these days, but before you heard a lot of things ruining karaoke, like drugs.
Interviewer- Oh, so people kind of ruined it for everyone else.
Shu-Yeah, but now it’s better. It’s a place for casual activities..it’s like when you go play basketball.
Interviewer-Yeah! So I was doing some research and I came across these awesome festivals, like the Lunar Month festivals!
Shu-Yeah!
Interviewer-So do you guys celebrate all of those in your city? Or like could you tell me what is your favorite Lunar month…well what’s your favorite festival?
Shu-It must be spring festival because I could get money (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) that’s awesome
Shu-Parents, grandparents, aunts, will give children pocket money. So we have a grey envelope that they put the money in. It is considered a “lucky thing” and traditional. Like you HAV to do it! So I don’t want to grow older cause I don’t want to give money to other people (Haha) And I cannot receive money now that I’m getting older.
Interviewer- What’s the age limit for the Spring Festival?
Shu-What year you stop getting money?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-There’s no rule for that, but once you get a job and get your own money you stop receiving money. You are not considered a child anymore once you get a job.
Interviewer-What age do people start getting a job?
Shu-Most people won’t get a job until their university or their graduate program. So I would say that’s 24 or 25.
Interviewer- That’s awesome, so I have a question, and I don’t know if the United States are correct with this, but it’s the Zodiac animal…
Shu- Huh?!
Interviewer-I don’t know if it originated from here or from China, but it’s those Zodiac animals, like the Dragon, the Ram…
Shu-Ram?
Interviewer-Ummm….like the year of the Dragon or the year of the Ram…
Shu-Oh you mean!!..uhhh…I’m confused what ram is.
Interviewer-It’s also considered a sheep if that helps?...
Shu-Oh yeah there are 12 different…are they considered animals (haha). This year is the year of Dragon, the year of Dragon.
Interviewer- So if you were born, or let’s say this is your animal year..
Shu-That would mean two things happen. People always say that if you are in your animal year you are either very lucky or very bad luck. I would have a very lucky year or very bad luck year, VERY extreme!
Interviewer-So it’s one or the other?
Shu-Yes! Like let’s say you found out this year you are not lucky you would go to temples and meditate and ask for good luck.
Interviewer-Ok then, so is it different with other animals? Like is the Mouse year the same thing with the bad luck or good luck?
Shu-They are all the same..yeah.
Interviewer-Is there any special…
Shu-There are twelve animals that are in a certain pattern.
Interviewer-Do you get a certain gift, or do you get a gift because it’s your animal year?
Shu-I don’t any (haha) I don’t know anything about this, but all I know is if people are born in that year they are very sensitive!
Interviewer-Really? (Haha)
Shu-Cause you want to know if I would have a good year or bad year.
Interviewer-What has your year been like so far?
Shu-I don’t know cause like….
Interviewer-I mean what’s your animal year?
Shu-The one you just said..Ram?
Interviewer- The sheep?! Me too!!
Shu-You too?! Cool!
Interviewer-What about the religion down there in China.
Shu-Religion?
Interviewer-Yeah, like are there multiple religions down in China.
Shu-Buddhism
Interviewer-Buddhism, is that the most predominant one down there?
Shu-In my country. I can’t say for the whole country cause there’s too many people cause I don’t really know. All I Know in my country, in my home town many people believe Buddhism.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Very old people believe in it so much, especially grandparents. We will have specific days in the month where we burn the…I don’t know how to say those things..like for those specific days we will burn specific things and paper money (haha) Not paper money!!!...I wish you have computer now so I can look it up (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) Google!
Shu-Like we have a lot to do for those specific days. For traditional holidays we do that also.
Interviewer-So how do you like, well what is like…well I’m a Catholic and I have to go to mass every Sunday, how do you express your religion? Or how do you practice your religion?
Shu-Burn those things and have some fruit or food and then you bow…it’s like for Christian, you go to church every Sunday and we go to places on specific days and bow…
Interviewer-So what is the music like down there?
Shu-Music from my generation or younger?
Interviewer-We’ll do the kids generation, our generation, and the adults.
Shu- Our generation is decent cause now our information is very broad and you can hear many kind of songs. My friends like Korean songs and English songs! Those are pop songs they are listening.
Interviewer-Ok then, well are there any questions you have for me out of curiousity?
Shu-Are you from here?
Interviewer-No I am actually from Colorado. I’m on the other side of the United States almost.
Shu-What side?
Interviewer-I’m near the west coast side.
Shu-Where’s..what where’s?..
Interviewer-(Used hand gesture to point West) That way. Where I’m from we have mountains and we use that as a general idea of where we are at cause the mountains point West for us.
Shu-Ahh!
Interviewer-I miss it, like do you ever get home sick out of curiousity?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-Yeah, miss family and friends, do you go home every summer?
Shu- Uhh I stay here and I will go back next summer.
Interviewer-Next summer, so you’re almost done. Do you go back for any holidays or anything or..
Shu- You mean these two years did I go back home?
Interviewer-Just…yeah I guess we could say that!
Shu-No not yet.
Interviewer-Ah so I bet you are counting down the days to get out of here!
Shu-(Haha) yeah!! I’m ready to get out of here.
Interviewer-Out of curiousity how are weddings?!
Shu-Weddings?
Interviewer-(Haha) yeah
Shu-(Haha) that’s a funny stuff cause here you wear white stuff right?
Interviewer-Mmmhmmm
Shu-And you have wedding at church or outside right?
Interviewer-Yes mam
Shu-Well we go to weddings in hotel
Interviewer-You go to a hotel?
