By+Charlotte+Chen

I lived in the Round Square1 House during its first year as a Chinese and the only international student whose first language is not English. Since one of the six ideals of the house is internationalism， I felt a deep sense of responsibility to represent the hearts and minds of one billion Chinese people and five thousand years of Chinese history.

One night during tea we somehow started a conversation about favorite childhood TV shows. Just as it was always the case in conversations like this， I sat quietly in the corner of the room and listened， trying hard to understand whats going on but did not have a clue. Perhaps because I was quieter than usual that night， Gemma noticed my awkward silence， and made the group to pay its attention.

“Lets hear what Charlotte wants to say. It looks like she has something to share.”

“Well，” I said， “I think it is kind of difficult for me to be part of the conversation because I watched Chinese animation2 and TV shows when I was little. It is not because that I dont want to speak—it is just that Chinese culture is very different from American culture.”

The group went silent for a while.

“Well， that makes sense.” A girl finally broke the silence， “But you should not lock yourself up. If you want us to learn and understand your culture， you should speak up more and share it with us.”

She was right. I was too quiet and shy to be a helpful messenger3 of my culture. However， even though I agreed with her suggestion， I also wanted to reject it simultaneously4. It was really a strange frustration and bafflement5 that I could neither understand nor explain at that time.

What exactly is my culture？ I asked myself.

The first answer that came to my mind was a picture of the Great Wall. Then I thought about the Tiananmen Square—the Chinese equivalent of the National Mall6—and the Chinese National Flag. All of these are symbols that visually represent Chinese culture， but heres the thing： They are relevant to me， but they are not so to someone who is unfamiliar with China. In order to engage my audience， I need something more tangible and interesting， something that could create empathy regardless of cultural differences.7 That object， as I came to realize much later， is， in fact， my life.

Answering the same question， “What exactly is my culture？” through the lens8 of my life， I came up with some better answers. My culture can mean sitting by a round table and sharing 15 dishes with family members. It can be the voice of the anchor of the national evening news broadcast or my Red Tie that I proudly wore as a member of the Young Pioneers.9 It can be the mixed smell of cigarette， sweat， green onions and cup noodles in a crowded train station before and after Chinese New Year when millions of people hopped on trains to head back homes. It can be a beautiful poem written in ancient Chinese from 2，000 years ago that I recite again and again even to this day.

Of course these are biased10 answers. However， coming from my own perspective， it is more effective to reflect something quite interesting but often subtle about China and its culture， because even though my story is only one out of 1.3 billion， it has been shaped and modeled and polished just like that of other Chinese people by the same language， the same history， the same political system， the same education and the same traditions.11 I now understand why I felt so rejected and baffled by the girls suggestion， that I should“open up and share my culture” with others. Culture is not a noun. Culture is a verb. It is how a specific group of people talk， think and see the world. However， like the girl， I saw my culture as a mere concept rather than how I engage with it. I was not frustrated with her suggestion. Rather， I was frustrated with the fact that it is simply impossible for me to condense12 the years I spent growing up in China into a big box， hand it to people and tell them， “Hey， this is my culture.” There is no better way to spread my culture than to simply tell you about my stories and my opinions. Ask me about China and I will give you an answer. It might not be close to the truth， but it is authentic and credible in that sense.13 A “wrong answer” could be revealing and thought-provoking as well.14 There will be differences and disagreements among us， but thats totally OK. The first step towards understanding a culture is to have the empathy and curiosity for the spectrum of human experiences that comprises， legitimizes and enriches that culture.15

We are living in an increasingly divided world where peace seems nowhere to be found. The prevailing cynicism and pessimism seem to confirm Samuel Huntingtons thesis that the fundamental cause of conflict in the world after the Cold War is no longer differences in ideologies but rather differences in cultures.16 However， why cant we see cultures in another way？ Instead of having only one worldview， we now have many different ones because of cultural exchange. Instead of having only one solution for peace， we can now look to different traditions for more inspiration. Instead of letting cultures clash17， we should have them talk to each other—and we are the ones who can make such communication happen.

Every single one of us on this planet has a piece of puzzle inscribed18 with our stories. If all of the pieces are collected and put together， we will have the picture of universal peace， love and understanding. We can choose to ignore the little piece we have and keep living in our small world， or we can make our piece count19 if we remain curious about the larger world， understand culture as the sum of human experiences and make an effort to learn the stories behind any argument that we might disagree with an open heart and an open mind. We are all interconnected. Our threads of fates are interwoven20. I am ready to contribute my piece for peace. Are you？

1. Round Square： 方圓組織，成立于1966年，是一個世界性的頂尖學(xué)校聯(lián)盟，成員學(xué)校間共享教育教學(xué)資源，開展深度的校級師生互訪，為更多擁有共同志向的孩子提供走出國門、走向世界的機(jī)會。

2. animation： 動畫片。

3. messenger： 信使，通信員。

4. simultaneously： 同時地。

5. bafflement： 困惑，不解，下文出現(xiàn)的baffle為其動詞原形。

6. National Mall： 華盛頓國家廣場，一個開放型國家公園，從林肯紀(jì)念堂延伸到國會大廈，是美國國家慶典和儀式的首選場地。

7. engage： 吸引?。ㄗ⒁饬?、興趣等）；tangible： 摸得著的，有形的；empathy： 同感，共鳴。

8. lens： 鏡頭。

9. anchor： （電視、廣播節(jié)目）主持人；Young Pioneers： 少年先鋒隊，其成員佩戴紅領(lǐng)巾。

10. biased： 有偏見的，片面的。

11. 然而我認(rèn)為，思考中國和其文化中有趣但細(xì)微的部分會更有意義。雖然我的故事只占了十三億分之一，但和其他中國人的經(jīng)歷一樣，它經(jīng)過塑造、成型、打磨的過程，因為我們說著同樣的語言，有著共同的歷史，生活在同樣體制之下，接受著同樣的教育，也繼承著同樣的傳統(tǒng)。subtle： 不易察覺的，微妙的；polish： 修飾，潤色。

12. condense： 壓縮，精簡。

13. authentic： 真正的，真實的；credible：可信的。

14. revealing： 有啟迪作用的，發(fā)人深省的；thought-provoking： 引人深思的，provoke意為“引起，激起”。

15. the/a spectrum of： 廣泛的，一系列的，spectrum意為“范圍，各層次”；comprise： 構(gòu)成，組成；legitimize： 使合法，證明……有理。

16. 現(xiàn)下盛行的憤世嫉俗和悲觀主義似乎印證了塞繆爾·亨廷頓的理論，即冷戰(zhàn)后引發(fā)各地沖突的根本原因不再是意識形態(tài)的不同，而是各種文化間的差異。prevailing： 普遍的，盛行的；cynicism： 憤世妒俗；pessimism： 悲觀主義，悲觀情緒；Samuel Huntington： 塞繆爾·亨廷頓（1927—2008），美國當(dāng)代著名的國際政治理論家，曾任教于哈佛大學(xué)并供職于美國政府部門，著有《文明的沖突與世界秩序的重建》；ideology： 思想體系。

17. clash： 沖突，不相容。

18. inscribe： 寫，刻。

19. count： 有重要性，有影響。

20. interweave： 交織，交錯。