In 2015, I went to Canada to pursue a new way of learning and mindset. I was very excited to be "assimilated" into this new culture. However, everything did not go as well as I expected. I was not sophisticated enough in English to fully understand the classes. Huge cultural difference made me unable to fully engage in conversations with other Canadian students. Meanwhile, in my entrance year, mandarin classes were not offered so I was even gradually losing my abilities in speaking my mother tongue. I was overwhelmed by the panic that my mother tongue was "rotting in my mouth". I felt confused and helpless because I realized that from the bottom of my heart, I did not want to be assimilated. I wanted to preserve my culture and my background. Therefore, I started to seek for things that can help me connect to my culture. One day, I was organizing folders and books I brought to Canada and I found Analect in my drawer. Written by Confucius, the book is known to be the "origin of Chinese culture". In order to be more connected to my culture, I started to read Analect and discuss the ideologies with my Archaic Chinese teacher. Although I have learned some sayings and ideologies from Confucius since primary school, the words in the book have never seemed so powerful to me. His ideologies just came alive in front of me and I could see him teaching his students and working on the etiquettes with his students. I was impressed by how much my country was still preserving this culture. Confucius gradually became a mentor to me. Whenever I do not know how to solve problems in my life, I try to refer to his sayings and follow them. Sometimes, I cannot remember, so I always open the book and flip to the page I am aiming for to read the saying again. One day, I was chatting with my younger sister. I asked her if she have learned some Confucius's sayings at school. She said yes, but from her description, I did not feel her affection towards Confucius and his ideologies. Since my sister studies in an international school, she was as well much more assimilated into a western culture than me. I felt glad on one hand because her open-mindedness was improved so quickly through the westernized education but I also felt worried that her affection to English rather than Mandarin was making her forget what truly her root is. Therefore, I decided to write this book. Through this book, I not only wish to express my admiration and respect to Confucius and his ideologies, but I also wish that children or teenagers who have Chinese heritage can read this book and feel more connected to their cultural background and their true root. Since the book is bilingual, I hope that it will be very approachable for children and teenagers who are more used to reading English than Chinese. Through the three years living by myself in Canada, I realized how important it is to feel connected to my background and take pride in my culture. They are what built me up and when I feel lonely and helpless, they provide me bravery and power to fight for my own rights. Whenever anyone creates any stereotypes on my culture, I feel encouraged to use my root to promote the truth and break the stereotypes. I wish this book can give power to many children and teenagers who are just like my sister and me. The power for them to be proud of their culture. The power for them to embrace their skin color. And the power for them to stay strong and undefeatable as minorities.
About the Author: Juntang (Nancy) Qian was born in 2000 in Shanghai, China, and grew up there until she arrived in Canada for studying in 2015. She is currently a Grade 11 student in one of the all-girls schools in Toronto. At school, Nancy is an active member of her community. She is very interested in fighting against stereotypes towards different minority groups and encouraging people around her to express their intersectionality. She thinks that every small difference that her friends and her makes will make the community more inclusive and make more students from minority groups feel represented and be willing to stand out to share their experiences and fight for their rights. Since she was young, she has always loved reading Chinese books, especially poetries and proses. She felt natural affection towards Chinese as well as the beautiful languages the authors are using. Her admiration towards the authors and their sophisticated thoughts encouraged her to have the dream of being an author and express her thoughts to the readers. This is the first book she has written. She wishes that it can truly make some differences, not matter how big or small.