Shu-Yeah, we treat every body! There is many rules for that..uhhh…I guess different religions have different rules.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Like Buddhism has different rules compared to other religions with original traditional waiting. Like in the states there’s two people getting married they cannot meet each other and here they go to….uhh…do you call women getting married, Bride?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-And you call the man getting married groom?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-Well Bride first are in their home. Then you dress up, make up, and you…dress with Cheongsam, you know what that is?
Interviewer-No, I’m sorry I don’t
Shu-Well it is a traditional southern China wedding dress. And you dress that and you have some special rules that you have to listen to. Like parents, you enter the room and you bow and they will give you money I think…
Interviewer-this is for the bride?
Shu-Yes for the bride. The groom has to come to the bride’s house to come pick her up. And the he bride’s friends will set many lures to “trick the groom”
Interviewer-They are going to try to trick the groom?
Shu-Yeah, so the groom will not get easy to pick the bride?
Interviewer- Wait, so he has to pick the bride?...
Shu-Like he has to stay at home waiting for..no, the bride has to wait at her home to wait for the groom to come and pick her up and bring her to the groom’s home.
Interviewer- Ok then
Shu-Friends won’t have it easy with them, so they will play many games with the grooms. They won’t make it easy for the groom to get to the bride.
Interviewer-(haha)That’s awesome! So have to play many games to get the girl?
Shu-Yeah, they set many rules! Yeah and that even means paying them. The number you want to pay them is $9,999.99 cause in Chinese that means forever. So that means they will stick together forever. Anything you can think they can set it out and the groom has to do.
Interviewer-That’s awesome, that sounds a lot more fun than what we do here!
Shu-Yeah it’s pretty funny! Then the bride has to cover her head and she has to have curls covered on her head so no one can see her face.
Interviewer-Is this before or after the groom comes pick her up?
Shu-Before! The bride can have her clothed up until she get’s to the groom home.
Interviewer-All right then!
Shu-And then there are many other rules for “waiting.” What I just told you is just a little part.
Interviewer-So does the grooms friends get to play a little trick on the bribe?
Shu-That’s for the dinner in the hotel.
Interviewer-So the bride has to play there?
Shu-No that’s not specific for groom or bride, they have to play games together.
Interviewer-Oh!
Shu-Like at the hotel you have to drink beer for every table. Bride, groom, and their family have to drink beer at every table.
Interviewer-Do they have to drink beer?
Shu-Not necessarily beer, but usually beer or wine..
Interviewer-Ok then. So what happens when the groom brings the bride back to his house do they then bring her back to the hotel?
Shu-No…there are many rules!
Interviewer- Too many rules
Shu-Too many rules and I don’t know all of them. And when the bride goes to the groom home they have to do some things. Like they bow again… (haha) and many traditional things.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-For the guys side you have to pay the girls side a certain amount of money. Girls don’t need to bring, girls only need to bring things to the guys house.
Interviewer-So guy pays the girls parents money for the girl and the girl brings stuff to the grooms house?
Shu-And the family of the girl can bring stuff to the house. If they don’t want to they don’t have to bring stuff to the grooms house. For example, they will bring a car, washer machine…It’s a traditional thing but not everybody does it.
Interviewer-When are the two officially a couple and considered a husband and wife?
Shu-When they have the certificate.
Interviewer-All right then well let me see here (looking at questions on the paper). See look at this, we made it through all these questions and you hardly even noticed. All right last question, compare the United States Culture to your culture. How would you say they are different?
Shu-Hmmm…The environment is different (haha) A lot of different things….too many different things…
Interviewer- Well how about people, how are the people here different then people in China?
Shu-I think people here are more….
Interviewer-And you can be as completely honest as possible, you can even say we are mean for all I call, I will not take any offense (Haha)
Shu-(Haha) well in different country are different people..
Interviewer-So we are mean (haha)
Shu-(Haha) no, but I have met some mean people here. Like in one of my class I met somebody not friendly…like I tried talking to her and she was not wanting to talk back.
Interviewer-I’m sorry
Shu-Yeah I felt like she didn’t want to talk back.
Interviewer-Yeah, well there unfortunately people everywhere like that
Shu-Yeah, well there’s also people like that in China, like in every place people like that exist.
Interviewer-Yeah..well thank you for your time and consideration today!! I had a great time getting to talk to ya!
Shu-Ya you too!
Interviewer-Is there any questions you have for me out of curiosity?
Shu-Uhh no
(Stopped recording here)
Interviewer-This is for my English class 191
Shu-Oh!
Interviewer-What our professor has us do is go out and interview an international student and find out about their country and their culture. It’s a really interesting class because you get to see outside your own world.
Shu-I took 191 last semester, but we didn’t have any outside activities.(Haha)
Interviewer-Really? I heard about this class and how the professor makes it more than just writing papers and I wanted to try something new for an English class.
Shu-Lucky! All we did was write papers
….So what is this paper of questions for? I don’t know what you mean by the first question.
-Interviewer-That paper is more of a guideline and what the questions will revolve around during this interview.
Shu-I still don’t get the first question
Interviewer-Let’s not worry about the questions on the paper, let’s just have a “normal conversation”
Shu-Haha Ok!
Interviewer-So what does your family do for fun, or what do you guys value?
Shu-Ummm our family usually gets together….
-Ok then, so did your family move up with you to St. Cloud or are you here by yourself?
Shu--By myself
Interviewer-Ok then, so do they put you with other international students or do they put you with random people?
Shu--Random people!
Interviewer-That’s cool, so is this your first year here up in St. Cloud?
