Ancillary 1

Born and raised in China, the tag “Chinese” has been assigned to me ever since I was created in this world. According to a demographic report, Han Chinese (which specifically I originated from) is by far the largest group in the world, and Mandarin is the world’s most spoken language because of the huge population. Being a member of this community always makes me feel warm as most people here are modest, hospitable, and honest. We emphasize the concept of family and usually hold reunions with all our family members when the Chinese New Year comes. Derived from our reverence for family, we also hold respect for every people we meet: when receiving compliments from others, we won’t accept it like saying “Thank you!” at first but praising them “No, yours looks better!” Modesty is epitomized in us, but sometimes this could also be a double-edged sword as it might impede us from expressing what we truly wish.

The single story people exerted on Chinese people is simple yet strong: all Chinese people should be good at math and STEM-related subjects. Studying at traditional primary and middle school, I would admit that there’re Chinese students proficient in math, but not all of us could easily solve algebra or trigonometry problems in a few minutes. Great mathematicians making spectacular contributions to the math academia could be from regions outside China, and people not from China could also find out that some of their peers are masters at math. We love literature, and we also indulge ourselves in the world of books when discovering ideas for our creative writing. It would be sad and faint when hear people discussing us sorely based on our demographic. Some of us might not treat the compliments of “being good at math” as genuine acclaims but consider it only as a one-way downside impression when repeatedly addressing it by others. Chinese people are different, and we are good at distinctive aspects. A community is surely an entity, but it could not be judged just based on the characters some of us own. We need to stride across the surface of stereotypes and excavate the truth of them.