The first night we met our Chinese exchange students was a little intimidating. We all sat around a conference table at our Orientation Meeting in New Jersey. We played icebreaker games, such as “Two Truths, One Lie.” After that I had to leave from the group and their scavenger hunt in Central Park to go to the doctor. The next day I rejoined Shining Future Rainbow Bridge for the to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We walked through the Asian and American Art exhibits looking at ancient chinese scrolls and portraits from the American Revolution.
I started on this program with little to no familiarity with Chinese culture. The bus rides have been essential in furthering our cultural exchange. The Chinese students have been extremely outgoing, friendly, and patient. Sometimes we come across a break in the conversation, where we don’t understand a word or phrase, and we pause and take time to either explain or use an app to translate.
In particular, on the bus ride I sat next to a Chinese student named Lin Jie Wang. He explained how in China, sons and daughters take their father’s family name and do not change last names when they marry, unlike in America. He also explained the history of Chinese calligraphy brushes. We saw some examples of calligraphy and designs that used mao bi at the Metropolitan Museum. He tried showing me how to hold an American pen in the same style that you would hold a mao bi but it was too short.
I think that between students, cultural exchanges come very easily. We all innately want to share our stories, so we have to break down the barrier of speaking different languages immediately. Also, as we become more familiar with the students and guides from China we get more comfortable talking with each other and discussing our personal lives and our cultural influences. We connect over the everyday things in life, like our commute to school or our favorite foods. Conversations might need some work to start, but once we start talking it becomes easier to share memories and stories.
Looking into our history, relationships between different countries usually take time to build and lots of people to make decisions and compromises on different cultural, political, and economic issues. America’s relationship with China becomes stronger with every political negotiation and every global citizen exchange. As Chinese citizens come to America and American’s go to China, they are able to experience the country’s first hand and learn how to interact with locals.
The Chinese students have been able to quickly adapt to American culture. I think immersion is the best technique to use because they are surrounded by English speakers and are able to hear the different intonations, accents, and pronunciations in America. So when asked how does cultural exchange happen, I think the answer lies in an immersion of new culture and an understanding and willingness to learn and accept the new culture. It happens when there is a friendship and open communication.