Shu--No, this will be my umm second years.
Interviewer-Second year, so what did you think of your first winter?
Shu--What do you mean?
Interviewer-How did you enjoy your first winter up here in Minnesota?
Shu--Oh! Last year was not so bad, not as bad as I thought it would be.
Interviewer-Yeah that’s what I thought too! This is my second year here up in Minnesota.
Shu--I think this year is a lot colder!
Interviewer-Yeah I think so too! I think it’s just mother nature taking her revenge on us from last year. (Haha)Do you guys have winter in China or where you live?
-Oh…uhh…do you know where Fujian Province or have you ever heard of it?
Interviewer-No I’m sorry I believe I don’t
Shu-It’s ok! Well Fujian Province is in South of China, so it’s pretty warm. North China is cold. Like you know what China looks like?
Interviewer-Mmhmm
Shue-(Using hand gestures) Well my Province is like South way over here and here is the North
Interviewer-Ok then, that’s awesome. So let me ask ya, is it like different, is the culture different from one side of China to the next?
Shu-Ya! It’s really different!!
Interviewer-Really different, well what’s your culture like?
Shu- Mmmmm like which part?
Interviewer-Yeah, like your home town, how is it different?
Shu -But like you mean food or or you mean culture, holidays, or what?
Interviewer-Just anything..
Shu -Ok! Well food is different
Interviewer-How so?
Shu -Uhh like in Northern, North side of China they eat noodles. Like noodles are the main thing in North of China. Like in South of China where I live we eat rice…
Interviewer-That’s cool!
-Like for North, people who live in North part eat spicy food cause they can keep them warmer. It’s cold for them and..well in winter we don’t get snow, but the North part does.
Interviewer-Oh ok then, so Northern part of China is more colder than Southern?
Shue-Yes!
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu -So yeah, they eat spicy food and they eat noodles, but South part we eat noodles but not as much as they do.
Interviewer-All right then, so what would you say is the South’s favorite food, or what’s your favorite food?
Shu - Mine, well I think that depends on…you know my hometown, we live near the sea, so we eat a lot of seafood.
Interviewe-Ok then
Shu -Yeah then I think different provinces have their different food.
Interviewer-What do you mean?
Shu -Well each province has their own “special food.” So we have many different kind of special food for different cities. When we travel North part we will pack our own food.
Interviewer-Ok then, so how would you compare your food to down here in Minnesota?
Shu-Uhh, it’s very….diverse because we have American food here, Mexican food here, Chinese food here, Japanese food here, like everything you can imagine.
Interviewer-So is it not as diverse not in China?
Shu- It’s different cause we have many kinds but it’s all Chinese food, but it’s like here, there’s food from all over the world.
Interviewer-Haha yeah that is true. I’m not gonna lie I love Chinese food, it’s my favorite!
Shu-Really?
Interviewer-From what I hear the American Chinese good is different than the “real Chinese food.”
Shu-Here is a little bit sweeter.
Interviewer-A little bit sweeter?
Shu-Mmmhmm but for like Mae(her friend that also attends SCSU) and me, we live in the same province, but different city. In her city they eat sweeter food and we don’t. So yeah pretty different.
Interviewer-All right then, so did you and Mae know each other before you came over here?
Shu-No
Interviewer-No not at all? So how did you guys all meet?
Shu-The first time I met her to meet was in Garvey
Interviewer-Nice! That’s a great place to meet people (we both laugh)
Shu-Yeah and once we all know we are all Chinese it’s very quick to know each other.
Interviewer-Ok
Shu-Yeah like speaking Chinese is very comfortable for us
Interviewer-All right then, so do you feel more comfortable around people from China than people from America?
Shu-Cause know we all happen to be from the same place and we happen to speak the same language that’s and cultural similarity.
Interviewer-So it’s more of an edge, that’s got to help out a lot more…like you said comfortable for you all.
Shu-Mhmm
Interviewer-So is it getting more comfortable to talk to me or are we not there yet?
Shu-Yeah it’s comfortable for me to talk to you but I’m not confident with my English
Interviewer-No don’t even worry about it, you are doing great!
Shu-Mmmm
Interviewer-Trust me you are doing really well
Shu-(Haha) Why thank you!
Interviewer-So how many siblings do you have in your family?
Shu- I have younger sister and younger brother.
Interviewer-Younger sister and younger brother eh, so you’re the “guinea pig” of the family
Shu-Yeah I’m the oldest one (haha)
Interviewer-How old are your siblings?
Shu-They are…my sister is three old…three years younger than me and my brother is six years younger than me
Interviewer- Oh wow that’s cool they have a sister like you to look up to! I must ask, do you and your sister give your brother hell? (Haha)
Shu-(Haha) oh yeah!
Interviewer-That’s the best part, you got to keep them in line.
Shu-(Haha) yeah
Interviewer- I have to younger siblings, a younger brother and a younger sister. My sister is years is two years younger and my brother I think is four years younger..
Shu-Oh
Interviewer-Yeah, I kind of like, you know as the first child you either get in trouble or you do well your parents are like they’ll set those rules on how ever you screw up for the rest of them.
Shu-Yeah like you’re supposed to be a good example for them.
Interviewer-Yeah!
Shu- And when they do something bad you have to take the responsibility. Somewhat like your fault!
Interviewer-Yeah I agree, like every time by younger brother does something stupid my parents just look at me and say “You did this..” and I would be like “I wasn’t even there!” Then they would be like “You taught him it!”
Shu-(Haha) yeah! I don’t like to be the oldest one, I hope I have a older brother or sister, yeah older one.
Interviewer-Yeah I agree, it would take a little pressure off of us!
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So do tell what does your dad do for a living? Like..yeah what does he do for a living?
Shu-….what do you mean?
Interviewer-Like where does he work at?
Shu- Oh! Uhh… he, my father owns a shoe factory, so he is the boss.
Interviewer- Oh wow, so he’s a high ranking guy!
Shu-Yeah..uhh the business isn’t doing well these years because uhh…the global economics, or recession, I don’t know.
Interviewer-Yeah, it’s hard these days for everybody. So what do you want to do after you’re done with college?
Shu-I don’t know probably like…work at some…I don’t know, see who picks me and I will follow them (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) all right, I guess we get what we can get these days right.
Shu-(Haha) yeah!
Interviewer-So what are you majoring in right now.
Shu-Uhh I am majoring in pre-business manager. I haven’t decided which specific major yet.
Interviewer-Ok then, at least you have an idea! You’re on the right path.
Shu-Mmmhmmm
Interviewer-So is this your second year in college?
Shu-Yeah it’s my second year.
Interviewer-Do most people in high school in China get an opportunity to go to college, or is it uncommon?
Shu-You talking about now these days?
Interviewer-Mmmhmmm
Shu- I guess most people go to college after high school.
Interviewer-Ok then, so do you guys have a lot of Colleges and Universities up in China?
Shu-Mmmhmmm
Interviewer-So I got to ask ya then, what made you choose St. Cloud State University instead of one in college?
Shu-I feel..well it’s pretty complicated! Cause I don’t know when I’m in junior high school..I did all my courses in English and then our school have a new program! It’s the Canadian school program. So it’s like in my senior high school, once we graduate can go directly to the…no from the junior high school once we graduate we go to the senior high school in our school!
Interviewer-Ok then?
Shu-But that’s not what most people wanted because that’s for people who don’t have good grades.
Interviewer-Ok then, so if you have good enough grades do you go from Junior high school straight to college?
Shu-Uhh..no..no. If you get better grades you go to better school. Like you know in St. Cloud we have graduate program and undergraduate program, and we have uhh even if I did good in the undergraduate here I would go to other universities in other cities for graduate
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-I wouldn’t stay here to go to the graduate program here, so that’s what I mean.
Interviewer-Ok then, just to be sure I understand, there are lower classes right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So you have to do well in order to go on to the next higher level of high school right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-Then from there you then go on to college?
Shu-Yeah!
Interviewer-All right then! I got it figured out (Haha)
Shu-Good! Well because I didn’t do well on my Junior High..so I go to the senior high in the same school because English is my…I don’t want to say this (Haha)
Interviewer- It’s all right no judgment will be passed! (Haha)
Shu-Well in my class I am the top one in the English course. So I go from the CTC, the Canadian Training College. So I went to that program, although it’s in the same school! So I actually get two diplomas in high school!
Interviewer-Really, what do you mean?
Shu-So one is for Chinese high school and the other is for Canadian high school. Yeah and then for those people in the CTC class, all of them want to go to Canadian College! But my family doesn’t have a whole lot of money so I don’t get to go to Canadian College (Haha)
Interviewer-It’s all right!
Shu-So yeah and then we go to that one place…what’s it called Visa?
Interviewer-Hmmm?
Shu-Uhh…where you need to…where go abroad you need to sign up for Visa. They need to meet the financial stamina to show that you can go to college outside of China. So for Canadian school, they have higher requirements.
Interviewer- Ok then, I have a question, and it’s a silly one, but when you are talking about Canadian college you are talking about the ones in Canada right?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So if you don’t make it to Canada you get to go to the United States?
Shu-That’s my decision, other people get to go to places like Signapore or Austrailia, or basically you can choose whatever place you like as long as you can afford it!
Interviewer-So what made you decide to come to the United States out of all the other countries?
Shu-Cause the education system here is very famous. Like many famous or top colleges are in the United States.
Interviewer- Oh wow! I didn’t even know that! Well the fact that you are in college is awesome! So you plan on completing your undergraduate program here and plan on completing your graduates somewhere else?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So do you have to go to the graduate program is it your choice?
Shu-Uh it’s my choice.
Interviewer-Your choice, so do you want to the graduate program?
Shu-My family wants me to get into the graduate program to get a graduate degree.
Interviewer-Yeah my family are the same way.
Shu-I don’t like books, I don’t like homework! I don’t like everything (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) I know what you mean!
Shu-But it’s.. I don’t know, going to school is a good thing because everyone says once you work you will miss your school.
Interviewer- Yeah that’s what my mom said. They say the real world is tough.
Shu-Yeah everybody says that! But I have heard a lot.
Interviewer-Yeah I’m debating if I want to leave right out of school into the world or to stay in it as long as possible.
Shu- Yeah
Interviewer-Well we’ll find out soon enough! We can always come back to college if we don’t like the real world.
Shu-Yeah (Haha)
Interviewer-We sure can’t go back to high school, but we are welcome back into college (haha)
Shu-(Haha) yeah!
Interviewer-So what’s the education system like in China?
Shu-I think it’s pretty standard. Like here it’s more flexible!
Interviewer-How so?
Shu-Well in China you have to like…focus on the final exams more. Like uhh those study quizzes and exam you take here, they don’t matter.
Interviewer-Really?
Shu-So once you get good grades on finals you pass the class, you did good, but you can’t do it here in the United States.
Interviewer-Yeah it’s true, you have to do good on everything leading up to the finals. The sad part in the United States is some finals are huge and some finals are similar to a regular test.
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer- So are your grades for the class from just the final?
Shu-Midterm and Final, those are two big exams! Your grades rely on those two exams.
Interviewer-Sheez!!
Shu-Yeah! I don’t know if you know the exams for uhh like ACT and SAT here, you are not required to take those exams right?
Interviewer-Yeah we have an option not to.
Shu-Yeah we..most Chinese students take the Gaokoa Exam! It’s the test for high school to get to college.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Like you have to do well on that exam so you can go to a good university.
Interviewer-So if you don’t pass you don’t get to go to a university?
Shu-Like we have grades level!
Interviewer-What do you mean by that?
Shu-Suppose that exam is worth 700 points, like that is from different subjects like, Math, English…something like that and in total they..let’s say they have 700 and if..different school have different grade like. Like if you pass 300 hundred points you can get into this university, if you get pass 400 points you can get into this university, but 700 is the max. It’s only once a year!
Interviewer- Once a yeah?!
Shu-Yeah if you don’t pass, like let’s say you don’t do very well on this exam but you really want to go to better university then you have to take the exam next year.
Interviewer- Oh my!
Shu-And you have to pay for the same tuition again!
Interviewer-That sounds terrible! So is it something every one studies really hard for then?
Shu- mmhmm yeah, during the exam period, you can see on the newspaper or television there’s always something about students who like…pretty weird things happen during that period?
Interviewer- Like they pass out in class?
Shu-Like some… I can say one..it’s not usual, but it actually happened. In one family, I don’t know who passed away, father or mother, but some one really close passed away. Because their children are going to take that exam it’s very important for their whole life. So they don’t want their children to know that their relatives died.
Interviewer-That’s really sad
Shu-Yeah so they don’t want to influence their childrens mood.
Interviewer-What do you mean by that?
Shu- Like if you were the children and I am the family member and I know you are going to take this exam and if you failed you cannot go to a good university. So I won’t let anything bother you. I want you to focus on your exam only. I want you to do well on the exam! I want you to know this, but I can’t tell you because I want you to do well on this big event.
Interviewer- Ok then, so if you are my aunt and my dad died you wouldn’t tell me because you don’t want me to worry about it because this is a big exam and you don’t want me to be affected by this?
Shu-Mmmhmm I won’t tell you anything that’s going on. Like you know…ok let’s say one family member is very sick. I will lie to you and say something like “They are doing well.” Nothing big just something like this, white lies.
Interviewer- So how did the kid not find out that their parents didn’t die? Are you segregated from your family or something?
Shu-Once you are in this…it’s considered an intensive period, so you will work very hard. You wake up, you study, go to lunch, study, get dinner, study! Sleep and the next week it’s all over again.
Interviewer-So how long did it take or what did you do to prepare yourself for this exam?
Shu-I didn’t take the exam cause in my..well I went to a CTC school, so I studied the Canadian material. So I didn’t study the Chinese material for the exam!
Interviewer- Ok then
Shu-So if I were to take the exam I would fail! I couldn’t pass any of it!
Interviewer- Ok then, so you studied material required for Canadian schools where as others are for Chinese material?
Shu-Yeah, so my case is pretty different.
Interviewer- Ok then, so they’re just trying to get you ready to come over here right?
Shu- Yes, cause you know that exam Gaokao…students..well many Chinese students are going out for studying abroad.
Interviewer-So is the Goakoa exams getting more challenging?
Shu-There must be many reasons why students are studying abroad, but I think it’s the pressure in order to go to a good Chinese university. Many of my friend go study abroad.
Interviewer-That’s awesome, so do you still stay in contact with your friends, like do you use skype or something?
Shu-We don’t use skype we use a different program. It’s called Ka- Koo
Interviewer- I like that name more than skype (Haha)
Shu-It’s a very powerful program! It combines many programs together.
Interviewer-That’s awesome! So do you guys use Facebook too?
Shu-Facebook, we can’t use Facebook in China because it has been banned.
Interviewer-You cannot use Facebook in China?
Shu-Cannot
Interviewer-Really, why is that?
Shu-I don’t know. Probrably…have you heard that Google has been banned in China a couple of years ago?
Interviewer-What?! I haven’t heard of that at all!
Shu-I think many people know that..
Interviewer-So can you use Google at all these days?
Shu-I think now you can, but back a couple years ago you could not.
Interviewer-Why is that?
Shu-Cause you can say anything you want on the internet and something may be sensitive to political things and then China’s government will do something about it, so Google. Is forbidden
Interviewer- All right then
Shu-We have “searching engine”…we use that one more
Interviewer-Searching engine?
Shu-I use Google after I come to United States. In the beginning I didn’t use it much, but now I do.
Interviewer-Wow
Shu-I use it more now these days than I used to.
Interviewer-I love Google, it can find just about anything.
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-So let me ask ya, what sports are big in China? Like have you been to the football games up here yet?
Shu- I heard it before, but I’m not familiar with it because I don’t like sports.
Interviewer- Ok then, so what type of activities do you or did you like doing back at home?
Shu-Activities?
Interviewer-Mmmmhmmm
Shu-Oh I would have to say Karoke! That is a different thing between China and America. Like I think you don’t have much Karoke here. In China, well only in my city we have many Karoke stores!
Interviewer- Really?
Shu-Like especially on holidays and weekends everyone goes there.
Interviewer- Is it a place where you would go out with the family and have some fun?
Shu-Yeah, but I think karaoke is changing a lot cause when I was young..I think karaoke is a very complicated place. It’s like crap. Many bad people go there (haha) Yeah when I was young karaoke wasn’t a good place to go, but it changed a lot. Now people go more these days, but before you heard a lot of things ruining karaoke, like drugs.
Interviewer- Oh, so people kind of ruined it for everyone else.
Shu-Yeah, but now it’s better. It’s a place for casual activities..it’s like when you go play basketball.
Interviewer-Yeah! So I was doing some research and I came across these awesome festivals, like the Lunar Month festivals!
Shu-Yeah!
Interviewer-So do you guys celebrate all of those in your city? Or like could you tell me what is your favorite Lunar month…well what’s your favorite festival?
Shu-It must be spring festival because I could get money (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) that’s awesome
Shu-Parents, grandparents, aunts, will give children pocket money. So we have a grey envelope that they put the money in. It is considered a “lucky thing” and traditional. Like you HAV to do it! So I don’t want to grow older cause I don’t want to give money to other people (Haha) And I cannot receive money now that I’m getting older.
Interviewer- What’s the age limit for the Spring Festival?
Shu-What year you stop getting money?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-There’s no rule for that, but once you get a job and get your own money you stop receiving money. You are not considered a child anymore once you get a job.
Interviewer-What age do people start getting a job?
Shu-Most people won’t get a job until their university or their graduate program. So I would say that’s 24 or 25.
Interviewer- That’s awesome, so I have a question, and I don’t know if the United States are correct with this, but it’s the Zodiac animal…
Shu- Huh?!
Interviewer-I don’t know if it originated from here or from China, but it’s those Zodiac animals, like the Dragon, the Ram…
Shu-Ram?
Interviewer-Ummm….like the year of the Dragon or the year of the Ram…
Shu-Oh you mean!!..uhhh…I’m confused what ram is.
Interviewer-It’s also considered a sheep if that helps?...
Shu-Oh yeah there are 12 different…are they considered animals (haha). This year is the year of Dragon, the year of Dragon.
Interviewer- So if you were born, or let’s say this is your animal year..
Shu-That would mean two things happen. People always say that if you are in your animal year you are either very lucky or very bad luck. I would have a very lucky year or very bad luck year, VERY extreme!
Interviewer-So it’s one or the other?
Shu-Yes! Like let’s say you found out this year you are not lucky you would go to temples and meditate and ask for good luck.
Interviewer-Ok then, so is it different with other animals? Like is the Mouse year the same thing with the bad luck or good luck?
Shu-They are all the same..yeah.
Interviewer-Is there any special…
Shu-There are twelve animals that are in a certain pattern.
Interviewer-Do you get a certain gift, or do you get a gift because it’s your animal year?
Shu-I don’t any (haha) I don’t know anything about this, but all I know is if people are born in that year they are very sensitive!
Interviewer-Really? (Haha)
Shu-Cause you want to know if I would have a good year or bad year.
Interviewer-What has your year been like so far?
Shu-I don’t know cause like….
Interviewer-I mean what’s your animal year?
Shu-The one you just said..Ram?
Interviewer- The sheep?! Me too!!
Shu-You too?! Cool!
Interviewer-What about the religion down there in China.
Shu-Religion?
Interviewer-Yeah, like are there multiple religions down in China.
Shu-Buddhism
Interviewer-Buddhism, is that the most predominant one down there?
Shu-In my country. I can’t say for the whole country cause there’s too many people cause I don’t really know. All I Know in my country, in my home town many people believe Buddhism.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Very old people believe in it so much, especially grandparents. We will have specific days in the month where we burn the…I don’t know how to say those things..like for those specific days we will burn specific things and paper money (haha) Not paper money!!!...I wish you have computer now so I can look it up (Haha)
Interviewer-(Haha) Google!
Shu-Like we have a lot to do for those specific days. For traditional holidays we do that also.
Interviewer-So how do you like, well what is like…well I’m a Catholic and I have to go to mass every Sunday, how do you express your religion? Or how do you practice your religion?
Shu-Burn those things and have some fruit or food and then you bow…it’s like for Christian, you go to church every Sunday and we go to places on specific days and bow…
Interviewer-So what is the music like down there?
Shu-Music from my generation or younger?
Interviewer-We’ll do the kids generation, our generation, and the adults.
Shu- Our generation is decent cause now our information is very broad and you can hear many kind of songs. My friends like Korean songs and English songs! Those are pop songs they are listening.
Interviewer-Ok then, well are there any questions you have for me out of curiousity?
Shu-Are you from here?
Interviewer-No I am actually from Colorado. I’m on the other side of the United States almost.
Shu-What side?
Interviewer-I’m near the west coast side.
Shu-Where’s..what where’s?..
Interviewer-(Used hand gesture to point West) That way. Where I’m from we have mountains and we use that as a general idea of where we are at cause the mountains point West for us.
Shu-Ahh!
Interviewer-I miss it, like do you ever get home sick out of curiousity?
Shu-Yeah
Interviewer-Yeah, miss family and friends, do you go home every summer?
Shu- Uhh I stay here and I will go back next summer.
Interviewer-Next summer, so you’re almost done. Do you go back for any holidays or anything or..
Shu- You mean these two years did I go back home?
Interviewer-Just…yeah I guess we could say that!
Shu-No not yet.
Interviewer-Ah so I bet you are counting down the days to get out of here!
Shu-(Haha) yeah!! I’m ready to get out of here.
Interviewer-Out of curiousity how are weddings?!
Shu-Weddings?
Interviewer-(Haha) yeah
Shu-(Haha) that’s a funny stuff cause here you wear white stuff right?
Interviewer-Mmmhmmm
Shu-And you have wedding at church or outside right?
Interviewer-Yes mam
Shu-Well we go to weddings in hotel
Interviewer-You go to a hotel?
Shu-Yeah, we treat every body! There is many rules for that..uhhh…I guess different religions have different rules.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-Like Buddhism has different rules compared to other religions with original traditional waiting. Like in the states there’s two people getting married they cannot meet each other and here they go to….uhh…do you call women getting married, Bride?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-And you call the man getting married groom?
Interviewer-Yeah
Shu-Well Bride first are in their home. Then you dress up, make up, and you…dress with Cheongsam, you know what that is?
Interviewer-No, I’m sorry I don’t
Shu-Well it is a traditional southern China wedding dress. And you dress that and you have some special rules that you have to listen to. Like parents, you enter the room and you bow and they will give you money I think…
Interviewer-this is for the bride?
Shu-Yes for the bride. The groom has to come to the bride’s house to come pick her up. And the he bride’s friends will set many lures to “trick the groom”
Interviewer-They are going to try to trick the groom?
Shu-Yeah, so the groom will not get easy to pick the bride?
Interviewer- Wait, so he has to pick the bride?...
Shu-Like he has to stay at home waiting for..no, the bride has to wait at her home to wait for the groom to come and pick her up and bring her to the groom’s home.
Interviewer- Ok then
Shu-Friends won’t have it easy with them, so they will play many games with the grooms. They won’t make it easy for the groom to get to the bride.
Interviewer-(haha)That’s awesome! So have to play many games to get the girl?
Shu-Yeah, they set many rules! Yeah and that even means paying them. The number you want to pay them is $9,999.99 cause in Chinese that means forever. So that means they will stick together forever. Anything you can think they can set it out and the groom has to do.
Interviewer-That’s awesome, that sounds a lot more fun than what we do here!
Shu-Yeah it’s pretty funny! Then the bride has to cover her head and she has to have curls covered on her head so no one can see her face.
Interviewer-Is this before or after the groom comes pick her up?
Shu-Before! The bride can have her clothed up until she get’s to the groom home.
Interviewer-All right then!
Shu-And then there are many other rules for “waiting.” What I just told you is just a little part.
Interviewer-So does the grooms friends get to play a little trick on the bribe?
Shu-That’s for the dinner in the hotel.
Interviewer-So the bride has to play there?
Shu-No that’s not specific for groom or bride, they have to play games together.
Interviewer-Oh!
Shu-Like at the hotel you have to drink beer for every table. Bride, groom, and their family have to drink beer at every table.
Interviewer-Do they have to drink beer?
Shu-Not necessarily beer, but usually beer or wine..
Interviewer-Ok then. So what happens when the groom brings the bride back to his house do they then bring her back to the hotel?
Shu-No…there are many rules!
Interviewer- Too many rules
Shu-Too many rules and I don’t know all of them. And when the bride goes to the groom home they have to do some things. Like they bow again… (haha) and many traditional things.
Interviewer-Ok then
Shu-For the guys side you have to pay the girls side a certain amount of money. Girls don’t need to bring, girls only need to bring things to the guys house.
Interviewer-So guy pays the girls parents money for the girl and the girl brings stuff to the grooms house?
Shu-And the family of the girl can bring stuff to the house. If they don’t want to they don’t have to bring stuff to the grooms house. For example, they will bring a car, washer machine…It’s a traditional thing but not everybody does it.
Interviewer-When are the two officially a couple and considered a husband and wife?
Shu-When they have the certificate.
Interviewer-All right then well let me see here (looking at questions on the paper). See look at this, we made it through all these questions and you hardly even noticed. All right last question, compare the United States Culture to your culture. How would you say they are different?
Shu-Hmmm…The environment is different (haha) A lot of different things….too many different things…
Interviewer- Well how about people, how are the people here different then people in China?
Shu-I think people here are more….
Interviewer-And you can be as completely honest as possible, you can even say we are mean for all I call, I will not take any offense (Haha)
Shu-(Haha) well in different country are different people..
Interviewer-So we are mean (haha)
Shu-(Haha) no, but I have met some mean people here. Like in one of my class I met somebody not friendly…like I tried talking to her and she was not wanting to talk back.
Interviewer-I’m sorry
Shu-Yeah I felt like she didn’t want to talk back.
Interviewer-Yeah, well there unfortunately people everywhere like that
Shu-Yeah, well there’s also people like that in China, like in every place people like that exist.
Interviewer-Yeah..well thank you for your time and consideration today!! I had a great time getting to talk to ya!
Shu-Ya you too!
Interviewer-Is there any questions you have for me out of curiosity?
Shu-Uhh no
(Stopped recording here)
Monday, October 15, 2012
Ruft Draft for the Challenge and Benefits International Students
Challenge and
Benefits of interviewing an international student (or an US student)
Interviewing international students can be both challenging and rewarding for both party members. Both the interviewer and interviewee are from two separate worlds and have to come together to make a smooth interview process. Both party members have to work together to overcome obstacles faced in the interview and if one slip up comes up it could ruin the rest of the conversation. Such challenges that will be discussed are: international students and their openness; using appropriate language; and misunderstanding between the interviewer and interviewee. Despite these challenges it is a rewarding experience because of the knowledge and understanding we have gained from each other and being able to apply that to the real world.
Interviewing international students can be both challenging and rewarding for both party members. Both the interviewer and interviewee are from two separate worlds and have to come together to make a smooth interview process. Both party members have to work together to overcome obstacles faced in the interview and if one slip up comes up it could ruin the rest of the conversation. Such challenges that will be discussed are: international students and their openness; using appropriate language; and misunderstanding between the interviewer and interviewee. Despite these challenges it is a rewarding experience because of the knowledge and understanding we have gained from each other and being able to apply that to the real world.
The first and most challenging obstacles an international
student encounters is revealing information about themselves. “The
U.S. is a highly individualistic, direct culture where employers expect you
to show confidence in yourself,” where as “international
students feel boastful and disrespectful when trying to discuss their qualifications
in such an individualistic manner” (Michigan 2). What Michigan State University
states here is the United States culture has a more direct approach when
expressing their ideas and the other cultures have harder times with this. People
with different cultures have different ways to express themselves and they have
to find that balance of giving each other enough respect and time with one
another because that’s the way they were raised.
A second obstacle in a interview
with an international student is the use
of language. It can be difficult for both party members especially the
international student because they have to use a language that isn’t their primary
language. Like the international student, it is also difficult for the
interviewer when it comes to language problems. Michigan State University stats
that interviews should keep in mind with “Finding the right words to express
yourself professionally in a language that is not your first can be difficult”
(Michigan 2). What they are trying to say here is it important for both party
members to be careful with how they express their words or ideas because the
other person could perceive it a different way.
A third challenge that comes
across in interviewing international students is misunderstanding between the
interviewer and the interviewee. This is a very common mistake due to the fact
that both people come from two different cultures with different beliefs. As
society becomes more diverse, interviewers need to learn more about the
cultural backgrounds of the people they interview because it will better
prepare them in understanding who they interview and where they come from.
Even though there are many
challenges in interviewing the rewards are significant. An online article
explains the importance of understanding people from different cultures. The
article states, “Each cultural groups
has unique strengths and perspectives that the larger
community can benefit from” (Axner). Every culture has their strengths and
weaknesses and by coming together as a strong unison, the world could pull
itself together and overcome many obstacles thrown at it. Interviews are a mere
step to this because by understanding other people and their different
background we will be able to accept them for who they are instead of tearing
each other apart.
Group Evaluation
Monday, October 8, 2012
The objective of my interview
The country I want to learn more about is China. There are numerous reasons why I chose this fascinating country. The fact that China is large gives a diverse culture throughout the entire country. I would like to know the history of China and how it became what it is today. The objective of my interview is to discover how things are run on the inside of China and how it is able to sustain the large country that it is today.
The Five Books I Searched For
The five books that I examined in
the library were remarkable and gave a different perspective from my
classmates. The first book that I read was Mark
Twain: the Fate of Honor. The quote that was illustrated in the first
sentence on page 15 says"But the Snodgrass letters confined Clemens to the
igrnorant and and illiterate utterance of Snodgrass, whereas the literate Mark
Twain allowed him a full range of style and expression"(Cox 15). What Cox was able to illustrate in this quote
is a kid named Clemens didn't have as much literate skills whereas Mark Twain
had superb skills that allowed him to express himself in numerous ways.
The second book that I read fascinated me pretty well. This
book was unique because it was like none of the other books I read in this
experiment because it was able to lure me into the world it was presenting. The
book that I am talking about is The
Newspapers of the First World War. This book was different from all the
rest because it really wasn’t a book, rather a bunch of newspapers articles
from one of the most significant wars in the United States, World War 1. The
quote that I was able to find on page 15 was under the religion column and
gives of what it appears to be disturbing news. "On Sunday last a gleam of
hope was still visible in the universal dark: to-day the star of peace has
receded far beyond the horizon, to await the decision of the great ordeal"(William
15). In this newspaper article, the quote introduces to the United States that
Sunday was the last chance for hope and that peace is far from near.
The
third book I read was about a country I have yet paid attention to, Thailand.
Ironically the title of the book was Thailand.
The author Jones is able to give a little glipse of what the climate
and temperature is like in Thailand. He says "The average temperature in
Bangkok in December is 770 F (250 C), but it usually
feels much hotter because of high humidity, and there are plenty of fine days
in the rainy season"(Jones 15).
The fourth book that I found dealt with today’s modern
approach on museums and how technology helps them out. With today’s world
technology is becoming vital in our world and with the help of technology; it
gives museums a place in this world. The book that gave me this was Digital Technologies and Museum Experience.
This book was able to portray the
importance of how technology benefits our learning skills and interests when we
visit the library. For example, “Moreover, recent research has shown
that visitors benefit from having multiple complementary interpretive resources
at their disposal” (Tallon and Walker 15).
The
final book that I looked at was The
Battlefields of England. This was by far one of the most interesting books
I took interests when looking up the quote. In this book Lieutenant Colonel
Alfred H. Burne able to depict of what the King’s life is like by giving us
this imagery "The King's column followed suit, whether spontaneously, or
in response to a definite order it is impossible to say, and needless to
speculate” (Burne 16). England was once a very powerful nation and still is
going on to this day. These figures such as the Lieutenant and the King are key
factors of what keeps the legacy going and should be acknowledged.
Work Cited
Burne,
Lieutenant Colonel Alfred H. The
Battlefields of England. London: Methuen; Barnes and Nobles Books, 1950.
Print.
Cox, James. Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1966. Print.
Jones,
Rogers. Thailand. London:
Kuperard, 2003. Print
Tallon,
Loic, and Kevin Walker. Digital
Technologies and the Museum Experience: Handheld Guides and Other Media.
Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2008. Print
William, Ian. Great Britain: David
and Charles , 1970. Print.
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